The travel team: My wife (Srilakshmi), daughter (Smriti) & me of course.
Off-Shore Co-ordinator: Sudhanshu in Bhubaneshwar. ;-)
Read below for the daily breakup of the trip and don’t miss Day 9.
Day 1 (Bangalore to Visakhapatnam) – 1062 Kms
As usual we left home early by 4:15am towards Old Madras Road. The route was through Tirupati – Nellore-Vijayawada-Vizag. After seeing some reviews on alternate route for Chittoor-Tirupati road, we took the Chittoor-Pallipattu-Karveti Nagar-Puttur-Renigunta route. As in the reviews, this was better & faster than the former one. We stopped for breakfast near Renigunta around 8 am. After a fuel break in between, we reached Vijayawada, around 1pm for lunch. As there were limited options on the highway, we went a little bit inside Vijayawada for lunch. I was glad to reach Vijayawada in 9 hours.
After having a delicious Hyderabadi Dum Briyani, we continued our journey only to stop for coffee/snacks near Rajahmundry around 5:30 pm. The last stop was for dinner was at Hotel Jas, Nakapalli around 7:30 pm. Then we drove straight to Vizag & reached our pre-booked hotel around 10pm.
The roads were too good except for the stretch between Vijayawada & Rajahmundry which slowed us down. As there was construction work going on, there are a lot of diversions too.
Day 2 (Visakapatnam - Berhampur - Gopalpur-Berhampur) – 337 Kms
We started around__ am from Vizag as the next destination was not far. The actual destination was Gopalpur. As we could not get the hotels there, we booked one in Berhampur. So after a fuel & breakfast break, we reached Berhampur by 12:30 pm. Google Maps took us through some narrow roads first time in the last 36 hours. Finally we checked into the hotel & finished our lunch in their restaurant. The trip’s first place of visit was to Shri Taratarini Shaktipeeth at Ganjam. We reached there following the Google map in 1 hour.
There was cable car, steps & road to reach the top. We crossed the first two means and decided to take the road but unfortunately found the road was closed. We came back to climb the steps. As we saw a few people coming out of the temple entrance, we parked our vehicle, removed our footwear & walked through the entrance gate. There was a deity kept at the beginning of the steps. The straight steps looked awesome from below. As we started to climb them, one guy sitting there told us that climbing also was not allowed due to COVID. Dejected on hearing this, we started to our next place; Gopalpur beach.
As earlier, we followed the map & entered Goplapur in another 1 hour. As we were heading towards beach road, we saw many vehicles parked on either side of the road. On moving further, police were stopping the vehicles & made them to return. For a second, we thought that this place is also closed, but on enquiring we came to know that vehicles were not allowed further and people can walk to the beach from that point. We decided to walk the remaining 2 Kms instead of taking auto as we have been driving so far. We walked through the narrow roads & finally reached the beach to see a lot of crowd. Now we understood the ban of vehicles to the beach area. There was a stepped platform made for people to sit & enjoy the waves.
After spending some time there we walked back & drove to the hotel that was 18 Kms from the beach. After a late evening tea at the hotel, we relaxed a bit.
Also after dinner, I gathered some information about the next day’s plan to Chilika Lake. The reception desk also connected me to a person there, with whom I discussed the next day’s boating plan.
Day 3 (Berhampur-Barkul-Khorda-Bhubaneshwar) – 219 Kms
After a delayed check-out procedure, we left to Barkul as advised by the boat-guy to reach the place before 8. We reached on time & with the help of that guys we booked a boat. Luckily a group of 4 wanted to join us so that the cost will be shared for the boat. As the entire ride will take around 3 hours, we were advised to take some snacks. We followed the advice & took some. The boat journey started in Chilika Lake around 8 am. At first, we were taken to Chadhei Haga Island; the boatman called it Selfie-point. It is a bunch of white rocks in the middle of the lake. We jumped from one rock to another & clicked some pictures.
We then proceeded to the famous Maa Kalijai temple in Kalijai island. As the boat travelled, one could hardly see the shore in any direction. The Chilika Lake covers an area of more than 1000 sq kms and is the largest coastal lagoon in India, and I wondered why they still call it a lake.
As we started from Barkul, we arrived at the nearby Chilika Dhaba as suggested by my friend for sea food. We decided to have an early lunch and we did really had some delicious sea food there. Our final destination of the day was Bhubaneshwar & on the way we planned to visit the Maa Barunei Temple which was some 2 kms off the highway. We reached there by 1:30 pm to see a lot of vehicles parked. On climbing the steps, we could see a lot of functions/family gatherings all around the place. They were even cooking in huge vessels for the functions.
