Orchha

Orchha was really more of a pit-stop on the way from Gwalior to Khajuraho, but we spent two nights there, taking it easy (and getting food poisoning).

The bus from Gwalior left several hours late, so that when we arrived in Jhansi, it was already almost 10 pm. From there we had to take a 20-km ride in an autorickshaw, which took some hard bargaining. Even that late at night, a hoard of drivers pounced on us before we were even off the bus. Their numbers gave us a little leverage, but they knew we were desperate to get to our hotel. Being more experienced in such things, I was handling the haggling, sticking to a price a little below what we had read in the guidebook. I finally decided to give in to their price, which was slightly higher than the guidebook, and turned to August for the okay.

"Nah. Let's just go to that hotel here," he says. I look at him blankly as he starts walking away. We don't know of a hotel. Where is he going? I'm about to ask if he really thinks it is worth the inconvenience, when the auto-wallah breaks in - "Okay. One hundred rupees."

August had learned how to play the game.

The only thing to do in Orcha, really, is to see some palaces for a very over-priced ticket. Once again, August and I opted to check out the free ruins. The landscape was rather desolate, but wandering around gave me an unprecedented opportunity to photograph the second type of monkey we've seen in India.