Madhya Pradesh

Pack, meet Tom & checkout at lobby of Moustache Khajuraho at 8:30am. Tom tries to arrange his transport/train from Orchha to Mumbai as he fears Orchha might be too small a town to arrange this from. Was not a quick task - junior staff gave him run around trying to get Tom to do a private taxi hire. Tom was meant to have brekky W us but stayed back to sort - will meet him at bus station for 9:30am. M&Z get brekky at Gura Kripa again - Aloo and paneer paratha...big serves, got rest for takeaway and lunch for journey to Orchha... will share W. Tom in case didn't have time for brekky. Walked to bus station and met Tom. He explains he relucantly had to pay 4000 INR for moustache staff to arrange his transport from Orchha to Mumbai and believes he's been scammed but felt he had to take a risk cause not sure how small Orchha is and has to be in Mumbai 2 days from now. He will meet his gf there and they will go back to the UK for christmas then onwards to South Africa. Got on bus - pay onboard 50INR ea and + 50 INR for our 3 backpacks to take us to Chhatarpur. Drop off - man takes M’s bag down and takes it straight to bus instead of handing to M... Man was trying to be helpful but almost lost M's bag because of this as we JUST caught bus to Jhansi as it was driving away. 150 INR each. Very dusty journey and felt pollution/smog getting to us. Dropped off at Orchha turn off, man asks for additional 50 INR ea for luggage last minute, Tom tells him to F off as it was clearly an afterthought. Man wanted to argue but his bus started driving away so he had to get back on. Tuktuk to Orchha 100INR for 3 but shared with 3 other adults (domestic tourists) and one child. Orchha looked very much like Khajuraho except it had a beautiful fort and temples. Checked in at Hotel Sunset. Such a lovely host who is studying tourism (has exam tmrw). We all meet Guillome (Fr France) and Anisha (Uzbekistan) who were already staying at the hostel and headed out to explore. Lovely couple.Tom will scout out a homestay and decide where he would like to stay. Add him on FB so we can meet up for dinner. M&Z settle in and decide will stay only one night so research transport to Agra. Train available early afternoon tomorrow so plan to check out temples and fort tmrw. Ready for dinner and hear Tom’s voice - he’s decided to stay at hotel sunset also tonight. Head out for dinner W Tom to No-Mads Cafe recommended by host. Touts still similar to Khajuraho, more children and teenagers that talk to you as if they're genuinely interested in your company but then show their true intentions after you’ve invested some time in them. If you look at a toddler, they will suddenly stop playing, run to you with hand out saying "chocolate?" And follow you around. Saw a tractor towing a tray full of ppl arriving at a wedding venue - they were all so smiley and amused that we were so intrigued by this. Walk further and a girl says hello and Z & Tom chat to her... She then told us to have a look at her shop, so we amused her and went. She grabbed a bracelet and grabbed Z's arm to tie it around, Z pulling away and saying no thank you. Girl insisting she doesn't want money and that it is a “free gift” and insisted on giving Tom one too. Once bracelets on Tom & Z , she quickly revealed that it is a free gift but we "have to come to [her] shop after dinner". Walked away and found No-mads. Met Udeshya, the lovely cafe owner. Learnt he grew up just east of Varanasi, went to Uni in Varanasi, worked finance in New Dehli, quit his job to travel India on his motorbike and to start a small business in a small town like Orchha. His cafe is new and has only been open for 14 days. Had Thali, coke and lassi to share. Best Thali we've had in India so far. Tom brought his deck of cards - played 2 rounds of cambio. Tom had to be somewhere to sort his transport to Mumbai by 7:30. Head out, and on way back to hostel, separate from Tom as heard ceremony host told us about at temple. Had a look and enjoyed for a bit. Headed back to hostel to chill. M&Z discussed that if Orchha is a snippet of what we would expect out of Hampi (which many travellers we met along the way and had been to both have told us), we would much rather spend the rest of our 4 weeks where we can find some nature, get fresh air, and experience the country's culture through meaningful interactions with locals without having to fight for it. Brainstormed countries we might like to visit... Looked on Skyscanner for places we can fly out to from New Delhi at a low price. We will spend 1 night in Agra, and reassess. Heard Tom back at guesthouse, chat W him for a while. Booked 3:30pm train with help of host to go from Jhansi -> Agra tmrw (2S class) and a private tuktuk from hostel to Jhansi (250INR) at 1:30pm tmrw. Guillome and Anisha arrive back at hostel and we all play Cambio until the end of the night. Early night for everyone - G&A leaving in morning for Khajuraho, T leaves in evening for Mumbai, we leave on train tomorrow afternoon so will get up early to explore Orchha.Read more