Making our Way West

Since Varanasi, we have visited Allahabad (in Uttar Pradesh), one of the four holiest Hindu sites in India, where two of the holiest rivers, the Ganges and the Kumana, meet. It is the home of the Kumbh Mela celebation, where every twelve years on a very auspicious day millions of Hindu pilgrims bathe in the sacred confluence of the two rivers. The last celebration was recorded as having the largest number of pilgrims in one place ever in history- 70 million. Compared to Varanasi, Allahabad was somewhat of a retreat. While we truly enjoyed Varanasi, at the end of the week I was tired of the endless touts, the unclean streets and the wild roaming cows, dogs and goats everywhere. While Allahabad did have its share of stray dogs, it was pretty clean and calm for an Indian city. It is not a heavily visited place for Western tourists so we were able to wander the streets tout-free. We chatted with some friendly people and had lunch at an Indian cafe where Allahabad businessmen gather for a mid-morning chai tea.
After wandering around the city some more, we caught a 2-hour delayed train (quite typical in this country) to Satna, a stopover point for travelers heading to Khajuraho. As we got in a taxi to go to our over-priced hotel, after rejecting the driver's countless offers to drive us to Khajuraho, I eventually realized that paying the driver was one US dollar more than staying in the hotel for the night and we would save hours of travel the next day. So, at 10PM we paid the driver the equivalent of 21 dollars to drive us to Khajuraho, which was 2 hours away. He was safe, took us to a cheap restaurant for a late dinner and dropped us off at a decent hotel for the night.
We have spent our first day in Madya Pradesh and intend to explore more of this state over the next week. Khajuraho is a small town known for its millenium-old sandstone Hindu temples. The temples, while noted for their detailed medieval architecture, are best known for their erotic carvings. While the town built 80 temples a millenium ago, there are currently 24 in good condition over a 20 sq. km area, which is pretty impressive. We enjoyed our walk to many of the temples as we were frequently stopped to buy postcards or mineral water or sculptures or illegal drugs. After weeks of experimenting with different answers, we have found that the best way to ward off these vendors is to tell them we do not want it in Hindi, "Nahi Chahiye", or to say "Is it free? I will pay zero rupees." Both responses usually make us and the touts laugh and then they leave us alone.
I have been practicing Hindi whenever I can but my abilities are certainly limited. People really enjoy when we speak in their language and are eager to help us improve. Hope to pick up more of the language as the trip goes on.
Tomorrow morning, we head to Orchha, another town known for its erotic religious ruins. There we will greet the New Year before heading to Bhopal.