The discovery of pathfinder inside me

A friend's wedding took me here and hence I planned a solo trip in MP. A state which I had neglected, contemplating about safety and of course not so friendly people. This trip taught me a lesson, how such prejudices make you miss some of the beautiful places in the country. I traveled to Jabalpur from Pune a day before,attended the wedding and reached back to Jabalpur so the stay at night or travel to Khajuraho at night.

A disclaimer for those who don't know, the MP state transport has given licenses to private players to ply buses. More about the bus journey in some time.

My Plan A was to travel to Khajuraho by bus at night and save time. I reached Jabalpur bus stand, and bus to Khajuraho stood there. Looking at the bus I decided not to do an overnight journey. The journey from my friends place to Jabalpur was not at all comfortable, I was not in a mood to do an overnight journey like that.

Plan B - Reached Jabalpur railway station booked a retiring room. I decided to travel by early morning train to Satna and get a bus to Khajuraho from there. The online blogs mentioned a bus every half an hour and travel time would be 3-4 hrs, appeared simple and safer.

Travel Itinerary :

Jabalpur only

Expenses :

Stay in retiring room - 300

Dinner at railway station - 55

Travel to Khajuraho

Woke up @0330 am. Freshened up, and ran to the platform to the catch the train which was already on the platform. This was my first stay at a retiring room, and I must say it was comfortable. Not too many facilities (non ac room had no tv) but it was enough to rest my soaring back. The stay was cheaper and also didn't need any transport fare to station. Made sense to a backpacker like me.

Got the train on time (0430 hrs) and reached Satna (0730 hrs). I had thought of taking a share auto. A blog mentioned a bus at 0745 hrs and I didn't want to miss it. I took a private auto and reached in 7-8 mins. But the bus had already gone. I came to know the next bus was in the afternoon. I dint know what to do. Then a guy advised me to get in a bus to Chattarpur and get down at Bameetha. Bameetha was around half an hour from Khajuraho. I had no options but to board that bus. I got in and used my smartphone to locate Bameetha, was relived to know the information was correct.

The journey started at 0800 and the bus crawled and stopped at almost all possible places to balloon itself with people. The legroom between the seats was so less that my legs had started paining in less than 10 mins. The journey is such buses was noting short of pain in different parts of your body. My tight budget always gives me such experiences, so I was up for it. The distance of 100 kms took more than 4 hrs. By that time i came to know the parts of my body which I thought ever existed. The roads played best alley to the buses. The road were under construction, wish you a smoother ride when some of you visit in near future. Fingers crossed.

The bus stopped at Panna (Yes, the famous wildlife sanctuary) for loo brk. I flexed my muscles as there was still 50 kms to go. Most of it through dense forest of the wildlife sanguary. Bus stopped at a temple in the middle of the jungle. The bus conductor and helper went to the temple, prayed and broke a coconut (considered good in Indian culture). They went ahead and distributed the coconut in bus as prasad. I was presently surprised, never had something like that happened to me. They shared the blessings from the God with us, my bias about people faded away with that.

Travel Itinerary :

Jabalpur to Satna (by train) - Close to 3 hrs

Satna to Bameetha (by bus) - Close to 4 hrs

Bameetha to Khajuraho (by share auto) - Around 20 mins

Khajuraho Eastern group of temples (by cycle) - Around 10 mins

Expenses :

Jabalpur to Satna by train -

Satna to Bameetha by bus - rs 110

Bameetha to Khajuraho by share auto - rs 20

Stay in Khajuraho Hotel Zen - rs 650

Cycle rent to roam in Khajuraho - Rs 50

Dinner at safari canteen- rs 55

Activities:

sunrise from western temples.

visited western group with guide

Travel Itinerary :

In and around Khajuraho - walk

Expenses :

Breakfast @ lassie corner - Rs 65

Guide for Khajuraho western Group of temples - Rs 300 (joined a group of 6)

Lunch from marwadi canteen - Rs 120

Stay in Khajuraho Hotel Zen - rs 475

Dinner at Khajuraho Dance Festival grounds- rs 60

Travel Itinerary :

Khajuraho town to railway station by share auto - 15 mins

Khajuraho railway station to Jhansi by train (luckily train stopped at Orchaa) - 4 hrs

Orchaa Railway station to Orchaa town by share auto - 30 mins

Expenses :

Khajuraho town to railway station by share auto - Rs 20

Khajuraho railway station to Jhansi by train - Rs 170

Orchaa Railway station to Orchaa town by share auto - Rs 20

Breakfast and snacks - Rs 60

Lunch Thali - Rs 120

Stay in Orchha Hotel Ganapathi - rs 800

Light and sound show and palace tour - Rs 35 + 100

Dinner thali- rs 120

Travel Itinerary :

In and around Orchaa town - 3 hrs leisurely around the area morning and evening

What i missed : cycling in orchha wildlife sangtuary

Expenses :

3 Meals around Rs 120 each

Stay in Orchha (temple view guest house) - rs 400

Travel Itinerary :

Left to Jhansi from Orchaa by share auto - 30-40 mins

Jhansi to Gwalior by train - 4 hrs

Expenses :

Auto to Jhansi - Rs 50

Train ticket to Gwalior from Jhansi - rs 110

Food - Close to Rs 100 per meal. Fortunately, ate at a friends place in Gwalior

Travel Iterinary :

Visited the palaces in Gwalior - 3 hrs

Gwalior to Pune by train - 24 hrs

Expenses :