Ornate carvings at a...
After the previous night's cuffuffle about the hotel room price and heading to bed around 1am, I didn't get to sleep till around 2am. My flight to Khajuraho was due to leave at 9.30, so I'd really need to be there by 8 at the latest. This meant waking up at 6am (at which time I was so exhausted I snoozed for another 30 mins) before finally getting up! What ensued was pure madness as I had to forego getting the Metro, and instead went with a crazy Tuk Tuk driver whose sole talent was to steer the machine around sharp corners at such speed that it almost went up on 2 wheels (I'd make sure to lean over as each corner was taken).
I should have predicted the damn Delhi traffic, even at this hour, but my driver did his best to drive up on pedestrian pavements and break just about every rule possible to get me to the airport on time. Finally.. with literally 2 minutes to spare before the gate closed, I managed to get on board the flight!
(Un)Lucky horse!
Khajuraho was my destination-de-jour on this Paddy's Day (I was donning my green shirt of course!). It's famous for having some of the best examples of temple sculpture in the world, and is also infamous for carvings depicting "positions" in the Kama Sutra and even bestiality. There are many theories as to the original rationale behind the temple carvings: one that I found amusing was that a prince took over this area and wanted to encourage population growth. What better way to arouse the populace than to surround them with "stimulating" statues while they pray to Shivah.
After my flight arrived at 2pm, and despite being zombified due to lack of sleep, I got a chance to head into the temple complex after the heat of the mid-day sun. I got some great shots which I'll post up (most likely when I get back home.. or when I'm past this "rushed" first week)
Flower laden temples
Had an Ayurvedic massage by a shoeless (and toothless) old man in his 70s. I was quite surprised at his seemingly poverty-stricken state as he was excellent and squeezed out all those back cramps in a grueling one hour session (that included smothering my head in menthol and "giving the auld scalp a bit of a schqueeze") plus at 800 Rs he wasn't exactly cheap (by Indian standards anyway.. that's only about 12 euro). I suspect the hotel pockets most of that as he seemed overwhelmed by the 50 Rs tip I gave!
Dinner at the top floor of my hotel overlooking the temple complex during the sound and light show. The maitre-d was a somewhat seedy chap that wanted to sell me: first, a bottle of wine (for 50 euro I might add... before quickly dropping the price to around 15 euro), then rum, then whisky, then.. erm.. his wife (or something.. I may have misunderstood here) ... and lastly some "Indian girlfriend" (for 100 then 75 then 50 euro) ...
Ah sure you only live once... the wife.. er I mean whiskey thank you. Here's to Paddy's Day India-style: sipping potent whiskey while overlooking 1500 year old porn.
Oh... and... I broke the camera of a Japanese tourist when he wanted me to take his photo 
The damn lanyard in his camera was dangling and caught my hand when I was motioning him to move left. I felt so bad, and offered to pay him, but the guy (being typical Japanese) didn't want to blame me, and instead blamed himself for GIVING me the camera. I took a photo of him and took his email so that I might get in contact with him later, but alas the lack of internet in India meant this was pretty much impossible.