[haisaikat]

Originally Posted by sayakc

But I missed the photos of the food. Myself being a foodie, I love to take the photo of the spread before wolfing down .

One question, how do you manage to stay awake and concentrated during these night drives?

I has used 3 cans of Red Bull on the onward trip during the night, usually one can can keep you awake for upto 2-3 hours and helps avoiding parking in the middle of nowhere at night to get some sleep. You need to bear with the cough syrup type taste.

However during the morning when I felt sleepy I pulled over and got some 10-15 minutes of powernap.

We must definitely meet up someday for sure before the summer kicks in.

And finally exclusively on your request, the famous Kabiraji of Shoala Ana Odisha of Bhubaneshwar, one is enough to keep you filled up for hours.

Originally Posted by Sujoy76

A special mention about the marine drive road between Puri and Konark. It's a real pleasure driving on this surface.

You are correct. Although I did not have time to take that route this time, during our 2019 visit after the Fani devastation I has taken that road. Sadly then we were not allowed to park closer to the Konark Temple and had to hence ditch the temple visit since my mom could not walk that 300 metres distance. I had heard that the local PS may provide exception parking request subject to application and approval to take the car even closer.

[ABHI_1512]

Thanks for taking time out to write this short and crisp log of Puri. Fully enjoyed our drive together for considerable duration and it was wonderful bumping into you time and again.

Baahon got its due in your post with that lovely photograph and many thanks for that. Hope you continue to enjoy your drives to Puri, the place never fails to put a smile on food loving us.

Regards.

[ARAY]

So good to see a crisp travelogue on Puri.
Puri is a place very close to the hearts of several folks from WB. Luckily it's a spot that comes between Hyderabad and Asansol and I was fortunate enough to visit the place.
The Crysta looks smashing from all the angles. Keep travelling and sharing such wonderful threads.

[haisaikat]

Puri visit in September 2021

In the aftermath of the 2nd wave of COVID across India, the weekend curfew in Puri was lifted from 1st September and it made possible for us to plan for a weekend there only to catch a glimpse of the Lord Almighty Jagannath. The last two times we drove there the darshaan was not possible for carious reasons so we wanted to make it up this time.

But weekends were still closed in the Jagannath Temple for visitors (from mid September we heard Saturdays are open) so we planned to start from Kolkata by Friday late evening and reach Puri on Saturday and do the Darshaan on Monday and then make our return for Kolkata. The hotel availability was fast filling up but we eventually managed to book for the stay there before our trip. And the highlight, there was high alert of cyclone / depression in the Odisha coastal areas on the very weekend of our travel.

As per the regulations of Odisha Govt either double dose certificate or negative RTPCR not older than 96 hours is mandatory to enter Jagannath temple. So on Friday morning we got our RTPCR conducted as our second COVID vaccine dose was yet to become due, received reports over SMS by evening and set out by 10 pm from our home, picked up our friend at 10-30 pm and headed for the city limits.

We went past the Vidyasagar Setu toll plaza by 11-10 pm just 10 minutes past the night curfew start in Kolkata but thankfully nowhere we were stopped.

We made our first halt for the 2nd round of dinner at Kolaghat Sher-e-Punjab by 12-30 am after finding the usual stop Express Food Plaza closed for repairs. It was jam packed inside so we preferred to sit outside. By 1-30 am we resumed again amidst a light drizzle and it was actually feeling good to drive with frequent sparks of lightning in the distant horizon.

Leaving Sher-e-Punjab


At the parking of Sher-e-Punjab, it had already started raining


After crossing Kharagpur it started raining heavily and it was more apparent when moving than while being standstill. This continued for the entire night.

https://youtu.be/RUVZf13VcMo

A brief stop on the NH-16 around 3-30 am moments before entering Odisha, it was pitch dark while the oncoming vehicle lights at a distance lit up the horizon


We entered Odisha around quarter to 4 am but found no COVID checking for outside cars. The Kharagpur Balasore expressway stretch of NH-16 was not at all in good condition and there were frequent diversions and potholes concealed under accumulated rain water, not expected for such a major highway. The Innova Crysta was loaded so I did what all Crysta drivers would do, increased the speed to keep it around 90 - 100 and hold the steering straight and forget about the road condition while the machine flattened out the road for us giving an invincible feel. Of course some diversions were not even marked so we had to be careful while the rain made it little difficult at times.

Around 5 am when the sky had lit up at dawn, we made a 30 min halt at a safe roadside point for a power nap break.

