Have become a shawlaholic... but truly enjoyed Aurangabad and the super cool caves in the area.

Towards the end of the TISS planned trip we took a night bus to Aurangabad. Where we were gonna be a little more touristy, but yet cultural. Aurangabad is in northen Maharashtra, and a pretty cool town. We visited various sights during our days there, the first one was the Daulatabad hilltop fortress that was more or less a well preserved ruin city. Really cool place. I was the only one though that desided to make it to the central bastion on the very top of the mountain.
Didn't think that it would be that bad when we were about half way up (or so I thought).
Climbing all those gazillion steps was for me a great accomplishment. Despite the fact that I was sweating like pig and breathed as if I was about to die, while numerous young Indians passed me bouncing up like mountain goats and smiling as it was the most normal thing to do. Not sure that I would have made that climb if I knew from the beginning how far up it really was. So many times when I thought that I only had a little bit left, there was even more ... again, and again, and again.

We also visited the Ellora caves, and the Ajanta caves. Ellora is world heritage listed and is basically consisting of a bunch of temples carved out 1000-1500 years ago by Buddhists, Jains, and Hindus. We only visited two of them (including the main cave), and it was an amazing place. It was like a smaller city being carved out from the rock. I felt like Indiana Jones walking in there.
The Ajanti caves were hidden for many years and is placed in a horse shoe shaped valley by a river in a smaller jungle. It was amazingly beautiful surroundings. The caves consisted even here of numerous temples, but with a different "design". I found a "secret" spot there where I could be by myself for a little while ...and ponder about life and it's mysteries ... but also feast upon the surroundings.

The salesmen at these caves were the most persistant that I had encountered so far. I felt like I was a walking sugar cube with flies flying after me. Not sure what type of anti-salesman spray Sebastian took, or where he got it, but it helped. They walked past him, and often even the others, in order to trying sell things to me.
I actually think that it has to do with me walking around with Indian style clothes, and thus signaling that I am an easy target and want to by more Indian things. The salesmen even kept knocking on the car window after I closed the door.

Bibi-Qa-Maqbara mausoleum was pretty impressive too. It was built by the son of the dude that built the Taj Mahal. Haven't been to the real one yet, but from what I could see, it had some basic similarities, but in a smaller scale.

We went shopping too... at a store where they make silc shawls (we visited a shawl place in Sholapur too btw). I have to admit that I got completely sold on these beautiful fabrics ..and pieces of art. I wont reveal how much money I spent on shawls ..and I urge any witnesses that read this to keep it a secret.
Well... maybe it's not a spectacular amount for some Westerners ... but for a straight, worker class boy, who is single and thinks that ice hockey is the greates sport ever, ..it was quiet an unexpected amount. I blame it on my artistic genes .. and appreciation of beauty. Plus... I bought many of them to give away as gifts... to my mother, others, and (...insert your name here if you're a potential future girlfriend of mine...).
Some of them I will just keep as decoration or just keep for the future. I might actually wear one of them myself though. One that looks manly enough. ...and yes .. I might actually try to sell atleast one of them on internet, and see if I can get a good prize for it. Seriously.. these are really, really nice.

The rest of the places that we visited were of various degrees of interest. But none could be compared to the ones mentioned. I'm really happy about the Aurangabad visit. ..the auto rickshaw ride our last night (to and from a restaurant) was a nice bonus. It was fun trying to fit in 5 passangers in a rickshaw that's meant for 3. Since I was the biggest, I had to sit in front and share seats with the driver holding my arm behind him. Since there's only one wheel in front, I was worried that it would tilt over in the curves. It all went well though. I have seen worse cases though ...I've seen 7-8 Indians crammed together in a auto rickshaw. Quiet amusing to see. :)