Road Trip To Puri
Puri Beach At Sunset
The sun has not risen yet and the fog is too thick to let the lamp posts light up the roads.And its quite cold. We crank up the car and leave the city,touch the highways,stop for road side hot Aloo ke paranthe breakfast and garam dhaba ke chae, speed up and fly.
The mist gradually breaks up and the sun beams down.Its warm, yet comfortable and the tarmac appeals.We drive down the roads,soar like the eagles,whish past the trucks and slow down at times.Because its not only a road trip, its a long journey that we have just started!
Somewhere on NH117,Kona Expressway.
Zero-ing on the destination:
Ever since the torrid road trip to North Bengal and Gangtok, we had wanted to opt for an easier road trip.And since holidays are few and far between, the destination needed to be somewhere near,easy to reach, relaxing.So, when you stay in Calcutta, such places are either the nearby hills and forests of South Bengal or some destination near the Bay of Bengal.We were sceptic of the forests due to the Maoist problems so, it was going to be the sea this time. But not the Digha belt, which we had done multiple times over the past couple of years.After pondering over for sometime, we decided it was going to be Puri.
The holiday season had just ebbed, but the chill in the air was still there - just perfect some quality time on the beach.
On NH60
Near Puri Level Crossing
We started very early and had to drive keeping the headlights on for the first half an hour - so thick was the fog. The early morning traffic, ever so sparse, boosted the progress and we touched down NH117(Kona Expressway) in almost no time.The interiors of the car was pretty warm with the running air conditioning and the thick jacket that I was wearing made life difficult.So, had to stop mid way, somewhere on the Kona Expressway, to get a lighter jacket from the boot.It was then, after getting out from the car that I got a taste of the early morning chilly air. The air was thick, misty and tremendously foggy - making it very difficult to see the vehicle in front. From there onto Kolaghat Sher-e-Punjab dhaba was achieved in an hour.We swooped down for some real hot Aloo ke Paranthe and Tea.The almost empty dhaba was a rare sight for me and we usually have to wait in queues to get a seat - guess we have beaten the morning rush atleast this time.
From Kolaghat we headed straight and aimed for Kharagpur Exit. I was warned by many not to take the flyover that most vehicles take on the Kharagpur exit, instead stick to the road further and head straight. The flyover should come exactly 55kms from Kolaghat and around 127kms from Kolkata - DO NOT TAKE THE FLYOVER.After heading straight for around 0.5 km the NH60 board will come up - this should confirm that you are on the right track.The NH60 is quite an empty stretch and we sped up and touched almost a ton for most part until the trip meter indicated 200 kms and we found an Indian Oil petrol pump on the left side of the road. We refuelled the Red Panda and asked the guy how to escape the Jaleswar truck jam on NH60 and pass through Jaleswar town.After I got a hang of things, we proceeded further and stuck to the extreme left. A "DILKHUSH RESTAURANT" comes up on the left side of the road, almost hidden amidst the queues of trucks with another Indian Oil petrol pump on the opposite side. Cross the restaurant and continue on the left and go down the extremely potholed left flank and take the right turn under the bridge. Beware, any cars with a low CG can get scraped at the bottom while going down the flank.This is the way through Jaleswar town. From there on proceed through the town and ask the locals for Satsang Vihar, which is quite a famous landmark in the town.
Note - NH60 is a concrete road.
After Jaleswar, it was mostly deserted highways and we crunched up the distances fast for a tea break at Balasore. The NH60 shuts shop at Balasore and from thereon its the Chennai road,NH5 and we felt like we were back on tarmac.We drove rapidly and covered the distances fast enough for another break at Panikhoili. Mind you - toll collection centers are pretty frequent on this road and we ended up paying Rs 260 as toll tax.But when the roads are decent, it is not a worth.We moved past the Chenna Pora(a type of sweet) shops on the Cuttack-Bhubaneswar road and broke for lunch at BBSR for a plain vegeterian thali.
Lunch done, it was time to move on yet again and we headed to Puri and reached at 5 in the evening. The Puri-BBSR road is in a state of being widened and there are several sections which are closed, which results in lower speeds. The total distance of 62 kms was covered in 1.5 hrs.
