We've been on the move and having some problems getting the images to the blog, so our text has been incomplete. If you refer back to the maps, we are more or less following the plan, having taken the sleeper train from Mumbai to Ajanta to see the caves with the 2000 yo paintings, then to Ellora for the most impressive cave complex, including the Kailash temple carved from one monolith - largest such structure in the world. We spent a night in Aurangabad near Ellora and the next day climbed to the top of Fort Daulatabad (we spell it differently each time) where Dana set off a mini-riot by doing the hokey pokey with some school kids. The Fort is at the top of a small mountain and is famous for having been the place where a Moghul king moved the whole kingdom from Delhi, then changed his mind and moved it back. We has some time to kill at Aur, so we hung out at a hotel with a pool and some neat birds. Last night we took a sleeper bus back to Mumbai and today hung around here getting ready to take a sleeper train to Goa tonight. Spent the afternoon at a hotel pool.
Noteworthy so far is that everything is so dang cheap we find ourselves pondering over the spending of amounts that turn out to be less than $1. There are few tourists so that we encounter lots of space everywhere. The downside is that the hawkers have only us to work on and they're desperate.
The media here is happy about the critical success of Slum Dog Millionaire, calling it a British film set in India, although there is controversy over the wisdom of showing its negative side.
Finally, I have never, ever encountered such a wonderful mix of friendliness and politeness, anywhere.
Roger
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