Another delay and a very moody Walton, I was kept awake by the bear like snoring of the man next to us. Selfish. On more than one occasion I threw things at him to wake him up, including his water bottle to try and stop the constant drowning sound that prevented my sleep, it did'nt work. Khajuraho train station has the most tuk tuk drivers you could imagine, all peering into the train trying to find the tourists. We hadn't even stepped off the train before they were all swarming towards us and bartering with themselves. The price, without us even saying anything had got down to 20 rupees for an 8km journey into town. We arrived into at our hotel and after a game of pick the best room (dirty rooms and showers, erghh) we headed down to the beautiful but unkept garden for a cup of Chai.

While we were sat enjoying the sun, we met a local guy named Rakesh, who lived in England but was back in India visiting family. Rakesh was friendly and we felt at ease with him. He had his own hotel in Folkstone, so we knew that he wouldn't be pushing with us to go on a day tour or have another agenda....its sad that we have come to expect this of Indian gents who approach us for a chat. He offered to show us the way to the train station and helped translate what we needed. Rakesh then showed us to a local 'restaurant' for a delicious thali and tales of how he came to acquire his British Visa......not the legal way, lets just say that. As part of our conversation it came up that we were both interested in a Yoga class while we were staying in Khajuraho. He of course had a friend who could sort this for us and he got on the phone to see if we were able to be booked in for the next day. In order for us to meet Dr Yoga, we had to go to Rakesh's house, which was a short motorbike journey away. With memories of our time in Cambodia, all 3 of us mounted the bike and made our way out of town. Rakesh introduced us to his family including his lovely nieces who made us Chai while we spoke with Dr Yoga (not his actual name!). We had arranged for a 10am session back at the house for the next morning. Rakesh dropped us back at Hotel Zen for dinner and an early night. Khajuraho is a small, community driven town and we really like it here. A change from the madness of Varinasi.

17th March....HAPPY HOLI!

We were picked up at 10am in time for our yoga session at Rakeshs house. We met Dr Yoga and after some Chai started our Yoga session. Being a PE teacher, my flexibility levels should be somewhat advanced.....this is NOT the case. I was constantly aware of the giggles coming from both Dr Yoga and Morgane as I struggled to get into the simplest of Yoga positions and looked somewhat uncomfortable during the whole session. The best of positions was called the Pigeon, or as Morgane named it the 'iv just fallen out of my wheelchair' pose, giggling started again. Im getting a complex! Im definitely a games player and not a gymnast! After yoga we shared a breakfast of 'Poha' with the family, it was delicious. As it was Holi festival, Rakesh took us to the village behind his house where there was a group of men sat in a circle playing instruments, singing and throwing coloured powder at each other (women dont really celebrate it). I really don't know how we get ourselves into these sorts of things but we enjoyed some time celebrating Holi with the locals, playing instruments and throwing colour around. We left around 2pm as it was clear the men had started drinking and become slightly letchy.

This evening Rakesh took us for dinner with his friend to a local place for some amazing food. No toilet though so involved squating in the bushes more than once.

The next day, we had Yoga part 2. A 10am start with Dr Yoga who proceeded to test me with the names of the positions we were in yesterday. Its also day 2 of Holi festival which seems more aggressive today with people having dye in homemade water bottles which stains your skin and clothing. We didnt play as much at Holi today as it seemed much more manic so we headed back to the hotel for the 4 showers it took to rid the main stains across our face and hair.

While in Khajuraho we visited the famous Karma Sutra temples. The temples were set in beautiful gardens and were stunning to behold, they have gone down as our favorite temples....and boy have we seen alot! We decided to get an audio guide each to lead us around the temples and get explanations as to why in such a conservative country, were there temples of explicit nature. It turns out that the images carved into the walls of the temples offer protection and are a sign of religious offerings to the Hindu gods. I'll be honest, having seen a thousand temples on our trip, they all started to look the same, so it was refreshing and funny (mature I know!) to see such temples and to purchase a few Karma Sutra books for presents when we get home.

The next day we spent doing the boring admin we have to do every now and again to keep ourselves up to date. We left Khajuraho for the train back to Delhi. On the way the tuk tuk driver asked me to drive, it was hilarious (video to follow)! On the train we met a lovely Indian gent called Yogi. We sat for hours asking questions about his country and the Hindu religion, I even took notes! Yogi answered all our questions and offered to take us to the airport for our flight to Kochi as it would have been difficult and expensive to get a rickshaw. We both had a good feeling about Yogi and after sharing dinner his mother had cooked for him on the train journey, we agreed and he dropped us at the airport with 5 hours to spare. Next stop, South India for sun, sea and sangria.