Holi Cow

When I started making some notes a few days ago for this blog, it was going to be primarily focused on our 3 day stay in Aurangabad which will be one of our trip highlights. We have since had an even more exciting adventure....more on that later.

Aurangabad was our base for day trips to the Ellora and Ajanta Caves which were 30 and 100 km's respectively, away from Aurangabad. These ancient temple caves were amazing to see, all carved out of rock, some going way back to the 2nd century B.C.   Both have been declared World Heritage sites. We visited the Ellora Caves first, all 34 of them (temples, monasteries, chapels) chipped out of the rock face by Buddhist, Hindu and Jain monks. Most of them were completed by starting at the top and working their way down so that scaffolding was never required. The Kailasa Temple was the grandest of all, involving 7,000 labourers over a 150 year period to complete during the 7th and 8th centuries. It was brilliant planning and awesome to experience. The next day we travelled to Ajanta to see 30 Buddhist caves that were even older than those in Ellora, a few of them dating back to 200 B.C.  These masterpieces were built along a 2 km horseshoe-shaped escarpment with a gentle slope allowing for courtyards in front of many of the cave shrines. Besides the impressive rock carvings, there were frescoes in some of the caves. Although many of the painted wall stories are in rough shape, the fact that they remain after all these years is incredible (no doubt assisted by protection from the weather) and of great heritage value to India. We were certainly glad that we included this area as part of our journey.

After exploring the caves we made another diversion from our originally planned route, this time heading to Udaipur which we had received good reports on from other travellers ("a nice relaxing place beside a natural lake encircled by 500 temples and palaces"). The journey was long....3 trains and a 'bat-out-of-hell' bus ride over 2 days......but there was a special, unexpected surprise waiting for us when we arrived in Udaipur.......the Holi Festival, one of India's main events of the year. Holi is celebrated when the first full moon appears in March, and our timing worked out perfectly, albeit by luck. We stayed at a fabulous guest house and after arriving in the afternoon, the gracious and helpful owner (Akshay) told us to get ready for a party. That evening was the festival kick-off and we were directed to the town centre, only a couple hundred metres away, where we melded in with the large crowd to watch two hours of singing and dancing, followed by a large bonfire and fireworks. The bonfire, one of many that occurred that night, was a reflection of the Hindu legend whereby an evil aunt (Holika) tried to trick the king's son into being burned to death on a pyre. Vishnu (one of the primary Hindu gods) intervened, shifting the fire-retardant cloak from the aunt to the son, so that Holika ended up burning to death. The bonfires that occurred that night signify the victory of good over evil, along with the arrival of spring (the end of that evil winter season I suppose). It was a fun evening but the next day was even better. The first official day of Holi involves the transfer of chalky coloured powders with one another. We were warned by our host to wear clothes that we were least fond of, which turned out to be good advice. Even before leaving the guest house property we were adorned by some of the family, a mild preparation for what was ahead. As we walked down the street we were greeted by complete strangers, wishing us a "Happy Holi" and then adding some colour to our lives, sometimes followed by a quick hug which guaranteed that their tye-dyed looking clothing rubbed off on us and vice versa. It was all in good fun and reminded us of the Songkran water festival we encountered in Thailand, which over the years has turned into a massive water gun fight. Upon our return to the guest house we went directly into the shower with all of our clothes on in a fruitless attempt to remove the colourful stains. We didn't venture out of our room again until 7 pm that evening when we were advised that the streets would be safe again. Surprisingly, it seemed like the whole city had a shower as all of the roads had been washed, removing the powders that adorned the pavement during the day. It turned out to be a day that we will remember for a long time.

Yesterday, the city returned to normal other than several short parades and more fireworks in the evening. We toured the City Palace, which was built in the 1500's and expanded over the next 400 years by each successive Maharaja. It is now a massive structure built on a hilltop next to Lake Pichola offering great views of the lake and city, and an impressive collection of works including a large crystal gallery. We also walked around the market area, watched a cultural dance and music performance, and had dinner that evening at a rooftop restaurant overlooking the lake and the lit-up island palaces and temples. Today we did some more walking, this time climbing up and down Sunset Point (rather than taking the cable car) which led to a hilltop temple and more great views. After that we ventured over to pretty Fountain Gardens and finished the day off with a one hour boat cruise on the lake. We will be sad to leave this lovely spot and the wonderful family that run the guest house but we will depart with some great memories.

Tomorrow morning we leave this lovely spot, taking an early morning train to Jaipur (more palaces and lovely gardens) where we will spend a few days.

Ellora Caves - the path out front of the caves has been built for the tourists, 1500 years ago they had to do a bit more work to access the temples, not to mention the effort required to cut into the rock to create them in the first place.

Just a small sample of the incredible rock carvings completed after they cut into the rock wall to create the cave.

Ajanta Caves - another impressive Buddhist cave.

Another  picture from Ajanta. This time they added a second story window allowing for more light to shine into the cave.

Udaipur - the Holi Festival kick-off with a bonfire, preceded by singing and dancing in the city centre where a short time ago motorcycles were still trying to navigate their way through the crowds.

We found a spot on the temple steps where we could watch the mayhem below.....but the steps were crowded with others of the same mind and we became targets for others, including frequent balloons filled with coloured water that were aimed our way.

Arriving back to our guest house. Take a good look at these clothes, you will never see them again.

The City Palace - lit up every evening.

The busy market area in Udaipur. It may look pedestrian-friendly but cars, motorcycles, tuk tuks and even cows roamed the streets so you had to pay attention to your rear-view mirror all the time.

As we walked back down the hill from Sunset Point we were amused to see pack mules carrying bricks up to the summit where some restoration work was going on at the temple. In North America they would have taken advantage of the cable car going to the top even if it had to be done during non-tourist hours.