3 AC to Bhopal

Not sure we have travelled 3 AC on the Indian Rail system before. It is slightly more crowded and in your face than 2 AC which we usually opt for. On the starboard side of the coach there are two single berths  and on the port side there are two benches seating six people, three facing three. The seats fold up creating three berths on each side. You get a sheet a ratty flannel blanket and a clean pillow. No curtains so no opportunity to snuggle with your partner even if both of you could fit on the berth.
To get our tickets we had to line up outside the reservations office and apply for certain tickets they allocate for foreigners or tourists. You can buy your tickets online but after three days i am still trying to penetrate and register on the irtc website.
Our journey was spicened up by three tavelling business men who were on their way to Delhi. They were a load of fun continuously cracking jokes, usually at our expense. We covered all the conversational topics, weather, no kids! Sorry, cost of things in Canada, do we like India? Do we like the food. To top it off we showed them pictures of the Yukon. They seemed most interested in the pictures of our house.
Then the snacks came out, various packets of junk food and snacks and biscuits and then some puri type of thing with potato stuffing.
Every time they pulled out some more food we strenously resisted and this was greeted with howls of laughter. I think the general consensus was that we were underfed.
Anyways thanks to gmaps and data we stumbled off the train in Bhopal at one in the morning grabbed a tuk tuk and arrived at our hotel.

Ajanta Caves

To get to Ajanta was a three hour shared taxi trip over a mostly under construction road. It was worth the trip. The temples are carved out of the basalt canyon walls in a steep bend of the river canyon. It is all bhuddhist temples. It's main claim to fame is the surviving paintings on the walls and ceilings. It was a little congested but that is India.

UTTAPA SPECIAL

Sort of a pancake thing with onions tomatoes cashews and coconut. Served with a hot coconut and tomato sauce. This was our breakfast along with an upma which we forgot to photograph before we gobbled it down. Anyways it is made of semolina with nuts and fruits and spices. All of it very tastey.

Ellora Cave Temple Complex

Taking a local bus there was a breeze and only cost 40 ir . 40ir is the entrance fee for locals. Foreigners get charged 600 or 12 can.
It is well worth the price. The caves were created 800 to 1200 years bc. It took 603 zillion workers two hundred years to hack these temples out of the rock. They are mostly Hindu temples but there are also Jain and Bhuddhist temples. My chief takeaway was that Hindu goddesses all have breasts, sized and shaped like a grade A cantaloupes.
I think tomorrow we are off to some more caves.

Last Mumbai

The best thing we did in Mumbai was to go the Sassoon fish docks. It was a spectacle of sight smell and sound.

More bad Mumbai Pics

Wedding Party

Mouth Freshener

More Mumbai

Mumbai Night Life

By accident we ran into our potential guide who is Nepaleze but has  been  in Mumbai for about twenty years. His friend is Indian and runs a catering business. Anyways we headed to this barrister's bar where Yammy was t

he only female and we drank too much beer and ate vindi masala and the best Dahl baht I have tasted.

Mumbai

Another delayed and missed flight resulting in a late arrival 0130 hr at our seedy but expensive hotel (48 can ).
But we are here and only a block from the garbage filled ocean. Great masala dosas this morning for breakfast.

Taj Majal hotel where Pakistani terrorists slaughtered 200 people in 2008

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