Making the most of Maharashtra!

Over the last few weeks which are my last few weeks of living in India I have been on a mission to see and experience as much as I can, in fairly close proximity to Pune. I mean, we went to to Mumbai just for lunch yesterday (WELL worth the 7 hour round trip!). 

I thought I would share with you some of my experiences!

First up, Sula Vineyard.  Now, as I have mentioned previously, being in India and being a wine lover I have had to learn to love Sula wine. I am a huge fan of Sula Brut (very similar to Cava or prosecco) so when I discovered that Sula had vineyards and a resort close by, I nagged at my husband to take me! We went and stayed at the Beyond resort, in Nasik, with our good friends Micky and Liszel. It took us about 5 hours to drive there from Pune.  The resort was beautiful, absolutely stunning views, and gorgeous rooms.  The rooms were all named after different wines, the only booze in the mini bar was wine and there were wine based souvenirs on offer everywhere, from lanterns to ashtrays made from wine bottles! We did the complimentary tour and wine tasting at the vineyard, I was quite disappointed that the vineyard was 3km from the resort, down a dark country lane, and there was no taxi service available, and as it is in the middle of nowhere, no autos either which I think encourages drink driving. Anyway, we managed to bribe a guy to take us! The vineyard tour was a bit rushed but interesting. We had a fab stay, although the food was nothing amazing! We had far too much wine but the beautiful scenery soon made us forget our hangovers the next day! You can read my trip advisor review here: http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g303883-d2070882-r164155033-Beyond_Vineyard_Resort-Nashik_Maharashtra.html#CHECK_RATES_CONT

Here are some snaps of our weekend at Sula:

The weekend after Sula, we decided to go to Lonavala to visit the Karla and Bhaja caves.  Lonavala is a hill station between Mumbai and Pune. Lonely Planet says the town isn't really a nice place to visit but the caves are awesome.  As a devotee of LP (my India guide has been like a bible) we took their advice and headed straight for the caves. WOW. we were not disappointed. The main cave at Karla is an incredible sight, almost 2000 year old Buddhist cave. Now, I have been to the Taj Mahal 5, yes, FIVE times and while it is an incredible structure, and very beautiful, I was shocked that these caves have been kept so quiet. An absolute must for anyone staying in Maharashtra. We went during the rainy season so the views were awesome, everything is such a bright chlorophyll green at the moment, and there is no shortage of pretty waterfalls! There is a bit of a steep uphill climb at both caves, but you won't be disappointed when you reach the top! 

After the amazing caves at Lonavala, we wanted more! I had read about Ajanta and Ellora caves (no prizes for guessing where!) so we set off for a weekend of exploring. We drove to Ajanta, which was about 6 hours from Pune. Again, WOW! There were so many caves, buddhist caves, built again 2000 years ago. Some had beautiful carvings, some had amazing paintings too. This was even more incredible than Karla and Bhaja! You need to give yourself a good few hours to visit as it is a pretty large site and there is a lot to see.  We were persuaded to pay a guy 200rs to come with us and watch our shoes (you have to remove them to enter the caves) but I don't really think anyone would have stolen them so we didn't really need him, although he was pretty knowledgeable so served as a guide, though he didn't speak english. We left Ajanta after a lovely meal at the government run canteen, and drove to Ellora where we stayed at Hotel Kailas which claims to be a boutique hotel.... I wouldn't go that far although the grasshoppers and bugs in our room may disagree, but it was fine for one night and was nice and close to Ellora caves, as in, you could see the caves from the hotel. It was a nice surprise to see a group of Langur monkeys outside our room before breakfast! Ellora caves were even more incredible than Ajanta.  There are Buddhist, Jain and Hindu caves in the same complex. Cave number 16 opened out to a massive Hindu temple complex, this was stunning, beautiful, fascinating! The workmanship was amazing, it was like something out of Tomb Raider or Indiana Jones. The history was just awesome, and I would highly recommend it to anyone visiting India.

The following weekend we went to Mulshi with our colleagues where we stayed at the Green Gate Resort.  A beautiful resort, we even had a Jacuzzi in our room! Sadly the hot water didn't stay on long enough to fill it properly! Mulshi is about an hour from Pune and a beautiful place to go and relax in the Western Ghats, check out my photos!

The sights I have seen over the last few weeks have been amazing and just a lovely way to spend my last few weekends.  Thank you Maharashtra, and India! It's been amazing!

Here you go, proof of my five Taj visits!

Baby Fever

Well it has certainly been an exciting couple of days in the UK, and I for one am absolutely overjoyed at the news of the latest addition to the royal family! I was awake late last night waiting to hear all the details of the new royal and got completely swept up in it! And then I went on facebook.

What is wrong with the Great British public? So many people were complaining, "It's just a baby" "who cares?" I've seen tweets insinuating your life is quite empty if you are obsessed about the future heirs name, jeez guys, cheer up!!! He isn't JUST a baby, he is a future King, and kind of a big deal. No baby is JUST a baby, they are the whole world to it's parents.  I hope to start a family in a few years, and I hope for a healthy kid too just like Wills and Kate, and I would be livid if anyone described my offspring as JUST a baby, I'd probably go for them if my hormones were a raging (be warned)!

I think yesterdays events were wonderful for our country, our royal family are something to be extremely proud of. I can understand people not being happy our taxes go towards their upkeep but the amount they do for charity, and for our country is incredible.  Great Britain is a tiny island, compare it to the US, Australia, India, China and it is pathetically small, yet so well known.  Here in India, everyone knows about the royal baby, and all over the world people know about England and our royal family. 

Seeing images in the media of people celebrating made me immensely proud to be a brit, and have a country which unites and comes together to celebrate times like this.... Well most of us!

Anyhow, if a royal baby wasn't enough, the miserable folk on that tiny island had plenty more to complain about over the last week as the temperature soared to dizzy heights of... Erm, 32 degrees.... So many people complained they couldn't sleep, it was too hot. I'd bloody love for them to come and stay here in the summer, with the frequent power cuts its a true delight trying to sleep with no fan or AC in 40+ degrees.  I heard it started raining last night, brilliant, I thought, cool them down a bit.... Nope! Now everyone is complaining they couldn't sleep because of the scary thunder.

Wasn't it just a few weeks ago everyone complained that there was never going to be a summer, winter was never going to end? You can't control the weather so why even bother wasting your energy moaning about it? 

Living in India has shown me how people embrace the seasons, when it rains people go crazy with excitement - more of that in the UK please!

Another bugbear of mine at the moment is friends with kids moaning on facebook, a friends little girl chopped her hair off the other day so she posted it on FB, absolutely traumatised, I couldn't help but comment, at least she's happy and healthy!!! Another was going mad as she couldn't find an ipod that was just perfect for her little princess about to turn 6.... A lot of kids here live in such poverty they'd be happy with a rubber ball for their birthdays!

Seeing the way people live here, focusing on looking after one another and being happy and healthy and embracing life has really changed me, I just hope the grumpy bums in the UK don't suck it out of me when I move back!