After visiting the temple, we saw a path leading to the top of the hill. As we had enough time to reach Bhubaneswar, my daughter & I climbed up to explore. Initially there was a road followed by small rocky trail inside the bushes. After some 20 mins of walking, we came to a point called Sita Kund; a small water body. The view was nice from there. After few minutes we rushed back to the temple & then to the parking.
After some hot tea, we left from the caves to our friend’s home at Patia and reached by 5 pm. We relaxed for a while, went around the city later in the evening for some lip-smacking street food. We had a late dinner & halted at his house.
Day 4 (Bhubaneshwar-Puri-Konark-Puri) – 142 Kms
The day started with a small drive to the nearby hill, the Shikhar Chandi temple.
Having breakfast at my friend’s house, we left to Puri by 10 am. Just before entering Puri, we visited the Maa Bata Mangala Temple as suggested by my friend.
We checked into the hotel by 12 pm that was just 7 kms away from Puri and on the Konark road. We were spray-sanitised at the hotel. After freshening up, we headed to Konark that is 27 kms away. On the way we stopped for lunch and then visited Maa Ramachandi Temple near the beach. After darshan, we had a spectacular view of the sea behind the temple.
We then headed to Konark temple and we were stopped some 200 mts before. As vehicles were not allowed beyond that, we took an auto to reach the Ticket counter. We could see the huge monument amidst the fog from far away. We got the tickets to visit the monument & to our surprise the light show was not there on Mondays. We spent a lot of time going around the temple. This Sun Temple is definitely larger than the Sun Temple in Modhera, Gujarat that we visited last year.
From there we wanted to relax a bit in the beach. We didn’t go to the crowded Chandrabhaga beach. As the Puri-Konark road, called Marine Drive was all along the beach, we drove further from Chandrabhaga & found a suitable place for us.
We spent some time there & then when heading back to the hotel, we came across a Sudam Sand Art Museum. As we have read about sand-sculptures, we were curious to see them and so we visited it. It was a smaller museum and we walked through in no time then headed back to the hotel. We also discussed with the hotel owner regarding the next day’s visit to Satapada.
Day 5 (Puri-Satapada-Puri) – 120 Kms
It was foggy morning as we decided to leave at 7 am. As we drove through the highway, we could barely see the road. The visibility was about 20-30 ft only. My wife was keeping an eye on the road through her mobile camera. This tip was from one of my friend. During fog, use your mobile camera to see the road as the view through the lens is better than your eyes’.
As the sun came up & the fog gone, we drove through to Satapada. The drive was good as we traversed through many villages. Finally we reached the OTDC Pathanivas at Satapada by 8:45 am. We enquired about the boating and they said a hefty amount for a single boat. We told them that we would like to share a boat if any other tourists are willing & headed for breakfast in the restaurant over there. As the boating would start at 10 am & last for 3 hours, the restaurant guys advised us to pre-book the lunch there itself. After finishing breakfast, we booked our lunch & headed to the ticket counter. To our luck, there was a OTDC group going for boating & we joined them on price per head basis. With all set, the boating trip started with a visit to a museum nearby. After a quick tour into the museum, we boarded the boat around 10:30 am & in the hope to see some dolphins.
After sailing for some 30 mins, we could spot for some dolphins here & there. After circling the dolphin area for some time, we sailed for some more distance to reach near Chilika Sea Mouth, where the Lake joins the Ocean. We got down the boat & walked through the huge trees to reach the beach. The beach was so clean & good that anyone would want to spend more time. After the time given by the guide elapsed, we started our return journey. This time we could not spot any dolphins but the boat guys were feeding the birds that flew very near to the boats. Finally we reached the OTDC Pathanivas around 1 pm, had our lunch & headed to Puri.
We were waiting for 5pm to witness a unique event happening there for ages. It’s the flag changing ritual at the top of the temple. Around 5:20 pm we saw a person climbing almost at the top. Similar to a monkey climbing a tree, the person climbed the temple, finally on top of the Sudharshan Chakra with ease. He took some time to replace the flag & climbed down in no time. The speciality is that all this was done by him without any safety equipment. Back at home, a few months back, we were seeing the Ratha Yatra & the above event in an NGC documentary & I promised my daughter that I will take her to see this for real. After seeing the event LIVE, she told me “I thought you were joking at home”. I replied “The next pending event is the Rath Yatra”.
As our target reached for the day, walking towards our parking, we tried all the delicacies in that Basanta/Grand Road. Meanwhile the plan for next day was finalised with the help of our off-shore coordinator.