After refreshing up, we snacked at the Open air restaurant with Dosas,Egg-Chicken Roll and tea and later strolled on the beach for a couple of hours.There are vendors who rent chairs at Rs 10 per hour(quite cheap) and you can watch the sea and its waves lash across the shore.We returned back pretty early because the tiredness of the journey was telling on the body.Had a nice dinner, again at the Open Air restaurant and went on to sleep.
That completes the first day, a mix of drive and sea shore!
Near to the Beach, that runs parallel to the road
The clock ticks past 8 when we wake up and the alarm which supposedly rang at 5-30 surely fell on deaf ears. We obviously had a plan to start with - capture the sunrise. But now that it was already done, we were really hungry and thought of indulging and ordered Aloo Paranthas for the second consecutive day for breakfast. This was supposed to be a "cool" holiday, so what else but relax,indulge and then relax some more.We walked up to the balcony and the balmy sea breeze hit straight on the face. Winters are quite differents from the summers and at the sea, it feels all the more due to the lack of moisture.We break fast on the balcony, sitting idly and watching the sea and begin to ponder what to do next.There are several options - bathe in the sea for a good amount of time,visit Jagannath Temple or drive to Konark or Chilika. After some thinking, we opt to drive down to Konark, laze around the Chandrabhaga beach and pay a visit to the Sun Temple.
Now mind that Puri can get really hot during the day, even though we are in the thick of winter in most parts of India.We start the car and are soon on the Puri - Konark Marine Drive. For the first 10 kilometers we were searching for the sea, but later on we resigned to the fact that the forests wont allow that.It was an
Puri-Konark Marine Drive
excellent drive, almost felt like we were continuing from where we had left off yesterday.Its two laned, but the verdant greeneries on both the sides, with an occassional stream at times vastly complimented the road.Speed needs to be kept low due to rare animal crossings - even though we didnot encounter any.There were a few stretches where the trees had gone greyish in colour and it looked like absolute fall colours having descended on the place.
Wheels of the Chariot - At Sun Temple,Konark
We travel further further and it was then that the sea peeps into us. And from then on, its the sea for company for the rest of the journey. This road, without doubt remains one of the better "looking" roads that I have driven till date. You can see the waves lashing on the shore and the blue colour of the sea, browns of the sand and the greeneries of the shrubs look stunning.
On The Puri-Konark Marine Drive
The only complaint that I have with a holiday is - it gets over even before you blink.And especially the Puri holiday turned out to be excellent and the car and the road were the real stars of the trip, if I may say that.
When we woke up on the third day we were left clueless regarding what to do.There were certain things that were certain, like, we werent going to gorge on Aloo Paranthas for the third consecutive day or we werent going to while away time at our hotel room - so we opted for a darshan of Jagannath Thakur and sea bathing.
Make hay while the sun shines,and take a sea bath when you are in Puri. The morning was spent on visiting Jagannath Mandir and most of the afternoon was spent bathing on the sea, by which time the shore sands became absolutely hot and we returned back terribly hungry and headed straightaway for a normal shower. And because we didnot get the scope to have Bengali food for quite sometime, we wanted to lunch some where Bengali.I remember dining at Dada-Boudi hotel, long long back when we were in Puri the last time and that is a good 18 years ago. The Ghee diye bhat, Alu bhaja and dal are still fresh in my memory. But there were folks who discouraged us to go there and so, we opted to visit Parijaat, very near to Puri
Hotel and tucked away in a gali on the sea beach road. We ordered Vegetable thali and a plate of chicken Kosha. Food wasn't too Bengali-ish even though there were postos, alu bhaja, dal and a subzi. The Chicken was tasty, but in no way qualified for a Kosha.
Lunch done,it was time to head back to hotel and get a nice siesta, which lasted for a good 3 hours. We woke up fresh and to a cup of tea and headed back to the beach. We captured the sun set, sipped some more tea, sat for some time on the rented chairs and watch the never ending waves invade the land one after another.It was past 9 when we took leave and ambled along the Sea Beach road to Swargadwar and for some last minute shopping. Dinner was standard vegetarian fare at the Hotel's "Original Family Restaurant" which was quite tasty and went off to sleep.
