It's all in a cave - Ellora & Ajanta

So, post saving problems, here's my complete re-write of this post.  You'll forgive me if I'm not as enthused about it the second time around....

We arrived in Aurangabad on Monday evening and headed for our hotel, Lemon Tree.  I was pretty jazzed that I'd found a place that was within Paul's $60/night budget and seemed like it would be nice.  When we got there, I was even more pleasantly surprised.  The hotel was brand new and had just opened a few months before.  We had big, lovely rooms, complete with all of the amenities, a great restaurant, and very friendly staff.  They even left a towel elephant, complete with flower decorations, on my bed each morning.

After a good night's sleep, we rallied fairly early for the 3 hour drive to Ajanta to see the cave temples.  Once we'd passed the tourist village crucible and made it through the bus line, all was good.  We clambered up a long set of stairs and into the valley where the caves are carved from the cliff walls.  Paul rode in in style, maharaja style, that is - on the backs of some very determined chair porters.  Many co-workers had told me that the Ajanta caves were beyond repair and no longer worth seeing, but that is definitely not the case.  Given how old they are, an amazing amount of the original paint is still extant.  In any case, it was well worth it to see the grandeur of the stone chamers and to feel the polished stone of the sanctuaries beneath your feet.  We puttered around the caves for a few hours and headed back to Aurangabad for a thali dinner.  Mom, Dad and Mary weren't too sure about it; Paul claimed he liked it.  In either case, their reactions made me realize how much my palate has changed over the past year.  

On our second and final day in Aurangabad, which was my birthday, we headed outside of town to Ellora, home to Buddhist, Hindu and Jain cave temples.  The temples range from very roughly hewn alcoves of rock, to triple-layered temples carved deep into the rock face - just amazing.  There was a Buddhist tour group chanting in one of the caves as we passed through; I caught a bit of it on video:

After Ellora, we went exploring in the Mughal fort nearby.  The battlements are some of the most elaborate that I've seen, comprising multiple gates, bridges and a moat.  The grounds aren't in very good repair, but it's still possible to see how impressive the fort must once have been, with it's towering minaret and layers of defenses.  

Finally, just before leaving, we headed to the 'mini Taj,' or Bibi Ka Maqbara.  Built for Aurangzeb's wife at her death, it's a 2/3 scale model of the actual Taj Mahal.  There were several big school groups there and we were quickly rivaling the mini Taj for their attention.  I've never been in so many school pictures in a single day!  Tuckered out by our stardom and cave-hopping, we headed for the airport to catch the evening flight out - Mom, Dad, Paul and Mary back to Delhi and Amritsar; me to Hyderabad for a conference.  Phase one of the Parental Invasion - completed!