A Whole Lot of Nothing
Trip Start
Nov 01, 2010
1
9
23
Trip End
Jul 15, 2011
Orchha, Madhya Pradesh, India
Friday, December 10, 2010
As it turns out, the really interesting thing about MP roads isn't so much their roughness as their narrowness. More lane and a half than actual two lane roads, they make for interesting views from the buses front window. Nothing like watching the approaching cargo truck as it barrels down the middle of the road towards you, and you do likewise. It's really fairly amazing just how close two vehicles can get before making any moves away from center and still not hit each other. It probably helps that at least one of them, our bus, had a top speed of about 37 MPH. It wasn't so much that couldn't go faster as it was the probability of bits falling off due to the incredible vibration that set in at 38 MPH. Thanks to this safety feature and the skill of the drivers, disaster (after disaster) was averted. And let's face it, the trip could have been worse. I could have been standing like some of the other passengers, rather than sitting in a broken seat, crushed between Karen and a rather large local guy.
And, eventually, the bus arrived and we went off with 3 other backpackers looking for a rickshaw into town. The haggling started at 200 rupees, which we knew to be extortionate despite the driver's insistence that it was the "government price". We worked the driver down to 150 (so much for the government price), still a complete ripoff but something we could live with and piled in to the rickshaw. That's when things started going our way, as an authoritative looking gent showed up and began dressing down our driver. We very quickly learned that 1. He was the local captain of police and 2. the government price was actually 10 rupees each.
That was 5 (or is it 6?) days ago, and we've been blissfully enveloped by Orchha's relative peace and quiet ever since. A small town that was formerly the seat of a small empire several hundred years ago, it's offered us exactly what we've been looking for; a quiet place to catch our breath amidst beautiful ruins, a friendly town devoid of touts and associated hassles, trails through woodlands devoid of people, noise and pollution, and full of monkeys, peacocks and assorted other wildlife, and a low key backpacker scene where we can compare notes, exchange books and figure out our next steps. Which we haven't yet, so who knows where you'll hear from us next.
Cheers.
Comments
Have a Merry Christmas Bro! Thanks for the Trip Updates!
One the great pics you took & the caption "Dinner companions in India are unpredictable" just made my day! hahaha..sory...cannot type any more... hahaha!
You can imagine how we felt then! You must miss the randomness of home sometimes :-)