Butterfly Lassis in Orchha

Boarding the overnight train from Varansi to Orchha, I had pangs of nostalgia and memories of the great train ride I took across Russia, Mongolia and China came flooding back. Travelling with Bob and Raj are great, but I certainly miss the games of Uno with Verena, Sarah and Robin. We travelled in some form of sleeping class for the 14 hour ride, and possibly not surprisingly, people are packed on more in India than any other country I have been to. the beds are stacked three high on each side of the cabin (ala China hard sleeper) but also have two beds parallel to the passage (ala Russian 3rd Class). The good thing was that I got the top bunk and even though my feet hung over the end, Indians are short enough that I didn't have to worry about kicking anybody in the head in the middle of the night. The other good thing was that with cabin was air conditioned, so we were actually in the coolest room of the trip so far. The sun set right after we boarded and so there wasn't a whole lot to do by read for a bit, finish my Lumbini blog and go to bed.

Waking in the morning not long before our arrival, the thing that struck me first was that there were no crops. This was the first time since probably Mongolia that a piece of what seemed to be arable land (flat, with ample water) that was not under crop. After arriving in the train station, we took a Tempo (kind of like the limo version of an auto-rickshaw, as it has facing seats in the back) to Orchha, a small village that is the site of some wonderful ruins.

Raj had been telling us for days that the "property" in which we were staying was great, with a pool and huge rooms. To be quite honest, I was somewhat doubtful about the description, but I needn't have worried. Arriving at the property, there was a driveway that was a couple of hundred meters long, and before we could even see the hotel itself, we could see several nice ruins and a fairly rundown temple and upon parking we were greeted by guys in white clothes and colorful turbans. It turns out that the place was once the home of the local Raja (king) and has been beautifully maintained. The building is in the shape of a square, with a huge courtyard. The rooms (air-conditioned for the first time in India) are all on the outside of the square and we had a nice view over the pool. If you are going to have a relaxing day in India (we had nothing planned for the following day), you could do much worse than this.

Right after dropping our bags and showering, we headed off into the small town to visit a group of palaces and temples. Town itslef is really just a collection of shops and restaurants on the main road and a few houses behind the large temples, so the whole thing can be done on foot, which is great after a long train journey.

The first stop on our tour was the group of three palaces that sit right on the river and dominate the landscape. Built in the 17th Century by the Raja, these palaces are exactly what comes to mind when you think of India. There are soaring red walls that surround white and brown buildings, complete with domed cupolas and airy reception halls. The Raja that built the palaces was Hindu, but the Murghal rulers of India at the time were Muslim, so the architecture of the place has elements of both in harmony. One level would have an elephant motif, while the one above it has geometric patterns.

The first palace we visited was the Raj Mahal, which is split into male and female areas, along the Islamic way. The male area is nearer to the entrance and has a large, raised platform on which nightly dances were performed. Because the women and men were not allowed to mix, there is a screened off balcony that overlooks the dance platform that is reachable by from the women's quarters. The women had to stand behind the screen, so they could see the men (and performance) but not vice versa. The ceilings of the entryway are still beautifully maintained and are original, without restoration. Moving into the women's area (which has a great view of the river), we were told a hilarious story about the guy who built the place.

Apparently, he really liked to go out hunting in the nearby forest (there is a still a National Park across the river), but his wife didn't like it. One morning she called him out on it and he decided to still go. By the time he got back she had moved out and from then on would only visit once a year. Since a man has needs, the Raja decided to move into the women's quarters and install 6 concubines in rooms around the courtyard (the seventh day was a day of rest). In order to keep up appearances, he had a "secret" passage connected to each of the rooms, so no one would see him sneak off. I am betting that if he knew that his wife would react like that, he would have done a lot more hunting early on in the marriage. Also, the secret passage was only about two feet high and so he would have had pretty sore knees I think. The inlay and frescoes in the Raja's rooms, are simply amazing as there is almost no light admitted and no expense was spared on the construction.

