We left the Agra train station by sleeper car at 11:30pm, where we said goodbye to our tour guide, Ompal. The train stations are particularly sketchy at night. Good thing this is our first and last sleeper train during our travels. There was some kind of rally going on at the station. Ompal said it was “a political problem.” Ok…that’s reassuring. Jason was able to find the first class waiting area while I waited in the car, and we boarded on time. We arrived in Khajuraho at 9am, only 2.5 hrs late. Indian rail is notoriously unpredictable, so this wasn’t too bad.
Immediately upon getting off of the train, we were greeted by a rickshaw driver/tour guide who offered to take us to our hotel for $3.50 (for 10km). Sold. Of course, on the ride to the hotel, there was the obligatory up-sell to take tours with him throughout our time in Khajuraho. We just wanted to relax, so we got his number and said we might call later.
Khajuraho was just what we needed after all of the travel and hustle of the last few days. It’s a peaceful little town where the main attractions are the Kama Sutra temples, which are scattered throughout the city. These temples were originally erected in the 10th and 11th centuries, with some necessary reconstructions throughout the years.
We stayed at the lovely, Usha Bundela hotel for 3 nights, and walked to and from town (only a mile or so) each day. The staff is very attentive…almost too much. Breakfast is included in our stay and ends at 10:30 am. Without fail, the manager calls our room each day at 9:30 a.m. and says, “Good morning, Sir, will you be taking breakfast?” Jason – “Yes, we’ll be down in 15 minutes.” Manager - “Please – come to breakfast.” SO funny.
We visited the largest, Western group of temples on day 2, and a waterfall, animal sanctuary, Old City, and Eastern and Southern temples on day 3 with, Vicky (same tour guide), and his business partner/rickshaw driver. Vicky liked to try to convince us that all Americans say “Sounds great” about everything. The funny thing was that when he said it, it was “the sound is great” which made it that much better. We had some wonderful Indian fare, plus a great wood fire pizza that could rival NYC.
Once again, there were very few Westerners around, which made the experience more authentic for us. I caught a little cold after we arrived but after my Ayurvedic massage yesterday I am cured!