Day 1 - Kolkata to Talsari
We started around 630 am in the morning and picked up our friend from Kudghat and resumed on our course towards our usual highway breakfast halt. The roads were empty and soon we went past Vidyasagar Setu
By 9 am we reached Express Food Plaza at Kolaghat and had our breakfast, to enough fuel for the body to last till afternoon.
When we started again towards Talsari around 9-50 am and on Google map we were shown two route options, one is via Nandkumar and another by Debra Toll Plaza / Rampura Toll Plaza. And in the later option although distance was 30 KM more yet the time taken was shown less. This is because the road near Nandkumar was undergoing repair at that time and its the usual route for Digha / Mandarmani / Tajpur, etc. So we took the 2nd option needless to say. I missed the turn to go over to the other side of the lane after getting out from Express Plaza and so had to digress 2 Km to get to the next turn.
We crossed the Debra Toll Plaza around 10-50 am and followed along the Kharagpur - Balasore Expressway which we realized to be a very beautiful road up until the Lakshannath Toll Plaza where we enter Odisha with both sides packed in lush green fields and a flat road with almost no other ahead or behind you for the most of it. From here we did see several marked detour exits marked with names of places like Digha, probably would explore sometime in future.
While the newly fitted SBI fastag worked well in all the Fastag marked tolls but at the Lakshannath Toll Plaza it did not, the surprise started with folks at the toll booths sleeping. We woke them up and they said Fastag would not work, paid in cash and entered Odisha. Roads were still good but we knew it was town roads with people walking and occasional Auto rickshaws and private vehicles.
We finally reached our hotel the OTDC Panthaniwas at Talsari by 1-10 pm and unloaded our luggage waiting for the room allotment.
The area was big with well maintained garden around.
Parked our car in the designated parking area inside the premises, met a few more folks from who had driven from Kolkata
We came to our rooms and there were more surprises waiting. Air condition was essential considering it was June and hot and sunny outside but out of the 2 rooms Ac was not working at all in one of them and the other room ad AC running intermittently. After much protest a second room was received but it was just marginally better than the previous one.
We finished our lunch by 2-45 pm, relaxed for a while and by 430pm headed down for the beach for which there is a direct exit gate from the Hotel.
We strolled on the beach for some time before heading for the River Bed which have to be crossed to reach the main Beach
We initially thought of crossing the river bed with shallow water levels barefoot but in the evening the levels were steadily rising and we decided to drop the idea and take the boat ride. The funny part is the per head 50 rupees up down fare have to be paid in advance and after dropping you to the other side the boat will not wait but come back. Some other boat will pick us up. This arrangement works because most of the boats belong to the same owner and its hence inherent understanding. We did not find much alternative so gave it a go. For the record we also found bike riders in the river bed also on ply doing transportation but with increasing water levels it was resorted to boats only, they complement each other.
We approached the beach but it was past 5pm and slowly getting dimmer, the boat ride was not that bad either, packed with people
The beach was not that crowded with few groups of people only strolling who had arrived in similar fashion as us. White sand is something I saw for the first time.
We did find a few photographers half into the water shooting at some perspectives angles
no offenses meant.
We did search for Red crabs but no one showed up, we did collect some good looking shells
He had his happy moments too
It was past 530 pm and we heard that the boats are calling us to get back. We hurried back and they only asked once if we had come by our own or on their service and on confirmation they allowed us to board, no questions asked.
We returned to the place where we started the boat ride from, it was crowded with people.
The last few minutes in the outside, we enjoyed the sunset before returning to the hotel
We sat in the garden inside for some time and ordered pakoras. A little later we came back to our rooms and planned perform our usual movie show. But the biggest challenge was frequent power cuts every 10 mins and generator switching, AC turning off cooling and working in blower mode only. A complete messy affair.
However after we completed our dinner by 10 pm, the power cuts stabilized and the AC too, so much so we started feeling cold. Nevertheless enough for spending our nights.