We arrived early in Khajuraho because when we headed out Wed Nov 23 (to catch a bus, to catch a train, run like crazy, to catch a train, to catch a bus) this guy pulls up in a really nice SUV and tells us that he lives in Khajuraho and that he’s going home. It wasn’t really going to cost us very much extra money and it was about a million times more convenient, so against our better judgment we went for it. Unfortunately as it was not really the smartest thing to do and we knew that neither one of us could relax and just trust the driver (who turned out to be a professional tourist driver for a big company in Delhi). So it was a pretty tense six hour drive there. Fortunately it all turned out for the best, we got there safely with no glitches. The driver was very keen to drink whiskey with us and lend us his motorcycle to drive out and seem some waterfalls that are supposed to be very impressive but we politely decline.
We wandered around and checked out the temples. There are three main sections with about half a dozen temples at each. The temples look very similar but the sculptures on them vary slightly. The images were not actually as explicit as we had expected, which was kind of nice. Regardless of the content, the carvings are really amazing! They are some of the finest temple are in the world, listed as a World Heritage Site. We thought they were really worth the trip. Each temple is dedicated to a different Hindu god. And we were not totally sure that we understood this correctly but we were told that they were built to bring pleasure to the gods, to sort of appease them. Although we should probably look into the truth behind that, a bit more.
Thursday Nov 24 – Fri Nov 25
We wandered around and checked out the temples. There are three main sections with about half a dozen temples at each. The temples look very similar but the sculptures on them vary slightly. The images were not actually as explicit as we had expected, which was kind of nice. Regardless of the content, the carvings are really amazing! They are some of the finest temple are in the world, listed as a World Heritage Site. We thought they were really worth the trip. Each temple is dedicated to a different Hindu god. And we were not totally sure that we understood this correctly but we were told that they were built to bring pleasure to the gods, to sort of appease them. Although we should probably look into the truth behind that, a bit more.
The city itself has a really laidback rural atmosphere. It was really enjoyable to wander the streets and do a bit of shopping. Although the fact that their main tourist attracts are erotic temples some of the souvenirs also made us blush a little.
We met an older guy named Warren and his friend Ramkishore (sp?), who works at one of the tourist shops, while we were searching for the perfect pair of alibaba pants. Warren was a very interesting guy. He’s 77 and permanently lives in Seattle but for the last 17 years has spent the majority of his time in Khajuraho which he really considers home. We sat and chatted with them for several hours eating peanuts and drinking many cups of masala tea. Ramkishore really wanted us come to his home for lunch. And so because our flight was leaving early the next morning we agreed to have lunch at 9:30am the following morning (Sat Nov 26). It was seriously the best food we’ve had since we got here. His two daughters and his wife cooked us up a real feast! We sat in their little one bedroom home, on their one bed. Then the oldest daughter, who is 17, did henna all up my arm. It was a really amazing experience!
Saturday Nov 26 – Happy Birthday to my Mommy!
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