Baga, Goa - It has been a while since I updated the blog, but we have been on the move. Jaipur was a whirlwind of jewelry shopping and siteseeing. Jeff and I got our engagement rings and we bought various other things for other people (you'll have to wait until I get home to see, yes I am teasing you, Mel!) From there we headed to Sariska Tiger Reserve on an evening bus after I pulled a miracle in getting tickets for the bus. Note: Never wait in line for tickets in India, you will never get anything done, just go to the front of the line and act like you are supposed to be there and you get served immdiately. We groped our way in the dark to the hotel near the reserve (Shirley did survive, but was a bit pale....) I don't think anyone had stayed in the hotel for a while, it had a serious mildew and musky smell, but it was the only option. Our safari the next morning got off to a rough start, since at 6am, when were supposed to be leaving the driver wasn't even up yet! They tried to convince us not to go that day as there was a huge festival in the park (there is a temple in the reserve). It was our only chance to get out, so we went ahead, along with the other thousands of locals! We got to see lots of deer and peacocks, but no tigers. It was an event-filled ride where we got to stand in the back of a truck for 3 hours and drive aroudn beatiful country, so it was worth it. From there we split off from Kevin and Lori. They were headed back to Jaipur while Chris, Shirley, Jeff and I went back to Delhi to send Shirley off and get a train to Jalgaon, in northern Maharastra. The bus trip from the reserve was a joy ride for Jeff and Chris as they got to go ontop of the bus to protect our bags from the locals and encountered some monsoonal rains! The rest of our trip was decadent. At Alwar we loitered at a local hotel and gorged ourselves on wonderful food in the A/C. We then got on a Shatbdi train to Delhi where we were fed and got to relax in the A/C again. Once in Delhi we grabbed a hotel and then slept in (a luxury, as we had been getting up around 6am every day since Jeff and Chris arrived). We spent the next day sorting out flights and doing some power shopping. We packed up another duffle bag of stuff for Shirley to take home for us (Jeff and I have REALLY been enjoying the shopping, which will benefit all of you, since most of it has been gifts!) From Delhi we said goodbye to Shirley and headed to Jalgaon, our jumping off point for Ajanta caves, which are Buddhist master pieces that were rediscovered early in the 1900s. Our train was LONG, about 30 hours. We made new friends from Bangladesh and had many other onlookers throughout the journey. The three of us aren't quite the show that the six of us were, but we still get lots of stares and I still get lots of ogling from the Indian men. Jeff has been handing out dirty looks to deter them, but it still doesn't stop them! Perhaps that could be because many of the Indians we have met think of him as "m'aam". After the train we hustled onto a local bus to get us to Ajanta. We only had 2 hours there, but it was phenomenal. the caves are in a horseshoe formation around a lush area, so it is very peaceful and serene. The caves have tempera paintings which are fading, but they have done some reconstruction, so you can imagine how they would have been hundreds of years ago. That night we stayed in Aurangabad, the jump off point for Ellora caves, which have Hindu, Jain and Buddhist caves. We went to the caves the next morning. They had more carving than Ajanta, and a different setting, but were equally as magnificent. The highlight of Ellora is the Hindu temple that is twice the size of the Parthenon and took 150 years to build. It was built from the top down and has some of the most exquisite carving I have seen yet. Both caves are World Heritage sites and were worth seeing for the second time for me. Jeff and I then split from Chris and headed to Goa on a hellish 30 hour journey. We missed connections and got on shitty local buses and just overall had a very long and tiring travel day (which was my birthday!) (Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes and presents - oh, did I mention that Jeff forgot my birthday and has been trying to make up for it ever since!) Uh-oh, I just got in trouble for that....
Once in the capital of Goa we decided to head for a quiet beach in the north and have been relaxing ever since. It is dead here with many restaurants and shops closed. A blessing in one way and a pain because there isn't much night life. The food here is very different from what we have been eating - lots of pasta and seafood and cakes. We are spoiling ourselves, which is nice after the whirlwind last 2 weeks with the family. Tomorrow we are heading to Mumbai to send Jeff home. From there I will meet up with Kevin and Lori again and head further south. That's all for now, keep the comments coming!
Love, Jo