Rupees, Chocolate

I believe Rupees and chocolate are the first words some of the youngsters here learn. They are certainly the words they practice most often, at least by some. Hello and where are you from are the next most common phrases. One member of our group has a certain rock star air about him as he is the tallest, blondest and most blue eyed member of our group and attracts the most attention.

We are now in the town of Orchha and this has a bit of a touristy feel to it. We have also seen more westerners here than in any other place we have visited. The town is very small, though. Population is probably in the few hundreds but there are quite a few temples, palaces and one fort close by which brings folks from all over though not in the numbers of the tourist sites in the west. Today's itinerary included a tour of the fort which has four palaces in it, a temple from the 17th century and a cooking class. Much like the paella cooking class in Barcelona (was that a lifetime ago?), it was more a cooking demonstration and ended with a home cooked meal which we all shared. Wow! I have only been dabbling in tasting Indian fare because of periodic bouts of mild intestinal distress but after sampling Vandana's cooking, I don't think I will be able to enjoy the food from any Indian restaurant as much as I did hers! She gave us the recipes as she prepared the various dishes that go into an Indian thali. A thali is standard Indian meal consisting of four different things plus a 'bread'. We had vegetable palua, aloo palak, dal, rice and chapati (the bread). The list of spices used in just one of these dishes was longer than the total ingredients list of anything else I've ever seem prepared (mild exaggeration only). Oh, and I forgot-we started the meal off with the winter chai tea. A very grand day even with the winter temperature somewhere in the low 60s F ;-)

Our transportation varies from day to day depending on how far and where we're going. We've been on trains, local buses, motorized rickshaws called tuk-tuks, taxis and private taxis that are usually Land Rovers. We did have one private bus, too. The roads are better in some parts of the country than in others and are shared with mostly trucks and motorcycles. I have seen very few private vehicles. They drive on the left side like in England although it really seems to be arbitrary. Horns are used constantly but not instead of brakes as some folks would have you believe. The horn is not used in angry, alarm or fear and I've never heard it followed by the horrid metal crunching like I do back home. Here the horn is simply a notice to those around you that "I'm here and I'm passing you" or "I'm moving into that lane with you" or "Please, cow, be so kind as to step out of my path thankyouverymuch". Do you want to cross a busy street? Don't wait for a break in traffic because they don't happen. Any space between cars will fill instantly with tuk-tuks, motorcycles or bicycles. To cross the street you just step out and do the weave. One thing about the traffic in both the cities and out on the highways, no one seems to be speeding and that I think is the saving grace. The cars are kinds of underpowered so the phrase 'speed kills' doesn't apply to the roadways here.

I really like the small towns waaay more than the cities here so far. Of course I feel that way about all the places I have visited so that's no surprise. The nicest thinkgs about the little places are that the shop keepers are not quite as persistent, the beggars are fewer, the bad smells are not present and there's more opportunity to interact with the locals who are very friendly.

Tomorrow is a visit to a sort of co-op where they make paper products. I could be in souvenier trouble there. We will end the day with a night train to Delhi. I did a few night trains in Europe. I think this will be quite different!