India Trip - Day 7 - Khajuraho

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We set off from Orchha this morning in some private jeeps to undertake a mad cap journey to Khajuraho. Driving in India is always an experience and this was no exception. Although I do have to say that the driving hasn't been anywhere near as scary as I thought it might be. The trip from Orchha to Khajuraho was about 4 hours in the car. We stopped just out of Orchha to visit the Tara Paper factory. This is a project set up by a very generous gentleman who wanted to help the local village women to earn some more money to support their households (as the men were drinking and gambling the money away apparently). The factory takes offcuts of clothing from clothing factories and through a certain process breaks down the fibres in the textiles and then coverts them into sheets of paper. The entire process is ecologocially friendly and they don't use any harsh dyes of chemicals at any point (which is pretty neat). This factory also gives the women some options to earn some extra money for their homes. So of course to help support them I just had to purchase some of their products.

From the paper factory we piled back into the jeeps and continued on our journey to Khajuraho. We stopped for a wee comfort break mid way in the journey (at a restaurant that didn't have any food - and its display items were sour cheese and onion pringles, toilet paper and digestives. I kid you not, this was all they had to sell).

Suneil (our tour guide) warned us to be careful of the men in Khajuraho. Apparently all the Indian men here think that all the white western women are here to sleep with them and will apparently be quite persistent in their attentions. Suneil told us this in our little briefing before we left the hotel in Khajuraho to look at the Hindu Temples, and I think it made us all a little bit cautious about stepping out the front door of the hotel. However I am pleased to report that I have now made it back inside the hotel with no adverse experiences to report.

We had lunch today in Khajuraho at the house of a local artist. His wife made us the most beautiful traditional lunch which consisted of vegetable parathas, dal, aloo and various other yummy treats. The couple had the most gorgeous little girl who really was a little treasure.

The Hindu temples of Khajuarho are amazing. Really amazing. And they are very famous for their erotic art! And I can see why. The sides of the temples depict positions out of the Kama Sutra. It is really unusual to see this type of thing on the side of a place of worship. I mean can you imagine seeing some of these positions from the photos on the side of St Paul's Cathedral? Never the less, there they are on the sides of the temples of Khajuraho. And the temples are totally amazing. We had a local guide who took us around and he explained to us many of the details of the temples of Vishnu, Shiva and Parvati. Look at the photos.

Dinner tonight was in a local Italian restaurant that advertised itself as having an Italian Chef under Dutch Supervision. We couldn't quite work out why that would be a good thing that you would want to advertise to bring in the patrons. However the food was lovely so they must have been doing something right.

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