Visit to Puri, Bhubaneswar and Chilika (Part - 5)

[Continued from Visit to Puri, Bhubaneswar and Chilika (Part - 4)] We reached Puri at around 5 pm. We took an auto rickshaw to get to our hotel. But the condition of the sky was not good. We felt that soon it will start raining. I had decided that as it was too early, so we would go directly to out hotel and have bread as dinner. As soon as we went back to the hotel it started raining. We were quite tired. So we went straight to bed. At night we had bread and biscuit  as dinner.

The next morning we woke up at 10 am. After having breakfast we took rest. Then we had lunch at Savera restaurant. The food was good and the price was very low. That evening we stayed at our hotel. That night also we ate at Savera restaurant. The next day we went to the sea beach. That day the waves were even higher. And what more! The water of the sea was cool unlike that of New Digha. The sea waters of Digha were warm and hot. We also ate sweets from sweet sellers who were roaming near the sea beach. The sweets were very good. After having a great time at the sea we went back to the hotel. From the hotel we enjoyed the wide view of the sea. Then we ate veg thali at Ruchira restaurant. As we had booked tickets for our return journey back to Kolkata on the next day, so in the evening we went out and bought some items like biscuits, potato chips etc. After having dinner we came back to our hotel.

Visit to Puri, Bhubaneswar and Chilika (Part - 4)

[Continued from Visit to Puri, Bhubaneswar and Chilika (Part - 3)] In afternoon, we went to Ruchira restaurant and had lunch. In the evening we went to Swargadwar market for shopping. There we bought some Punjabis, towels for us and our relatives too. The next day we went to the OTDC booking counter. There we booked seats for the Chilika tour. The tour was on the next day. As we did not want to tire ourselves before the journey, we went back to our hotel.

Alarnath Temple

The day after we woke up early at 06:00 am. Our tour was scheduled to commence at 07:30. So we quickly got ourselves ready and went down. Then we took an auto and headed straight to Pantha Niwas. On reaching we saw that our bus had just came there to pick up the passengers. Then our coach guide for this tour checked our tickets as the previous guide had done in the previous tour. But this time all punctuality of OTDC seemed to be lost. Many passengers had not turned up and so our bus had to wait for them. Some came but others still did not came after 20 mins of waiting. So atlast our bus started its journey. Our first destination was Alarnath Temple. There we had to walk for about 10 minutes to reach the temple from where our bus was parked. On reaching the temple we found that there were many people. So we had to wait in a queue to be able to see Lord Alarnath. But time was running out. So we were getting anxious. Atlast we got darshan of Lord Alarnath. After that we reached the main road almost running. We ate breakfast of Dosa and Idli at a small restaurant beside the road. Then we reached the place where our bus was standing. But though it was time but still most people had not come back. So again waiting. After waiting for about 10 minutes outside the bus, the driver came and boarded the bus and switched on the A/C. So we also boarded the bus. But still one of the passengers did not came back. Atlast our bus started. Our next stop was Dahikhia.

Visit to Puri, Bhubaneswar and Chilika (Part - 3)

[Continued from Visit to Puri, Bhubaneswar and Chilika (Part - 2)] Our coach guide sent a guide for us. We started walking with our new guide who would show the intricate designs and curvings on the walls of the temple, tell us the history of the temple and explain the reason about why this temple is considered unholy. This temple was constructed by King Narasimhadeva I in the 13th century. The name Konark was derived from the two Sanskrit words - Kona meaning angle and Ark meaning Surya because of dedication of the temple to the Sun god Surya. Our guide showed us the wheels, intricate curvings and sculptures of the chariot sun temple. He also showed us how to read the time with the help of a wheel and the sun. It took 12 years, 1200 workers and 12000 gold coins to build this masterpiece of architecture. One interesting fact that I would like to mention is that one will never find any shadow of this temple on any sides around it. Now most parts of the temple has fallen down. The entire temple was designed in the form of Sun Gods, chariot drawn by seven horses on twelve pairs of exquisitely designed wheels at the base. The temple complex consists of four parts - Bhoga Mandap, Nata Mandir, Audience Hall and the Main Sanctum. Out of these only the Audience hall survives in its entirety. The main sanctum where the idol of the sun god was placed has fallen off. And some portions of the Bhoga Mandap and Nata Mandir survives. After seeing the temple complex we went back to our bus.

