(this entry was written in a starbucks in Bangkok. All of the others were written in the beach house in Puri, except for the first one which was written in the Bangkok airport on the way out, and this next little part which I'm remembering now)
The time in Puri was quite nice. The weather was wonderful and we strolled on the beautiful beach. I think Kevin swam, though I never went further than wading my feet in. This because the fishing village to the left used the beach as a bathroom, so the sand was littered with feces. And if you walked far enough to the right, you discovered the stream leading from the sewer to the water. A little too much poo for my taste. Still, the sand was nice, it was exciting to see the fishing boats, and I love sleeping near the sea. There were some nice, semi wild dogs around with lots of cute puppies, but of course they added to the poo quotient. The house had stairs leading directly to the beach, and a nice lush garden on the opposite side. Our cook made eggs and toast for us every morning but one, and I was smart enough to ask for the onion and chili eggs, which were delicious. For our final meal, we had coconut shrimp with lots of naan and daal. Yum. Before we left, a pearl salesman came and Shastine bought some beautiful pearls, including dark bluish ones that I have never seen before) for the jewelry she makes.
Day in Konarch
We went to the sun temple in the evening, which was a lot of fun. Erotic art, ruins, many locals asking to take photos with us, etc. Our tour guide was quite old, but helpful if a little hard to understand sometimes. We saw some aggressive monkeys as we left stealing food and generally looking dangerous. The sun was setting on the temple, which was nice, but the mosquitoes were also coming out in greater numbers. Afterwards, we met Jamie and Matt and went for beers at their hotel. I should mention that we had a personal driver arranged by the house which felt very Raj to me. He played Michael Jackson's greatest hits over and over.
The next day, I woke up early and had an Ayurvedic massage. It was ok, but it was in a hut and it was still cool in the morning, so it wasn't as relaxing as it could have been. I liked the stinky ayurvedic oils though. On the way out of Orissa we stopped and bought the cheap colorful lanterns that are everywhere here. Our driver had changed to Indian music at the request of Nora and Shastine, which was a nice change to be honest. The Orissan countryside was very beautiful, filled with palm trees, tropical fields, farmers, temples, etc. and the weather was sunny and warm. When we got to Bubaneshwar, we ate some mediocre overpriced food and visited the misnamed peace pagoda. This pagoda had been built by some japanese in the 70's. Forceful monks dragged us to various locations and blessed us in all sorts of ways, marking foreheads, giving leaves to eat, chanting, etc. and then hitting us up for money. No chance of peace here! Nice view of the area, though, as it was built on a hill.
Outside of Bubaneshwar, we visited the meditation caves used by Jain ascetics and we were completely swarmed by mosquitoes. You have to hand it to those jains, being able to meditate while millions of mosquitoes attacked. Shastine bought some food to give to monkeys from one of the hawkers who swarmed the car when we got out, but there was nary a monkey to be seen other then some disinterested guys hanging out on a fairly distant rooftop. The caves weren't that great, though I did enjoy imagining what it was like to be there meditating for years in a tiny cave. graffiti on the walls now, of course.
For the train back to Kolkata, the girls had first class tickets while Kevin and I shared a cabin with a family of serious snorers. Kevin slept deeply, I slept just ok and felt tired when I arrived in the city. When we did arrive, we took a taxi to Ruichi's (Shriya's mom) to drop off our bags. It was still very early, and noone was answering the door, so Kevin and I went for a walk and chat around the neighborhood while the girls waited to be let in. When we came back, they were inside and asleep. We chilled and I took a nap after they woke up. A shawl salesman with gorgeous hand embroidered cashmere and other shawls showed up and I was impressed with how beautiful and ornate they are. We ate delicious biryani and papadam with lots of lime pickle that Ruichi had prepared by her cook. We went out and did errands and walked. I bought spices and hung out with Kevin. We took the Kolkata subway until I said goodbye and got off to return to Ruichi's and pick up my bag. I had a quick tea there, then took a rickety cab to the very mosquitoey airport. After a long wait, I was off to Bangkok.
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