It's just a little crush

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Getting a seat on the bus from Jhansi to Khajuraho turned out to be just the sort of palaver I like to avoid. Through a combination of the RG and the Orchha hotel manager, I had been left with the impression that it was possible to reserve a seat on this bus. It actually turned out that even though there are buses that ply this route where you can reserve a seat well in advance, my intended 11AM bus did not have this facility. Only at 10:30AM, when the conductor appeared, was it possible to buy a ticket in advance - when I said I would appreciate some extra legroom, he generously gave me one of the seats at the front.

Unfortunately there was already someone in the seat when the bus turned up, and this occupant was extremely unhappy at being evicted in favour of a mere foreigner. The bus was a 2*3 and not the luxury one that I'd been told. A gentleman of the larger persuasion was sitting in the window seat as well as half of the middle one, so the guy in the middle seat was encroaching on mine. Add in the 20 people standing in the aisle, and 7 or 8 people crouched around the driver's seat, and my hoped-for legroom soon became a pipe dream.

I ended up spending a long time chatting with the man in the middle, who was actually a friend of the chap who'd been booted out of my seat but didn't seem to bear any grudge. Shortly after he'd reached his stop and disembarked, and I was revelling in a massive increase in space for my cramped legs, another guy came and sat in his seat. This was completely unnecessary, as the bus was only half-full at this point, but he too wanted to have a chat, though it subsequently turned out he was trying to sell me a room at a hotel in Khajuraho. And finally, when he had gone, an old guy took up the baton. He must have forgotten to put his teeth in or something, as I couldn't understand a word he was saying. All I could gather from the conversation was that I reminded him of his son, and that he'd love it if I could visit him - I have his address for this purpose. And so did the four and three-quarter hour journey to Khajuraho pass.

The RG map was, once again, pure fiction, so the distance to my hotel looked to be 7 or 8 km whereas it was really less than 2, so a cycle-rickshaw driver was able to successfully sting me. I'm staying in another MP Tourism hotel, the Hotel Payal, which is a little bit away from the centre of Khajuraho, but still only 15 minutes' walk from the Western Group of temples. The facilities are quite similar to those in Orchha. I quickly ordered a chicken pulao, described in the menu as containing "tender chicken pieces", and was a little surprised when all the meat turned out to be on the bone, which seemed to be stretching the definition of tender a little. Additionally, one of the staff said it would cost me Rs 4,000 to get a taxi from Khajuraho to Bandhavgarh - this is a question they must have been asked a million times before and, since I knew the correct price was more in the region of Rs 2,500, this looked suspiciously like an attempt to rip me off. So I didn't get a good impression of the staff on day 1.

In the evening, I went to a son et lumiere show in the Western Group grounds. It took full advantage of the impressive setting, though was a little too long given how cold the air temperature was. The show was supposedly narrated by the spirit of the master sculptor, and described how the temples had been constructed. However it was coy in glossing over the reasons for some of their explicit sexual content.

After the show, I took a walk around the village, which is very small. Unfortunately it seems to be populated by the cream of the touts from Delhi and Jaipur, as it was impossible to walk 5 yards without either being accosted by rickshaw-wallahs and shopkeepers, or simply latched onto by some person who wanted to talk. Despite me being terse and uncommunicative, one man followed me around for a good 15 minutes before finally revealing his true purpose - he owned a shop that he wanted me to visit.

I also picked up a quote for Rs 3,000 for the journey from Khajuraho to Bandhavgarh, so it's heading more towards the price I'm expecting.

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