Orchha

Another long day! Started fairly early as we got up about 730 to go get water from the well with the family, its amazing how the girls carry not one full pot of water on their heads but 2 or even 3 pots stacked on top of each other! Once back at home we had a very different breakfast of rice with nuts , which was actually quiet spicy. Next we met up with Sud and headed into town - First we headed to Shes Mahal (palace) where we wondered around for a few hours - it was in fairly bad condition, the walls had all been painted once with frescoes but they were now barely visible except for 2 or 3 rooms where they have survived fairly well. It was still fun exploring the huge palace and there were not many tourists around so it felt as if we were the only ones there. After the palace we headed out to the markets to try and find Ram Babu’s shop, after getting lost and almost giving up we just bumped into him! We bought a couple of items and paid him a bit more then what he asked for (he was very grateful) Bec then got swarmed by kids who painted her nails and put bindi’s on her etc! and I got mobbed by kids wanting their photos. Right near Ram’s shop was a primary school so we headed in there to have a quick look, well I think its fair to say we caused chaos with the school kids a lot more interested in us then school work or listening to the angry screaming teacher! We gave the teacher a bunch of stickers and made our escape while the kids were distracted! Next we headed over to a nearby temple which again was huge and looked very old, at the door we were greeted by a man asking for our tickets so we showed the ones we used for the palace and he started talking to us, it was only when he got up and started telling us to follow him we realized he wasn’t really a ticket collector but a guide, we went with it thinking if it was no good we would just give him maybe 50 rupees at the end and leave it at that but he ended up being really helpful as he took us up some very steep and dark stairs (he had to light matches to give us light as it was pitch black) all the way to the temple roof! Our very unobstructed view was amazing (there was no rail or anything just the roof and then a very long drop if you fell!). He pointed out a nesting vulture in one of the window arches, the bird was huge! After taking a few photos we headed back down the massive steps. Next we walked over to Sud’s hotel as he was staying only about 2-3 minutes from this temple, there we had some lunch and a beer. Afterwards Sud and I went down to the street as we both needed a shave! I ended up getting the works with a shave, face massage, head massage and neck massage! Sud ended up paying for it so we have no idea how much it cost but we later slipped some cash into his bag. We then walked further down the road to a nearby river and relaxed for a while, some police came down with 2 big beautiful German Shepherds and they started relaxing too! It was a nice peaceful spot. Finally we headed back to Sud’s hotel again as he cooked us some chicken curry again which as always was fantastic, we had a few drinks and played some cards but had to leave fairly early to meet our curfew! (the homestay wanted us home by 930 or the family would worry about our safety!) we ended up getting home somewhere between 930-10 so we were late! I’m fairly sure they stayed up waiting for us because as soon as we got home Ram and Rohini came and greeted us and after going back to their hut the tv was turned off and they went to sleep! Same as us!