Stay-cation

After Bijapur we were looking for a place to relax, breathe deep and see green. We arrived in Pune, headed over to the area that the Lonely Planet describes as the 'backpackers hub' and attempted to look for hostel. No such luck, as this area is saturated with people going to the Osho Meditation retreat (google it, its good for a giggle) and all of the rooms rivaled that of the 5 star hotels in kelowna. We decided that, as we hid in our room for two days in Bijapur and were therefore drastically under budget, that we would splurge and indulge for 2 nights.

and sweet mother of god was it good.

our room had hot water (24 hours a day, read it and weep cries the mother of all things good in traveling) a COMPLIMENTARY bar fridge, 24 hour room service, a living room, large screen TV and and and and - yes, a SOFT bed. We are coming to the realization that North Americans are the only people who sleep on soft beds, and the 2 fluffy pillows each, bodies cleaned & exfoliated with hot water, soft bed and terry cloth towels while drinking complimentary mini bar beverages was just what we needed. We decided that this was our christmas present and anniversary gift combined, and convinced ourselves that we didnt need to feel guilty for living like kings on our 'backpacking trip' - and you know what? As breakfast was complimentary, we only bought dinner for the two nights and ended up being just barely over our budget!


Pune was great, a bustling city that was full and fun to wander around in... our first true city experience here, and it was difficult to find an 'Indian' restaurant.... We have confirmed that the city is not at all what we are looking for in our travelling experience here, but we wanted to visit one and see this side of India.
aaand it was entertaining to listen to the Osho 'meditation retreat' dance to bumping remixed Beyonce trance at 9 am. :) Reaching enlightenment via mandatory HIV testing and $$$. Beauty.

Refreshed, refurbished, and renewed we are on our way to Aurangabad (by bus - sitting in the front, lesson learned check!) which will be our base for exploring the Ellora caves. (actually - time warp, we are currently here, but Amaris has been praying to the porcelain goddess from some unbeknown bacteria for the past 36 hours, an experience I have named the "Aurangabad Episode"... so tomorrow is our first day of adventuring.)

We will update when we've been exploring for a while.