7.10.2007

In the suburbs of Mumbai (about 1 hour out) there is a national park in which there is a rocky, mossy hill that rises above the surrounding jungle-type vegitation. On this hill there are ~109 caves carved by buddhist monks in about 1000BC, called the Kanheri caves. The monks had no metal tools, so all the caves were build wih rock tools. They reminded me a bit of Petra (the 2000 year old city carved out of sandstone) in Jordan - one of the new 7 wonders of the world!
Water runs down through the middle of the community as you look up the hill. There was a bathroom/ washing area and other places where water was diverted using holes through or ruts carved into the stone.
Here is me with one of the cave statues...he has a few inches on me...
Past the realy tall statue is this inner temple..one can walk behind the pillars and one can see where all the oil lamps were usually placed.
lots of little wall carvings..it doesn't get much better than well-preserved, 3000 year old caves!We visited a second Jain temple near the national park. In this sect of Jainism, the priests are not allowed to wear any clothes at all!


Me at the Mumbai coast.
We dressed scandelously (spaghetti strap tank tops!), and headed out to a bar/dance club on Sunday night. When we arrived, we thought the club was closed because there was no one around, but it turns out we were just the only ones there. We had a good time on our own, getting to request anything we wanted form the DJ. After 1-2 hours, the bar was comfortably full. I am glad my team-mates are all so flexible and fun :)


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