Sunrise in Pune, sunset in Aurangabad

From pollution to pure air we went. Left at 5 am and luckily beat the traffic so our trip was only 4 hours. Checked into hotel early and then drove another 2 hours to the caves of Ajunta. The Ajunta caves were built by Buddhist monks who had to flee from the Brahmans to avoid persecution. The caves have paintings and carvings. There were over 26 caves. The 26th cave has a reclining Buddha it's very special.

The process of getting to the caves is interesting. Our guide described the first part as a shopping maul. We were greeted by vendors who told us their name and stall number for when we were done at the caves. We met some silver monkeys while waiting for the bus. Thank goodness we had a guide, it was like having a fast past at Disney World. We got on the bus to go up to the caves where we were greeted by more people selling their wares. It's very hard to convince them you are not interested.

Now to the actual cave experience. The pictures don't really do it justice. The energy was amazing. At one point Jean and Maria went into a monks carved out cell and chanted Om with a Tibetan woman. It was a priceless moment. There were many Tibetan people, they prayed to every Buddha there, and there were a lot! We had a wonderful porter who watched our shoes and guided us down to the bottom. We gave him twice what he asked ($8).then back on the bus, the smells were a bit overwhelming. We had a lunch/dinner at a roadside restaurant that our guide assured us had fresh food. It was probably the best chai we had on the trip. The food was excellent too.

Today is our last day. We're headed to the Ellora Caves. We will have a little time to freshen up and write one last time before we start heading home. Namaste.