Khajuraho:

January 5th, 2005 - January 6th, 2005

Tuesday morning we went to the airport to fly to Khajuraho... all was smooth until we handed our ticket over to head to the plane. "This part of the flight is canceled," said the ticket agent. Apparently there was dense fog over Khajuraho so they were only flying as far as Varanasi that day! There were about eight of us affected by the problem and hence an adventure began.

We met a couple from Vancouver who were in the same position as us. We held strong and declined the 1,500 rupees compensation ($40) and no hotel for the night and pestered them into flying us to Varanasi and then arranging a hotel for the night there and a flight the next day or arranging ground transport from Varanasi to Khajuraho.

We landed in Varanasi and spoke to the ground agents there. We were told that one flight in the last 10 days had actually departed for Khajuraho because of fog in the town at this time of year! After hearing that - and knowing that we were going back to Varanasi for three days on the 7th of January - we asked them to arrange ground transportation.

The four of us piled into a 4x4 vehicle and left on a 12 hour journey for Khajuraho.

We briefly stopped in Varanasi for our driver to get money and during those 10 minutes we saw a dead body being carried towards the Ganges to be cremated (that is what Varanasi is known for).

Soon into our journey we stopped for chai at a local stand on the side of the road. Since this road is hardly traveled by foreigners, they were happy to sit with us and chat...

We continued on and it began to get dark and the road began to get worse. Our driver turned on some Hindi beats to keep us entertained... around 9 pm we stopped on the side of the road for dinner. It was just a tiny shack that was using wood to cook. All they had was rice, potatoes, and chapattis. It was truly and Indian dinner. There was, of course, no electricity.

Following dinner we kept heading towards Khajuraho. The closer we got, the more dense the fog go. Also, the smaller the road got. It was quite a scary drive and at some points were were going 10 km / hour. We finally reached the village at around 2:30 am!!! I was lucky enough to fall asleep on the bumpy ride, despite my head banging off the window with each bump in the road.

After waking some local villagers for directions, we found the hotel our friends (Brad & Dennyese) were staying at. We had no reservation so we asked for a room, too. The hotel was full, except for this tiny room on the second floor that they gave us. It had one bed and they threw three mattresses down for a second bed. We were just happy to sleep at that point after a 12 hour car ride!

In the morning Jess and I went into the village and found a cheaper place that was right in the middle of town. The town is small which is a nice change from the cities. The main attraction is the erotic temples which are right next to the village.

The temples look like any other temples in this country, only the figures carved on the outside are doing all sorts of erotic poses, including sexual acts - both between humans and humans and animals!

Following an afternoon at the temples, the four of us chilled out for the afternoon. The town is quite empty and peaceful because there are hardly any tourists because no planes had landed for a while.

Late in the evening we needed to get some stuff from Brad and Dennyese's hotel. So, Brad and I bargained for two bikes (20 rupees or about 50 cents) and we road the 5 km to the hotel ... mostly in the dark which was a little sketch on these Indian roads (and on crappy bikes). On the way back we just followed behind a local Indian guy and went at his speed the whole way home - slow, of course. It was pretty funny with us two hulking guys on the bike following the tiny villager...

Today was spent checking out the temples on the other side of town. Since the village is small we chose to walk. On the walk we saw a local barber stand on the side of the road. Brad decided to get his head shaved as well as his face. I got a slight trim of my hair and beard and a shave with a straight razor blade for the rest of my face. Total cost was about $1.50 ... but having 15 villagers crowd around and watch was priceless...

We checked out the local temples and some young villagers took us through the fields on a short cut and through the old village. We saw all four parts - each caste lives in a different part. We went from the highest cast to the lowest and saw how different they are.

On our way back from the temples we passed a group of kids playing cricket. This is quite common. However, these kids called us to come play. Brad and I went... he was the batsman and I was the bowler (pitcher). He hit a few of them and then I went to hit and one of the kids bowled to me. I missed the first couple but then I started drilling them to all parts of the "yard", a few hit the walls of houses. The kids were celebrating with me and stuff - quite funny. Then, one kid says, "Lost ball is 20 rupees..." We didn't think twice and kept playing.

Two shots later I drilled a 6-pointer high and deep off a wall outside a house. One kid went to retrieve the ball, but the rest were celebrating with me. All of a sudden they start saying, "Ball lost, give us 20 rupees." Alas, the scam began.

Clearly the ball was picked up by one of the kids and pocketed. We kept telling them that but they denied it. The surrounded us yelling for 20 rupees. We started to walk away and they followed us for 5 minutes. All of a sudden, en masse, they all started to cry. About 10-12 of them were crying. It was almost too funny. Finally, we talked to some adults and told them what was up and they gave the kids a bit of a lecture and told us we could go... all this over a ball that was never lost.

So ends most of our time here in Khajuraho... it is a quiet town built on tourism. The people here are aggressive, but with four of us, we can brush them off with confidence and ease. The vibe here is chill and we have enjoyed our time away from the big city. Tomorrow afternoon we fly to Varanasi - as long as there is no fog. There has not been fog since we arrived so we are crossing our fingers. If there is fog, we will have a grueling 12 hour car ride in front of us.

Sorry for the length of this one, but there was just so much to share!

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