Orissa travelogue

 Orissa Travelogue

When you have a holiday at school then a trip is a must - long or short. My plan was to go for an undersea walk. We planned a perfect holiday to Pattaya. I wanted to go out of the country for a while now. The Wuhan virus was playing spoilt sport. We don't need RTPCR tests anymore, well not true really. There is still no vaccine for under 12 kids and all non-vaccinated people still have to undergo tests. This is not a requirement for Thailand but for India. This meant that for our return journey, we will need a test for my son. I always take the worst-case scenario into account. What if we had to be isolated, will we get a choice of food...my son doesn't eat non veg...blah blah. So basically, it has to be a domestic vacation at least for now. 

My husband's love for historical places and ancient architecture is well known. Orissa was always on my mind but we never had a direct flight but when things have to happen, they happen. Just realised that not one but two airlines have direct flights to Bhubaneshwar. So off we went. This time we did not want to go on a group tour. It is too hectic. So we got our bookings done from Veena world but it was a customised tour. My neighbours and a cousin helped with a lot of info. I never knew that I know so many Odiya people.

Day 1 - was our travel day. We reached in the evening and checked into Mayfair lagoon. My first impression of Orissa - clean city with excellent roads. Not one pot hole and the roads are made of tar. Pune contractors - anyone listening. Please go take some inspiration on making good roads and being honest with your profession. The traffic is also very less. The city seems to be a very small. Back to the resort. I recommend this resort. Must visit. Excellent property and good food. Except for starters everything was to my liking. Starters are not bad, just slightly different. What a buffet spread...yumm!

Day2 - was packed with sightseeing. We first went to see a 3000 year old temple called Lingaraj. Amazing architecture. It is quite different to what I have seen till now. Most temples in Orissa are not single temples. It is a temple complex with multiple big and small temples. Orissa is seriously a teerth kshetra. The number of people visiting the temples is very very high. We did not stand in queue for darshan but whatever glimpse we could get was enough. I was lucky to catch the aarti.

Our next stop was the first century BC, Udaygiri and Khandagiri caves. These caves are similar to what we see in Maharashtra. These are basically stops for Jain and Buddhist monks on their journey. The difference is in the pictures sculpted on it. You get to see a flavour of old Orissa. Udaygiri caves are more or less at ground level. Not much to climb. However, the Khandagiri caves, which are just opposite to Udaygiri, are atop a hill and involves a climb. We lost track of time, watching the intricate artwork admiring the people's costumes, head gear, trying to make sense if the pictures relate to Ramayan or Mahabharat. Ramayan is easy to spot when you see Hanuman with a hill in his hand. We decided to skip Khandagiri caves and moved on to the next spot. What deterred us was the heat.Too hot. Actually you never know, even Pune may be that hot. It's just that we don't get out of the house and roam around in the heat anymore.

Our next stop was Dhauli Stupa. It is a beautiful white stupa. Unfortunately, there was some construction/repair work going on at the stupa hence they were not allowing any vehicles till the end. We had to walk up all the way. It is a short walk, nothing difficult but again the heat was really slowing us down. The view from the top is also great. Entry inside the stupa was not allowed, dont know if it was the repair work or if that is the rule.

Evening was at the resort. Evening and night were way cooler. The resort had ample space to walk. The place is so tastefully done and there are lots of activities to do. We went around the property. They have a huge man-made water body and in the middle of it, a Shiva temple. Very serene. Nishad found the resort library and it became difficult for us to pull him out of there. He lost all interest in food or anything else. He actually got out because the library was going to close. The day ended with the most beautiful part....live music at the resort's restaurant. All good old Hindi songs, mostly Kishor Kumar. It was a treat. The singer had a melodious voice. Good food, good music - aur kya chahiye.

People who do not like travelling much, fail to understand what we achieved by climbing to a destination which was closed. I have friends who prefer to stay at the resort and relax and take a dip in the pool, eat and drink. True. That too is a great way to enjoy your vacation but getting closer to nature makes you richer in experience. Yes, the hot Sun too counts in "nature". I enjoy watching local people, trying to understand their language, accent, mannerisms. You come across helpful people or otherwise. It brings out your nature too. We are now so used to luxury that any discomfort has become intolerable. We were not provided with water bottles by Veena world. All of this is paid for. Now buying something from roadside is no more acceptable. You get 10 thoughts. Is this authentic clean water. Small things can upset you. When you pay a premium for everything, you expect things to be done accurately but then it doesn't happen so. So travelling is necessary otherwise you never appreciate the cool breeze after the heat. The man made things are awe inspiring and nature, an even bigger canvas for God's art.

