to palolem via the ancient caves of ajanta

9th-18th November 2011

To try something new and to take a break from the format employed in my previous posts, I thought it might be nice to put together a series of photographs documenting this leg of the trip. Next to each photo I'll also try to include a caption to give it more meaning. As I haven't posted here in awhile I'll give a quick summary of where my journey has taken me since the bodies at Mandu. After leaving town, along with Julien and Lilly, we undertook a two day marathon which saw us hopping on and off a variety of different government buses and sleeper coaches. So many in fact that for those two nights recliner seats and bus stop benches took the place of a proper bed. From Mandu we headed for Indore where we caught an overnight sleeper coach to Jalgaon (a jump off point where we spent the morning seeing the Ajanta caves) after which we departed for Aurangabad then a pit stop in Pune before finally climbing onto our final overnight sleeper arriving a little worse for wear in Palolem, Goa on the morning of the 9th. The following photographs therefore cover the caves and some of the things I saw in Palolem. 

AJANTA 

Originally a site where Buddhist monks established their monasteries, the Ajanta caves are a series of caverns which have been chiselled out of the basalt cliffs which line the river Waghora. The site is situated 58km south of Jalgaon in the state of Maharashtra.

The 28 caves contain paintings and sculptures which date back as early as the second century BC.

Parinirvarna (Siddhartha reclining on his deathbed)

 PALOLEM

Met this absolute joker called Jay from Birmingham who had  sacked off the UK and headed to Goa, surfboard in hand, to live for 5 months in Palolem getting to know the locals and learning to surf. Loved the Villa.

Palolem Bus Stand.

Palolem beach with its fleet of wooden outriggers which could be hired to do day trips out of the cove, visiting the surrounding beaches.

Goan Fishermen preparing the nets for a days fishing. At the end of the day  the fish would then be sold to the restaurant shacks which lined the beach. One night after selecting some fish we sat on the beach and watched our dinner get bbq'd after which we ate as the sun faded over the cove.