We didn’t get a great deal of sleep in Kolkata as the city maintained some level of noise and commotion throughout the night. Plus, we’re not used to feeling warm; being buffeted by a fan instead of being cocooned in covers, felt odd. We’d said no to an early morning call so weren’t impressed when the phone rang at 4am. The city noises were already gradually escalating and the Imam started belting out his call to prayer. Guess what? We were awake!
We were in a taxi by 5am and reached Howrah Station with plenty of time to track down our train to Puri. You need plenty of time too as the station is massive, with 2 terminals and well over 20 platforms. It turned out we would be departing from platform 21 and sure enough the train was ready and waiting. It’s nice to travel through the day as you get to see the scenery. Once we’d crawled out of the city and left the sight of the desperately depressing slums behind that is. When we first visited India, over a decade ago, we found the poverty shocking, and then felt saddened / annoyed at the disparity between rich and poor. Now we find it utterly depressing to think that India’s new found wealth hasn’t filtered down to all its inhabitants.
On clearing the city limits we found ourselves looking at pancake flat agricultural lands; a major contrast to the mountains we’d left behind. However, it was lovely to see trees and greenery again dotted with avian life. As we neared Puri the tree cover became denser with mango and tall, spindly coconut palms being the most numerous. It was the most picturesque stretch of the journey and by this point the train was virtually empty so we were quite comfy. Although it would have been better if the train had been on time as sitting in the same seat can get a little tedious, not to mention give you a numb bum after 10 hours!
Mind you there was plenty going on within our carriage to distract our attention. Thirsty? Sellers were offering cold drinks, water, lassi, lemon tea and chai. Hungry? There were vendors selling samosas, biryani, crisps, veg cutlets, dhal snacks and bananas. Bored? Buy a paper or novel (an English story as the seller preferred to call them) to read. Got some rupee coins you want to get rid of? Give them to one of the multitude of beggars; there were plenty to choose from. The deformed beggar shuffling down the carriage, those with other disabilities that could walk, the blind beggar, the blind singing beggar, the penny whistle player, the child gymnast, the poor simply holding out their open palm and of course those that use children either with an adult or child with child. Lastly; don’t forget the eunuchs. The only people we didn’t get wandering up and down were the religious zealots and those selling the kind of plastic tat you couldn’t imagine living without.
As we were walking down the platform in Puri a couple of touts tried to tag along with us. They reckoned they had a tuc-tuc but we weren’t fooled, especially when they told us the fare would be Rs60 even though we hadn’t told them where we were going! Guess what? There were loads of tuc-tucs waiting for customers so we hopped in one of those and he charged us Rs60 to be taken to Gandhara Hotel. Although hindsight made us realise that we’d paid over the odds but at less than a quid we weren’t too perturbed. We’d decided to use Puri as a base as it sounded like it catered for foreign tourists; plus, we wanted to explore the variety of things on offer in the area. With that in mind we reserved a room that we thought we’d be happy and comfortable in for more than a couple of nights. Once again Steve did a great job finding just such a place on the internet; our room was clean, comfy and we had a huge private balcony that caught a much needed cooling breeze.
Our room was actually up on the roof so even though we weren’t on the coast we could see the sea. Added to which we’d been warmly welcomed, discovered the TV had all the channels we’d need and we had a strong wifi connection. Within the hotel was a restaurant serving tasty food and a small pool in which to take a refreshing dip. We’d only booked online for two nights as their website indicated their fan rooms were full over the weekend. In the end it transpired that they weren’t full at all and we wondered why they would try to deter guests. Whatever their motives were they went in our favour as we got to stay in the same fan room for the duration of our visit. http://www.gandharahotel.com/index.htm
It’s just as well there’s plenty to do in the area as Puri certainly isn’t a lying on the sand, dipping in the ocean type of beach. Why? None too clean seas, powerful waves, litter strewn shoreline and no natural shade. However, we’d known that before coming and so weren’t disappointed we’d just thought it would be nice to be near the coast. We walked into the main part of town even though the only tourist attraction, Jagannath Temple, is actually out-of-bounds to non-Hindus. This is unusual as it’s usually only the inner sanctum that is totally sacred (and rightly so) but in general you’re actively encouraged to look around the remainder of the complex. The bulk of it was taller than the perimeter wall and from what we could see it was a building site.
We were now firmly in holiday mode so instead of squeezing into a hot, sweaty local bus we haggled a price for a tuc-tuc to take us to the Sun Temple in Konark. It cost us Rs500 (US$10) for the 70km round trip plus waiting time – admit it, you’d pay the man too!! Entrance to this ancient UNESCO site is Rs250 a head and initially we thought it a little steep. However, we were glad to see our money was helping to restore and preserve this site. The huge main temple was constructed in the mid-13th century and was designed to look like a chariot. The huge stone cartwheels are impressive but unfortunately most of the horses have crumbled over the years. Judging from the building work we saw we’re sure the place will be restored to its former glory within the next couple of years. To our inexpert eyes it looks like the work being undertaken is as close to the original as possible. The well-manicured grounds contain the foundations and columns of other buildings and all-in-all it was well worth a visit.
Today was FA Cup semi-final day – hence the mention of the all-important TV channels earlier! Unfortunately we had an inauspicious start to the day when the adapter melted leaving us unable to make a brew. Steve without a cuppa on any given day isn’t good but with his nerves on edge………………. On ensconcing ourselves on our balcony things didn’t improve when the mini speakers conked, the ESPN channel was unwatchable fuzz, only one magpie few over and we witnessed a dead body being carried down the street to the funeral pyre. As good as the hotel is there were still niggles that were starting to get on our nerves once we’d stayed there more than a couple of nights. The door to our room didn’t close properly let alone lock while we were inside, the windows rattled constantly, the electricity had surges and slumps and people seemed to be constantly outside our room cleaning.
By the time kick-off came around we’d got an adapter for the kettle, ESPN was better but it was still snowing at Wembley and we’d tracked down some normal strength Carlsberg. Steve’s nerves were still frayed but by full time he was a very happy bunny and on the internet finding out how much a ticket for the final would set him back. All-in-all we’d enjoyed our trip to Puri but were frustrated that we hadn’t been able to organise a trip to take advantage of some of the things on offer. The trip could have been organised but we refused to pay the ludicrous amount of Rs80 000 (a thousand pounds!) for a 3-day trip. To put that quote into perspective: The Galapagos Islands cost that, per head, for an 8-day all inclusive cruise. We still wanted to visit the national parks in the area so set off to achieve it all independently – how did we get on?
