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Front seat view
Front seat view of 5 hour chaotic bus trip. Early this a.m. we took a 2.5 hour train to Jhansi. Imagine what a bustling Indian train station might be like X 10. The express train stops in a station no more than 3 -4 minutes. Thankfully, we had porters to help with the suitcases. No climbing on board until AFTER all the people get off ----- people were running after the train and jumping on with babies. The cars were packed. I believe we had First Class but you certainly wouldn't guess it. There were monkeys on the station roof peering down on us as we waited. Then, after getting to Jhansi, we had to almost fall off the train to beat the 3-4 minute time limit. Porters carried several suitcases at a time including a couple on their head as we wound ourselves past the aggressive drivers -- "let me take you mam, in my rickshaw" --- it was crowded, chaotic and every other word you might think of, to describe the scene of 16 U.S. travelers trying to make it a couple blocks to the waiting bus.
That was just the start of the day. A short ride brought us to lunch at the guesthouse of a
Porters
Transporting luggage. former Maharaja (Orchha Riverside Palace) overlooking a crystal clear river. After a stroll around the grounds, we boarded the bus for a 5 hour drive to Khajuraho. The ride was interesting, to say the least. The good part was I got to sit in the front seat of the bus for the long ride --- a personal effort to avoid motion sickness. The downside was that I saw everything that went on.
The narrow 2-lane highway had deep pot-holes and sometimes turned into just one lane not much wider than a bike path. It was heavily traveled by rickshaw, donkey, goats, bikes, motorbikes, oxen, trucks, camels, cars, walkers, cows, water buffalo, dogs and every other kind of animal and person. Children played along side or in the road. We missed large trucks by inches and successfully avoided hitting people or animals but I have no clue how. Our driver was aggressive and we often rode the bumper of a motor cycle or rickshaw. There is no need for a zoo in India because all the animals are right out on the roads and highways. People as well as animals were sitting on the pavement assuming all vehicles would move
around them. I have never never been more afraid for people and animals in all my life.
Even with all that going on, it was one of the best days of the trip because we got to drive through about 20 villages. There were farmers markets and children walking to school. We experienced several OAT discoveries. One was at a farmer's house where two oxen were walking in circles, led by a young woman. The oxen provided energy to pump irrigation water from their 80 year old well on the 80 acre farm. I took Polaroid pictures and gave to the family which may be the only pictures of themselves.
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Laurie
non-member comment
Thanks
Dear Brenda, Thanks so much for sharing your adventures with us, along with pictures. It's been great fun following you on your trip.