another day of contrasts
train ride out of agra, hot and crowded, (the toilets voted worst ever by our group which includes some very seasoned travels with much of 3rd world asia and south america under their belt) chai vendor proves very creative with his pricing, anywhere between 2 and 10 rupee per cup! samosas are good and somehwhat addictive.
countryside is spectacular in its ruggedness,for a while there are broken lands as far as the eye can see, barely a square metre of flat earth, just a continuation of what appeared to be deeply etched eroded troughs carving up the countryside... are these monsoon floodplains? or anciant 'scablands' as found in dakota...?
from the station at the other end we have a one hour auto-rickshaw ride into Orchha, 40 degree heat, dust and grit abound, the hot exhast gasses from the trucks regularly turn up the heat yet another notch.
Finally we reach our accomodations, WOW! luxury! A/C! huge rooms, decent looking bathroom - and two nights! yay!
there's a party going on in town, week long festival of Ram, tinsel everywhere - looks like christmas. Dinner at a restuarnt owned by a friend of Bea, observe some of the local festivities and rituals which include an installment of a week long play 'ramanana'? tellng the story of Ram and the Monkey King recaliming Ram's wife from a ten headed demon in Sri Lanka, chatting with local kids seems to prove that there is too much western influence even here!
Next day, failry relaxed, tour the temple -more indian guys pressing for pics with the girls, take a little too much liberty with one - I run interference and save Kasia from the experience (what are big brothers for), out to a paper making plant - govt initative providing work for local women making paper from recycled cotton. A village tour by a local and visit to a couple of schools provide some insights into local lifestyles
Kasia is not well, in fact my poor little sister is in a very bad state! Spends the afternoon in the room, unable to keep anything down or in. Fortunately we have comfortable accomadations and a free afternoon anyway,( I spend it burning some cds and playing criket with the locals) but I really feel for her, when I get back to the room she is an absolute wreck and there's little I can do for her.
Reluctantly I leave her again to have dinner on the rooftop at the hotel within the temple complex - an amazing atmosphere!
return to find kasia looking a little more rested, but quite restless, accompany her for a moonlit walk amongst the gardens up to an odd ampitheatre for some fresh air.
the next morning I head up the road into town for a greasy local breakfast, the others fail to materialise, eventually kasia makes it in and sitts down, ordering some dry white toast, the toast that came was to greasy for her delicate condition (she thought it was buttered but I suspect it was just a little oil from the hotplate) and she manages to have it taken away and replaced with a drier version!
another long auto-rickshaw ride back to the train station for an overnight train trip, a change of platform and then when the train pulls in the carriage is at the opposite end of the platform than indicated, shoulder the packs and run to the opposite end and crowd aboard to find our berths.
no seperate rooms onboard, cariages are a series of 6 berth alcoves (3 berth high) with another two berths on the outer side of the walkway, I scramble to a top berth and settle in for a good nights sleep...
