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Published: January 29th 2006
Lunch on the train
Mixed fruit salad with tomatoes, cucumber and a heavy sprinkling of pepper!I just managed to have another succesfull train journey with no problems! wohoo!
This time I got to know another guy from Manipur (early 20's) who was a heavy duty christian and on his way to Sunderabad to preach the word of God. He was really nice, a pretty good guitar player/singer and spoke 15 languages! I also tried various different kinds of food again, one of which was a mixed fruit salad with tomatoes, cucumber and a heavy spinkling of pepper. I'm pretty open minded and easy going about food but I can say for certain that this is not one of their best dishes.
Anyway I just arrived in Bhubaneshwar and checked into a hotel with a TV in my room for the first time I think. After a quick shower and doing some laundry by hand on the bathroom floor I switched it on to see what I could find...
After watching the second half of an episode of the A-Team (awesome) and getting sucked into Oprah (two twin girls - one of them had a sex change to become a guy! - usual crap) for about 15mins. I managed to snap out of it
Scenery from the train
Farmland is EVERYWHERE and India now has a big problem with huge swathes of land lying baron from intensive over farming on the thin soils here. though and left the hotel to see what I could find.
As with Darjeeling first impressions of Bhubaneshwar were crap - I got bombarded by auto and rickshaw drivers constantly for ages while I was walking around trying to find a hotel. They just won't leave you alone here when you have your backpack on. Pleased to say though that things settle down when you've lost the pack to just the odd offer of a ride.
Anyway I had a rough idea of what I wanted to do here but needed to get some info so went exploring and asking around for the local official tourist office. After a while I stumbled accross what turned out to be a simple paperwork and admin office but the people inside were extremely friendly and helpful. I was quickly seated and it wasn't long before they had called up someone who seemed to know a lot about the place to help me. While he was busy going through ideas and helping me plan my next four days itinerary the staff chef came up to bring everyone their lunch. He literally pleaded with me to have some so i obliged and had
Dinner
Less than 50p Rice with Veg Curry, Egg Curry, Curd (a bit like yoghurt) and some water! some of his mixed dal and veg curry. It was really good so I filled up on it and had some more. After about 45mins in the place I walked out with a full belly, a big smile and a bloody good itinerary for the next four days.
After that I came looking for this internet cafe and walked passed a local barber in his shack. After waiting for him to finish the guy he was doing I jumped into the chair and asked him to give me A hair cut. I got the usual full works that they give you here - open blade razors and massages etc. It only cost 30p and is much better than the crappy cuts I normally get in the UK.
Tonight I'm off to see some big tribal festival that is on here at the moment - aparently tonight is the best night to see it...
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