India: Part 2 - Khajuraho + Panna Tiger Reserve

We had an early start in Khajuraho - up before the sun to drive out to the Panna Tiger Reserve. It's a national park with about 35 tigers roaming around, and I hoped to catch a glimpse. Spoiler alert: we didn't see one.

This photo is dark, but you can see all the jeeps lined up at the entrance before the park opens. You need to go with a guide, and spots are limited each day. The park is pretty large, and the guides know all the spots. It was a little chilly being in the open jeep, so bring a jacket to use before the sun comes up.

Off we go.


Even if we didn't see a tiger, we saw lots of other things. 

These little guys are so beautiful.

 

Sometimes tigers hang out around this pond. And maybe they were there this day, but they're so elusive. 

We stopped for breakfast near this pond and found this large alligator. Hot breakfast tip - most hotels have breakfast included, but if you won't be around due to an early tour, ask the night before and they will pack a box for you. It may not be great, but it's something and it's included.

After the alligator sighting, the guides got word that something might be going on. We took off and met up with several other jeeps to wait it out. There were some deer making the strangest sounds I've ever heard. Did you know deer make noise? I didn't.  It sounds like a honk and it's in this video.



The morning moved on and it became too late in the day to likely see a tiger, so our tour was up. On the way out we spotted a sloth bear though, which is pretty rare.  I'll take it. Also on our way out was my first taste of taking surveys in India. After so many experiences (tours, hotels, meals, etc) you are often handed a survey to fill out, and nothing less than a 10 will do. Panna Tiger Reserve was the first of many. I filled out a piece of paper in the back of a jeep while a guy looked over my shoulder.

 

Scenes from the ride back into town.  

We had a little break at the hotel, then it was time for our next activity - the Khajuraho temple complex, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. When they were built around the year 1000, nearly 100 of them existed, but now it's about 25. They are both Hindu and Jain temples. These temples are also famous for the erotic sculptures, though you have to look quite a bit to find them. Not all the temples have the scandalous carvings, and it's usually just in a small portion on the ones that do. Ha! As our guide said when he showed us, "nothing new under the sun."

The grounds are pretty large and well-kept.

Just wear flip flips around India - you will end up taking your shoes off most of the day anyway. Everything is a temple.

These carvings are quite impressive. Who's got the time to do all that detail?

We popped over to the other side of town to see some Jain temples, which are still actively used. Jainism practices non-violence in all forms, even down to not stepping on ants. We had to leave anything leather outside of the temple (shoes, wallets, leather, etc).

 

We found a lovely covered spot for food time and spent awhile relaxing there. 

Late afternoon our driver took us to the train station - on to Bhopal! As I recall, this train ride was longer than expected, we had no snacks, and it got way crowded and loud and had a screaming child. Thank goodness for noise-cancelling headphones (a recent present to myself upon the job offer).

India: Part 1 - Arrival + Orchha

Off to India I go!

I felt super weird leaving Anthony behind, and we were all mopey as I prepared to leave, but he drove me to the airport late Sunday night for me to catch a red-eye to NYC. I usually refuse to do the red-eye thing because flights are only about four hours and who can get any sleep doing that? And I'm usually up til midnight anyway, but for some reason if I have an 11pm flight, I am ready to fall asleep at 9pm.

The red-eye would give me an arrival time in Delhi of 2pm, which is much more favorable then the other option of arriving around 2am. No thanks. I didn't want to land in a strange and chaotic place in the middle of the night, exhausted, and then not able to get on a regular schedule right away. Deal with the crappy flight first.

I got to JFK around 6am and had a long layover until my flight to Dubai. I sat around on the floor, since there wasn't a place to properly sit and I couldn't check in yet for my flight.


Row to myself for a 13-hour flight! Score.

The menu. Anthony can read this.

First time ever flying through Dubai. Wish I could've had a longer layover here to see some things for a day, but maybe another time.

Yes to silent airports.

After another 3ish hour flight, I landed in Delhi. Tired, but halfway around the world! Since I was meeting up with Tim and Nestor to begin a private tour, the tour had a driver pick me up, which was so great. No needing to navigate drivers and shouts and all that. I had my gigantic backpack, a daypack on my front, and another purse over my shoulder, ready to get the adventures started. After a nap and shower and food, of course.

Hotel arrival in the Karol Bagh neighborhood. I was pretty out of it at this point. And felt a little too nervous to venture out on my own for dinner. I think the hotel had food onsite, but I ate some snacks from my bag and went to sleep. That's one of my favorite travel tips - pack your bags with favorite snacks from home to slowly eat during the trip. It's always nice to find some cheez-itz halfway through after a week of foreign cuisine.

Around 10pm Tim & Nestor arrived from Hyderabad, and knocked on my door. Happy reunion! It's just the best meeting up with friends around the world. The hotel staff also delivered my local cell phone to me at this point - they weren't sure what I was talking about right when I arrived.

I opted to rent a local cellphone through Trabug, because I'd heard that it can take a bit to get connected in India with a local sim, or if they try to verify your personal info (anti-terrorism laws) and you've moved hotels or something, they may shut off your service. Trabug handles everything for you before you arrive, and they deliver a phone to your hotel. And when you're done, you can leave it pretty much anywhere and they'll have courier retrieve it. It's pretty inexpensive and comes with a lot of great apps and info pre-installed. Uber is popular in India and helped me a lot, but I've heard there are sometimes billing issues with a US credit card on there. This phone had the local version, Ola, installed, which is usually a bit cheaper. And drivers there like to call to verify rides, so having this phone was a lifesaver. Especially since I was in the country for a few weeks. Local phone numbers are also usually required to get on public wifi too.

After a decent night sleep, I woke up Tuesday morning ready to start our tour. Off to Madhya Pradesh via train! Our driver and guide picked us up early at the hotel and drove us to the train station. There are lots of different car classes on trains, and I was glad to have a guide that walked with us to our exact seats and made sure we were in the right spot with air conditioning.

It was pretty smoggy out and the air quality index in the 300+ most days. Not good. And no one wears masks. I hardly saw anyone wear one the entire time.

Breakfast. With chai, of course.

Dirty air.

Lunch. It was pretty good.

A few hours later, arrival in Orchha! The city dates back to the 16th century.

We wandered through the fort complex, which has the fort, some palaces and a temple or two.

I can't imagine the time it took to paint all this.

You can climb up tiny staircases and ledges to get up top. It's easier for the monkeys though. This is the Jahangir Mahal palace.

How beautiful is this carved door?

Mis amigos!

So many incredible textures everywhere.

And monkeys!

I think this is the Chaturbhuj temple? 

And I think this is the Ram Raja Temple.

Time to move on - our driver took us a few hours away to Khajuraho, where we would spend the night.

Blurry from the car. Cows and elections.

The fancy Radisson in Khajuraho. I stayed here, while Tim and Nestor were down the street, since their place was booked up by the time I joined the tour. Next up, more temples!