Drive to Orchha, geography lesson and Nasyam

Today was a low-key day and thank heavens for that. I feel horrid.

Breakfast at 09:00, a look around the gift store at the hotel (it is confirmed, I cant shop when I’m sick) and check-out at 11:45.

Then we hit the road in our Suzuki Swift Sedan for the four hour drive to Orchha. It is not that far, the road is just very bad and the fastest we travelled is 80km/hr on the open stretches. When you drive through a settlement – well anything can happen, so it’s down to a crawl. We passed fields and villages, swerved potholes and livestock and weaved our way to our halfway stop.

Here we stopped for lunch and a comfort break. Upon hearing that I come from South Africa I got the weirdest question from the staff – So, tell me about Nigeria. No.. not Nigeria, South Africa. The response… but is Nigeria not in South Africa (I almost said yes, if feels that way :P) But technnically no, it is in the North of Africa. Total blank look… I try again… Nigeria is part of Africa, but in the North of the continent, a different country that SA. It is a city in South Africa? No, it is a country on the continent – Africa has 52 countries. What – 52 cities, ghees it is huge….. No, not cities, countries – like India, Sirilanka, Pakistan – one continent, different countries. Baffled looks – they dont believe me. In the end I pulled out the IPad, googled a map of Africa and showed them the two countries in question. Light dawns… No, I dont know Nigeria just because we share a continent. All I know about Nigeria is that they are mostly Muslim and speak french. Why they speak french? It was a french colony, just like you were a british colony.

It turns out Mr Curiosity has a facebook friend in Nigeria and thought he’d find out more from a ‘fellow african’. Sorry bro, can’t help you there…

Again the whole Africa the continent vs South Africa discussion. Has happened countless times before. The rest of the world assumes that Africa is one big country. Shakes head… Even the Moroccans (fellow Africans) thought that everything below the Sahara is one country – It’s south isn’t it?

Eventually we reached our destination – a small town built around the ruins of bygone times. Our hotel is some distance away from the centre – not conducive for taking a stroll to see the town.

My room is back and beyond in a corner. Luckily there are other guests around, else I would have asked for a different one. The porter seems to think it is the best part of the hotel – nice and quiet he said. Must have seen the look on my face as before I even asked he said.. all the rooms in this sector booked tonight, nice and quiet.

Just as I contemplated which combination of my meds I’ll try next I saw the Ayurvedic Centre’s card – Nasyam treatment for congestion of the sinus area and head-ache. The first time I see this treatment as an option – It’s a sign. I am ready to try almost anything.

I went to the centre and 15 minutes later the lady was massaging oils onto my face – it smelled like the spice combination I use for my xmas gingerbread men. She was very thorough, especially on the areas that hurt. She alternated facial massage with rubbing the palms of my hands and soles of my feet. Then she poured the hot oil in my nostrils – that stuff burns when it hits your throat. But, whatever the hell she did, it worked. It’s three hours later and I still breathe, the facial tenderness is less and headache is gone. I think I should take her back home with me 😛

Having done late breakfast and lunch, I think i’ll skip dinner and just have some tea. Tomorrow is 8am pickup at the hotel for site seeing of the palace and Orccha area before I catch the train back to Delhi round about 16:30 for 17:55 departure. According to the ticket we arrive in Delhi at 22:45 and then still drive to the hotel – it’s gonna be a long day.