Konark Temple

Visit to Puri, Bhubaneswar and Chilika (Part-2)

[Continued from Visit to Puri, Bhubaneswar and Chilika] As I was running after the bus and shouting, trying to attract the attention of the guide. At last the guide saw me. The bus stopped and he got down from it. I told him that one of our co-passengers had went to the toilet and had still not come back. We waited there for some time. And then with a relief I saw that our fellow passenger was coming towards us. We boarded the bus and the bus started. Our next stop was at the Nandankanan Zoo. Our guide told us that we would see the important landmarks of Bhubaneswar city on the way to the zoo. As our bus went through the smooth and wide roads of new Bhubaneswar we saw the Assembly House, Indira Gandhi Park (IG Park), Rabindra Mandap, Police Commissioner Bhavan etc. Just before reaching Nandankanan, our guide told us that we would enter the zoo through gate-2. He told us that he would be there with us at the zoo. On reaching Nandankanan we got off from the bus and went in. There our guide told us to wait and he went to buy the tickets. Then he came and distributed the tickets to each of us. The time allocated was 2 hours.

Nandankanan Gate

Visit to Puri, Bhubaneswar and Chilika

From Howrah railway station, we boarded the 12837 Howrah - Puri Express. Our train departed at 22:50 hrs from platform no. 22. It reached Puri the next morning at around 08:30 hrs about 1 hour behind the scheduled time. From there we took a cycle rickshaw. At this peak time tourists were flocking in and it was quite hard to get sea facing rooms. Our first target was the Puri Hotel. On reaching the Puri Hotel we got off from the rickshaw. I went in to enquire whether any room was vacant. There were no sea facing rooms available so I decided to search for accommodation in other hotels. After searching many hotels, at last I found a room in Hotel Swarg. That day we took rest. In the afternoon we went to Quality Restaurant to have lunch. The quality of the food was terrible. In the evening we went for a stroll in the marine drive. We also spent some time on the sea shore. The breeze cooled our minds and body. After that we went to Parijat Restaurant for dinner. The food was better than the previous one but it was not too good.

Jagannath Temple

Trip to Puri

Puri is  famous for Lord Jagannath temple. The famous annual Rath Yatra or the festival of chariots is celebrated here. This festival is generally celebrated in the month of July. Millions of people from different parts of India come to Puri to watch this festival. It is also a very popular beach resort. It is famous for its long and broad sandy sea beach. One can even view the sunrise and sunset from the beach.

As we were planning a trip to Puri, I thought that this time we will stay in a holiday home instead of a hotel. So I went to the United Bank of India, College Street branch and booked a room at the holiday home 'Ananda Bhawan'. As the day of journey was nearing we were getting excited. On the day of the journey, we boarded the Howrah-Puri Express from Howrah railway station at 22:35 hrs. The train reached Puri at 07:30 hrs. Coming out of the station we saw that many cycle rickshaws and auto rickshaws were waiting to take passengers to hotels or holiday homes. We took two cycle rickshaws and reached our destination holiday home 'Ananda Bhawan'. There was a caretaker so we had no problem in taking the luggage to the room. I went to a nearby gas store and from there I hired a small sized gas cylinder. Then we went for a bath at the sea beach. The beach was excellent and the waves produced by the sea here were quite high. After spending some time there we came back to our holiday home and had bath. That day we had lunch at a sea facing restaurant. In the evening we went to the sea beach. The cool sea breeze relaxed our mind and body. We also had some shopping at the shops which were situated opposite to the sea. These shops mainly sell apparels, saris, towels and other clothing products. Then we came back to our holiday home, cooked our food and had dinner.