Puri

Secunderabad Railway Station

I left the office early and started to secunderabad railway station. One thing which i was worrying is about whether i can catch the train or not. As I booked (tatkaal) in Falaknuma Express, the train departs from Secunderabad early at 3:55 PM and at the same time the telangana RTC buses were not as frequent as there was ongoing strike.

I arrived at the station just 10min before the actual departure of the train and the train started at the right time. It was a bright sunny day out there and the sun was about to set hiding behind the cloud.

Photo of Secunderabad Railway Station, Railway Officer Colony, Botiguda, Bhoiguda, Secunderabad, Telangana, India by Abhishek Sura

The train was jampacked with the passengers and their luggage. Though it was a sleeper class train, people without reservation will get into the coaches and settle near the door.

Photo of Puri - Konark - Bhubaneshwar by Abhishek Sura

It is somewhat unsafe as we don't know anyone can theft the luggage in the middle of the night when everyone is sleeping and get out of the train. Hope TTEs of Indian railyway makesure to make them travel in general compartment because of the safety reasons and inconvenience of co-passengers.

Day 2

The next day morning, we crossed AndhraPradesh border very early and were welcomed by the mountains of Odisha. Then the Chilika lake took the responsibility to entertain us from the train.

Khurda Road

The train reached Khurda road Jn at around 10:30 AM in the morning, as soon as i got down from the train i got to know there was a passenger train to Puri on the platform 6. By the time i bought the ticket the train left the platform. Then i thought of going by road but there was no direct bus to Puri and again I gone back to the railway station to board the train which is scheduled after 1 hr.

I boarded the Sambhapur - Puri Intercity Express and ended up paying fine for travelling in Express train with the passenger train ticket.

Photo of Khurda Road, East Coast Railway Complex, Khordha, Odisha, India by Abhishek Sura

At 1:00 PM, I reached Puri railway station and started to the room (Gundicha Bakth Niwas) which i booked online. The rooms were decent for the price, so i freshed up and started to the Jagannath Temple in auto which is around 3Kms from Gundicha Bakth Niwas.

By the time i came back from the temple, it was getting dark at 5:30 PM, as I was in the eastern part of the country, the sun will set early. I withdrew my plan to visit the puri beach as it will be complete dark by the i reach there and instead thought of going to beach the next day morning to see the sunrise.

Then i started exploring the puri town and had been to Gundicha temple and again headed back to Jagannath temple.

Prasadam inside the temple is a must try, its gonna be much of a sweet but tastes good.

By the time i came back the town was spread with the wide market with lot of street food, shopping and the stage plays.

Though navrathri season was finished there were pandals and the idols of mata ji all around the town.

I came back to hotel and crashed on the bed with the plan to visit beach and Konark sun temple.

Day 3

Golden Beach

The next day morning i got up and took the auto to Golden beach of Puri, in the early morning at around 5:45 AM but to the bad luck the sun rised behind the cloud and the beach was very crowded but there I witnessed the rainbow.

I heard a lot about the beauty of Puri beach, but it was pretty ordinary beach (may be the beach i visited was the other one than i heard) i was a quite disappointed, I've seen lot of good beaches than that of puri in Gokarna, Diu etc, and with people everywhere it was like a market, then i came back from that chaos and headed to the temple for the last time before i left for Konark.

Konark Sun Temple

At 9:30 AM i started from Puri in a bus and reached Konark sun temple by 10:45 AM, though people say there are no buses and suggest to take cab which is costly, there are buses which are damn cheap. It was just Rs 40/- from puri bus stand to Konark Sun Temple.

I occupied the window seat as it was marine road we could sea the chandragarba beach from the bus on the way to konark. I reached the sun temple and took the entrance ticket which is Rs 40/- for Indians and SAARC nations.

Photo of Konark Sun Temple, Konark, Odisha, India by Abhishek Sura

The temple and was constructed in 13th century, what we can see now is the ruins of the temple and the actual temple was destroyed.

Konark sun temple was called as black pagoda and Puri Jagannath temple was called as white pagoda and was used as a landmarks for the european traders because of their humongous structures.

There is lot to tell about this temple and to keep it straight i will let you know the details which i got them.

This temple is dedicated to Sun god which are drawn by horses designed as a chariot having 24 wheels each with 8 spokes and is declared as UNESCO world heritage in 1984.

This is the wheel which you will see in the 10 Rs note of Indian Currency.

Typically seen surya are two females who represent dawn goddesses (Usha and Pratyusha). The goddesses are shown to be shooting arrows, a symbols of their initiative in challenging the darkness.

Th Sun god is shown in 3 sides of the temple, the morning, afternoon and the evening represting the power of Sun in the morning and afternoon the sun is represented as child and young and in the evening it is describes the sun has became the old man and will be on a horse.

Bhubaneswar

I explored the temple for around 3 hrs and came out though i have a plan to visit chandragarba beach which is just 4kms away i didn't preferred it because of the humidity and it was a very dry and hot day. So then i started to Bhubaneshwar in the bus.

On the way to Bhubaneshwar i visited one of the oldest Lingaraj temple and made the trip as a golden triangle (Bhubaneshwar(9th Century) - Puri(11th Century) - Konark(13th Century)).