Flew to Bhubaneswar this morning.
Just travelling from the airport to the hostel, I can see already this is a much more rural party of India.
Lots of new homes, mainly, being erected in subdivisions of a sort. It feels very much like rural Crete. Some buildings are faced and painted, while others remain brick and mortar.
Here the roads are again clean with some dusty sidewalks and the construction is everywhere, but it seems to be a lot of hand labor, not machine built homes. Women in colorful saris carrying baskets of dirt on their heads and men making mortar in wheelbarrows.
The honking is incessant, but I've learned that it's mostly a, hey, I'm passing you so be aware, rather than a 'get out of the way' honk. But it can definitely be used for both.
There are plenty of cows in the road here, but it's still a city, if more of a rural one.
The hostel is in a suburb, very hard to find. No one else is staying here. There isn't even any info about Konark. A young man, maybe 20, is running the place and doesn't speak English well. He keeps calling someone for help, probably the guy who should be here running the place. It's quite frustrating. I booked this place because it is supposedly associated with YHA, but without any travel assistance or knowledge its not really what I would call "in-line" with the YHA standard.
It's only noon, but there's literally nothing to do here. I ask them to order a taxi to go to Konark, even though I really was thinking of going tomorrow. I probably should have taken the train, but this thought won't occur to me until the following day.
Konark was really impressive! It will probably be one of the most amazing places I will see in India.
But I wasn't able to appreciate it. I was really stressed out because the taxi driver left me there. It was an hour and a half drive to get there. Also, they didn't tell me the amount when I got in the cab so I thought I would pay when I paid for the room and the driver wanted 1300 when we arrived, but I only had 900, and he wouldn't take me to a bank.
I felt terrible. He didn't understand English well and I don't understand his language. It was impossible. He even called someone and I couldn't understand that guy either. Finally he agreed to 500 so I gave that to him and got out off the car. But I was pretty upset.
I came to see Konark. The driver said there would be a taxi to take me back, but that did not appear to be the case. I didn't see any taxis anywhere, only auto rickshaws, which would not want to go that far.
I felt so abandoned. I tried to make the most of it. It was a beautiful place that was really ruined by my mood. All the time I wished I had just brought my luggage with me so I wouldn't have to go back.
I should have hired a guide. Because I didn't, I can't really tell you much about the place other than the pictures. Rookie planning mistake.
To make matters worse, after I left, I walked up and down the road in search of a taxi. Two different auto rickshaw drivers were yelling bitch, bitch at me from their cabs. This was incredibly disturbing. I could not understand why they were saying this. It felt very threatening, although none of them got out of their cabs.
I decided to eat something thinking that might help. While I was buying bananas, I accidentally saw a bank. So at least if I ever did find a cab I could pay him.
I decided maybe I would have to take the bus back. But finding the bus stand proved just as hard as finding a taxi. When I finally did find the bus stand, another rickshaw driver came by and was yelling bitch over and over so emphatically that it finally occurred to me he was really saying beach, but with wrong pronunciation. Do I want to go to the beach? They were saying. Still, he was yelling it so loud it sounded threatening. At this point it wasn't funny, just disorienting because I did not want to go to the beach.
Finally, wandering around some more, I found a guy who said he had a taxi. This almost seemed shady to me at this point so I was a bit uncertain. But after finding two appalling buses I decided it was a better bet to get lost in a clean taxi than on a dirty bus that may or may not be going where I needed to go.
The car looked nice enough, and he quoted me the same price so now we are on the way and if we make it before sunset it will be okay.
And it will only be to figure out how to get back to Puri (the "beach") tomorrow in order to get on the train. And of course to get off the waitlist for a seat on the train.
So far, India is tiresome. But as promised, a seemingly chaotic yet completely functioning society. After a few days you just accept it. Maybe.
All the women are dressed so colorfully. Each sari is so unique. You would never have to worry about wearing the same as someone else. And you get to express your unique self while somehow being dressed just like everyone else. It would be great fun to purchase a whole wardrobe of them, because to choose just one, how would you choose?
Did I mention they stare? Not in a lurid way, they just don't look away. And not just the men either. Sometimes women. Little girls about 12 that scowl can be the worst. What an awful look from such a young girl. Today tween boys in their school uniforms riding bikes gave me big smiles and waves and hellos, but in that friendly innocent way of boys. I couldn't help but smile.
There's not much outright friendliness here. Kindness yes, but not friendliness. Those boys are about all I've seen of friendliness.
We did not find the hostel before sunset. We needed another half hour of daylight. We drive around for an hour with no luck. Can you imagine? Not being able to find where you left your luggage. And no one knows the names of streets or even how the address system works. We even called the place but the driver said no one answered.
Finally we found a guy who spoke English and could be persistent and call the number on the card until we finally reached someone. I'm not sure I would have gotten back if it wasn't for him. It was awful. I paid the driver an extra 700 rupees for his trouble. It was only 7:30, but it felt like midnight.
It was not my favorite day. I took a cold shower. There was no hot water, but I was so hot and sweaty I didn't care.
The young man asked me if I wanted dinner. I wasn't hungry, but I said yes, and I'm glad I did. He made some delicious food and I went to bed feeling a bit better. I will sleep in tomorrow and forget all about this crazy day!
So far, India is not anything like I imagined.
