the breakfast was sufficient with some Indian food like puri, rice and the basic bread and butter..
Our driver met us punctually at 9am and we set off for Ellora caves, another UNESCO world heritage site that contains caves of Buddhism, Hinduism, Jains.
at the entry of Ellora caves
Family who were so excited and earnest to take photos of us together with them that they gave us a photo, as souvenir..sweet!
There are 34 caves in total. That day's weather was slightly better, with more breeze though it's still hot wind.. We 1st covered Cave 16, which was a Kailash Temple.
background on cave 16
.and it was this place where we faced the most number of people, wanting to take photographs with us..not something you get to experience in every trip..one thing to note, if you have minimal time at Ellora, just visit Cave 16.It's the highlight!
The people were spontaneous and friendly in general..apparently people from all parts of India have come by during their holidays to visit the caves..with big families..and they can withstand the weather..most of them we saw did not seem to sweat nor drink buckets of water like us..haha
photoshoot!
Boys peering out
The sculptures at Cave 16
P
This is my favourite pic of the trip. These 2 brothers..the elder brother came to..shook my hand..saying welcome to india..and he greeted me with his wide smile..telling me his name and his younger bro's name..and saying they will like to take a picture with me...i was heartened by their warm welcome!
We explored from one cave to another..fortunately there are descriptions at each cave to describe the history and the purpose of each cave..
trying to snap me back while I was snapping at them!
beautiful mother and child
pictureque among the caves, projecting to the exterior
look at how dry it is there!
cute boy
beautiful sisters
souvenir
As expected, the weather was hot and dry by the time it was noon time..and we finished the caves after about 4h..before leaving to Daulatabad Fort.At this Fort, we saw the magnificient towers, the cannons, and the red tower..The fort is located at a distance of 15 km northwest of Aurangabad.
The stones
The red fort
the cute squirrel
After the fort, we left for the tomb of Aurangzeb. We met with a guy, who was blind, that recited some words while we paid respect at the tomb. The vicnity around the tomb consisted of a mosque. and had a serene and peaceful feeling. We also saw a couple of mango trees over there, clearly signifying the festival of Mangoes in the month of May.
mango tree!
ice kachang, anyone?
Then, we made our way to Bibi-ka-Maqbara, or better known as the Poor Man's Taj.It has close resemblance to the actual Taj Mahal located at New Delhi.It was originally built to challenge the Taj Mahal but it was done so with a very limited budget, hence known as Poor Man's Taj. At the time when we reached this face, strong wind and dark clouds almost blew us away..fortunately it stopped after 20mins, and we were able to capture beautiful shots of the reflection of the Bibi in the pond..amazing!
Poor Man's Taj
The reflection
The cloudy sky(rare occurence)
Photoshoot again!we were really bombarded by them!
Portrait Boy
After some photoshoot with everyone and anyone who wanna take a picture with us, we left Bibi and stopped by a waterwheel..which isnt a tourist attraction to us, and it looked very desolate..just an empty shell with water flowing down..we requested to go for some shopping but our driver brought us to a silk shop, which sold their scarfs at exhorbitant prices!...oh well..talking about language barrier and tourist trap..
Peeping out at me!
we paid payment at Saibaba Travel office, and driver drove us back to hotel..before we went shopping around at Big Bazzar again!..this time, I got myself a Levis authentic jeans for just SGD30! beat that..i regret not buying more in fact haha...well...go India..go buy Levis jeans..you wont regret!
is time to pack up and prepare ourselves for Mumbai tomorrow!
