Had a lovely time for 5 days in Orissa. 19 of us. Stayed at Ginger hotels. Clean, neat, budget hotel. Has a restaurant and Cafe coffee day. Pleasant stay there. Booked an 18 seater coach with Swosti travels. Very efficient people. Booked 5 taxis to transport 5 families from Train station to Ginger hotels with Ginger travels. They were very prompt and were waiting for us ahead at station. Highly recommended.
Day 1 eve - reached hotel. Had dinner at restaurant at Ginger hotels and dozed off.
Day 2 - Dhaulagiri - the place where King Asoka laid down his arms. Nice peace pagoda and view from top was good. Shopped at Peepli (enjoyed it so much that we went again next day!!). On way to Konark in afternoon. Enjoyed the Sun temple Konark and its architecture and came back to hotel in Bhubaneshwar
Day 3 - Left hotel around 8am in coach to Chilka lake boating. took us around 3-3.5 hrs with 1 stop). Reached around 11.30am. Took the 3 hr cruise. Spotted Irrawady and black dolphins (about 4 of them) and sea mouth. Started around 3Pm and left to Puri. Swosti travels arranged a Pujari for us at Puri Jagnnath temple. We ruly recommend that since he explained all details and helped us navigate 19 of us thru the thick crowd. The crowd was so much even at 9PM. There was no festival day, must be holiday season but glad we found this person. He arranged a complete darshan and though I am not too religious I enjoyed the history behind it. Got prasadam and came back at 11Pm back to hotel.
Day 4 - Nandankandan zoo. Did not spend too much time but a nice zoo. Went mainly for lion and tiger safari Rs 30 for both , spotted them and came back. Had lunch Oriya thali at Dalma , loved the food and started to Kandagiri, udayagiri caves. Superb place. Kids loved the rock climbing and did not feel tired myself. Visited both caves. Also visited the National Toshali art fair. had the best chow mein ever. Got a few things that was unique to Orissa. Spent time till 11PM at the Mela. Very relaxed atmosphere and the lantern decoration was beautiful.
Day 5 - Visited Lingaraj temple at Bhubaneshwar, sudden decision to visit Puri to see the Sand art at Puri beach. Had lunch at Mayfair Puri reosrt and visited the 30 ft Santa done on beach by world famous Sudharsan Patnaik. Kids did camel ride at Puri beach and came back to hotel by 11PM
Day 6- check out time !!
All in all had a nice time. A very laid back place. If you are a history buff like us, you will like the place. Missed the International Odishi dance festival and cactus garden. Did not have time for this.
Happy New year wishes. A very Happy 2012 for all of you.
