I am writing this blog from the Araku Valley, in the hills (Eastern Ghats) above Vishakapatnum. The valley is totally opposite to the towns and cities I have spent most of my time in so far, as there are only small settlements and villages here. But more about that later, so take a step back two days.On arriving in Bhubaneshwar, the state capital of Orissa, I went through what has become a familiar procedure of finding a place to stay for a night. It seems that this city is very popular right now as almost all of the hotels near the station were either too expensive or fully booked. However, after trying a few places I found a room, but not quite what I really wanted to pay.
The itinerary is proving somewhat taxing with late night trains and early arrivals. This means my sleeping time is often limited.
After my usual routine of getting me and things washed, then sorting out the pictures and movies in the computer, and writing a blog, I went down to the town for something to eat and of course find a suitably fast Internet café in which to upload that self same blog. Not an easy quest – especially here.
The mighty temple cars lined up and the wheels.
The following day I took a 9 hour tour with the Orissa State Tourism bus. The places on the tour were: Pipili, Konark, Chandrabhago (beach), Puri Jagannath Temple and then back to the beach down from Puri. A lot of names here but the pix will help and some short explanations. Many hundreds of thousands of people in Orissa work in textile manufacture and in Pipili lots of colourful examples of this trade are found in the shops along the street. Konark is the place to see the Sun Temple which is one of the finest examples of the unique Orissa temple design. Its importance is so great that it is now a world heritage site. The man size stone carved wheels in the walls are perhaps the iconic symbols for the Sun Temple. At Puri, the Jagannath Temple, is one of the holiest pilgrimages a Hindu can make. Every year during a festival, the massive temple cars are pulled down the long wide street by thousands of Hindus to another temple at the other end. This is all done so that one Hindu God can visit one of his mates down the road! Puri is also the place where Buddha carelessly lost one of his teeth, which was consequently whisked off to Kandy in Sri Lanka. BTW. The word juggernaut, for big trucks, comes from the temple ‘cars’ of Jagannath Temple. I think the beaches are self explanatory, but what a relief to breath in the fresh sea air. But a bit too rough for swimming. 
Next stop Vishakapatnum (Vizak)
So that’s all from Orissa. See You
