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We are actually out of Orchha now, but thought id update you from then up to now....so....
We travelled to Orchha by jeep instead of local bus (as planned) as it would cut out 3 hours of the journey!
Kallebai,our guide from Chanderi (who reminds me of Rafiki the monkey from the Lion King!) met us to say goodbye and gave us flower garlands and sad 'happy journey!'. He was a really lvely man who invited usto eat with his family, got his daughters to give us henna tattoos on our hands and took as around his town. We even visited a local school with him, the children were so smiley and sang us hindi songs.
Anyway, back to Orchha. After a long jeep journey where i got squashed in the back with Jon and Andy because we were the 'young ones'.... we arrived at the 'Orchha Resort'. On the way there the German knobber kicked up a fuss because the driver wouldnt stop for him to take a photo. He was shouting right in my face, everybody thinks he is the nastiest person ever.
At the resort we were staying in swiss-style tents. These tents were nicer than our last hotel room! We had a tv, shower, tiled floor, beds....it wasnt really a tent to be honest! The best thing was that we didnt have to catch bugs under jugs in the tent, unlike in Chanderi where we had pots all over the room covering the nasty bugs that we were too chicken to squish!
Our tents were all situated around a small tennis court. We had little patios out the front aswell. We arrived at lunchtime, hottest part of the day, so we were lucky to find out that the resort had a pool! Ii was great to take a quick dip!
We had a very English lunch of toasted cheese sarnie and chips....mmmmm.....
We had free time that evening and next day, so we went to a local restaurant where we all enjoyed the Thali. We had massive silver platters of food and then 2 desserts. It was a family run buisness. We had to walk through the ktchen to get to the tables. There were huge open fires, big pots of bubbling curries, and the whole family slaving away in the heat to cook up our delicious dinner that cost about 50p!
Whilst we were in Orchha there was a festival of marriage at the local temple. Stalls were set up all along the street and in the grounds of the temple selling brightly coloured powders that the women use for the 'spot' they put on their forehead. During the evening people started flocking in from over the bridge wearing orange robes, huge beards and carrying big wooden sticks to help them walk-it really is surreal sometimes.
The highlight of my stay in Orchha was the river rafting! We got a group of 6 of us togethr and went down to the banks of the river Betwa. We got kitted up in very old-fashioned boyauncy aids and helmets and began a practise drill in the calm waters. There were 9 of us all together in the boat, and we practised different commands such as 'all forward' and 'STOP!'....pretty simple....
The river was fairly calm, but the rapids we did go in got us soaking! Definately a good practise run before going on the white water like we hope to go on in New Zealand!
Along the way we stopped at a small, secluded beach along the side of the river. Here we skimmed stones and collected shells (which Lauren and I later made into jewellery whilst sat on our patio in the sun waiting for the hot water to come on so we could get rid of the river-smell!) We also all jumped into the river and floated downstream for a while, it was really fun, and it was actually warmer than the pool! We pulled up on some rocks to be greated by the jeep driver bringing us a sandwhich and masala tea, very nice. It cost us 200 rupees for the trip, thats about 2 pounds 50!
We are now in Khajuraho, luckily got to go in a dfferent car to te germans. The western temples in Khajuraho show statues of the Karma Sutra! Quite funny, especially as all the gifts that the street vendors try to sell you are really dodgy because of this!
Got free time tonight and tomorrow morning, Jon is desperate to watch the Man u and Chelsea game so we are trying to convince the guy from the restaurant across the road to put it on for us!
Just going to upload some photos now, the guy says i can do a maximum of 4 as it costs lots otherwise(?!?!) so fingers crossed!
Love to you all xxxxxxxxx
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