Day 3 - Next morning we went to the Nandankanan zoo. It is a huge zoo and is also well maintained. They did not allow plastic bags inside. They were confiscating it and providing alternative paper bags. Water bottles were allowed with a deposit of Rs50. You get the money back while exiting if you show proof that you are taking your plastic bottle with you and not littering it in the park. Excellent way of keeping people under control.

The zoo has two parts, a regular zoo where the animals are in enclosures and the second part where the animals have a much bigger space and the visitors have to sit in a bus and go for a safari. The zoo enclosures are also very big, not like Peshwe Park, where the lion has barely enough space to move in his cage. Here the zoo enclosures are huge open areas with a boundary except for the leopard where the enclosure was closed from the top because they climb high. There are so many animals. In Peshwe Park, you get to see one lion or one tiger (at least that's how it was in our childhood). That is not the case here. Secondly, they have golf carts so you need not worry about walking that huge area. 

If you take a ticket to the safari, you get a lion safari, tiger safari, bear safari and a herbivore safari in that same ticket. Unfortunately, you are put in a bus and the windows have a very tiny grill spacing. It becomes difficult to take a photo. Everyone wished there was an open jeep. Later, I thanked that it was not an open jeep. Some Indians are just useless and kids are out of control. The lions were asleep and the kids behind me wanted to wake them up and look at them. They started yelling at the top of their voices and also making animal sounds. Thankfully, the lions didn't care one bit but I may have growled back at them (well that was what I wanted to do but kept quiet :D). If we were in open jeeps these kids would have gone overboard.. maybe.

Even in that smaller safari, the tigers managed to hide themselves. The tiger photos which I have put on FB, are from the zoo section. The tigers with exceptionally broad black stripes had some explanation for the broad stripes. It was written on a board, on the enclosure but a monkey prevented us from getting close to that board LOL. So no idea why the tigers were different. We saw two bears and herbivores were in plenty. It was an overall satisfying experience. I will give it a must visit especially if you have kids.

After the zoo, we departed from Bhubaneshwar for Puri. We stopped in between at a place called Pipli. This is the handicrafts village of Orissa and is famous for it's applique clothing and bags. Which girl doesn't like to shop ;) There is another place called Raghurajpur, famous for Pattachitra. We did not go there but yes, the paintings are really good. We got to see some in Pipli and in Puri too (few paintings).

Next, we went to Puri. It was evening and we were exhausted. Secondly, the sun sets at 5:30ish and by 5:40 its pitch dark. So going to the beach is out of question. We had booked ourselves at Toshali Sands. This resort is slightly off Puri. They claim to have a private beach but don't fall for it. No beaches in India are private and even in Goa if they claim its private, they are bluffing and using their contacts and power to keep other people away to gain exclusivity. In case of Toshali Sands, forget private beach, this property is not even beach touch. Just across the road, there is a forest area. Entry is with permission. The resort has made arrangements for its guests to go to the beach across the forest (actually end of the forest). They provide a vehicle which drops you and picks you up from the beach. It is a free of cost service. The beach is not near (as in not walking distance) and it is a 5 min drive. The place closes at 5pm. Word of caution. Dont be the last ones to go to the beach because there are no lights at all in that area. As for the resort, it is an old property and therefore the rooms n bathrooms look dated. Good property but if I compare it with Mayfair in Bhuvaneshwar (since both were equally priced), Toshali is over priced. 

Day 4 - Today we had three things on our list. 1. Jagannath temple 2. Konark Sun temple and 3. Chandrabhaga Beach

The plan was to go to Jagannath temple, followed by a beach close to it called Chandrabhaga and then to Konark. Now here is the catch. You cannot make the temple plan as per your will. The temple opens early in the morning, 5 or 5:30am and is open till late night 9 or 10 pm. However, the temple is closed in between TWICE for bhog. Also, this timing is not fixed. There are slight variations everyday. We were not aware of this. So you need to check the timings on the website and then plan accordingly. Best plan is to go early in the morning but, well, we were on vacation and getting up early was the last thing on our mind. If you go with the group tour, they ask you to wake up at 3:30 and then they reach the temple at 5 or 5:30 to get the best darshan. So our plan changed. Since we were getting out of the resort post breakfast at 9:30, we first went to Konark. 

