Jhansi was one of those little towns in the middle of nowhere, so there was no doubt that I got a helluvalot of stares at this place. It is quite a good feeling when people are walking, cycling or driving by and they shout or say hello and wave to you. It makes you feel like a celebrity. Maj was teaching me a bit of Hindi here and I was in charge of getting directions to the Fort and asking for a bottle of cold water. I did him proud. The fort was enormous. It had once been run by the Moghuls then Muslims then the British. We spent a good few hours here exploring all the chasms, stairwells, and secret passageways it had to offer. We were tailed by some local kids for a while, who were very intrigued by us (like most young locals). They asked to see a dollar note thinking we were American, and low and behold I use a dollar as my bookmark, so they took it turns to hold and look at the note (Maj was prepared for any looting) and were really glad for it. It took a while, but we managed to lose them (well at least I did) Maj was shouting at them saying 'Look! Now you've lost the white boy!' We stayed at the Fort til sunset then made our way back to the hotel to replenish HP. We went to Orcha the following day to see the 'hidden city' as it was once known (It aint bloody hidden anymore, it was ram-packed). Its basically a small town hidden deep in the jungle, thriving with lots of temples and huge palaces, which you are free to explore (for small ruppee fee). After visiting each one of the palace's we decided to stray from the tourist worn track and go find the nearby River Betwa. We passed over some farm land and a few hedges and finally over a perimetre wall to discover the River and it was quality! It had countles numbers of granite rocks pretruding from the surface which we messed around on for sometime, taking daft pictures and trying to figure a way across to the otherside (ugh huh - failed). We took a Tempu (shared rickshaw) (and yeah, were like locals) back to Jhansi for only 10 ruppees each, we've cracked the bargains of India now. It was damn uncomfortbale, but.... I guess you get what you pay for?!?
We took the train the day after that to Bhopal to have a good 2 days of rest (and also to do our laundry bucket style). It was here where the strength of my stomach finally gave into the forces of Delhi Belly, it was a long battle which 'run' for days, the battleground became dark, wet and extremely smelly. But with the help of my comrade who had to withstand the agony, we were victorious, and so I treat myself to spicy chicken tikka masala! Bring on round 2, I dare ya!
Jhansi, Orcha and Bhopal Photo Link:
http://www3.snapfish.in/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1839188011/a=2264773011_2264773011/
No comments:
Post a Comment