Day 4: Around Pornostan in a Day

Shortly after nine o'clock we walked back to the center of Khajuraho. Khajuraho is famous for its World Heritage-listed temples that can be found in three groups around town and are among the most beautiful in the whole of India. What's more, almost every temple has among its many superb carvings certain positions from the Kama Sutra! I'll gladly admit that this made visiting some 15 temples during the day all the more fun. Temple fatigue takes longer to kick in if you're looking for dirty images while admiring the old architecture. Hence we nicknamed the town Pornostan (and the fact that I had some difficulties memorizing the town's name and kept coming up with various alternative orders for its four syllables might have something to do with it as well).

Originally there had been 85 temples, 25 of which remain and we visited about 15 of these. They were built by the Chandela dynasty in a creative burst between 950 AD and 1050 AD. The isolation of the town saved it from the Muslim invaders that destroyed temples elsewhere in North-East India. British officer TS Burt rediscovered them in 1838, overgrown by the jungle (the temples, not Burt). It was quite a strange experience to find the erotic carvings between depictions of battling armies, gods and numerous apsaras (dancing heavenly nymphs - heavenly in the literal and figurative sense). We first visited the 'Western Group' of temples where some of the best and most impressive ones can be found, most noteable the Vishvanath Temple and big 30 meter high Kandarlya Temple.

Every temple had its own characteristic feature, mostly the god it was dedicated to. The temples for Shivan and Vishnu also came with separate shrines housing statues of their animal companions (Vishnu's boar Varaha and Shiva's bull Nandi). One of the most baffling discoveries we made among the many sexual positions - many involving more than two people and highly gymnastic skills - was that seemingly horses were as popular as women among the Chandelan soldiers! Just check the pictures in this journal, they say more than words.

There were a few showers in today's weather, but the temples offered great shelter whenever the sky would open. After having coffee at the Raja Cafe we hired two bicycles from 'Mohammed'. Strange enough he advertised with 50 rupees per day, but for our bikes he charged double because they were new! We were about to walk away when he called us back; the regular price was okay.

A good example of the second reason why Khajuraho should be called Pornostan: everybody tries to screw you. There is indeed one enormous downside in Khajuraho. India is quite infamous for its touts; people that continue to harass you about their shop, the books they want to sell you, their restaurant, wanting to be your guide/friend and children that nag you to insanity about pens, candy and rupees. I've been to quite a few places in India and the Lonely Planet had warned us about Khajuraho but rarely have I encountered such an aggravating persistence and it almost spoils the whole experience of the mindblowing temples in this city. Making fun of it all and taking it tongue-in-cheek just doesn't work anymore after a few hours. It was good have seen this but there wasn't a trace of regret that we would leave Pornostan tomorrow.

After exploring three slightly less impressive temples in the Eastern Group, beyond the old village of Khajuraho, we returned to the center to have a dirt-cheap lunch at the Madras Coffeehouse with all kinds of Indian specialities: dosa (crepes) filled with paneer (cottage cheese), regular and fried idli (spongy fermented rice cakes) and uttappam (thick rice pancakes filled with coconut and vegetables). After a beer in the coolness of the Raj we were off to the last couple of temples at the Southern Group, taking us through a typical rural Indian village.

We cycled back to the hotel to freshen up and check our e-mails. After which we dropped the bikes back of at Mohammed's rental place we headed for the Paradise Restaurant. It came recommended by the Lonely Planet, as a big sign also advertised, and another sign claimed they had 'betrouwbaar eten' (Dutch for 'trustworthy food'), so who could argue with that.

It became an unexpected fun night. Not only was the food indeed very tasty, we also ended up discussing various subjects with the staff, ranging from Hindi movies and songs to the annoying touts that plague the city. At one point I was signing the theme song from 'Singh is Kingh' with one of the waiters, including accompanying choreography. While Biedjee went off to DJ using the restaurants Internet connection, I gave the restaurant's manager a crash course in marketing his restaurant, which he seemingly found very helpful and proved to me that there's places beyond Holland where I can do something with my knowledge.

I have to admit that the six big bottles of beer probably had something to do with the amount of fun we had and it definitely was the cause for what happened when we got back at the hotel.

In the afternoon we had discussed the possibility of swimming in the hotel's pool but we never came around doing it. Feeling sweaty from a day around Pornostan this seemed like the perfect moment to make up for it. I undressed to my boxer shorts, walked out the backdoor of our room and jumped in the refreshing water. Before long Biedjee came to check out what I was up to and within seconds he was in the water as well. What followed was a contest of 'bommetje' (imitating dropping bombs) until three people of the hotel staff came to kindly inform us that the pool was not to be used in the middle of the night. Fortunately this all went in a humorous way and we returned to our room for a shower, thus ending a remarkable day.

Pictures by Biedjee and Ed.