Our train from Varanasi to Jhansi was a much more comfortable experience than the one from Dehradun. This time we had the 2 tier AC class which meant more room & more comforts. It really made a big difference and we actually had a good night sleep getting into Jhansi. Our time in Varanasi was short and I probably could have stayed longer, just to sit at the ghats & watch the daily events go by. It may sound weird but it was just such a fascinating place that I could watch all day and not get bored. However, Tom was ready to leave, partly because he wasn't feeling the greatest.
The train got us into Jhansi a few hours later than expected, around 10 am. We had a better rest this time so we were ready for the day trip to Orchna. Orchna is a small village about 18km southeast of Jhansi, officially in the state of Madya Pradesh, but bordering Uttar Pradesh (the state that Delhi is in). From the train station you can take a bus or rickshaw to get to Orchna. We really wanted to see the erotic temples at Khajuraho too, 175km east of Jhansi, but there just wasn't enough time to cover both, and the last thing we needed was to miss our last & longest train back to Chennai in order to make our flight to Vietnam. So we made a decision on the train that we would just check out Orchna for the day. It turned out to be such a hidden gem ! Although a touristy spot, its away from the hustle & bustle of the city, so people tend to be nicer & more accommodating. The palaces and ruins of Orchna stem from the Bandela dynasty, which flourished along with the Mughal dynasty back in the 16th century. My history lesson is sketchy, but at one point the Mughals ran out the Bandelas and the palaces were swallowed up by the surrounding forests & forgotten. Recently, they have become a staple on the tourist map. They are incredibly well preserved for their lack of upkeep, and they are located in a serene, beautiful setting overlooking beautiful greenery, flowers and the Betwa river. It is said the Mughals tried to conquer it in many occasions unsuccessfully, due to the river being a natural barrier.
We had a quick breakfast near the palaces and had energy for the rest of the day. We wanted to find a way to leave our backpacks somewhere so that we wouldn't have to carry them in the heat if day. We asked 1 hotel guy but he was no help, and then we came upon a cyber cafe and asked the guy if he knew any places we could leave our bags. He was a young guy who offered to keep our backpacks at his house for the day. We thanked him and off we went. We checked out the main palaces first, with beautiful views of the valley and river below. I could have sat there all day and taken in the scenery. It was such a beautiful place!
We then walked around the complexes among trees and flowers and monkeys & cows. Fun!
There was another set of ruins on the other side of town that we went to next-- we ended up sitting there for hours because it overlooked the river and it was a perfect place to escape the heat of the day. In contrast to Varanasi, Orchna was clean and green and calm. It was a fantastic way to end our time in India.
We returned to get our backpacks and use some Internet and the young guy offered to show us a good place to eat & just generally wanted to hang out with us. We ended up having a Nutella pancake for dinner (not very Indian of us and not very dinner like!) but we were starting to get tired of the heavy North Indian meals. I still had my masala papad though & my lassi ;)
After eating, we went to a sweet shop so I could try the famous cake in Orchna called 'kalakand' = milk cake. It was very sweet but good. We also got some fruits and snacks in preparation for the long train ride to Chennai that night.
Our new friend was very sweet & very helpful. We had a fantastic day in Orchna due in a big part to him! Evening hit & he guided us to a shared rickshaw ride for dirt cheap that would take us back to Jhansi. This is where things got interesting. Usually, the rickshaws are designed to carry max 4 people, but there are some slightly bigger ones that have benches on both sides in the back. When you do a shared tuk tuk ride, you join others and you pay a small fraction of the price. He piled us into a tuk tuk that had 14 people in it!!! To give you a better idea of how packed it was, this thing should comfortably fit 4-5people! Everyone was piled into each other in the back and front, and there was a guy hanging off the back where our bags were. Tom couldn't actually fit in the rickshaw properly so he had his neck bent completely forward for the whole trip. A baby was sleeping on my back so I could not move much either. They stopped for a 15th person along the way too! He joined in by hanging on the back too!! Hilarious! Way to end the day with an adventure!!
We still had time to kill at the railway station so we sat at a 24 hour restaurant within the station---a fast food local Indian spot actually recommended in our guidebook. I ordered pao bhaji because I saw a girl eating it and wanted to try it. It was really good spicy tomato sauce basically. Funny enough, this was one of those places where they had example pictures/3D displays of the food with the names on it. Usually you shouldn't eat at places that try so hard to advertise their food, but in this case the place was packed and I very much welcomed the food information lesson ! It was nice to understand the stuff I ordered! In addition, they were playing cheesy Bollywood movies & videos so I wasn't going anywhere!!!
We also found some time to people watch and train watch before our train arrived. People sleeping and laying everywhere, not the cleanest scenario. Cows and goats and dogs and rats just wandering around. Especially amusing were the cows who often somehow found themselves on the actual train tracks ! I assume they have delayed a few train arrivals !
On a side note, I think the random cows have been my favorite thing this month! They are literally everywhere---walking the streets, hanging out at temples, roaming the railway station & tracks, blocking intersections......they clearly run the show in this country and it is so entertaining to watch!! The best was all the colourful cows and goats for the Holi festival. I bet you haven't seen a bright pink cow before have you?? 'Holi Cow' :P
Back to the train station. As the trains went by I was again grateful that we had the 2 AC class for our long trip (29hrs!!) to Chennai!! As the train rolled by, you could get a glimpse of second class, absolutely overflowing with people all the way to steps of the train!! There were people just hanging out the open door because the compartment was so packed! Forget the safety aspect, how do you find a comfortable position ?! It was insane to watch. It was also entertaining to watch when the train would start to move away and all the people running to it and getting in while it was moving. Some were more brave than others, but no one seemed to have too many troubles getting on the moving train :P boy oh boy a fun, entertaining real life movie before our personal train adventure began!!!
