Henry’s (Legendary) Holiday Season in India - Part 1

Written inside a mud hut in rural India on December 21, 2013

It’s about time I make more of a stereotypical travel blog entry. This is my first EPIC ADVENTURE in India (my beach trip to Goa is too touristy to count).

I was originally contemplating a nice 5 day trip over the holidays but my boss graciously suggested I take a few extra days to connect the weekends. After wrapping up any work I couldn’t finish on the road, I started planning my 12 day holiday in India!

Planning in India: Far From Fun

I stayed up until 2am on a Saturday just figuring out how to book trains in India. I might have found the one thing more confusing to me than women. Trains in this country typically book up months in advance but there’s a foreign tourist quota for each train to help out with last minute backpacking plans. Purchasing these tickets required a 3 hour round trip to the Mumbai CST station, followed by another hour or so at the ticket counter.  Working around transportation and accommodation limitations, I managed to cobble together a sick itinerary:

• Orchha, a quaint ancient town to unwind from a long train ride
• Khajuraho, an orgy of ancient erotic and sexy Kama Sutra carvings
• Allahabad, home of the kumbh-mela, India’s largest religious festival
• Bodh Gaya, THE spot where Buddha reached enlightenment
• Varanasi, one of the holiest places in India
• Followed by a site visit to Dhar, a tribal area where I will perform due diligence on a non-profit’s menstrual hygiene program

The Solo Traveller

I probably could have made more effort to find some company on this trip but I feel like getting some Henry time these days. I loaded up some old school James Bond movies, starting right from the Sean Connery days, to keep myself entertained. Who prefers to spend Christmas and New Years alone anyways? This guy.

My First Train Ride in India

After hearing how disgusting trains in India can be, I booked a 2^nd class ticket (out of 4 classes) and found it to be actually a great experience. The car was quite clean and I was pleased to be able to travel halfway across the country at a price of $25. I had a good conversation with a young politician in Bhopal who was also the owner of an upscale fitness club. He loves his country and is trying to set a good example for other Indians by keeping his journey garbage in his own bag (otherwise it gets dumped on the tracks). India needs more politicians like him.

I also watched Octopussy, filmed in India, to properly get my adventure kicked off. Roger Moore’s James Bond is like the classiest creepy-dude ever.

16 Hours Later: Hello Orchha

My first stop was a town called Orchha, the capital of the Bundela rajas from the 16th century to 1783. It is somewhat off the beaten track and known to be a laid back place to hang out. It was the best 1.5 days I’ve had in India so far.

I stayed about 1.5 km away from Orchha in a village mud-hut homestay created by a non-profit, Friends of Orchha. The village Ganj went through a rough drought a few years ago and the livelihood of its people was greatly compromised. Friends of Orchha financed homes for the villagers which will then be repaid through the homestay program. It costs nearly $10 per night including dinner and about half the money goes to the host family up front. At the end of the year, the balance will be paid to the family after taking out administration and maintenance costs (the non-profit supports some infrastructure in the area like groundwater wells).

My host’s patriarch is Ram Babu, with a wife and three daughters. They were the first to pay off their house thanks to the economic contribution of homestay guests.

These are the 2 youngest daughters, Kushi and Nidhi. They are super adorable.

Home sweet home

The mud hut was quite homely and comfortable, and the neighbouring villagers are amazingly nice. They made delicious roti bread in an oven right in the courtyard of the home. It was incredibly heart-warming to spend an evening with a family of five after dinner huddled around a small black-and-white TV in rural India. I left early in the morning and Ram Babu made a fire for me so that I wouldn't be stuck waiting in the cold. Just amazing people. This is something everybody should do at least once in their lifetime, especially if it supports the livelihoods of rural poor people.

Exploring Orchha’s Amazing Architecture

I have a flair for getting off the beaten track. I literally had two massive palaces to myself during the whole morning. Orchha is an incredible place with an earthy charm to it. It is a town of ancient palaces and temples with scale near that of the ancillary temples of the Angkor Wat. I exhausted myself climbing and exploring all the nooks and crannies of the structures.

Courtyard of the Raj Mahal

Magnificent detail carved into the windows

Condom wrapper found in one of the upper floors. Guess this place is frequently deserted. The sex must have been either legendary (because of the epic heights) or mediocre (from fear of heights)

 View from the top of the Jehinger Mahal with the Raj Mahal in the background. Did I mention I got the whole place pretty much to myself?

Peace and Quiet

Eventually a few more folks started exploring the main structures so I bounced and found a mini-palace nearby. Again, it was literally abandoned so I set up camp in the main living hall and meditated. To finish off the experience, I did a bit of yoga and worked out the travel kinks in my body. It was just amazing to enjoy an ancient mansion to myself for a few hours.

My meditation hall

 This might be my best selfie ever

Peace and quiet interrupted! These kids noticed me and came running in for a photoshoot.

The Mouldy Bill

A restaurant owner gave me a mouldy 10 rupee bill for change that nobody else would accept. I tried sneaking it to like 5-6 vendors and they all refused it. I just couldn’t get rid of the damn thing. Eventually, I was just going to throw it out and figured maybe someone poor could make use of it. I gave it to a beggar and triggered an unexpected chain reaction where over a dozen nearby beggars flocked over to me for more. I was literally surrounded like a sexy rock star but not in a good way. I cleared a path for myself and rushed away before it got out of control. One little girl followed me for another 200m or so before giving up. Lesson learned: don’t give money to beggars unless nobody can see it.

A Sticky Situation.... WTF?

I placed my backpack under the train bunk beds on the way to Orchha and got some sticky substance all over my backpack. It is translucent in color and has a honey-like viscosity to it. Luckily I had my rain-cover on but this stuff is super contagious and anything it touches turns to stickiness. I got a little bit on my sock and now the insides of my right shoe are also sticky. Unfortunately there’s no running water with the homestay so I’ve quarantined everything with patches of toilet paper until I get to proper facilities to clean this shit off.

Eww what is this

2 pieces of toilet paper = problem solved

A Reminder of What I like

I had an amazing time at Orchha and came to remember the types of places I love to travel to:

• Off the beaten track
• Middle of rural nowhere, far far from most of civilization
• Full of warm-hearted people living simple lives
• Basic accommodations
• I feel like I’m almost the only tourist there

The experiences I had over the last couple days reminded me of great times I had in Yunnan, China and Bolivia. I’m going to actively seek these experiences over the next few months and create the space I need to continue loving life and growing.

I played with these puppies in the middle of a palace courtyard and took a few photos of them. As I left, I realized their mom was resting under a bench nearby and totally could have fucked me up if she misread my intentions. Lesson learned: check for mama before playing with baby animals.

 

I had so many great interactions with the people here. Here I am playing with a little boy who was pretending to throw things at me and I responded in kind by pretending to get mortally injured. Pictures say a thousand words. He was loving it!

Overall, Hank the Travelling Domo rates these last couple days 10/10!