Orcha

Day 2 in Orcha, and it's quite lovely. Getting here was quite an ordeal... in that sweaty hot cramped 3+ hour bus trip kind of way. I wasn't feeling great, so I decided to take the afternoon off. I think all the Indian food is working a number on my system--I haven't eaten anything bad or contaminated, I think it's just too radical a change in diet and all the oils are upsetting my stomach.

Everyone else went walking around the town and I bunkered down in the room/cottage with tea, a good book (currently The Count of Monte Cristo), and alternatively read, napped, and watched TV all in air-con splendor. After the sun went down, however, the bugs came out in force. Not mosquitoes or roaches, thankfully, but loads of little beetles, crickets, gnats, and other little annoying things. I had a hard time sleeping because I was sure they were all over me (and they were). Ugh.

I felt somewhat better today, and this morning we set off on a tour of these palaces in town, which were incredible. Beautiful frescos in vegetable dye paint on the ceilings, a king’s room with tunnels to the rooms of 6 concubines, the remnants of blue tile that used to cover the place, and an interesting mix of Hindu and Muslim architecture--arches and domes with lotus flowers and elephants.

We also went to a Hindu temple that resembles a church, a mosque, and a palace all at once. Around town and in the distance you can also see the remains of these other palaces/temples that strongly resemble Cambodian architecture, which is interesting.

We also toured a paper factory run by an ngo that employs 70 percent women, and makes all its paper from old cotton cloth. the process is very labor intensive, but pretty cool, and the end result is all sorts of cards, notebooks, paper lanterns, bags, etc.

After lunch we shopped a bit and rested, and then went to a cooking class. We sat in this woman's house and she demonstrated how to make a bunch of Indian dishes and then we ate up on her roof. The food was delicious! We did a little bit of shopping and I bought two wall hangings, and now I think it's time for bed.

Tomorrow we have all day here before taking the overnight train to Allahabad. We might go rafting, as the town is right on the banks of what is supposedly the cleanest river in India. Now, "in India" is quite a qualifier, but it actually looks blue and pretty.