JALGAON

                  Tel Area Coad: 0257

                  Jalgoan is on the main railway line from Mumbai to the country's northeast.  It can make a convenient overnight stop en route to the Ajanta caves, 60km to the south.

                  Paces to Stay

                  The three railway retiring rooms are good value at Rs 50/150 per person without/with air-con.

                  Hotel Plaza (ph. 227354), about 150m up from the railway station on the left-hand side, is one of several cheap hotels in Station Rd and is the best budget choice.  It has spotless rooms with white tiled floors, attached bath and TV for Rs 125/180; extra beds are Rs 60.  The manager is friendly and helpful.

                  Hotel Tourist Resort (ph. 226192) is on Nehru Chowk, up Station Rd and to the right, in all about 300m from the railway station.  Room range from Rs 175/200  to Rs 265/300 or Rs 415/450 with air-con, all with attached bathroom.

                  Padmalaya Rest House, just behind the Hotel Tourist Resort, has simple rooms for Rs 100 per person but it's often full.

                  Hotel Galaxy (ph 23578), next to the bus station, about one km from the railway station, has rooms with TV for Rs 150/250 and air-con doubles for Rs 450.

  Getting there & Away

                  Several trains between Mumbai and Delhi or Calcutta Stop briefly in Jalgaon.  The trip to Mumbai (eight Hours,420km) costs Rs 119/410 in 2^nd 1^st class.

                    From Jalgaon there are frequent buses to Fardapur (Rs 20, 1 1/2 hours), some of which continue to Ajanta and bus stations are about one km apart, an Rs 6 auto - rickshaw ride.  There are plenty of luxury bus offices in Station Rd, leading out of the railway station.

                  LONAR METEORITE CRATER

                  At the small village of Lonar, three hours by bus north-east of Jalna or 4 1/2 hours south-east of Ajanta, is a hugemeteorite crater, Believed to be about 40,000 years old, the crater is two km in diameter and several hundred meters deep, with a shallow lake at the town states that it is the only natural hypervelocity impact crater in basaltic rock in the world'.

                   There are several Hindu temples on the crater floor, and langur monkey's peacocks and gazelles inhabit the bushes by the lake.  The crater is only about five minutes walk from the bus stand-ask for directions to Lonar Tank.

                    It's possible to visit Lonar in a day en route between Fardapur and Aurangabad, but this would be rushing things.

                  
The MTDC Hotel at the rim of the crater, about one-km from the village, has two basic rooms for Rs 50 hour journey toFardapur.  Heading south from Lonar there are direct buses to Jalan, from where there are trains and buses to Aurangabad, a total journey of about five hours.  Heading south from Lonar there are direct buses to Jalna, from where there are trains and buses to Aurangabad, a total journey of about five hours.