Temples, cyclones, bugs and a missed arribada...

After our quick getaway from Kolkata and it's hartals it was time for a bit of relaxation in Puri... And in the nick of time too, as Victoria managed to acquire some nasty stomach bugs and was tied to the bed for several days, with cold fevers, cramps and all the other things that those little critters can do to us... At first I thought it might be Malaria or Dengue fever, so we went to the hospital where they send us to a clinic to have a blood test done... It came out negative on all the serious diseases, which was a relief... According to them it was a urinary tract infection, a load of bullocks according to Victoria, who should know since she, as all women, has had it before and knows what the symptoms are... On top of that she studied micro biology for years and years, so has some knowledge of the human body and the bugs that can effect it...

Back to the hospital to show the results of the tests and the doctor just confirmed the bullshit that the clinic had come up with, without even checking Victoria... Than she prescribed a whole bunch of medicines which Victoria discovered, when she went to the pharmacy to check what they were for, seemed to be more specific for a cold than for urinary tract infection... So maybe the doctor didn't go for it anyway... Who knows... There was one useful antibiotic in the whole list so that is what Victoria took...

While Victoria was ill in bed we managed to miss a cyclone which was heading our way... Which was probably the reason the train we took to Puri was so empty... Everybody else was fleeing the coast and we were making our way to it... Bloody tourists!! Apparently they evacuated around 20000 people along the coast... And we never knew about it until after it had changed direction, so we might have been caught in the middle of it... As it was it hit the poor folk in Bangladesh instead, as if they don't have enough problems without having to cope with a cyclone... I wonder if anything remains of Kuakata where we stayed just a week before it hit, and if any of the people we met perished? It is a sad thought...

Before the illness and before we knew about any impending doom in the form of a cyclone, we took one of those horrible tours... It was the cheapest way to visit some of the outlying sights and that was the only reason for taking it... We were not to fond of our tour... First the tour bus was late by an hour, than we visited Konark together with all the other tour buses, which made the place swamped with tourists and to top it of they skipped a couple of temples in Bhubaneswar, the temple city of Orissa... And I haven't even mentioned the tour guide who spoke only Hindi but still wanted 50 rupees fee for his services...

Small wonder Victoria got sick the next day... While she was sick I visited the Jagannath temple in Puri... From the outside only as non-Hindus are not permitted inside the walls... Jagannath is the Lord of the Universe and very popular in Orissa, he is black and has huge eyes and is accompanied by his brother and sister at all times... Once a year they get carried from the Jagannath temple to another temple called Gundicha in huge 14 meter high chariots... It is supposed to be quite a sight... There the gods take a week long break from their hard life in the Jagannath temple before being hauled back again...

After this when Tori had recovered enough, we left for Rambha on Chilika lake, passing through Bhubaneswar along the way and visiting the temples our tour decided to skip... Chilika lake is Asia's largest brackish lagoon and gets a lot of migratory birds in winter... Also close to Rambha is Rushikulya beach where endangered Olive Ridley Turtles nest every year... Victoria as a field biologist working with birds and sea turtles was keen to see both places... We didn't see any turtles, the famous arribada (spanish word, used for the mass nesting of the turtles) is only in the end of January so it seems... But she was happy non the less and taught me the correct pronunciation of 'arribada'... So all was not for nothing...

So in short, we managed to dodge a cyclone, kill of some native and non native wildlife in Victoria's tummy with antibiotics, miss an arribada and not get into any of the more interesting temples due to us being non-Hindu... A very productive few days as you can see!

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Part of trip: The great journey east!

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