Day 6 (Puri - Chattia - Bhitarkanika- Bhubhaneshwar) – 395 Kms
As we have to travel more than 200 Kms to our next destination, & 1 pm as the target time, we checked out of our hotel by 6:30 am. It was foggier than yesterday as we followed the same procedure to drive through the fog.
After some 30 odd kms the road/view was clear. Around 8 am, we stopped for breakfast & then headed to Chhatia Jagannath temple as we had enough time to reach our destination. Finally we reached our destination, Bhitarkanika National Park by 11:45am. After having lunch at the only available hotel there we were ready for a boat ride at 1pm. As the Govt. boats were not yet operational, we had to rely on private players.
An hour later we resumed the boat journey that lasted another hour. The boat guys even said that they would take us for a 2 hour trekking into the jungle if we had time. We rejected the proposal as we had to go back to Bhubaneswar. I would have agreed if we had a stay booked at Bhitarkanika for that night. Finally we reached the starting point around 4 pm. On the way back, the sun was already into sunset mode. I forgot to mention that it starts getting dark from 5 pm onwards as we are in the eastern half of the country. And while driving at 6pm, it looks like as if it 9 pm.
The next stop on the way to Bhubaneswar was to have some rasagolas at Bikalananda Kar. It’s rasagolas is one of the best in Odisha as suggested by my friend. We tasted different types available there & packed some for him.
Day 7 (Bhubhaneswar) – 62 Kms
The day started with a nice breakfast at a food stall, where our friend took us. As usual we tried almost all items there. The breakfast ended with a sweetest matki curd of this trip. This day was dedicated for local sightseeing in the city, and most of them are temples.
And finally we drove to Dhauli Hill where there is a Shanti Stupa, Ashoka Pillar and the Dhabaleswar Temple. We spent some time there.
Day 8 (Bhubhaneswar-Cuttack-Bhubaneshwar) – 95 Kms
We woke up late on the first day of the New Year. We dropped our friend & then headed for some breakfast as we were hungry. The first place of visit in the New Year was to a small temple nearby. We didn’t want to exhaust ourselves this day as I had a big plan for tomorrow. So we started from visiting the Science Museum. The museum was good but most of the contents were a repeat of the Bangalore’s Visvesvaraya Museum.
We winded up fast & planned to visit the Planetorium. Again due to COVID, it was not open. So we decided to break for lunch before going to Nandankanan Zoo. We finished our last lunch in Bhubaneswar & as we were near the Zoo, we saw a lot of vehicles parked on either side of the road. When we crossed the Zoo entrance, we could see a massive crowd & understood that half of Bhubaneswar was there. Without even stopping the vehicle, we took a decision to drive to Cuttack that was 30 mins away. We drove to Cuttack & visited the Dhabaleswara Temple that had a marvellous hanging bridge.
This journey is the highlight of the trip.
We got up early and started at 4:10 am from the hotel. (The 10 mins delay was because of the hotel gate being locked & our car was parked in the basement) The Google maps showed 28 hours & 30 mins to reach our home. But I wanted to do that in at least 24 hours. In the next 10 mins we picked up our friend on the NH16 junction. There was no fog this time as it was in Puri highway. After a while we stopped for some tea. The roads were good & empty for cruising speed. Later we stopped somewhere before Srikakulam for breakfast by 8:30 am.
The next halt was a tea/snacks break 5:30 pm before Guntur. The last meal break was at 9 pm near Nellore. Until now each of the 3 took turns to take the front passenger seat. We planned to take a tea break every 3 hours (12 & 3am) from now on. But the next/last tea break was near Chittoor around 1 am.
Another 170 kms to home, Google Maps showed another 3 hours. My daughter was still awake in the front seat post-dinner, playing the role of DJ. As the highway was empty with countable vehicles, we reached home by 3:35 am.
Finally, we covered 1456 Kms in 23 hours & 25 mins ‘NON-STOP’ to beat Google Maps’ & my own estimate. What else can make the New Year special?
The so-called ‘Endurance’, tested for my vehicle, mobile & me, all 3 in ACTIVE mode, and not to mention the co-passengers’ too in whatever mode they were.
Summary
On the whole this trip was a memorable one, as we crossed many rivers including 3 mighty ones: Krishna, Godavari & the Mahanadi, sailed between mangrove forest & also in the largest lagoon of Asia, visited some famous temples and had some of the best food in the country, and last but not the least; the final lap done in less than 24 hours.
I strongly believe that visiting a place is way better than just reading/hearing about it.
Well, that’s what we are teaching our daughter by taking her to the places about which she reads in her school books.
