09/01/2012

After failing to realise the strength of Indian beer the night before I woke up with a mother of all hangovers this morning and as a result we got down late for breakfast again, which meant it was hard to get anything substantial to eat before the buffet closed. Claire was grand and cheerful and I designated her the manager of the day as my head/soul simply wasn't for it...
We checked out of the hotel at 11:30 and found a really nice cab driver in the back of the taxi rank due to the one in front not wanting such a short fare. Our driver turned out to be a wealth of information so we got some last-minute oooh'ing and aaah'ing in while he was telling us the history of infrastructure and British rule of some of the sites and buildings we passed on the way to the train station
We arrived at Mumbai CST nearly 2 hours before our train was due to depart and were somewhat scammed by a registered baggage carrier who insisted that his fee for helping us out on/off over 2 hours was R.200. I ended up having to give him R.150 before he left us alone. The journey itself was uneventful but we did see some nice scenery on the way; a lot of mountainous and lush areas all intermixed. When we arrived at Aurangabad train station we were immediately met by a driver who "turned out" to be running a tourist cab service but his fees for 2 days of sightseeing all major sites including Lonar crater, Ajanta caves, Elllora caves etc seemed quite reasonable and we ended up booking him. Hotel Panchavati in Aurangabad was a bit of a disaster, a moderately dirty room with a dysfunctional A/C and a stinky toilet but thankfully at least there was a big fan in the ceiling and the hot water was OK. We ended up having "room service" food as their restaurant was busy, it was 21:30 and we were too tired to go out; food at least was OK too. This hotel is definitely below the standards we will strive for on our future endeavors. This is the second time that the Lonely Planet let us down as it stated that the hotel was much improved

Notes: - Use trip advisor carefully and do not rely on everything that the Lonely Planet says, do your own independent research. - Baggage handlers at train stations are good for quick information but carry your own luggage and you can save yourself a small fortune.