Konark - We hired a guide (I will advise you to do the same because that's when the real beauty of the temple will be appreciated, when you understand how it is built). At the entrance of the temple, you will see many vendors renting out umbrellas. My advice - please do keep an umbrella over your head. The heat is so much that wearing only a cap will do you no good. The place does not have a tree cover although that is not true with Orissa. It is a very green place. The Konark temple had a magnetic levitating dome. It is an architectural marvel. Every inch of the stone blocks is carved and these blocks are held together using iron (most probably molten iron is poured in ridges created in the stone which fit like jigsaw). The most interesting part is that the dome design was done by a 16 year old. This dome was destroyed by good-for-nothing Portuguese people because it was causing navigation issues for the boats due to the magnet. Idiot Portuguese people (who know nothing but to convert people) actually destroyed a master piece. The entire structure was held because of the magnetic field and the iron. Destroying the dome also caused a small collapse in the temple. Later another bunch of good-for-nothing people ie Mughals destroyed this temple because thats what they know to do...destroy. Destroy temples, destroy lives, destroy happiness....nothing creative. The third destruction was not man made, it was caused due to nature and yet we still have a magnificent temple in front of us. I cannot imagine the beauty and grandeur of this temple when it was built. 

The first rays of the Sun fall on the main deity. The temple is in the form of a chariot. Each wheel is a sun dial and accurately tells the time based on the shadow falling on it. The temple has taken into account the equinox and it is a proper year-round clock. There are different statues of the Sun in a different pose, one for the mid-day Sun (where the ray actually fall on it) and one for sunset. There are many other structures in the temple complex too. Detailing the architecture in a blog will not do justice to it. You have to see it, feel it and understand it. Only then will you appreciate it. We also visited the Arka Khetra interpretation centre next door. It is very informative. You should visit it if you have the time.

Jagannath Mandir - We were already on back foot. People told us stories how the priests in the temple harass people for money. When we reached there, there was a sea of people. Easily 25 to 30000 people. The heaps of footwear and the long queues to deposit footwear, mobile phones and camera and any leather items was long. Please note, you don't have a single queue, there are many. I was really sceptical rather scared looking at the crowd. What if we want to turn back after entering and there is no way out of the situation? Such questions started coming to my mind. With a child in tow, you really think twice before entering such huge crowds. You dont want to get lost in there. The Sun at Konark had really hit me hard. Acidity and headache had taken me over. I was in no situation to stand in the queue to enter the mandir. Kaustubh hates crowds and he readily agreed. We went stright for the Puri beach, not the Chandrabhaga beach. Puri beach is the main attraction here. The place is lively. By now, the Sun had come down and the breeze made me feel better. We had a good time on the beach. We had traditional jhal muri there. I liked it (with mustard oil). We had just taken a single pack for tasting but it was good. We thought of buying another one. We did not find the same seller so purchased from someone else but it was not as good as the earlier one. I didn't eat much (just tasted) because my headache was still troubling me but I am glad we went there. Nishad enjoyed a lot. One point I must mention. The jhalmuri seller no 1, without fail, gave us instructions regarding not littering on the beach. He requested us not to throw the paper cone containing the jhalmuri anywhere on the beach. Incidentally, a camel (yes you get camel rides on the beach) pooped on the beach and the camel guy cleaned everything right away. Yes, my India is changing and glad to see Orissa is a clean state. 

Day 5 - Today we had a trip planned to Chilika lake. It is a little far from Puri but worth a visit. The boat ride takes you to meet dolphins. We saw around 10 of them. Most were in pairs but at one place we saw 4 dolphins together. This species is called the Irrawady dolphins. During migration season, which starts in few days from now, you also see migratory birds. Later we took a stop at the Pearl island. People bring shells and open it in front of you and you get to buy the pearls. They were selling another coral stone but I was not interested. Next, they take you to another island where they serve exclusive non veg dinner. Since my son doesn't prefer eating non veg (or is rather averse to non veg food) we skipped this island. 

We came back to the hotel and went to the so-called private beach. The beach is really good. You can have fun in the water. A painter was sitting on the beach selling pattachitra. We got a good, reasonable deal. That was the end of our vacation.

Day 6 - Back to Pune. Bhubaneshwar airport has quite a bit of mismanagement so please ensure you reach on time. Bye bye. Hope you enjoyed the trip with me.