Side Trip to Khajuraho

Khajuraho is a major stop on the backpacker circuit in India. And getting there got much easier lately with the addition of a direct train line from Delhi to there. It's 12 hours or so on an overnight train, and it beats the heck out of taking the bus.

This town is known for something very specific: the kama sutra temple sculptures. There are some photos in the next post. Just a warning, a couple of them are quite explicit, sexually speaking. If I were to conclude anything from these temple carvings, I would conclude the following:

They fought a lot, as in wars.
They loved a lot, as in sex.
All women of the time had very large perfectly formed breasts.
If you are a god, you get to touch whomever you like, whenever you like.

Due to the nature of these sculptures, I think, Khajuraho was not the ideal place for a woman to travel alone. I was approached non-stop, and not in a good way. In India all foreigners are subject to a lot of attention, but this was different. I got invited to 'come back later' numerous times. I didn't of course. And several groups of men stopped to watch us look at the temple sculptures. Creepy.

Things weren't all bad, though. On the train from Agra I met Arezo (pronounced Arzoo) from southern California, and we teamed up for a good part of the time I was in Khajuraho. She has a friend of a friend in the town, so we had the inside scoop on just about everything. Still, it was creepy. Every time I entered the street / exited my hotel or a restuarant, a big handful of men sprung in to action and rushed over to my side to offer something.

Arezo and I left Khajuraho and went to another town, Orccha, which was infinitely better. Except the food was crap and I got sick. Thankfully antibiotics in India are dirt cheap and easy to get.