Jim & Happy : Drive from Khajuraho to Varanasi 25 April (ANZAC day)

Yesterday’s road trip from Khajuraho to Varanasi was another long one, 8 hours. The roads were generally in an okay state but there seemed to be a constant parade of pedestrian traffic either hanging by the side of the road or trying to cross it. Unnerving at times, you think they are going to be run over.

Deepak has a good sense of humor he said yesterday the game Zombie Highway could be renamed the MP/UP Highway. MP for Madhya Pradesh and UP for Uttar Pradesh, the two states we drove through. Khajuraho is in MP and Varanasi is in UP. The object of the game is to gain the highest score possible while driving your car along the highway with zombies jumping out at you. You are given guns of various calibre to help you gain more power hence kill more zombies and go up a level. Deepak is hooked. He is on a higher level than Jim and JC now. What do you expect, he did stay up till midnight the other night playing.

The road we travelled from Khajuraho to Varanasi is not widely used by tourists. Apparently most tourists either fly around the states or catch the train. I can understand it after travelling these roads it would be a shame to miss the countryside, the villages and village life that you get to see by driving and also the interesting food stops. Deepak, at times has trouble finding a restaurant for us to eat at. Like I said because these roads are not widely used by tourists there aren’t what Deepak refers to as ‘clean’ restaurants for us but yesterday we took a chance at a truck stop. What a surprise! The dahl and roti were fantastic, some of the best we’ve had. The roti was being rolled in front of us, cooked and put on our plates puffed up and steaming hot. I asked for dahl - not spicy please, it was really good with fresh coriander and mustard seeds. I still left a little pile of green chillies on the side of my plate though. Jim had coke and chips, he is always a tad reluctant to eat at roadside places and his tummy is still settling. The meal of coke, chips, water, 6 roti, 2 dahl and 2 chai (tea) was 165 rps ($3). What a bargain! We were so lucky to stop at a place with such good cooks and fresh produce. We would normally pay between $8 and $10 at a tourist stop. I must say whatever amounts we have paid for food it has always tasted good. It is just luck of draw if you end up with a funny tummy or not.

It is Friday(26th) morning 9.19 am, we were up this morning at 4.30 am to go to the Ghats at sunrise. My eyes are burning writing this so I think I’ll have a little lie down and post a blog about the Ghats in a little while. Until then it is nice to be sharing our experiences with you again.