Sunrise on the River Ganges 26 April

Deepak and Jyoti, our local guide met us at 5am at our hotel – Hotel Surya.

We were off to see the sunrise and the pilgrims praying (from a boat) on the River Ganges. 

Jim commented that there was still traffic at that time of day.  I said it is a bit like the tradies’ traffic in Sydney that starts at 6am, an equivalent of sorts.  It was so nice to have our own space (rare in India) when walking the narrow alleyways down to the Ganges. 

The Ganges was everything we thought it would be.  Wide, dirty, polluted but magical.  It had a calm and peaceful feeling to it even if there was the odd tout (salesperson) around at 5.30am trying to sell you postcards and bindi tikka (what the Hindu woman wear - signifies marriage).  

It didn’t take long for more boats to fill up the river.  Once again we are lucky we are travelling in the summer months, the off-season for tourists.  I would hate to be here in peak season.

We did buy a puja (offering) to place in the water of Mother Ganga (the river).

Watching the oarsman take a drink from the river Jim’s comment was “I would rather clean my teeth with poo”.  Well, he almost did.  He moved from one side of the boat to the other and the boat over balanced.  We all got a fright.  The oarsman gave us a toothy grin.

After the boat ride we walked through the maze of activity in the narrow alleyways.  Locals, pilgrims and tourists all on their way to somewhere and doing something. 

We were back at the hotel for breakfast by 8.30am and a rest before meeting Jyoti again at 1pm.

5.30am arrival at the Ghats

Salespeople even on the Ganges - is nothing sacred

Our pujas floating away

Jyoti and I

Pilgrims 

More pilgrims

Cremation Ghats

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. 

Leaving Khajuraho, driving through the nature reserve

Jim visiting the ATM (yet again) so much easier than travellers cheques

MP countryside - harvest time

The village well, normally situated right on the road side

MP rural village housing 

Driving into UP 

Khajuraho sightseeing Wed 24 April

Khajuraho is a large village/small town with a population of 18,000.  Mukesh, the local guide was proud to say his small town has small problems.  Sanjay the guide at Orchha said a similar thing.  They are very proud of their small villages.  Indians in general love their country and are a very proud race.  It seems we are the only ones that see the rubbish and pollution. 

Anyway, I digress Khajuraho is a world heritage site with temples dating back to 950-1050 AD.  The temples were built by the Chandela dynasty over a hundred-year period.  Originally there were 85 in total with many lakes.  Today there are 22 remaining with only 2 lakes.  The temples were re-discovered in the early 20^th century, cleaned and restored.  Apparently due to the location of Khajuraho being difficult to get to, this is the reason the temples were saved from being desecrated over the centuries.  End of history lesson, just wanted to let you know the background because the place is interesting.

Mukesh showed us the Eastern area, then walked with us through the old village and ended with a tour of the Western area.  We used an audio tour for the Western area because it is so large, took 2.5 hours to walk around.  Khajuraho is renown for the erotic carvings on the temples and there are many but they only account for 10% of the carvings but make for a good Karma Sutra story.  I haven't included any erotic temple photos per se but if you look close enough you might see something.

For dinner we went to a Italian (organic) restaurant for wood fired pizza, couldn't resist.  Every day at least one meal we eat Indian fare so when we see something more to our norm we are tempted.  Jim and I enjoyed ours, Deepak ordered vegetable fried rice.  Deepak had one piece of Jim's Tropicana pizza (chicken and pineapple - no ham in India) he said "tastes like roti" (Indian bread cooked in the tandoor - clay oven).  It did actually but yummy all the same.

 

You have to look closely (you may need to enlarge the photo)

Orchha to Khajuraho Tuesday 23 April

Woke up to rain showers this morning.  It was nice to see rain puddles on the river and smell the perfume of the gardens.  It didn’t last long though as the heat soon followed. 

The drive to Khajuraho was 4 hours and uneventful, which is a good thing to say when you’re travelling on the roads in India.  

Jim and I swapped seats, he had a funny tummy (must have been the chicken noodles he had last night) so was feeling flat and wanted to lie down on the back seat.  I couldn’t say no could I to a sickie even though I wanted to.  I am happier in the back watching the chaos from there. 

Our accommodation this road trip is more up market, which is lovely because the décor is grander and the beds are bigger and softer but at the same time they can be impersonal.  I prefer the smaller places.  They have more character.  We are staying at the Usha Bundela Hotel.

Last night I saw traditional dancers.  Jim was still feeling flat so I went alone.  

Mukesh, the local tour operator offered to take me on his motorbike.  I was tempted but then I thought I should be sensible and say no.  I have read about too many road accidents in the local paper.  Deepak drove me in the car instead. 

It was a community show.  All young dancers, 12 in total, some better than others.  The costumes were bright and colourful.  It made me laugh because there was a bit of talking behind the curtains during the acts and before each dance there was a puff of smoke on the stage for ambiance, didn't really go with an Indian cultural dance performance.   They performed 8 dances from different parts of India.

Below photos are of the hotel foyer.

Orchha Monday 22 April

Oh no you groan!  Not more temples and forts, you sound like Jim.  Afraid so, Orchha and Khajuraho are temple towns.  Lucky for you we missed Gwalior Fort yesterday because Deepak was worried about driving on that hideous highway in the dark so we viewed it in passing and kept driving.  Which is a good thing because reading up on the fort this afternoon, there was a steep climb so neither Jim nor Deepak would want that.  I am out numbered when it comes to walking and climbing with those two. 

