The 2nd Worst Road in India

I awoke recovered from Delhi Belly. The Indian Doctor’s medicine did the trick. We had breakfast at our hotel and then went to visit the Jahangir Mahal Palace. The Palace dominates the town (as do most palaces now that I think of it). It is a huge complex of varying Hindu and Muslim Styles. The town of Orchha actually has a lot of historical buildings and temples. After climbing up to the top of the Palace / Fortress we headed on to our next destination: Gwalior.

ViJay our driver said that this is a bad road. I am not sure if it even deserves to be called a road. For over 4 hours we drove from Orchha to Gwalior  We averaged less than 18 miles per hour. The road would be paved for maybe a quarter of a mile. Then it would be nothing but dirt ruts, that ViJay had to navigate around. Then it would revert to one lane of badly paved road, then dirt again. This continued, thru dusty villages one after another. Trucks and Busses and motorcycles all competed to navigate the road. Sometimes we had to pull over to let other vehicles pass, we had to drive around a tipped over truck of hay. It was insane. I will always believe Vijay when he says a road is going to be bad!

Gwalior is dominated by a giant Fortress high on a mountain top. It is remarkably preserved. We walked about as our guide pointed out the architectural elements. On the way roadway leading up to the Fortress were caves dug out of the rock where there were many Jain statues carved. The statues of the Jain Gods are always depicted nude. Unfortunately the Mughal Emperors destroyed many of the faces as they did with Giant Buddha sculptures they recently blew up in Afghanistan, for they do not permit the representation of the Human form.

The Palace we are staying at is 125 years old, very recent by Indian standards. We enjoyed a bottle of Indian Wine in their art deco bar, before going to dinner in their restaurant.

Tomorrow a 7 hour drive to Jaipur.  We drive thru Agra, but probably won’t stop to see the Taj Mahal, having previously been there.