Bhubaneswar
Two days 380kms
(Konark, Puri, Chilika Lake, Lingraj Temple, Dhauli, Udayagiri caves,
Khandagiri caves and Nandankanan zoological park)
This trip
was possible due to Khelo India University games 2020 held in Bhubaneswar, It's
a good initiative by the Indian government to promote the sports at college
level. We were 4 people from Karnataka to be part of Khelo India games, duration of event was 10
days, we were lucky to watch ISL football league at Kalinga Stadium, this stadium
has multi sports infrastructure hope its maintained well for the sporting
events in future.
As we were
done with the games we stayed back for two more days to explore Bhubaneswar and
nearby places joined by my wife for the last two days this time she had safe
trip in car, last trip with her on bullet was a disaster due to break failure
thanks to Enfield Service center, luckily it was minor injuries after this we hadn't
planned any trips on bike last year. We took accommodation in Nilaya residency,
Infocity, I personally would suggest not to stay there as their service is not up to the mark in handling guests and their belongings I understand as it was
newly constructed hotel we were the first occupants to the hotel, many people
clothes got mixed up in laundry some didn't get them back too.
Day1 (Chandrabagha
beach, Konark, Puri and Chilika Lake)
We were
worried about fog as the previous day fog was dense till 8am, still we planned
for 4am start with a rented car, fog was just getting dense on some patches on
highway the visibility was less than 5ft, our first destination was
Chandrabhaga beach for sunrise, we were able to be reach the destination 15min
before ETA the sunrise view point was crowded so we went further inside near
fishermen area where we could see them doing there morning chores, these people don't take swach bharat seriously, after the photography session we headed to
the pond as an local taxi driver had said the sacred pond at Chandrabhaga beach
has some healing powers, the first ray of sun falling on the pond and
reflecting on human body would cure some disease, but looking at the current
condition of pond, people will be hospitalized for sure if they touch the water
or go near it.
Sun temple (Konark),
Near the
parking lot there is a cap stall, we picked a hat from there, later near the
stalls of the temple the same hat was much cheaper than what we had brought. We
took a guide with us at Sun temple they have group packages from tourism
department, it's a dead temple at present there are restoration works going on
south and west side, the temple is filled from inside to support the structure.
Temple is built from stone in the form of a giant ornamented chariot dedicated
to Sun god, it has 24 elaborately carved stone wheels which are nearly 12 feet in diameter tells time of the day and are
pulled by a set of seven horses, the various
types carvings from dragon head, life cycle of human, erotic poses, animals etc
are must see by a person, restrooms are well maintained by Indian oil Corporation
which charges a fee of Rs5 for all. After breakfast we headed to Puri.
Jagannath
Temple Puri,
GPS shows
the route to temple, but the traffic except two wheeler are stopped 1 km
before in radius, Its well managed the parking lots are away from the temple
this doesn't create any traffic chaos near the temple area, fit people can walk
others can take rickshaw to reach the temple, mobile phones and wallets are not
allowed inside the temple, there are free and paid lockers available in surroundings.
Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Lord Subhdra are a trio of deities worshiped
at the temple. The temple contains statues of these three Gods carved from
sacred neem wood. There are many temples around the complex one needs to be
careful to not get too close to purohits there, they will demand money from you
as kanike (donation), after darshan we headed to Puri Lake its bustling with activities
even in noon at extreme temperatures, it's better to have lunch in Puri as
there are no restaurants seen till Chilika lake.
Chilika Lake
( Dolphin Sighting)
It was
around 4.30pm we reached Chilika lake boating area had a quick late lunch,
there are many private operators along with government operator who do boating
in the lake. We felt it was like a domesticated dolphin as there was only one
and could see the fin, it was an expensive ride for Rs1750 of no use, private
operators take you to an island where the open corals live in front of you and
sell the pearls. it was late around 7pm nobody were there when we reached the
shore, we headed to our room in Bhubaneswar.
Day 2 (
Lingaraja Temple, Dhauli, Khandagiri, Udaygiricaves and Nandankanan zoological
park)
Lingaraja Temple
As it got
late last night we started late around 8am after breakfast at roadside truck, we
headed to Lingaraja temple, here too mobile phones and wallets are not allowed,
the pond at the entrance of temple was under cleansing process, the temples
here consists of three domes in single line facing east with many small temples
around the complex. architecture of these temples are mesmerizing as these are
done during 13th century AD. Non Hindus are not allowed, they have platform
towards north side of the temple, they can see the architecture of the temple,
one can get an amazing panorama picture of the temple.
Dhauli,
It's a small
Hillock, you can see Lord Buddha in 4 different posture the main attraction is
the sleeping posture. At the entrance of the hill you can see Ashoka pillar and
rock cut elephant carving, Its believed kalinga war was fought and King Ashoka too
got enlightened about the ill effects of
war as the Daya river turned blood red. From Dhauli we headed to Udayagiri and
Khandagiri caves
Udayagiri
and Khandagiri Caves,
There is no
entry fee for Khandagiri caves, cave nos are small compared to Udayagiri caves,
there is Lord hanuman shrine on top of the hill, we can see magnificent view of
Udayagiri caves from here except Ranighumpa two storied cave structure. Udayagiri
caves Entry fee of Rs25 for Indians and Rs300 for foreigners. As you enter if
you take the right side path you can see the Ranighumpa two storied cave with
carvings and orange in colour, there are many more picturesque points in this
hill.
Nandankanan
Zoological park,
The zoo
closes at 6.30pm we were able to reach the zoo by 5:30pm as it was Sunday the
crowd was huge, we all were excited about White Tiger, Bear, Lion and herbivore
Safari in For Rs 30 per head. We couldn't do full visit of the zoo, we headed straight
for Safari point, it was long line we stood close to 30min till our turn all
praying to spot an wild animal while in bus, our hopes diminished as soon as we
entered the safari area it was closed habitat with separate enclosures, they
were let from their captives. It wasn't like natural spotting of wild animals it
turned out to be domesticated safari, later we headed to room then to airport.
Airport
Saga,
We couldn't
find any restaurants as were getting late we just headed to airport without
dinner, we hunted for the best stomach filling option in two floors, we shortlisted
on last stocks of 4 egg sandwich and 1 veg sandwich, as we placed ordered and waited two aunties
were wondering what were we talking about, we said whether one sandwich will
fill our stomach they smiled, once the sandwich was out from oven its size had
shrunk a lot than the one kept in display before heating. This one for sure
wont fill our stomach and we didn't have extra cash to order another, as they weren't
accepting cards at airport due to some technical issues.
Team,
Sharath C -Photographer
and driver
Jeevan -Director
for photo spots
Varun N-Car DJ
Prinitha E
Santhosh V
