At 8 a.m. we cross the level crossing at Orchha Station before racing through the little town and being dropped at our hotel. For the next few days we are in the hands of the MPTDC (Madhya Pradesh) but first impressions are that this place is a good bit better than Bishnupur. Despite the early hour we are checked in straight away and shown to our "cottage" in the grounds. This is a little battered at the edges but has most of what we need including a kettle. We drop the bags and head straight to the restaurant where a rather uninspired breakfast buffet is on offer. We need to find Orchha's Aum Cafe.
There is a myriad of bird life around the hotel as well as a couple of large monkeys. Back at the room we unpack and discover a minor catastrophe. D has managed to leave the LP guide book on the train. However this is the 21st century and there must be a digital solution. Four hours later D has managed to download the guide onto his tablet via the hotel's very creaky and intermittent wifi, only available in the restaurant block. At least it gave us something to do as the rain was back, with really heavy bursts at times. Also on the bright side it is about a kilo less to lug around.
The rain relents and we set out to explore. We start by walking 200 metres south to the Chhatris, huge temple-like stone buildings that were built as cenotaphs for former kings of Orchha. There are parakeets around and as R watches them she spots a vulture perched on top of a small cupola. Wow! We have not seen an Indian vulture of any kind on our previous trips as they have been decimated by the chemicals and hormones used in modern agriculture. We are careful to keep moving just in case. As we look around we see several more. With the aid of the bird book we identify them as the White Rumped variety. (Later we discover that they are the Long Billed variety.)
We head back into town which is looking a bit bedraggled after the rain. The place is clearly geared up for tourists with lots of souvenir stalls and cyber cafes, not to mention small boys selling postcards and decks of Kama Sutra playing cards. The main street in the centre has elaborate precautions against autos and 2 wheelers which actually seem to work. Just for Craig there is a whole street of sweetie sellers. We complete a circuit of the central area and pick a balcony cafe for a cup of tea. 
After ten minutes of being ignored we move on and set our sights at the hotel within the palace walls. This looks a bit run down on the outside but inside it is rather smart. It is another MPTDC establishment but D could not get it to appear on their website when he was trying to book. The tea was fine, the service good and the price OK. Their restaurant gets good write ups so we may well be back. We meander back to the hotel and work out an evening plan.
There is a hotel and restaurant a bit out of town that is run by a survivor from the local royal family. The book says that their Bundelkhand Chicken is the biz so we decide to go for it. We arrive at a rather splendid gaff and are shown to the restaurant, a large blue and green tiled room. We wonder if we will be dining in splendid isolation but the place rapidly fills up. The service is enthusiastic, if a little gauche, and the food is cooked to order so we have time to enjoy our beer and pappads. The much vaunted chicken is not as good as R's Chicken a la Maison but the rice and dal are both excellent. After supper we sit in the garden with the BBC's Sir Mark Tully listening to Indian folk music until our auto arrives.
Beat that for a Saturday night out.
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