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Published: December 27th 2005
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The hotel put up some Christmas decorations, which seem to have more of a Hawaiian theme than anything else, with assorted fake flowers in orange and pink, though there are a couple of Christmas trees to keep with (English) tradition. One of the employees, presumably the one who drew the short straw, was cavorting around the square in a Father Christmas outfit, with a very un-Father Christmas-like advert for the Asian Plaza on his chest.
I was hoping to see the argumentative monks from Namgyal Monastery doing their stuff in the temple courtyard this afternoon, as seen on Michael Palin's Himalaya series, but either I went at the wrong time or they only do it in the summer, as I didn't see even a vaguely irritated monk, let alone one using punches and kicks to emphasise his points.
My plans for the rest of the trip include several flights, so I went to a travel agent today to get some idea of prices. I was shocked to discover that it will cost roughly $275 for a return flight from Varanasi to Khajuraho - a journey that only takes 40 minutes. This seems like such poor value for money that
I think I'll do the overland journey instead.
I finally acknowledged that there have been times here when I've been extremely chilly, which will probably be repeated over the next month until I hit the south, so I lashed out on a North Face knock-off sleeveless down vest, which certainly fits the bill as regards warmth.
I returned to McLlo's, figuring it was the most likely place to find fellow Westerners getting in the mood for Christmas. I fell into conversation with two English guys who are doing a sponsored motorbike ride from China to the UK, raising money for a charity called SOS that provides assistance to orphaned and abandoned children. Do visit Rory and Chris's website at
Run from the sun to find more information about their journey, and the work that SOS does. From the website, you can contribute to this worthwhile cause in several different ways. One of these involves simply sending a text - it will cost 1.50, which goes to the appeal, and will also give you one entry in a competition to win a motorbike.
As can often happen when people are thousands of miles from home, and drinking beer, another English guy
and an Irish guy (both volunteers teaching English here) were added to the group, and we ended up back at Rory and Chris's hotel, listening to jazz on Chris's iPod and 5 quid speakers sound system until 4AM. I suspect the last time I was up at this time on Christmas morning was when I was about 5 years old and impatiently waiting for present opening time.
Back at my hotel, as technically it was now Christmas in India if not in the UK, I made a brief phonecall home to wish the family a Merry Christmas. Any slurring that may have occurred was entirely due to the poor phone connection.
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