The Journey to Khajuraho

NOTE: This post is from last night, I typed it up but the internet was so bad I couldn't post it, so this was written September 18 at about 10pm local time. I ended up saving it to the hard drive and coming back.

I don't think I have pink eye. I'm pretty confident about it at this point. I don't know what was with my eyelid, but it was swollen, and now it isn't. I didn't get any of the other symptoms. It's weird, but something was up and now it seems to be just fine, so we can all breathe a sigh of relief.

This morning I woke at 7am, catching the 8:27am train from Agra to Jhansi. I arrived at Jhansi (basically nothing to tourists except a transit hub) at around 11am. I caught a tuk tuk to the bus station, and on the way was harassed by the driver to hire his friend as a taxi driver instead of taking the bus. He told me all about how the nice bus had just left, so I'd have to take a crowded hot public bus and that his taxi had a/c and everything. I basically told him I'd pay the bus fare for a taxi ride (it was going to cost an extra $10) and he finally understood to give up. Well I caught the public bus, which I had to wait for until 1pm.

I immediately regretted my decision. I had to sit in the one seat at the back which didn't have a seat in front of it (again, my height comes in anything but handy). This led to a family of five on my right and a family of four on my left, all on a bench seat. I literally had five people continuously touching me, two of which were children sleeping on me and one of which was a middle aged man using me as an armrest and an object to stare at. I felt a little claustrophobic. And insanely hot. This bus ride was 6 hours through the jungle, so all the body heat on me and the heat from outside was basically crushing my will.

This continued for a couple hours. It was pretty much awful and I spent the whole time day dreaming about a cramped taxi ride. I eventually made it to this place just before 7pm and thought, "well I"m glad I didn't pay extra. That would have been a waste". My mind is weird.

Well I'm in the jungle. As I type I have bugs all over me. They're not mosquitoes (I have repellent), but enormous grasshoppers, flies, and miscellaneous bugs which I didn't know existed or which I cannot identify.

I had chai with some random Indian guy I met on the bus named Raj, and now he invited me to a New Zealander's birthday party, so I must bid you all adieu for the night. Pictures tomorrow, I promise.