We knew that the trip would be long and tedious, the Bandhavgarh National Park is not easy to reach. But we were absolutely determined to go there because we had met several people who had seen tigers there. We could not let this opportunity pass! Leaving Khajuraho at 7:30 a.m. (actually 8 o’clock), we hoped to make it there in one day, though it is only 237 km from Khajuraho. The first part of the trip took us to Satna and was very picturesque because we crossed the Panna National Park set in beautiful wooded landscape on a nice winding road. [View Full Entry]

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The rickshaw-driver wanted to take us to the bus stand in Jhansi but we stayed firm knowing that bus to Khajuraho would leave from the train station at 11 a.m. We arrived in due time and were happy to get numbered seats, this way we could avoid struggling for the best seats, which we have come to hate. A couple of minutes before the bus' departure two white ladies came on board, probably mother and daughter, they arrived just in time. This bus also stopped at the bus stand and we were glad to have got in at the train station [View Full Entry]

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Since Delhi we have continuously headed east, the logical destination after Orchha would have been Khajuraho. But Sanchi was a place we absolutely did not want to miss, we had already passed it by moving north, so we made a detour from Orchha. From the distance (ca. 200 km) we knew that it would not work out in one day, so we left our luggage in a nice hotel in Jhansi close to the train station - from there we would go on to Khajuraho when back - and took a train. Trains in India, at least theoretically, are provided with [View Full Entry]

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We liked Orchha very much, so we stayed in the hotel there also when we made an excursion to Datia, a city not too far from Orchha, it was possible to go there and come back in one day. We were only travelling with our day packs, so there was no need to hire a rickshaw only for the two of us and for once we wanted to do it the Indian way and took a tempo (= shared rickshaw) in order to get to the Jhansi bus stand. A tempo has more space than a normal rickshaw, according to Western [View Full Entry]

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Our guidebook describes the small town of Orchha in such positive terms that we absolutely had to go there. The train brought us to the city of Jhansi, an important city where many trains pass through, from there we had to hire a taxi because we did not find any shared rickshaws. We arrived in the afternoon and after some searching for a convenient hotel, we decided for one with a splendid view of the fort. We had hoped for a place similar to Hampi, where we could chill out in a peaceful surrounding and Orchha was exactly hat! Already the [View Full Entry]

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This time the train ride was easy and fast, it took only about an hour. We wanted to go to a better hotel but it was full because we were in the middle of the wedding season, all the Indians marry in a period of two months, since the karma is good. So we went to a hotel on the other side of the street in a very nice building but not very well kept. Anyway, we always went back for food to the other place and ate excellent meals there. Gwalior is yet another big, busy, noisy and crowded city, [View Full Entry]

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Fatehpur Sikri is only 37 km away from Agra, so we thought the bus ride would be no problem. Far from that! We had to take a minibus, there was no other means of public transport available. Our luggage was safely stored in a separate compartment and when we got in and took our seats, we knew why: there was absolutely no space inside. Mind you, the seats were so small that even Klaudia’s knees touched the back of the front seat, and she really isn’t very tall. Stephan called it a shrunk bus and was wondering whether we were not [View Full Entry]

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We caught an Agra-bound bus at a junction close to our guesthouse in order to reach Fatehpur Sikri, which is actually at very close distance from Agra (37 km). Though the bus was crammed, the ride was bearable because it was short. There we took a horse-cart to our destination, passing impressive fortifications of the old Moghul city. For the first time we had an air cooler in our room, an instrument to cool the air by means of water. A big metal box protrudes from the room, there is a kind of frame at the bottom, the three sides outside [View Full Entry]

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We badly needed a break from big cities and hoped to catch a bus to a place where we would again be surrounded by nature, and we were lucky. It was already after 10 p.m., we did not see anything of Barathpur except the bus stand and took a rickshaw to a place close to the entrance of the National Park. Thank God, the family-run Falcon Guesthouse was still open and we were even served a meal. Next morning, we were up early (around 6 a.m.), hired two bicycles in the guesthouse and cycled to the Keoladeo National Park. We had [View Full Entry]

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Finally it had to be - we were on our way to the Indian capital. We arrived at Delhi’s outskirts at a reasonable hour - 6 p.m. - and thought we would again se a hotel at daylight. How wrong we were! From there to the bus stand in Old Delhi it took us another three hours! We have no idea about the actual distance we covered in that time, but the roads were terribly congested most of the time. Maybe the situation will get better because they are building a lot of multi-lane roads into the city as well as [View Full Entry]

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