Day 4 – Aurangabad to Pune

So last night we ended up being ejected from a bar – because Renuka happens to be a woman! If only they knew how much money they lost (when we get together, we keep Smirnoff’s annual profits at an all time high!). So we then went to the hotel bar on the roof and could not get a gin and tonic for love nor money. The best they could offer was gin and lime juice. Yuk. We decided to leave the bar and get an early night. However I discovered that Renuka has a passion for playing cards (and Ren intercepting here - Michael’s competitive streak which I had never seen before suddenly came out…) so it was 2:30 before the lights went out!

The next morning we got up at 07:30 in order to get a 10am coach. Two and a half hours seemed a reasonable period to get to the bus station 5 minutes away but Renuka doesn’t like to be late.

The bus journey was a challenge. Six and a half hours on a bone shaker with nowhere to put our luggage. Renuka didn’t eat or drink for the 12 hours prior to the trip because she doesn’t do Indian service station toilets and there were no toilets on the bus. Actually there were no seats either!!!! I got it in the neck at the service station for not going Volvo luxury class – but that was a 06:00 bus start which would have meant a 3am get up time (see above for Renuka and getting places on time).

Arrived in Pune amidst language difficulties with the Rickshaw driver, which meant we ended up going to 3 different apartment complexes by mistake, we finally ended up at Renuka’s brothers (Neil’s) apartment. To get over the trauma of the bus journey, we settled down on the beanbags on the balcony with a couple (or five) of Kingfishers (beers, not birds!) and watched the sun set.

That evening we went to a new restaurant with Neil and Priya (Neil’s girlfriend) and had an excellent Pizza (the 1st non Indian meal on the holiday). We had a great laugh and went home to get a good nights sleep. Renuka’s mum had joined us by this stage.

The next day we met more of the Salvi clan and went to an ashram (a silent spiritual haven where people go to meditate and find inner peace) – we talked the whole way through and decided to leave after half an hour to go shopping (and then maybe have a beer or two…)

Need to go now as it’s 10pm and the Kingfishers are calling (not the birds)……. Next update from Mumbai tomorrow.