Sunday, September 20, 2009

Delhi-Khajuraho trip

                             Did a trip to Khajuraho last weekend from Delhi, as we were organizing a Conference cum Leisure trip for a Corporate for a group of about 60 people. Took the morning flight on Friday from IG domestic by Air India. It had rained a lot on Thursday in Delhi and the Cab driver of Easy Cabs was telling me that it took about 3 hours on Thurs to reach the Airport from Patel Nagar(normal time 1 hr). Well I alomost missed my flight because of traffic jams starting from Delhi Cantt till the Airport and probably got saved because the flight was late, I reached just about 25 mins before the scheduled departure. The flight was via Varanasi and it took about 2.5 hrs to reach Khajuraho. On reaching the small airport, the taxi from the hotel, Usha Bundela, was there to pick me up. The hotel is just 3 k from the Airport, infact all hotels( six in total) are all within 6 k, so it is very convenient. You can take an auto or even a rickshaw to reach the hotel..

                              Usha Bundela is 3 star hotel with 66 rooms, spread over 3 acres with lawns, swimming pool, restaurant, bar and off course the Conference Hall. The participants reached on their own from Agra, Jhansi etc and we headed for the main attraction of Khajuraho, the erotic temples divided in to East, South and the main-Western Temples. The temples are some thing to really seen to be believed, the beautiful sculpture and architecture doesn't look like to be hundreds of years old. All the temples are dedicated to a God and the out side walls depict statues in erotic art. The motifs signify how advanced the particular generation was regarding Kama and other man-woman relations, all the temples have carved figurines posing, dancing, admiring themselves in mirrors, combing their hair, gossiping and making love. Absolutely unusual poses that have made Khajuraho temples unique in style.The different poses leave little to imagination. The Western Temples are UNESCO nominated World Heritage site.
                               Next morning was dedicated to the Conference while I had a look at other hotels in the vicinity like Ramada, Clarks, Taj and Radisson. In the evening we visited the beautiful Raneh falls about 20 km from Khajuraho on river Ken, Famous for their seasonal waterfalls and rock formations, the attraction here is a five-km long, 100-ft deep canyon of crystalline granite in shades of pink, red and gray. Also closeby is the Panna Wildlife National Park(closed till 1st October) known for the Tiger, leopard, wolf, gharial, chinkara etc.

                             While coming back on Sunday, my Jet flight was cancelled due to the strike and I used the other way to travel between Delhi-Khajuraho, which was quiet convenient too. Took a taxi to Jhansi(about 3.5 hrs) and then the Shatabadi(there are lot of other trains too) which took 4.5 hrs to reach Delhi via Agra. There is also a direct train between Delhi-Khajuraho but runs only 3 times a week. Khajuraho cna also be part of an itinerary covering Agra, Gwalior, Orchha, Panna and Bandhavgarh. So, if you have done enough of the hill-station drive and want to be away from traffic and shops and people, you could take a short break at Khajuraho — a peaceful destination with, perhaps, the finest sculptures in the world.
R.Anand,
For planning your trip to Khajuraho call us at AroundDelhi.com, Seema 9891458220/Anand 9811193634 or email us @ arounddelhi(at)gmail.com.

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