Shankargarh

Arrived at Khajuraho train station at 5 am. Tom booked in at Moustache Khajuraho, a guesthouse Z had shortlisted. Tuk tuk to Moustache w Tom, Sasha and Johnny 100INR. Sasha and Johnny decide they don’t want to stay at moustache..stay in tuk tuk to go to city centre. Staff member greets us and asks M&Z “what [we] want” and disregards Tom as he knew he had a booking. Told man to tend to Tom first and we’d have a chat w him afterwards. Had to insist on this a few times. Tom checked in and M&Z negotiate room that is available for 2 nights if needed as we are thinking of staying two nights but we are still not sure. 650 INR per night. Man tells us we can take brekky at their rooftop restaurant, has tours available etc. Told him we will take a rest and might see him for tea at the restaurant later. Settle in and told each other would nap for half hour... slept in until 9am. Resto for masala tea, no brekky - didn’t feel the vibe, not really a resto, man (staff) keeps trying to sell us on tours, says seeing one of the temples is “complimentary “ as if it came with the stay at their guesthouse. Gloated to other guest (Alex from Italy) that he read that we like hiking from our gear (boots, pants and fleeces) and explained that’s why he keeps trying to sell the tiger reserve tour and hiking tour to us. Not impressed with his manner of approaching us, no genuine interaction and all about non stop selling. Finished our tea and left. Saw free temples (2), had brekky at Guru Kripa Pure Veg Restaurant - Aloo Paratha x2 & masala tea. Then headed to UNESCO World Heritage Site (Western group of temples) - birthplace of karma sutra. Beautiful, ornate, detailed, well kept and well preserved archeological site. Z hungry and belly still sensitive so had western lunch - Margherita pizza. Tried to find a travel agent to enquire about trains to Orchha and booking train tix. Only one helpful agent, the rest kept dodging giving us train ticket pricing and instead tried to push for a private taxi hire to Orchha. Walked out on these shops, unhelpful and could not get anywhere with them. Went back to guesthouse for rest, Zinia’s belly still unwell. Touts are different in this town - very deceiving, disingenuous, annoyingly persistent (don’t respect you when you say no thank you like the touts in Varanasi) and more kids begging and ones that follow you a long way. Had to tell off one child that followed us almost all the way back to our guesthouse despite saying no and ignoring him for a long time. While resting, we decided we want to move on to Orchha tmrw so will stay only 1 night. Checked trains to Orchha and availability- train available midday tmrw. M chatted w man to help book train tix, tried to say this train wasn’t available when he realised we didn’t want to stay for 2 nights. Offered a private driver at an expensive rate. He did accidentally mention a tourist quota for train tix that get released at 6pm so M will check again later. Z feeling better, time for dinner. Will speak now with staff about tourist quota for train and confirm we are staying only one night. Man was very unclear about tourist quota and tried to say there was no tourist quota. Man was trying to say we had told him we would stay 2 nights and he agreed for us to stay in our room for 1300 for 2 nights. Argued this with him and he said “okay fine, I will give you 45 mins to decide if you want to stay 1 or 2 nights”. Z says “45 mins? How about we make it easier and decide now. We are staying one night only.” Heard Tom outside the room and chatted for a while - he too has had same experience with touts and locals and is planning on leaving to Orchha tmrw. Will leave with Tom tmrw and will discuss over dinner. Went to Guru Kripa again for dinner with Tom, met Naresh - lovely host keen to practice his English and to chat about cricket with Tom. Naresh asked if we could keep in contact with him to practice his English and so we can practice our Hindi. Added Tom and Z on WhatsApp. Headed back to guesthouse, got there and saw a group of guys with rifles out the front and started walking away as we walked closer. Went to rooftop and played cards with Tom’s Karma Sutra deck he bought today. President, then Tom taught us “Cambio” game. Talked about transport to Orchha tmrw, Tom mentioned bus to Chhatarpur then transfer bus to Orchha which leaves in the morning. Will do this tmrw instead of train. Meet at lobby tmrw for 8:30am.Read more