RaveBurbleBlog

We finally reached the top of the steps to the palace and most gratefully sank into the seats in Reception. This was about 7am and we were now surrounded by archways and columns, rich furnishings and other such trappings. We managed to scrounge a wash in a bathroom, which had the most incredible view I’ve ever seen. Jungle and ancient monuments for miles - as far as the eye could see. Barely room to turn around, and dangerous slippery marble steps to contend with, but great view. Back down at reception, having scoffed breakfast – Paul eating his second-favorite dish, cornflakes (the nearest to wheatbix you can find in India) and me hauling out the ever-faithful jar of vegemite to have on my “butter toast” - Paul did a bit of name dropping (a good friend of his brought many tours here over the years) and we were given the second best room in the palace , the Maharani suite. This was on the top floor, with a courtyard about the size of a tennis court - the Maharaja suite at one end and ours at the other.

Our lodgings had a small entranceway with cute wooden arched double doors. Inside was a room with a small-double sized bed and pillows in a niche to the left of the door. Straight ahead was a smaller niche halfway up the wall, with a painting of Ganesha, the Elephant God, in the back of it. The room seemed small, but the walls were painted white, sunshine gently touched the walls and it felt very havenish – safe and cool, clean and tidy. After the train experience and sleeping on the side of the street, my mind just screamed, “Yes! Yes! Yes!” Then the “boy” walked us through another archway at the far end of the room to an enormous suite. I don’t know about Paul, but I damned near fell over when I saw it. It was huge! It took a while to sink in that all of this was for us – a football team could’ve wallowed in there on their backs with plenty of room left for the opposite team and most of their supporters! It started with a curved sofa and table, then further along was a long columned bay window where you could actually lie on cushions and futon, and watch the world from, a large bed that was NOT 2 beds stuck together, as is the usual in my experience so far, and a generous-sized marble bathroom with a shower and a western toilet. It even had toilet paper. Although if you ever stay at this palace , may I recommend you bring your own no.5 grade sandpaper for extra softness. [read on]

We just got back this morning from Orchha , which is in Madya Pradesh, about 20 Km’s from Jhansi. (This is south of Delhi.)

To start off, we missed the train by minutes. These things happen. So we had to quickly get a refund (partial one) and buy another ticket for another train. Of course there is a system for this. Paul had to leave me in one of the offices for this with the luggage while he went and filled in forms to give to men to fill in forms to give to men…

Meantime, one of the Indian men helping us comes up to me and says, “Give me 5 rupees”. So I gave him 5 rupees. Then he comes back and barks, “Give me 20 rupees”, and I’m thinking, “What is this, a shake down on this white woman with no Hindi while her husband is out of sight?” So we had a bit of a chat about this, neither of us understanding what the other was saying, and I finally gave him 20 rupees because the ball was in his court. Then Paul came back with yet another piece of paper, and the man came back and gave me a handful of money, and now I’m really confused! Turns out he was giving us a partial refund and needed 25 rupees for the right change, etc, etc. So, we now have another train ticket, but this time it is not for a reserved sleeper seat, it is for the “find a seat if you can and be grateful for it” section. [read on]