Firstly, I apologise for the delay with news, I know many people have been checking my blog waiting for an entry since I left. The internet access is not as widely available as I anticipated!
I have arrived safe and sound! It was a pretty eventful journey, didn't think I was gonna make the flight to Kolkata as my Edinburgh- Heathrow flight was delayed but I did. Unfortunately my luggage wasn't so lucky. So there I was arriving with the clothes I was standing in with a travel pillow, book, make up (yes!!), fudge and shortbread!Note to self: pack useful stuff in hand luggage in the future! I managed to get together some toiletries but finding them was not easy!My luggage arrived last night, 5 days later. I was managing very well without my things but obviously the straightners and phone charger were gratefully received!
I was pretty nervous in the lead up to this trip but all is going great. I'm very rarely on my own as my friend Swarup is travelling round with me, he has a few months leave from work. I'm very lucky as he's been so hospitable and an excellent tour guide!
Where will I begin...
Ok, the plane...I met a crazy but lovely Indian woman called Shilpa (not Shetty). She told me of all the horros of India which wasn't exactly what I needed and were it not for her parents she would not set foot in india ever again! Very entertaining though!
I arrived in Bhubaneswar (Orissa) and spent a couple of days here hoping every day that my luggage would arrive and we could move on somewhere else but in the end we moved on without the luggage and came back for it on Friday.
Earlier in the week I visited Puri which is a very religous coastal town for Hindus. Spent some time on the beach along with the cows and bulls and sitting whiling away the hours in cafes. After arriving in Puri the hotel manager phoned the room to let us know about the earthquake in Indonesia. We checked the news and there was no word about a tsunami. Later in a cafe a couple of tourists told us that people in their hotel were moving up to the top floor as the area had been issued a tsunami warning. I was quite worried as our hotel was on the beach but thankfully nothing happened!
The next day we headed to Konark to see the sun temple. It was amazing. As I am a foreigner I paid 25 times the price swarup did, still it was only 3 pounds! We were staying in a government guest house. The electricity went out in the town at 7pm and didn't come on until 11am the next morning but they were good enough to give us a candle which lasted about 4 hours! he he! In the morning I discovered we were not the only ones in the guest house,swarup was having his shower and he looked down and on the floor there was a scorpion! Thank goodness I didn't come across it when I was in there, not that I would have noticed it as I didn't have my lenses in!
We came back to Bhubaneswar later that day after stopping at a few villages on the way. Groups of people gathered each time to stare. They don't look away even when you give them eye contact!It's not just in hte villages either, the city is the same. You can see people on the opposite side of the road not looking where they are going and staring at us! I am starting to get used to it.
Today we went to Swarup's grandfather's village. We spent 3 hours on this very bumpy road! They have a concrete house but the majority of the village are living in mud huts with thatched roofs. In the village we were welcomed by all the family and asked lots and lots of questions like "do you find our skin colour is disgusting?"! Everyone seems so amazed at how white I am! I tried to explain that I am normally applying the fake tan but I'm not sure they understood!
Seeing what I've seen in the last week has opened my eyes so much. I was reading an article in a national newspaper about middle class life here and they defined it as anyone who owns a colour television and a two or four wheeled motorised vehicle.
I cannot begin to tell you of all the thing's I've seen! I'm loving it!
Tomorrow we're heading to Assam (North East state). The train journey is 30 hours. It'll be my first experience of inidan rail travel. Looking forward to that!
Hope eveyone is well and looking forward to hearing all the news!
Great start What an eventful opening of the tour!!!
Can't wait to read more of the other ones. Keep it up girl.....and yeah keep your lenses on at all times!!!!;)
Suze
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Lol!!!
You crack me up! Great stories! Sounds fabulous! Keep me updated!!! Take care out there! xxx