The next day was supposed to be the drive back home and we needed to rise up early.But this time the road was a known one and we knew beforehand about the route and the ride!
We visit the Sun Temple, capture the wheels of the chariot, lunch at Chandrabhaga hotel for a plain Thali and then drive back home.
The evenings at Puri are all the same, every day, but what I love about them is the classic mix of sitting on the shore, watching the waves, capturing the sun set and a visit to Swargadwar - all done in the evening hours, almost every day of our stay.
I had visited Puri a couple of times earlier, but the last time, so to speak was a good 18 years back. I remember, parents, sister and myself used to sit on the shore and my sister and me used to play with the sand and dig down the sand to pick up sea shells and collect them. There were jhal muri and badam and chae that used to be sold on the shore and we used to while away time munching them.
We dined at the open air restaurant and went to sleep - only to wake up the next and last day in Puri.
From Kolaghat we headed straight and aimed for Kharagpur Exit. I was warned by many not to take the flyover that most vehicles take on the Kharagpur exit, instead stick to the road further and head straight. The flyover should come exactly 55kms from Kolaghat and around 127kms from Kolkata - DO NOT TAKE THE FLYOVER.After heading straight for around 0.5 km the NH60 board will come up - this should confirm that you are on the right track.The NH60 is quite an empty stretch and we sped up and touched almost a ton for most part until the trip meter indicated 200 kms and we found an Indian Oil petrol pump on the left side of the road. We refuelled the Red Panda and asked the guy how to escape the Jaleswar truck jam on NH60 and pass through Jaleswar town.After I got a hang of things, we proceeded further and stuck to the extreme left. A "DILKHUSH RESTAURANT" comes up on the left side of the road, almost hidden amidst the queues of trucks with another Indian Oil petrol pump on the opposite side. Cross the restaurant and continue on the left and go down the extremely potholed left flank and take the right turn under the bridge. Beware, any cars with a low CG can get scraped at the bottom while going down the flank.This is the way through Jaleswar town. From there on proceed through the town and ask the locals for Satsang Vihar, which is quite a famous landmark in the town.
Note - NH60 is a concrete road.
After Jaleswar, it was mostly deserted highways and we crunched up the distances fast for a tea break at Balasore. The NH60 shuts shop at Balasore and from thereon its the Chennai road,NH5 and we felt like we were back on tarmac.We drove rapidly and covered the distances fast enough for another break at Panikhoili. Mind you - toll collection centers are pretty frequent on this road and we ended up paying Rs 260 as toll tax.But when the roads are decent, it is not a worth.We moved past the Chenna Pora(a type of sweet) shops on the Cuttack-Bhubaneswar road and broke for lunch at BBSR for a plain vegeterian thali.Lunch done, it was time to move on yet again and we headed to Puri and reached at 5 in the evening. The Puri-BBSR road is in a state of being widened and there are several sections which are closed, which results in lower speeds. The total distance of 62 kms was covered in 1.5 hrs.
After refreshing up, we snacked at the Open air restaurant with Dosas,Egg-Chicken Roll and tea and later strolled on the beach for a couple of hours.There are vendors who rent chairs at Rs 10 per hour(quite cheap) and you can watch the sea and its waves lash across the shore.We returned back pretty early because the tiredness of the journey was telling on the body.Had a nice dinner, again at the Open Air restaurant and went on to sleep.
That completes the first day, a mix of drive and sea shore!
Near to the Beach, that runs parallel to the road
The clock ticks past 8 when we wake up and the alarm which supposedly rang at 5-30 surely fell on deaf ears. We obviously had a plan to start with - capture the sunrise. But now that it was already done, we were really hungry and thought of indulging and ordered Aloo Paranthas for the second consecutive day for breakfast. This was supposed to be a "cool" holiday, so what else but relax,indulge and then relax some more.We walked up to the balcony and the balmy sea breeze hit straight on the face. Winters are quite differents from the summers and at the sea, it feels all the more due to the lack of moisture.We break fast on the balcony, sitting idly and watching the sea and begin to ponder what to do next.There are several options - bathe in the sea for a good amount of time,visit Jagannath Temple or drive to Konark or Chilika. After some thinking, we opt to drive down to Konark, laze around the Chandrabhaga beach and pay a visit to the Sun Temple.
