Orchha

Orchha is a little place with a big history. With only 10,000 people, it was for many years the state capital and boasts two impressive palaces. One of these was built for and gifted to the Emperor in honour of his state visit to the town. Unfortunately, he could only stay for one night - a bit like Obama's recently aborted tour.

Our hotel was a bit different from usual. There was a man at the door playing a flute. He like to play Au Claire de la Lune. When we asked him if he knew any Scottish tunes he played Frere Jaque and was very pleased with himself. The gardens were lovely and it had a large swimming pool. It felt a bit like an up market Butlins.

Orchha is famous for its vultures. Unfortunately, vultures are declining in India as hormones used to improve the fertility of cows are poisoning them. In Orchha the local farmers can't afford hormones so the vultures thrive. As we left the hotel on the second morning seven vultures were ascending on a thermal. Spiralling into the air, their enormous wings supporting their effortless flight they were a magnificent sight. Parsees are a minor religious group in India who use vultures to consume their mortal remains and nudge them into the afterlife. They have had to import smaller Egyptian vultures in some areas to ensure their place in the afterlife.

The town has some striking Cenotaphs commemorating long dead local rulers. The rulers were cremated and, later on, on the exact spot a cenotaph would be constructed in their memory.

We spent the evening in prayer at the local Hindu temple. The locally preferred deity, Vishnu, had honoured the temple by saving its founder from drowning and providing a little statue of himself. The statue lives in the temple and is revealed to the believers twice daily when offerings of food, sweets and money are accepted on its behalf by the priests. There is much chanting and a great rush to be the first to make an offering. In return the devotees are sprayed with water from the Ganges. You can't knock it though - we prayed for hot water and were on the receiving end of a minor miracle.

The next morning 9 of us piled into a Tuk Tuk and made our way to a cookery class. This was held in the living room of a village lady's house where our instructor, ably assisted by her 2 year old son, demonstrated 10 recipes which we all enjoyed for lunch. Our cook also applied Henna to the ladies and Susan now has a very well turned out ankle.

Suitably stuffed it was time to make our way to our next destination via a paper factory. This factory uses recycled cotton and specifically employs mostly female workers to produce high quality paper products. These products include graduation certificates with special watermarks and the 'star' that we have in our extension at home.