I'd slept so well on the last train, but not this time. This was a night train from Varanasi to Satna. It was scheduled to leave at 11:30 but actually did at about 1:30am. The rest of the day was catching the bus from Satna to Khajaraho. I'll mention that the busses are not unlike the jeeps -- you can buy a ticket w/ a seat number, but you are packed in like sardines -- I mean three people literally snugly crammed into a bench seat -- and then people keep getting on to fill the aisle. Think school-bus style, not greyhound coach. The main roads that you see on a map are really more like roads that you might be used to not seeing marked on maps. The pavement comes and goes, and whether it's there or not most of the trip is potholes and bumpy patches. The noise is incredible. Like the jeeps, the busses are built like tanks. All of the windows slide horizontally and rattle loosely in their tracks with every bump. I ended up putting my earplugs in. The bus *really* made me appreciate railroads.
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The train station at night. Midnight, actually -- always people sleeping everywhere, doing the
mass of humanity thing.
My hotel was on the end of this street. |
Once I got to town, I was tired -- left everything in the room (including the camera) and just went out walking. The locals *love* to talk to foreigners, especially Americans. But they are soooo increeedddiblllyy overbearing. Before I knew it this chess-whiz kid was planning out every detail of my next 2 days. I told him that I might have to spend time with some friends.
This is a really small village (2 villages actually, old & new) out in the country and there's not much here besides the ruins. Total population was about 10,000 (teeeeny by India standard) and the town was indeed very touristy but incredibly clean, with wide streets and - gasp - sidewalks. Probably a result of the tourism/population ratio. I had my best chai of the trip here, but the street vendor food was the worst (taste-wise, not hygiene).
This was a touristy town. The
touts were vicious and even employing all of the tout-avoidance techniques that I'd so successfully used in the past, it was still challenging.
The power blackouts here were from 10am to 2pm I finally learned that the reason that the power goes off regularly is that demand exceeds supply. So they just schedule regular blackouts for the towns at regular times. It's really strange to see ticketing offices and internet shops sitting there with no power for 4 hrs a day.
I never thought I'd be too in to temples. And I'm still not. But these were pretty neat. I got up early, paid for the head-phone tour and snapped a bunch of pictures....
The basic story is that about 1000 years ago, [pages lost from guide -- find the dynasty and insert here] came to power and spent a hundred years or so building a several intricate temples at this site. There's nothing really special about this area except that it's largely inaccessible as it's surrounded by dense forests/jungle.
After a few hundred years, the area was abandoned and overtaken by jungle until it was discovered in the 1800's by a British officer. The temples are about 100' high, made of sandstone and covered completely with extremely intricate carvings, including various members of the Hindu pantheon as well as depictions of various scenes.
The figures are all about 2 1/2 - 3' high. Each one is composed in a style to suggest motion and life. It's amazing how much detail can survive 1000 years. You could spend a *lot* of time (and I did) looking at each one. A woman looking into a mirror, or writing a letter. Most had some kind of action and emotion going on.
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above left: Ganesh -- right: flute player facing away
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About 7% of the carvings are what you would call "erotic." There are a lot of explanations for the erotica -- training manuals in Karma Sutra for young men, something to attract people to the temples, ways to appease the gods, inspiration for increasing population, etc.
There are four people involved in what's going on in the middle
carving. The people on either side were "helpers" for Karma Sutra positions.
Note that the woman on the right seems embarrassed while the man on the left looks
on with interest.
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For some you had to look closely to see it. For others, you didn't.
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I'd met Marie & Aimee both that day -- We were all staying at the same place. We went out
to dinner w/ a local fellow that Aimee had met. They were both headed to Kanha Nat'l Park,
and I was headed to Agra (Taj Mahal) and then Delhi. I felt like I'd only really been in "India"
for a couple of weeks and my arm could be twisted to stay a bit. It turned out that Kanha was a Tiger reserve, one of the foremost parks in India and the inspiration for "The Jungle Book." Ok -- I would
figure out a way to change my flight to Bangkok.