Somewhere around Purushottampur, the highway at this stretch is beautifully decorated with colorful flowers on either sides making it a wonderful stretch to drive though, so much so we could not resist halting to take a few clicks. The highway was in better shape post Balasore although some frequent tarmac ruptures were still there but much better than what we observed on the last night.


A refuelling halt at IOCL Coco Badachana near Deulkur, one of the best highway pumps we ever saw in NH-16 so far, a must recommended stop


The next stop was at 9-30 am for breakfast on NH-316 just at the start of the Puri Bypass for a brief 30 mins (by our standard) and then through the bypass we reached Hotel Dreamland on the New Marine Drive by 11-15 am. We thoroughly fumigated and sanitized our rooms before entering though.

Lunch was done in our rooms and thereafter a short nap we headed out to the beach in the evening hoping to enjoy the grand view of the sunset over the sea




Before we could settle down, the eastern sky got pitch dark clouds and at the first sign of light drops we headed back to our hotel.




It rained for an hour and half continuously before we could set out again to do some shopping during the evening


Considering night curfew was still there, we needed to be back post dinner by 10 pm, so headed towards BNR Chanakya for the dinner by 8-30 pm. While the dinner was good, thoroughly missed BHPian ABHI_1512 as this place we had first visited at his recommendation only.




The night continued to be wet, as we patiently waited for the next day in the hope of a better weather


Our next day morning adventure did not go as planned among the continued rainy and windy weather when we went towards the Mohona by parking our car in front of the Sterling, the road even after so many years is still pathetic and there are muddy patches that can trap cars very easily unless we carry enough momentum


On our return, we proved once again that Bengalis can withstand everything but not the opportunity to eat whenever and wherever. So we made our desire to do the breakfast on the beach fulfilled soon even among the light rain.


It was still raining and while we came to the beach, I tried for first 5 minutes to grab his umbrella to cover myself, only to realize its going nowhere


And amidst continuous warning from the locals to keep distance from the waves we did not let the opportunity slip




The sea was raging like anything and was advancing fast with there being continuous downpour at the same time so eventually after an hour we returned to hotel.

The rain only increased with time but we did not wish to remain confined in the hotel so headed out for lunch around 2 pm.

The streets were completely under a feet of water to say the least near swargadwar and in front of the beach parking lot it was even higher




Although our original target was the newly opened Waterfront Grill Cafe but we knew open cafe is a bad option for the weather at hand and hence headed for the place that had ample manpower and good service. The Mayfair served us really well for the lunch






We headed towards Konark temple hoping the rain may stop after some time, even though light and sound show had still not resumed, but the intensity of rainfall increased to such an extent that I looked unsafe for driving even though there was some daylight still left. Many cars like mine was only going with fog lamp lit without using head lights.

Point in the Chakratirtha road where we turned back


It was even more difficult to drive during the rain

https://youtu.be/UytnXyqnj0U

While we reached Swargadwar the rain had subsided although continued, we decided to take advantage and visit Nrusingha for buying khajas, and it paid off heavily with this ever congested Galli appeared easy to drive. They mentioned having 16 shops of the same name throughout Puri and their is the one and only original.


Returning to our hotel, we had dinner in our rooms and started packing since the subsequent morning we have to head for the Temple. While the rain continued and the tone of the waves became angrier by the hour, I kept staring at my machine parked outside in the rain.


The next day we woke up by 5 am as our Purohit from the Temple had asked us to reach the temple by 7-30 am, we came down to our reception by 7 am but got an auto only after 30 mins of waiting. Reaching the entrance of the temple we found huge queue to scan RTPCR / Vaccine Certification and visitor photo capturing in respective booths. The folks were efficient and moving the queue steadily. Nevertheless we managed to get inside and have our darshan before the closing of first session by 8 am, booked and collected prasad and returned to hotel. Note that umbrella also need to be deposited in the designated counters along with shoes and cell phones so we kind of drenched again in rain while inside the temple. But felt awesome having fulfilled the purpose of our visit eventually.

We checked out from the hotel by 12-30 pm and made a stop at Pahala (recommendation of BHPian Swiftvxi06) to buy loads of chhana pora and other variety of sweets and halted for lunch a little ahead at Bijay Dhaba of Cuttack. The Puri bypass and the rest of the road mostly had limited traffic and the Crysta aced all waterlooged areas with just a small shudder in the steering a few times. And yes there continued to be congestion on NH-16 clubbed with direction.

