Jass Khajuraho

... relaxing massage followed by an average dinner before heading to bed.<br><br>07/11/09<br>As promised I went to the artist shop after breakfast. Dinesh Singh (a Rajasthani artist) was actually working on a piece as I came in. Much of his work is copies of the explicit Khajuraho sculptures but I found 6 pieces of work I loved which were painted on black velvet. Negotiated a price we were both ok with before leaving for the 4 hour car journey to Jhansi to catch my train.

... slept in someone elses seat. I apologized to the lads straight away but luckily for us the train we got on was still going to Satna. Lady luck was on our side, we could have ended up anywhere.<br><br>Once in Satna we took a rickshaw with a guy who was one of many who have asked us about the recent race attacks on Indian students in Australia. This has become a common topic of conversation when we say we are from Australia. It is in the newspaper everyday here and this is fueling the ...

... sexual females, along with gods &amp; goddesses, musicians, warriors and animals. Many open displays of sexual positions make these very erotic temples and famous for their Kama Sutra styles, but this really doesn't detract from how brilliantly the figures seem to actually stand out from the stone, looking very sensual and erotic. I went to the Eastern Group first, seeing the stunning Jain temples of Parvanath (the biggest), Adinath &amp; Shantinath. Then I ...

... d*y, the opportunity to b*the from the descending steps le*ding down from e*ch of the gh*ts. After 'cle*nsing' themselves in the river, they perform puj* (pr*yers, respect *nd offerings) to the Hindu gods. In * re*son*bly discreet f*shion, they ch*nge into b*thing dress by the river *nd *fterw*rds ch*nge b*ck into d*ytime *ttire *fter b*thing. There *re 124 gh*ts *long the river in V*r*n*si. As * f*llb*ck from coloni*lism, m*ny *re owned by m*h*r*j*hs or princes, so ...

... were used as teaching tools for newlyweds, the idea being that physical love was important to spiritual enlightenment. Although this style of art was perfectly acceptable in the 10th century, the Islamic invaders of the 11th century and onwards, imposed their strict rules about the female role in society with the result that the sculptures we no longer considered socially acceptable. After a few hours and lots of pictures we ...

... It w*s expensive to get in *nd *lthough the structure is obviously something speci*l it just didn't blow me *w*y like I h*d hoped. It is *lso the first pl*ce in Indi* there h*s been more tourists th*n loc*ls. I kind of liked h*ving the country to myself *lmost. Anyw*y we h*d * look round *nd took off *s we h*d org*nized * visit to Agr* Be*r Rescue F*cility. We h*d been recommended this by our friends Bobby Jo &*mp; Andy whom we met on the Everest trip, th ...

... fact it is rude to NOT play music for the people around you! After a good few minutes of explaining in vain that we could not play music for the train, we sat in an uncomfortable silence, eventually returning our iPods to our bags and resorting to gazing out of the windows for the next few hours.<br><br>As we approached Orchha station two friendly guys who spoke a little English told us it was our station, and helped us off the train just in time.

... not many people around - and we spent a very relaxing and enjoyable three and a half hours visiting the eight temples. Of course, the detail and artistry of the sculptures is amazing. (Some of the scenes are explicit and, indeed, acrobatic - if you try them out at home it is entirely at your own risk!). We also took a tuk-tuk to see the Eastern group of temples in the afternoon - worth it to see some more dispersed temples at the edge of town..

... group and we were fortunate enough to have friends with us). The guide was a little hard to understand as his style of English took a little getting used to. That said, he was a wealth of information and talked for hours and hours in great detail about the buildings and answered any question we had whether it was temple related or not. From what I gather, no one truly knows why the temples were built and there are various beliefs as to why they have Kama Sutra sculptures all ...

... erotic, and most expensive.  We decided to start with the Eastern Group of temples that was free. We walked to them from our hotel, which took us through the old village of Khajuraho. By now we are used to the poverty and the half naked children running around, along with the mangy dogs and endless cows. It gets a little rough when this boy, no more than 3 and wearing only a shirt, runs up to us and grabs Tony's hands and walks with us for a little while repeating "hello" over and ...