Orchha's Temples and onto Khajuraho- the chandela dynasty.

Orchha was once the capital of the Bundelas, now just a village, The attraction in Orchha is that the village is set in amongst an impressive complex of well preserved palaces and temples on the banks of the Betwa river.

Sunset over the temples and Betwa river

The palace Jehangir Mahal, parts of the palace has been transformed into a hotel.

We met some interesting characters on our tour

Our hotel

Our room was quite palatial.

We stayed in a gorgeous hotel, quite a bit out of town and at this hotel was a preparation for a wedding that was to be held on the Saturday. As we are all aware Indian weddings happens over a few days, sadly only the cocktail party was on this Friday evening, we did not get too see the wedding as we departed for Khajuraho.

After travelling for about an hour we stopped in a small village to witness how the farmers irrigate their fields, very rudimentary, but very effective.

Travelling southwest on mainly a dirt track with a maniac bus driver creating his own lanes and beeping his horn all for the whole 4 hours of the trip, all 20 on the bus was pleased to arrive at our hotel in Khajuraho.

We arrived into Khajuraho in time for lunch and stayed at the Ramada hotel, after lunch we went into Khajuraho to visit the Hindu and Jain temples which were built during the Chandela dynasty from 950-1050AD. The intricate stone carved temples are famous for their erotic sculptures, although they were built still remains a mystery. In fact the chandelas appear to have forgotten about the temples soon after they were completed and it wasn't until they were rediscovered in 1847 by a British explorer. 

These exquisite masterpieces are now fully appreciated by India and tourists that come to visit.

Some of the erotic carvings on the temples in Khajuraho.

That night we ate at a Swiss restaurants on the roof top.

The next morning was free, until 12 md, then we all departed for the airport for our flight to Varanasi.

This has been the most challenging part of the tour, keeping our weight limit under 15kgs, I am pleased to report that my weight was 13.4kgs.

The Khajuraho airport was quite decorative with what looked like aboriginal art.

Aboriginal art at the airport.

More adventures in Varanasi 

India continued, Dehli onto Jaipur, Bharatpur, Agra, Orchha

We After our exploration of Old Dehli, we went to visit Humayan tomb, in a gorgeous setting, such a contrast to Dehli. Humayans tomb, India's largest mosque Jama Masjid.

After this visit we proceeded to visit the crematorium where Mahhatma Ghandi is laid to rest, after he was assinated in 1948.

The same evening we all went out to dinner to a spice restaurant, and were entertained by musicians and dancers.

One pot on the head,many more to follow

The next morning we departed for Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan, the bus ride was 4-6 hours, quite a long day.

After arrival into Jaipur, we all did a tour of Jaipur, aptly named the pink city. Jaipur's population is 5,000,000, the city is surrounded by pink walls, as in the 15-16th century was a fort.

We had an afternoon visit to the city palace, our tour company does not use elephants to get tourists up to the top, as it is not good for the elephants backs, we were ferried up to the top in jeeps.

Photos were not great due to the heavy pollution.

Dinner was at a spice court restaurant, quite nice food, our group is enjoying the naan bread and curries.

Elephant rides

The next morning we visited Jantar Mantar, an observatory of astronomy, built by Jai Singh in 1728.

Each structure has a specific purpose, some measures the position of stars, whilst others calculate eclipses, the lunar calendar and simply the time of day.

This observatory was mind blowing to say the least.

I forwent the market Brazzar to go to a textile shop to get another kantha quilt and kantha jacket. 

Being Diwali, most shops are closed, so to get my jacket, I purchased a vintage quilt and had one made in 5 hours, I am very impressed with my jacket.

All in all Jaipur, although being filthy with rubbish and heavy pollution, has a certain charm.

My other purchase in Jaipur was a camel rug, a gorgeous burgundy and gold.

My effort with block printing.

Camel wool rug being made.

Day 5, after Jaipur we travel to Abhaneri, on our way we stop and visit Chand BaorI, which is the largest and deepest step well in the world, this incredible well has a staggering 3,500 steps and is 13 stories deep.

We continue onto Bharatpur, we visit Fatehpur Sikri,which was once a magnificent fortified city and the capital of the murghal empire from 1571 until 1585.