Across a courtyard from the Raj Mahal is the Jehangir Mahal, constructed as a gift to Jehangir, the Murghal leader of India. It is a simply wonderful amalgamation of Hindi and Islamic architecture. There are soaring staircases, a dozen domed cupolas and over a hundred rooms that we were able to walk in and out. It also affords wonderful views of the surrounding palaces and temples. There were also vultures sitting on a number of the spires, keeping a keen eye out for road kill (these are the first vultures I have seen in the wild). Built as a gift by the Hindi Raja, it was given to Jehangir upon his visit to Orchha. Unfortunately, Jehangir was in a hurry to get to Lahore in Pakastan and so he only stayed for one night before moving on. Jehangir died before returning to Orchha and so the massive palace has only been used for one night. Gotta love single-use palaces.

Heading out from the palaces, Bob hit the Internet while I decided to hit a couple of more archaeological sites. The first, right across the main street, is the Chaturbhuj Temple, and imposing structure that struck me, from the outside, to be the quintessential Indian temple. The spires of the temple are made of brown brick and stone and have weeds grown out of them and birds nesting amongst them. The whole thing gives a feeling that the jungle is just about to reclaim this place and if you come back in twenty years there will just be a mound of bricks with trees growing out of them. Inside the temple, however, I had a strange feeling that I was in a Christian cathedral, as it was built in the shape of a cross, with high arches, a large dome over the center and small, almost Gothic windows.

Heading up the stairs to the roof, I picked up a local guy as a guide, which was quite convenient as the staircase is pitch black in parts and he had a torch. In my experience, many of the local guys that offer to show you around in India are not worth the money, but this guy was great. He showed me some interesting little rooms that I never would have ventured into that had great views of the surrounding structures. In one room there were half a dozen bats hanging just a foot or two above you head. In another there was a huge bee hive, and I have never seen anything like that before. On the roof I could get really close to the spires and the bright green parrots that were nesting there. Unfortunately, like almost everywhere else we have been in India, it is really bright and glary, and so many of the photos are not great, but I hope you get the idea.

Descending the dodgy stone staircase I headed down river to a series of Chhatris, cenotaphs (like massive headstones) that were raised in remembrance of the local rulers by their forebearers. The first of these sits right by the river and is a quite imposing structure (though full of cow crap and a pack of rabid dogs). The remainder sit in a complex a few meters away and are in a symmetric pattern with three in a row on one side and two on the other. They are perfectly symmetrical and perfectly aligned and so from the right position you can see right through fifteen identical archways to the forest beyond. The Chhatris are fairly well maintained and incredibly solid (like all ancient buildings I have seen in India so far) and so I climbed up some narrow staircases for yet more great views of the river and town. Like the Chaturbhuj Temple, I had the Chhatris completely to myself (including the caretaker, who sat outside the complex and smoked) and so was able to scramble where I liked and take some great photos. it is such a shame that stunning monuments are missed by most tourists, but it is nice to have the solitude and quiet.

Walking back through town it looked as though it was going to absolutely pelt down with rain and so instead of visiting the remaining temples in town, I decided to leave it for tomorrow and scurry home. Beating the rain by mere minutes I relaxed under cover, by the gardens and relaxed before heading out to a cooking class in the evening.

The cooking class was in the home of a local lady and we were supposed to be joined by another Intrepid group but they were over an hour late. The good thing about this was that Bob and I got to spend some time with the lady and her family and it was really nice to get a better perspective of rural Indian life. Once the other group showed up, we got to cook a veritable vegetarian feast of eggplant, potato, spinach and rice. I have cooked a little Indian food before, to limited success, and it was great to pick up some easy techniques. It seems that all Indian food consists of about 20 ingredients and the skill is in the correct combination and proportions to make great food. We also got to try our hands at making chippatis and everyone should be happy to know that I am way better at this than dumplings as they rose the first time I did it.

The next day was an almost completely free day to just wander around town and take a dip in the hotel pool. I am still not sure if I would have preferred to move on today and get more time in Agra or Delhi or relax and recharge, but if I am forced to sit around, I might as well make the most of it. Thus I had a nice sleep in and delicious breakfast buffet to kick off the morning. At mid-morning we headed out for our one activity of the day, a visit to a project that recycles paper using local women. It was an interesting tour and they certainly produce some wonderful stuff. Unfortunately, I am just not going to carry a bunch of stuff around with me for the next couple of months so I didn't buy anything. I wish that they had Christmas cards, as everyone would have been getting them from India if they did.

