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Published: November 24th 2006
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Oh the horror
Khajuraho is no place for puritains! I managed to wake up at the earliest hour ever today, 4:15AM which is nothing short of a miracle. I had arranged transport to Jhansi with the guesthouse owner's son so that I could catch the 5:30 bus to Khajuraho. The hotel seemed to be doing quite well because his car was one of the best I've seen in India (2006 Honda something... I'm not too good with cars, but you don't see them around too much). We reached the bus station in time for me to grab the last seat and the bus left earlier than planned since we were full.
I was sleepy for the first part of the ride. The sun actually rose only an hour after the bus left (about 2 hours after I woke up!!) so it was still way too early to be active. However things rarely go as planned in India. There was a family in front of me. Little kiddie by the window, the mother and the father. The kid decided he was sick so he proceeded to throw up in the window. Now I was just behind him and for those who spent their childhood on the school bus spitting out
so that it would land on the person sitting by the window behind them let me say this: it works for vomit also. I wasn't fast enough to get out of the seat so a good part of kiddie's stomach juice fell on my shirt. Needless to say I was less than happy. I tried as hard as I could to wash with my water bottle and tissue. I had to get another seat at the very back since mine was now full of vomit (it was taken by the father once it dried a little bit, and I was happy to see about an hour later the mother spit out of the window, the father wasn't exactly overwhelmed with joy at receiving his wife's spit on the face. I'm not sure whether she did it on purpose or was just plain stupid).
We arrived early in Khajuraho, around 11AM or so. Despite my vomit stained shirts I had plenty of friends once I arrived, all trying very hard to get me somewhere comfortable to sleep. I rudely refused their kind assistance and walked to Yogi Lodge and got a cheap room.
I immediately took off to explore
Ganesh
That's the closest you'll ever see to an elephant doing the hippy-hippy shake. the famous temples of Khajuraho. Now why was I so excited by these temples? It's not like if they were the first ones I saw on this trip. But they were the first ones with erotic carving! Indeed, these temples were built in the Tantric Hindu tradition which believes that physical pleasure is a good way to achieve Nirvana (paradise). It is from the same tradition that the world-famous Kamasutra came from and from what I had heard, the temple didn't have to envy the book. TS Burt, the british officer who "discovered" the temples in 1838 said the carving was extremely skillful but the scenes depicted were "a little warmer than there was any absolute necessity for".
I got into the enclosure of the temple and spent the next 3 hours exploring. There are 6-7 temples, each full of carved statues on all sides and in the interior. Several of the temples also have small shrines so there is a lot to see. As can be seen on the pictures, the carving can be quite erotic. There are statues of big breasted, sensual women, sometimes depicted in sexual position with men (or with other women) but there are
Lesbian action
Well, that or women and big breasted men having fun also statues of indian gods (most of which, I must admit, I couldn't recognize) like Ganesh the elephant god (famous from The Simpsons, take that people who claims that the Simpsons is a stupid TV show, that's where I learned the majority of my knowledge on hindu mythology).
The temples were just amazing. There weren't that many tourists around which was a plus. The reactions seemed to range from amusement (like me), to people being offended by the images (or at least pretending to) but no one could take their eyes off the walls. I spent hours looking at the walls trying to spot scenes I had missed. I actually revisited some temples twice. Khajuraho is the perfect cure for people who can't stand temples anymore. After going there, you'll wish every temples/church/mosque will have statues of orgies to make the place less boring. But you know what? You won't! Only in Khajuraho.
After my visit to the temples I went to eat some spaghetti at a mediteranean restaurant and chilled in the shade while reading my book. Even in October, it is unpleasant to be out walking in the sun in the afternoon. There were other temples
scattered around town but I decided to visit them the next day as my bus was leaving at 15:00 so I'd have plenty of time to explore.
Everytime I went in the street, people would tell me "Hello my friend" every 15 seconds. I had to ignore them after a while but at some point one of them looked a bit more honest and said:
"You don't want to talk to me because all indians here just say hello to sell you things eh?"
"Yeah, exactly" I answered.
"That's because these people are not from here, they come from Agra, Varanasi to open shop here, they're not real people from Khajuraho."
So we talked for a while, he told me he was a student somewhere and lived in the Old City. We talked for a good 5 minutes total and I was happy to finally have a real conversation with a local that didn't involve them trying to rip me off. But I had to go on the internet so when I reached the cafe I told him I was going in. He answered with:
"Okay, you go Internet Cafe, but after you come
Shrine
You can see the feminine figures, some of which have had their heads chopped off (muslim iconoclast or orthodox hindus?) my shop ok?"
That was the most honest conversation I've had in Khajuraho. I did manage to book my flight out of India though after a long time of playing around because the printer wasn't working.
I had dinner at some restaurant that had israeli food. The food was good and the service was alright but the young waiter was annoying me quite a lot by trying to sell me stuff. "Ohh, you going to Varanasi. Don't take bus it's very long, very hard. Take plane it's much faster. I can book for you.". He insisted on me using the plane even after I had told him that I had no intention of doing so and only stopped talking when I stopped everything I was doing and intensely stared at him for a good 20 seconds while saying nothing. He got the point. After I finished my delicious shakshuka, I asked to talk to the manager (who happened to be the one who cooked me meal) and I told him that his food was delicious but I had absolutely no intention of going back to his restaurant and I would recommend people not to go because it was
Inside temple
Notice the kneeling women. Interesting impossible to eat in peace (while pointing at the waiter). The manager was very apologectic and gave a very mean look to the waiter.
I realized only after I had done this how much travel has changed me. I would have never done anything like that a few months ago. I would have simply paid (and probably even give a small tip) and leave. I would've never voice a complained. I hope the manager takes the hint and stop the waiter from harassing customers because his food was very delicious.
The next day I went to do some exploring to the neighbouring Jain temple (but forgot to bring my camera, but thankfully they weren't as impressive). I took it quite easy in the morning before heading to the bus station for the long overnight bus that would take me to Varanasi, the famous Holy City on the bank of the Ganges where the dead are burned and where Hindus from all over the country come to cleanse their soul in the Holy Water.
The bus was quite full with foreigners. I was sitting next to a welsh guy and I hanged with him and a czech girl
called Eva. The bus was "semi-luxurious" which doesn't sound that impressive and look even less so. Especially when you consider the leg space which seems to have been designed for chinese dwarves. I somehow managed to crawl in there but it didn't take long that my knees were telling me to get out of there as soon as possible. Unfortunately for them, as soon as possible turned out to be 15 hours.
The journey was quite uneventful except for the lovely public toilet with shit overflowing, but that's another story.
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