Overview of the destination
Went there in the month of April, which meant it was scorching hot.
Could have enjoyed more in better weather.
Though the paintings of Ajanta are world famous, I enjoyed Ellora caves more than Ajanta.Food, sight-seeing and shopping
Food in the MTDC resort was not so great...though the Ajanta cafeteria was much better. The Ellora cafeteria was not too bad either. Always a good idea to carry you own snack and water.
On my way back from Ellora, the driver of the taxi took us to two temples. Not so worth your time...you can skip them if you are in a hurry.
I bought a showpiece of Buddha's entire family in an Ajanta shop, he quoted rs. 350/- and finally sold it to me for Rs.75/-. So, bargaining is rampant, but nothing so unique about those showpieces! Activities & things to do
In Ajanta: the last cave, cave no. 26 was 'the best', the sleeping Buddha was indeed worth the walk upto the last cave. The caves with the frescos were quite a disappointment as the condition of all the paintings were quite dilapidated. Though they were an experience, which was definitely not worth a miss!
In Ellora: cave no.16 overshadows everything in my memory. Awesome work!. Its a Shiva temple carved in the shape of a chariot. Its huge with several nitty gritties, like the entire Ramayana sculpted out on one wall, and several others. I took an Archaeological Survey of India guide in this particular cave, paid him Rs. 200/-. I could have negotiated, I thought later!! But nevertheless, the explanation he gave was worth having him. Travel tips, How to reach, travel warnings etc.
Note that Ajanta is about 1 hour from Jalgaon while Ellora is about 45 mins from Aurangabad. Ajanta and Ellora are about 2 hours apart. so, if you are dependent on a train, then you might want to see things in the order Jalgaon-Ajanta-Ellora-Aurangabad, or vice versa.
Also note that if you are going there from Mumbai, then the frequency of trains is more for Jalgaon than from Auarangabad.
wht i did was, i went from mumbai to jalgaon, reached there at 6.30 am after an overnight (6.5 hr) train journey.From Jalgaon railway station i took a rickshaw to the state transport bus stand. It was a 1 hour drive from Jalgaon bus stand to Fardapur, when u get off the bus in Fardapur, there is an MTDC resort bang opposite the road. We checked in there and freshened up. Ajanta caves is 5 mins rickshaw ride, rs. 40 for an entire rickshaw you hire, from the resort.Ajanta opens at 9 am. So we reached ajanta by 9.30 am. Went throught the caves in detail. We were done by about 12.30. Eating at the ajanta cafeteria was a better idea than in the MTDC resort, because the restaurant in MTDC reort had very few options.
We relaxed in the resort for the rest of the day, next morning we checked out, had a two hour cab drive worth Rs. 1350 ( both ways to and fro ellora), to Ellora, reached there around noon. Went about till 3 pm, and returned in the same cab all the way to Fardapur and then took the state transport bus to Jalgaon to catch my train. The mistake I made was, I shouldnt have returned to Jalgaon, should have gone to aurangabad from ELlora , and caught a train from there. It would have saved me a lot of fatigue!
Tips:
Try to go to the caves in the morning time. It saves you from heat, and also the crowd, as the day passes, there tend to be more people in the caves, from around aurangabad ( the locals), and that makes things a little irritating!
In ajanta, dont take a full guide for all caves, the more imp caves have care-takers who will tell you the basic stuff, and you can tip them accordingly. If you make use of them you will end up paying not more than Rs. 150/- for the entire set of Ajanta caves. ( Keep tenners handy to pay them). |
