Ajantha & Ellora, Aurangabad, Maharastra, India

Dating from around 2nd century BC to 600 after C, these Buddhist, Hindu and Jain temples carved into the rock face are an incredible sight to behold. The surrounding countryside, verdant after the monsoon, is also breathtaking.

The journeys from Aurangabad were nerve racking to say the least. Swerving round corners, potholes, goats, buffalo and the occasional dog, I now had a daytime view of Indian roads and can’t quite work out how there are so many people still alive here. Overtaking is literally just driving into oncoming traffic. Ducking back into the lane, invariably behind a huge truck, at the last minute. I am so surprised my back coped. It was like being at Disneyland! On the plus side, the open windows meant that my skin is now beautifully exfoliated.

We passed through lovely countryside and ugly villages, street markets selling cloth, coconuts and vermillion-red custard fruits. One forgets that many people still live in one room mud huts, humbling to say the least. They also paint the horns of the bulls, whether simply for decoration or to denote ownership we could not quite make out. The effect is peculiar with some horns painted like flames or the Indian flag. The people I was travelling with could not understand why I was still so excited to see every animal that we passed and I am sure my running commentary of “oh look a baby goat!” etc; got wearing for all but me.

Arriving two hours later at Ajanta, the fun really started. To get to the buses that take you to the monument, they have built a ‘shopping plaza’ that you have to fight your way through, being offered all manner of crap – sorry but it is. Things to dust. Also the surrounding hills are filled with quartz and amethyst which are pressed upon you at every turn, they cannot understand that I might not want to hulk rocks around for months on end. “No” does not mean no. Yesterday at Ellora I ended up buying a ‘jade’ necklace (sometimes the guilt takes over) which I will never wear, so if that sounds like something you might like let me know.

Once at the bus depot, the scrum to get on board reminded me of people trying to flee war-torn areas. The fact that there were five more buses waiting was of no consequence and I felt I might be ripped limb from limb.

As with everything I have seen so far in India, there are not that many foreign tourists, so the domestic tourist market had flocked to Aurangabad for the Diwali and school holidays. They came to see the monuments just as we had, but another huge attraction for them, was us.

Families want to have their photos taken with you, and push a young child up to ask “please ma’am one photo?” Then everyone gathers around for this wonderful memory to take back to the village. This was mainly fine and even though we look red and sweaty, wearing what can only be described as pyjamas, they seemed very happy with the results. I am just happy they will never be seen on Nick’s flickr! Constant questions of your name, country, occupation and marital status are fired at you. It, actually, is not that annoying, but I did get cross with a group of 30 school boys who each wanted photos on their own cameras. Another woman called Lakshmi asked us how we kept our skin so soft and white!

The unbearable heat hampered my enjoyment of the amazing sites. Shade is thin on the ground in India and a hat is my next must-have purchase.

I have posted some pictures for you to see. They are fairly boring and can never do justice to what should be one of the wonders of the world.

Today is Friday and I can proudly claim one week in India. I take the sleeper train to Mumbai tonight and then to Goa on Sunday.