Now mind that Puri can get really hot during the day, even though we are in the thick of winter in most parts of India.We start the car and are soon on the Puri - Konark Marine Drive. For the first 10 kilometers we were searching for the sea, but later on we resigned to the fact that the forests wont allow that.It was an
Puri-Konark Marine Drive
excellent drive, almost felt like we were continuing from where we had left off yesterday.Its two laned, but the verdant greeneries on both the sides, with an occassional stream at times vastly complimented the road.Speed needs to be kept low due to rare animal crossings - even though we didnot encounter any.There were a few stretches where the trees had gone greyish in colour and it looked like absolute fall colours having descended on the place.
Wheels of the Chariot - At Sun Temple,Konark
We travel further further and it was then that the sea peeps into us. And from then on, its the sea for company for the rest of the journey. This road, without doubt remains one of the better "looking" roads that I have driven till date. You can see the waves lashing on the shore and the blue colour of the sea, browns of the sand and the greeneries of the shrubs look stunning.
On The Puri-Konark Marine Drive
The only complaint that I have with a holiday is - it gets over even before you blink.And especially the Puri holiday turned out to be excellent and the car and the road were the real stars of the trip, if I may say that.When we woke up on the third day we were left clueless regarding what to do.There were certain things that were certain, like, we werent going to gorge on Aloo Paranthas for the third consecutive day or we werent going to while away time at our hotel room - so we opted for a darshan of Jagannath Thakur and sea bathing.
Make hay while the sun shines,and take a sea bath when you are in Puri. The morning was spent on visiting Jagannath Mandir and most of the afternoon was spent bathing on the sea, by which time the shore sands became absolutely hot and we returned back terribly hungry and headed straightaway for a normal shower. And because we didnot get the scope to have Bengali food for quite sometime, we wanted to lunch some where Bengali.I remember dining at Dada-Boudi hotel, long long back when we were in Puri the last time and that is a good 18 years ago. The Ghee diye bhat, Alu bhaja and dal are still fresh in my memory. But there were folks who discouraged us to go there and so, we opted to visit Parijaat, very near to Puri
Hotel and tucked away in a gali on the sea beach road. We ordered Vegetable thali and a plate of chicken Kosha. Food wasn't too Bengali-ish even though there were postos, alu bhaja, dal and a subzi. The Chicken was tasty, but in no way qualified for a Kosha.
Lunch done,it was time to head back to hotel and get a nice siesta, which lasted for a good 3 hours. We woke up fresh and to a cup of tea and headed back to the beach. We captured the sun set, sipped some more tea, sat for some time on the rented chairs and watch the never ending waves invade the land one after another.It was past 9 when we took leave and ambled along the Sea Beach road to Swargadwar and for some last minute shopping. Dinner was standard vegetarian fare at the Hotel's "Original Family Restaurant" which was quite tasty and went off to sleep.
The next day was supposed to be the drive back home and we needed to rise up early.But this time the road was a known one and we knew beforehand about the route and the ride!
We visit the Sun Temple, capture the wheels of the chariot, lunch at Chandrabhaga hotel for a plain Thali and then drive back home.
The evenings at Puri are all the same, every day, but what I love about them is the classic mix of sitting on the shore, watching the waves, capturing the sun set and a visit to Swargadwar - all done in the evening hours, almost every day of our stay.
I had visited Puri a couple of times earlier, but the last time, so to speak was a good 18 years back. I remember, parents, sister and myself used to sit on the shore and my sister and me used to play with the sand and dig down the sand to pick up sea shells and collect them. There were jhal muri and badam and chae that used to be sold on the shore and we used to while away time munching them.
We dined at the open air restaurant and went to sleep - only to wake up the next and last day in Puri.