Orchha is a small town of 6000.  Has a relaxed feel to it and appears very clean, not sure where they are hiding all their rubbish.  It is not on the side of the road like other towns and villages.  This morning looking out over the river from our back balcony it felt cool and light such a change to hot and humid Kovalam.  It has been a warm day but not at all hot like down south.  I think we will get a shock by the time we reach Varanasi in three days as the temperature there has been 39. 

For sight seeing today we agreed to a guide ‘Sanjay’ to show us around the temples and cenotaphs of Orchha.  They were wide spread and we didn’t’ want to miss anything and he was standing beside Jim at the ticket box, so why not.  

The Jahangir Mahal was the most impressive.  It is 500 years old and well known for its architecture, a mix of Muslim and Hindu designs.   Some paintings and mosaics are in still intact.  The mosaics are blue for Muslim and green for Hindu  – same as the Pakistan cricket team wearing cricket and India wearing blue, according to Sanjay, coincidence ???

Sanjay was funny and entertaining.  “Oh my God sir, look there a vulture”.  He had many funny little stories.  He said his father had a saying “ Yesterday is past and not worth thinking about, tomorrow is a mystery and today is for being happy”.  I like that saying.

The sightseeing lasted 2.5 hours – our sort of sight seeing.  We came back to the hotel to spend the afternoon here as the gardens are beautiful and we were keen to walk down the river.  The hotel is owned by the grandson of Orchha’s last king.  That in itself is historical value but the hotel houses paintings and sculptures owned by the king.

One section of hotels garden

Entrance to hotel - Ambassador (64 yr vehicle),  needs to be wound up to move, both Jim and I had our first road trips in India 25 years ago in Ambassadors

Walkway to rooms at hotel

Raj Mahal with Jalangir Mahal in background

Jalangir Mahal

Back entrance of Jahangir Mahal

Notice the mosiacs - inside Jalangir Mahal

Deepak at the river doing his laundry

View from Jahangir Mahal

Zombie Highway

We met up with Deepak yesterday afternoon when we arrived back in Delhi.  It was nice to see his smiley face again.  We agreed to hit the road at 7am for our first day of our Varanasi road trip.  He said it will be a long day of driving.  He wasn’t wrong.  It was 10 hours in total.

The first 2 hours were on an expressway, very impressive but an accident waiting to happen.  I think some drivers thought they were on the autobahn.  Their slip-stream was pushing Deepak’s new pride and joy, his new (second hand) Suzuki Maruti nearly off the road. 

The next few hours were back to normal Indian highway driving dodging oncoming traffic, animals, people, any obstacle on the road.

After lunch, leaving Gwalior Deepak said he hadn’t travelled this way for 2 years but by memory the road was bad.  Once again he was right the road is in a state of disrepair.  It was disgraceful.  All due to corruption.  India has a terrible reputation for corruption within politics and this is a prime example.  Story goes this stretch of highway was started 2 years ago but never finished.  We passed bridges to nowhere, road depots were deserted, such a shame in a country where so many people need money just to eat.  The politician pocketed the money.  End of story.

We travelled for 3 hours on this road to Jhansi.  It was full of potholes of various sizes, broken bitumen, gravel or road base in others.  It was like a roller coaster ride.  We were getting thrown around.  I got the giggles because it was just too silly.  Cars, trucks, tuk tuks, motorbikes, push bikes, all the normal traffic was driving wherever they could just to stay on the road.  Jim said this is just like playing Zombie Highway and we both agreed that Deepak would be a natural at the game with his driving skills.

Jim, JC & Riju loved playing ‘Zombie Highway’ on the iPad together.  They were like naughty boys, laughing and distracting each other to make each other lose.  JC was the winner with the highest score.  It was hilarious to watch and listen to.

We eventually arrived at our accommodation which is lovely, the Bundelkhand Riverside in Orchha.  Jim couldn’t wait to show Deepak the game.  Now he loves it too and yes, he is a natural.  The last time I saw Deepak this evening he was showing the man on reception how to play.  

Unfortunately these photos don't show how bad the road really is

Farewell to Riju and JC

On our last night we had a farewell dinner with Riju and JC on the balcony outside our room.

We went to one of the local tourist restaurants and got take away chicken 65 (spicy coated & fried), fish tikka (cooked in the tandoor) rice, dahl and naan.  We gave Riju money to go and buy chicken for himself & JC at their local restaurant, the tourist restaurants don’t make it spicy enough for them.  We ask for food not spicy so you can imagine how hot they like it.

JC went home to his village near the Tamil Nadu border mid week and bought back bananas and mangoes for us.  He wanted to share what he has in his village with us.  Such a lovely thought.  

While we were waiting for Rackman to arrive to take us to the airport I was painting my toenails.  Jim and JC were playing Zombie Highway.  A game they have been playing against each other for weeks on the iPad,  JC notices what I am doing and asks if he can have a go.  What can I say!  It was like he was stirring a pot.  Then Riju wanted to have a go; he was actually quite good at it.  Luckily for me, Jim distracted them with another round of Zombie Highway so I could apply the second coat and try to cover the first coat. 

Our time in Kovalam has been made extra special with the friendships formed with Riju and JC (and the other locals we spoke to on a daily basis).  It was the same in Gulmarg whilst staying at the Grand Mumtaz.  The friendships formed with Altaf and Bilal especially.   Not to mention Deepak, whom we spent a month with earlier in our trip.  Making friends to share a laugh with has made our travels more special and memorable.

Farewell dinner

Gift from JC - he gave us twice this amount

The four of us

The toe nail polish exercise - look at my hands,  I was covering my horror and surprise