Having the rickshaw driver drop us off in town I set off to hit the three temples I missed the day before while Bob tried the Internet again (the power was off all yesterday afternoon). My first stop was the Phool Bagh (awesome name, lame site), with is a memorial to a prince set in a Persian garden. There are just too many hawkers and beggars to enjoy what is a relatively poorly maintained garden. After just a few minutes there I headed off on a one mile hike up a slight hill to the Lakshimi Narayan Temple and the great views of town. Arriving there to the sound of a "holy" man playing a flute I discovered that I didn't have a ticket, which is only available at the Raj Mahal. I couldn't be bothered getting the ticket, so I thought that I would just walk around the temple and enjoy the 360 degree views of the surrounds. The temple itself is constructed more like a palace or fort, with high, triangular walls around the temple building and is quite imposing.

After I had finished my walk around the temple walls I was enjoying the view for a bit when the caretaker called me over. He asked me if I had been to the palaces (which of course I had the day before) and told me that the ticket covers this temple as well, but is only valid for one day. He then said that it was a long walk back to town to get the ticket and since I had not previously visited I could "go inside for 10 minutes" but make sure "not to tell anyone". It certainly helped that there was no-one inside and I would once again have a splendid place to myself. As I walked in, he decided to give me a guided tour and pointed out all the magnificent drawings on the wall and what they mean (which I promptly forgot but really hope I can sort of get together before I leave India). Unlike the other palaces, which had painted or inlaid decorations, these drawings were done in a "scratch" method. The walls are covered in white plaster and then again with red plaster. The red is then scratched away to give wonderful red and white etchings. Since they are all on interior ceilings and use mineral coloring, they are as vivid as the day they were done. Unfortunately a lot of people have done graffiti on the buildings in Orchha, but the ceilings are high enough that they have been largely spared.

The last of the temples that I visited was the Rama Temple, the only place in India where the god Rama is worshipped as a king. The rules do not allow cameras, shoes or any leather, so I was walking around holding up my shorts the entire time. The temple itself is quite nice, with a couple of interesting areas of worship, which were attended by a number of priests and dozens of worshippers (including our cooking instructor from the night before). Since I was busy looking around and making sure my pants didn't end up around my ankles I ended up stepping in a pool of white paint, so I had that going for me. I guess it is some sort of foot blessing.

Walking back downhill and to the hotel there wasn't much to do for the afternoon by sit in the pool, have a beer and chill out. As a side note here, the service level in India is amazing. While it was quite good in Beijing (and to a certain extent in Nepal), here it is typically top notch. They have struck a wonderful balance between attentiveness (and anticipation of your needs) and being over-bearing. I think that this is probably a hangover from the British rule and is one of the good things that they left behind. After watching a nice and peaceful sunset across the river from the rooftop we headed out for dinner in town.

Raj knows a great place that is right on the river and the garden terrace looks right at the palaces and I ordered a mutton curry and a pineapple lassi. Why tell you this, you ask? Well firstly, it turns out that mutton in India is not old sheep (like in Australia and England) but is in fact goat. I only found this out after eating, and no matter, as it was a damned fine curry. I had gotten about halfway through my lassi (a yogurt drink with fruit blended in) when the curry arrived and tucked in. The next time I went to take a drink I wasn't really paying any attention and the next thing I know there are a pair a giant wings flapping in my face. It scared the living bejeezers out of me and everyone around the table started laughing as it turns out a large butterfly had flown in and gotten stuck. Ah, excuse me waiter, I ordered a pineapple lassi and not a butterfly lassi (and as a side note this a way worse than a fly in your soup).

Heading home and to the last night of air conditioning, we hit the sack early as we depart for Agra and the Taj Mahal at 4.45 the next morning. I cant wait.

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Part of trip: The Big One

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