Our hotel in Bharatpur is out of town, so a quite night, had by all.

We visited the bird and animal sanctuary in Bharatpur 

The next morning we travelled to Agra, a short drive. On our arrival we visit Agra fort, which was built during the rein of Emperor Akbar.

In the afternoon the girls and two guys from the group, dressed up in sari's and off we went to the Taj Mahal. I must say the experience of going to a poor family's home and being dressed in sari's for $15 was quite and experience. It was also quite hot as I had my clothes on underneath and no makeup, all in all the visit to the Taj Mahal was an experience and such amazing architecture.

45,000 people a day visit the Taj Mahal, thank god we had the fast past.

The line to get to see the tombs were very long and very crowded.

The Taj Mahal is one of the most extravagant monument ever built for love,Mathis fine example of murghal architecture was built by Emperor Shah Jahan in memory is f his beloved second wife Mumtaz-Mahal, who died tragically during childbirth.

Built entirely of white marble, construction began in 1631, the year in which Mumtaz died and was not completed until 1653. A staggering total of 20,000 workers contributed their skills, in the construction of this unique monument.

The next day we travelled to Orchha, which is a small village and situated on the Betwa river. The palace Jehangir Mahal, a 17th century palace, a stunning and rambling complex. 

We watched the sunset on the Betwa river setting over the temples, a majestic site, not so much all the fecal matter on the rocks.

Our India adventure will be continued in more posts.

India,adventures and travel

Off we set on our India adventure on the 28th October, we were advised to fly Singapore airlines due to India air not having good reviews, it was a nice 71/2hr flight to Singapore with a 3 1/2hr stop over in Singapore and then a 5 1/2hr flight to Delhi. Needless to say after leaving home at 0500hrs in am and arriving in Delhi at 0400hrs, we were pretty exhausted.

We arrived in Delhi at 8pm at night, so straight to bed for a good nights rest to get up and explore Delhi.

We are fortunate to be in India at Diwali time, the Festival of Lights 

A lot of celebrating is enjoyed by all, with millions of firecrackers being being let of, as this is not bad enough to add to the dense pollution already in Dehli.

Delhi has 25,000,000 people, traffic noise and pollution does not make for an enjoyable time.

Amazing to watch bumper to bumper traffic with horn blowing, cars, buses tuttut's making their own lanes.

On our first day we hired a taxi for 4 hours to take us to Dilli Haat which was a recommended craft, textile market, my very special finds and purchases on the first day, set me up for what could be some unique little finds.

DIlli Haat

My first purchases, a Kantha quilt and some vintage trim off saris.

Our 2nd day in Delhi was the commencement of our tour, we visited the Red Fort, went for a rickshaw ride around Old Delhi.

Entry to the Red Fort.

Elephant statue in Red Fort 

Our rickshaw ride, one of many.

Street scenes of Old Delhi.

To be continued!

Retirement continued !

Father's Day celebrations commenced with breakfast at home with the family, three generations were at the table, our little grandson is the apple of Poppy's eye!

After working as a nurse for 42 years, I decided in July to retire, I worked for NETS as a retrieval nurse and clinical coordinator for 18years. Leaving a career that I absolutely loved was a very hard decision, but after losing a couple of close friends who were only in their late fifties in a matter of a few weeks apart, I felt that there was more to life then work.

I had a wonderful afternoon tea with my sister present, many friends and colleagues.

My gift was a gold watch for my years of service, very touched by this sentiment.

August I attended the Hunters Hill quilt show which is held biannually.

In September I went down to Melbourne to have a sister and niece weekend, lovely sister time except for the vomiting from a gastric flu, which DH decieded to share with me.

We visited some fun stores, but did not go to the quilt show and we were right there, but not feeling well, I made the decision not to attend, maybe not the right decision, apparently it was amazing.

In September our daughter in law graduated with her PHD and now has the title of Doctor to her name.

Our little grandson had his naming day and first birthday

I will sign of with another quilt completed, Chris Jurd's,snowball quilt. This quilt is another large one, it is done with a lot of Tula Pink's fabrics, aptly named "Tula Snowballed"

Next post will be from India.