Posted by Catherine

We enjoyed a quiet breakfast at the hotel, enhanced by Masala chai.

Perhaps I will be redecorate the bedroom so that I can continue to be treated as a Rani or Queen. Maybe someone (Wally) will bring me the “Hello to the Queen” dessert!

We walked out to view the Batwa River from behind the hotel.

They have a lovely pool at the hotel but it was pretty cold so I decided to not get in, even though I do have my bathing costume with me.

On arrival in Orchha, Manu had said we were supposed to be in tents but had been upgraded to hotel rooms. Tents? Are you kidding? After 16 hours on the train? We had envisioned sleeping on the ground after erecting a two person tent by ourselves, hopefully without killing each other.

We checked out the tents this morning and were pleasantly surprised by the layout. Glamping might not have been so bad as each unit had a double bed, a tv and a private bathroom. And what a view in the morning!

We loaded up into auto rickshaws again to visit the paper making factory which supports local tribal women.

The factory grounds were spotless. We had the same guide as last night who explained the process to us. The group collects cotton scraps from clothing factories then cleans, chops, pulps and presses it into paper.

Once the paper is pressed into sheets by various machines it is hung to dry.

The different grades of paper are made into products such as journals, notepaper & decorative items. We had an opportunity to shop in their display area.

Back into the auto rickshaws, we were whisked off for our cooking class in a local home, led by a lovely young woman named Rajni. She was assisted by her niece.

What a menu! Masala chai, eggplant curry, potato and pea curry, rice with peas, fresh guava chutney, fried mixed lentils and two kinds of bread from the same dough – chapatis and poori. There were also pappadum crackers to start.

Our tour companion Anja assisted with the cooking while the rest of us wrote down the recipes. It probably won’t taste nearly as good at home but we will give it a try!

Rajni did all of this cooking on a 2 burner propane stove sitting on the floor. She has been doing these demonstrations for 12 years and is the official G Adventures cooking lady. Lucky us! We were happy to support this local enterprise! It was probably the best meal we have eaten so far on the trip as everything was so fresh and tasty.

Full and happy, we returned to the hotel to wait for the trip to the train station in Jhansi at 4:00 pm to catch the 6:30 pm train to Agra. We again sang the praises of Manu who organized the porters, got us our tickets, navigated the railway station and found the right platform for us.

The train was surprisingly modern and comfortable and a light dinner was served.

We arrived in Agra around 9:00 pm. A bit of a shock after quiet little Orchha (pop. 10,000) to be in a city of 1.5 million people. There was a more aggressive atmosphere as the porters were arguing with each other about who would carry our bags and the beggars outside were shouting at each other over who would get to us first. We were happy to get on the waiting bus.

Well, happy until we got to the hotel around 10:00 pm and discovered that the hotel had messed up the reservation and there were no rooms available for us. To top it off, there was a doctor’s convention in the city and everything was booked up! Poor Manu! He kept his cool though and after about an hour on the phone he managed to find us a hotel not too far away.

Everyone in the group was tired but no one got upset or angry, we just waited patiently for The Fixer to pull some strings and solve the problem as we knew he would. Manu apologized profusely for the quality of the hotel which was pretty worn out and not too clean but we were all sooooo glad to have a bed! We were certain there were no doctors staying there! A comedown from Orchha but we were sure that the people sleeping outside on the sidewalks at the train station would have thought it palatial!