The shops at Pahala


Bijay Dhaba, Cuttack, Train themed restaurant


Thereafter lunch being over by 3-30 pm we headed for Kolkata and apart from a evening tea roadside halt for 15 minutes we continued for 6.5 hours until we arrived by 10 pm at the Raj Hotel and Lodge at Kharagpur bypass for dinner. The road till here continued to be cranky with sudden surprises, even a day prior to our return journey, the Google Map was showing 13+ hours with rerouting via simlipal side owing to severe flood alert around Balasore but eventually on Monday the Balasore route became available again even though serious degraded roads and both side of highway flodded continued to be seen as the usual norm. At one point I got down from the car only to clean the windshield and the headlamps from outside since they were badly smeared with mud from the other cars on the highway.




We resumed post dinner on our final leg of the journey around 12 midnight, and thereafter apart from a small power nap break there was no stopping until dropping everyone by 330 am on Tuesday. With that our Puri trip came to an end and we came to understand a day later from the news that Puri had received a record breaking 88 year high rainfall of 341 mm on that weekend.

A concluding video clip from the dashcam during our return. Shows the terrible condition of NH-16

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wUTogFWSKU

[/quote]

[swiftvxi06]

Such an amazing travelogue Saikat da. Great pics with amazing attention to detail.
Hope you enjoyed the sweets from Cuttack.

[sayakc]

Dear Saikat,

What the several times of visit has proved is, at Puri, you can keep doing the same things, pattern on pattern..because sometimes repetition has a charm that you cannot find in newness. It is like being in a serene,lasting relationship - one that refuses to die..almost like old lovers bodies that know each and every turn but celebrate being in love.

That Puri is an often visited destination for Bengalis is an established fact. Yet the frequency of your visits to Puri in the rock like Innova, establishes that some destinations are timeless.

The photos of the pomfret or (I guess) fish in lemon butter sauce or the sizzlers are droolworthy. Having visited BNR Ranchi recently I too can vouch for the taste.

By the way, it was nice to meet you with your big boy Innova in person and I must say, it looks like a long, relationship has commenced.

Best Regards,
Sayak

Originally Posted by haisaikat

Puri visit in September 2021

In the aftermath of the 2nd wave of COVID across India, the weekend curfew in Puri was lifted from 1st September and it made possible for us to plan for a weekend there only to catch a glimpse of the Lord Almighty Jagannath. The last two times we drove there the darshaan was not possible for carious reasons so we wanted to make it up this time.

[Neversaygbye]

Hi Saikat, finally got the time to go through this TL today and needless to say the level of detail and the amazing photographs (some of them are Nat Geo quality) blew me away! There is a huge amount of information in your TL that will be useful while planning my next trip to Puri - the last time I drove down to Puri a few years back, I had stuck to the road more travelled and also eaten lunch at well known places (such as the food court in Esplanade mall in Bhubaneswar, and Oriya food at Dalma in Puri) but now I know which are the new places to try.

Looks like bad weather played quite the spoilsport - it couldn't have been fun to drive in those conditions, with having to navigate poor road surfaces as well. I can see how much of a difference a big car makes and why SUVs and crossovers are so much in vogue now. Road conditions have got worse over time and this year with so much rain most roads are a disaster. I will think twice before going for a road trip in my low ground clearance car.

Your courage in taking your big car inside the congested lane that houses Nrusingha sweets is commendable. The rains helped you this time in terms of congestion (as you have mentioned), but after parking my car once in that lane I have decided never to take my car there.

Once again, great TL, and am glad that you and your folks got back safe and sound despite all the weather and road related challenges.

P.S. Here's a snap of my car parked in the Nrusingha sweets lane - as you can see, I did not even get sufficient space to park it properly and there were umpteen near misses.

[haisaikat]

Originally Posted by swiftvxi06

Hope you enjoyed the sweets from Cuttack.

Thank you dear for the tips on Pahala, sure they were very good, especially the two types of Chhana Pora.

Originally Posted by sayakc

The photos of the pomfret or (I guess) fish in lemon butter sauce or the sizzlers are droolworthy.

Thank you sayak, it was nice meeting you too. Hope the service of sun film removal was worth for your mega trip. We Bengalis are born foodies, and the ability to smell the food through pictures is what defines us, hence that was fish with lemon butter sauce only as rightly guessed by you and it proves our love and dedication for food.

Originally Posted by Neversaygbye

I will think twice before going for a road trip in my low ground clearance car.

The rains helped you this time in terms of congestion (as you have mentioned), but after parking my car once in that lane I have decided never to take my car there.

Thank you for the kind words. I think the problem with the road is less with GC and more with the unpredictable potholes that keep introducing terrible jerks in the ride. I believe you can take your car with ease but keep an eye on the road and speed under check. Indeed the Swargadwar road is a nightmare during regular hours for taking one's private car and I second that.