Kanpur

Hey, been a while since last blog. Arrived in Kanpur on Friday. I worked with Shashi in ADP (thank God i don't still work there) dental practice Cambridge. They were over cos her husband is an expert in computer voice recognition technology and was doing research in Cambridge University. Shashi has the nicest family I've ever met and they've been so helpful since we got here and just can't do enough for us!! The two kids Tejas (10) and Jahnavi (6) are full of beans and really keep us busy :-) Shashi is a dentist here on the IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) campus and she also lectures at a local dental hospital. The campus is amazing, it's like an oasis from the real world, she says it's not the real India. It's clean and quiet and not too busy, has it's own shopping complex and post office and bank, all very relaxed, a nice break from the frenetic activity outside.
We thought we were just going to visit for a night or two but they've made their house a base for us and we've been doing day and overnight trips from here leaving all our gear in their spare room!!! Went on a day trip to Lucknow, home of what is claimed to be the First War of Independence against the British and saw a few more temples and towers.
On Sunday Derek nearly had heart failure when we tried to book our trains down south! Some trains are booked up to two months in advance over here and we had to do some unreal planning to get from here to Goa to keep to schedule (booked Sri Lanka flights independently so not as easy to change). So for about $150 (total for both of us) we've booked 6 different trains which includes AC, overnight and sleeper trains taking in Varanasi, Mumbai, Aurangabad and Goa.... Roughly 3200km. An experience before we've even stepped on the train!!
Went to Khajuraho on Monday, a 7 hour drive, which left us shaking for about an hour after the journey, just imaging 90% foot deep pothole and 10% rough boulder infill... you have to close your eyes to stop from getting a headache. Things I saw on the journey:
- man nearly fall off bike when he saw us and did a doubletake.
- people breaking stones, I mean chipping large boulders down to satsuma size pieces!
- a village where granite is prepped, 3km sq covered in white dust, looked like desert Alps.
- lots of kids with tyres and sticks.
- lots of overturned lorries (overloaded) and lorries with punctures/broken axles (overloaded).
- a little girl catching cowdung in a bucket as it arrived in this world. The dung is rolled into thick 8" pancakes and used for fires for cooking. It's stacked everywhere on roadsides like turf.
- people carrying a goat between them on the back of a motorbike.
- lots of 'piss corners', as we've named them. If you want a pee, just stop and unzip!
Khajuraho is very touristy, all the restaurants have western food on the menu, we didn't indulge though did get some cookies in a german bakery :-)
Went and saw the towns main attraction, some amazing temples with some very saucy carvings, for the benefit of our younger viewers i'll only put up the milder photos! Half the town tried to sell us these little brass carvings of this guy doing something very naughty to some chick, we declined. We also ended up having chai with some dodgy kids and a nice guy with a jewelery shop selling among other things a chainmail underwear set for girls, the town is sex mad! It's also bloody scorching, think both of us got a bit of sunstroke, lesson learned, stupid looking fisherman hats will be on from now on.
It was a turning point for Derek I think, don't think he was enjoying it as much as he could cos of the hassling and everything. It's difficult to open up cos the only people you generally come into contact with are the people who want something from you. And when you're constantly talking to people who are only friendly cos they want to make money from you it can be difficult and i think it was getting to Der. But you just have to alter your perspective as it's not malicious (mostly) and people are just trying to make a living, just have to go with the flow and expect it and realise you don't owe anything to anyone and you don't have to hand out money to everyone who wants it and to just try to have fun. And i think we are a bit more settled now, but it takes quite an adjustment!!
Off to Varanasi tonight on our first overnight train, leaves at 11:30.... Oh God! So while you're all wrapped up in bed imagine me trying to sleep on a train wrapped around my bag in case anyone tries to rob it, waiting for my alarm clock to go off, which I'm surprisingly of late always awake before... Though still, beats working for a living!