From Wednesday November 10, 2010
On our eighth day in India, we emerged from our quaint bungalows to find the staff of the Shri Krishna Jungle Resort setting up tables on the grassy compound lawn for a buffet breakfast. It was really a nice idea, dining al fresco in the cool, quiet Indian countryside. Unfortunately, they tried to fix us a western breakfast of scrambled eggs, toast and oatmeal. The eggs were OK but the Indian cooks didn't quite get how we eat oatmeal in the West, and served just that - oatmeal without the milk and sweeteners that make it edible to us. And someone forgot to tell them that toast is not just warmed bread and comes with things like butter and jam. I would have loved some of the delicious puri that I had learned to look forward to at breakfasts.
Our first stop of the day was a short tour of the Khajuraho Eastern Temple Group. This group was a Jain Temple complex with no erotic carvings and was not nearly as interesting as the temples we saw the previous day. There is a beautiful idol in one of the temples that we weren't supposed to photograph, but, hey, stuff happens. To see all the pictures from this stop, click here.
Our destination for the day was Jhansi, where we would catch an evening train to Agra, home of the Taj Mahal. But first we would stop in the town of Orchha. This turned out to be a highlight of our trip. We wandered into a festival celebrated by the followers of Lord Krishna on the fifth day following Diwali. The festival is dedicated to women, girls and children. On the road, we encountered hundreds of women of all ages heading into Orchha, most in wagons attached to farm tractors. They wore their best most colorful saris and that provided the most amazing, mesmerizing display of color. In town, everyone was in a most festive mood, women waving at us girls saying hi, waving and clamoring to get our photos as much as we were scrambling to get theirs - just a wonderful welcoming atmosphere.
The festivities included a ritual bath in the Betwa River.
Charlotte made a new friend.
We were all so caught up in the festival, we hardly noticed the Orchha Fort, the site we had come for.
But even there we enjoyed the company of the colorful pilgrims, as they demonstrated to correct way to carry your luggage.
Click here to see all of the pictures from Orchha.
We did finally make it to the Jhansi train station and had a comfortable two plus hour train ride. The train was quite fast; I clocked it at over 80 miles per hour on my GPS. Price of the ticket included evening tea of a sandwich, an amazingly tasty samosa and, naturally, tea. We got a kick out of the name of the company supplying the meal.
Our first stop of the day was a short tour of the Khajuraho Eastern Temple Group. This group was a Jain Temple complex with no erotic carvings and was not nearly as interesting as the temples we saw the previous day. There is a beautiful idol in one of the temples that we weren't supposed to photograph, but, hey, stuff happens. To see all the pictures from this stop, click here.
The festivities included a ritual bath in the Betwa River.
Charlotte made a new friend.
We were all so caught up in the festival, we hardly noticed the Orchha Fort, the site we had come for.
But even there we enjoyed the company of the colorful pilgrims, as they demonstrated to correct way to carry your luggage.
Click here to see all of the pictures from Orchha.
We did finally make it to the Jhansi train station and had a comfortable two plus hour train ride. The train was quite fast; I clocked it at over 80 miles per hour on my GPS. Price of the ticket included evening tea of a sandwich, an amazingly tasty samosa and, naturally, tea. We got a kick out of the name of the company supplying the meal.
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