Orissa's capital

elephant
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I was dropped off on Cuttack Rd by the bus as I knew there were a strip of hotels there. So I walked along and tried several of them. The first 3 said they had no rooms and the 4th one was too expensive, but I got lucky with the 5th. The room was ok and within my budget. I checked in and went for a wander. I didn't feel like doing much and besides it was really hot to be out in the sun. I found the train station as I needed to check my ticket for the onward journey. I didn't have a seat and wanted to know the status. They told me I wouldn't know for definite until an hour or so before the train journey so I would have to wait til tomorrow to know for sure.

crocodile
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At the station I found the tourist information office, so I went in to ask what there was to see and do in Bhubaneswar. I only had the day tomorrow as my train was due to leave at 21.30, so I booked myself on a city tour. I went in search of a cafe for a cuppa and then headed back to the hotel to chill. The hotel provided room service, so I didn't even have to venture out to find a restaurant. That suited me.

Next morning I checked out, left my luggage & arrived at the tourist info office at 8.15am ready for the tour. As there were only 5 of us for the tour we got driven round in a car. There was a family of 3 from Jharkand (mum, dad and their son) and an Indian guy from Malaysia. I spoke to him a lot in English and I spoke to the parents in Hindi and the son in both languages. The first stop was the zoo (Nandankanan Zoological Park). We spent a couple of hours wandering around looking at all the animals. It was great to see a white tiger and a rhinocerous, but the rhino wouldn't come out of the water, so I couldn't get a good picture. A lot of the animals were far in the distance, so it was hard to get pics. I saw a lion, a leopard, tigers, monkeys, an elephant, crocodiles, turtles, a bear, snakes and deer.

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It was really hot walking round. It seemed to be so much hotter in Orissa than in Kolkata. I had to keep drining lots of water as I was sweating so much. After the zoo we went to the Udayagiri & Khandagiri caves. These are 2 hills with rock-cut shelters. There seems to be a Jain theme here. There are various stautes and carvings amongst the caves and one is said to record the life chronicles of King Kharavela of Kalinga who ruled from 168 to 153 BC. We climbed to the top of both sets of caves. It was no easy feat as there were loads of people about and no easy route to go up or down. You just had to work a route you felt comfortable with and go with it. There were good views of the city from the top and also a Jain temple at the top of one cave. At the top we had a rest and stayed there for a while as it was out of the sun. The descent was scary and I had to keep using my hands to hold on.

tiger
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By this time we were hungry as well, so we asked the driver to stop off for lunch somewhere. We ate a thali meal, which consisted of rice, dhal, vegetable curry, curd (yogurt) and salad with papads (poppadoms). It was quite tasty. After lunch we were taken to Dhauli. Tis is a lovely white building on a hill. The Shanti Stupa (Stupa of peace) was built by the Japanese in 1972 and commemorates the site of one of the greatest religious conversions. In the 3rd century BC emporer Ashoks is said to have adopted Buddishm and the doctrine of non-violenece at Dhauli after a dreadful battle, where thousands lost their lives. Asoka slaughtered members of his own family to gain power. In approx 260 BC one of his famous edicts was carved onto a large rock at Dhauli. There was a mandir nearby, so we went to have a look at that as well.

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We were then taken to the Lingaraj Mandir dedicated to the Tribhuvaneswar (Lord of 3 Worlds). It is a high temple surrounded by lots of smaller temples and shrines. We weren't allowed to take any pics, so we just went and had a good look around. The carvings were really interesting. The temples date to 1090 to 1104. Apparently the granite block representing the Tribhuvaneswar is bathed daily with water, milk & bhang (marijuana).

We were then taken to the Mukteshvara temple. There was a groupof temples here with a park n the background. The temples show a mixture of Buddhist and Jain styles with lots of carvings with detail. I took a couple of pics and had a look round.

bear
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The last stop of the tour was the state museum. In here are a collection of a lot of Jain & Buddhist statues, traditional and folk music instruments, Orissan art and paintings, a coin collection, a dispaly of Orissan tribal anthropology, bronze age tools and manuscripts. It was interesting to see. No photos were allowed, so we wandered about taking it all in.

We were then dropped back off at the train station and I went back to the hotel to have a cuppa, freshen up and collect my bag. I came back to the station at 19.30 and went to see if I had a seat on the train. I did, yippee! Thank goodness, otherwise I would have had to stay here longer. Pleased with the news I went to get some dinner and then read my book until the train came. I was venturing south to Chennai and had a 20 hour journey ahead.