Advertisement
Published: February 24th 2007
After the hustle and bustle of the Indian cities we were pleased to be heading to a small town called Chanderi - the real India and our favourite place to date. After a 4 hr train journey folled by a 1 hr jeep ride we arrived at our destination to be greeted by our local host called Kallehbai (we later found out that this was actually his nickname-its literal meaning being our "black brother") who was to be our guide for the duration of our stay. He was the most genuine person, a local ledgend who constantly had us in stitches.
After a long day of travelling we arrived early evening just in time to be taken to dinner at Kallehbai's house. His wife prepared us some local dishes which were by far the best we have tasted. Following dinner his eldest daughters also practised there unique henna designs on our forearms and we were able to spend some time socialising with the family.
The next morning was spent sightseeing, the highlight being a visit to the local school. The children-the porrest in the village-sang us their national anthem and recited prayers in both Hindi and English. They also were given
a change to practise their English by asking us questions, putting our language skills to shame.
Lunch was in the form of a picnic and was eaten by a lakeside. Once again Kallehbhai's wife had made us some delicious Indian dishes. From here we took jeeps 25km out of town to see some prehistoric rock painting some as old as 40,000 yrs and unexpectedly saw had our first sighting of 3 crocs. On our way back we watched the sunset over the planes-absolutely stunning.
Prior to dinner at another local hotel our host had organised some traditional Indian music and dancing. As we sat around a bonfire we were all invited in turn to bust some moves!!! We later discovered that the beautifully dressed Indian "girl" we were dancing with was actually a guy!!!
Orchha was our next stop and our first encounter with a public bus-something we wont forget in a hurry. Thank God we were the first ones on as within 20mins it was so full that the locals were resorting to sitting on the roof! What we thought were going to be a couple of days "roughing" it camping actually turned out to be luxury swiss-style tents
Karma Sutra
Beautifully detailed architecture...Ha!!!on a beautiful complex overlooking the river - how wrong we were!
In the afternoon we saw the sights meaning that the following day was free for us to shop and sunbath by the pool in our complex. It was great to sit back and do nothing after such a full on week.
We are now in Khajuraho the home of the famous Karma Sutra temples. A really humorous guide showed us round pointing out some very graphic and errotic carvings!!! Amazing to think that these date back to more than 1,000 years ago! However tomorrow is the day we have all been waiting for. We head off in the morning after an early yoga class (our first one) for Panna National park where we will be taken on safari in search of the rarely seen Bengal tiger and other native wildlife.
Hope you are all well. Till next time......
xxxx
Advertisement
Tot: 0.081s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 11; qc: 56; dbt: 0.0371s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Mum
non-member comment
Fabulous Photos
I'm amazed at all you're doing and love the photos. Your Indian hostess looks really friendly and the flowers on the table look good with your make-up and dress! Indian culture appears to be quite an eye opener! I hope you see a tiger on safari (you that is and not the tiger!). Keep up the fun for me. Love you and miss you loads, Mum xxx