Bhubaneshwar - temples galore

Just realised that i had not posted anything on the day trip to Bhubaneshwar, so here it is.
Short and to the point, I'm real lazy right now.

I hadn’t really planned much on what to visit in the city, so hit the main points; I know I had to visit Lingaraja temple and the caves, apart from that the rest would have to be a surprise. Boarded up at a small hotel near the station and caught the auto for the temple lanes, always difficult to communicate once you’re not in a north Indian state! I did manage to give the auto chap a rough description of the place I wanted to go, and he dropped me off near the Mukteswar temple.

 Its near a big pond right next to a bustling residential area. Quite easy to get lost in these small streets I must say.

The temple compound was small, but you could easily see the amount of detail spent in making it as I relaxed there for some time, relishing the cool black stones touching my feet in the compound.

You can relax in the garden right next to it and visit another temple connected via the garden, forgot the name, just too many to follow. Must say they don't call it the temple city for nothing, you turn your head and a temple pops up in the vicinity; I was in a very religious place, and the irony of that, I'm not the pious kind at all!

Next up I headed for the Lingaraj temple, about 500 meters away. Now I did not enter the temple, even at the insistence of the pandas (Brahmin guides/ priests) sitting at the entrance, 3 reasons – I’m not the most religious of fellows, they don’t allow photography inside, and I was on a deadline to make my flight back to Delhi now.

So I wandered around the temple wall, looking for some vantage point to click some snaps, and then entered one shop asking to be allowed to the rooftop to click some snaps. The shopkeeper charged me 10 bucks for it, so much for the religious feelings!

I later noticed a small sign near the shop advertising the photo opportunity for 10 bucks from the roof, so there. Anyway, I did manage to get a few snaps of the place, not the best I figure, but still captured some of the beauty of this exquisite temple, one of the biggest in the city.

After some coconut water to re-energise me, I was off to the Udaigiri-Khandgiri caves on the opposite side of town. Not a bad place, just too many tourists like me crowding up the locale, interspersed with the monkey population.

 You have to hike a bit to get to the top of the caves, they are all small ones, and most of them are closed off to the public now, but still makes for a worthwhile visit.

Have to remember to visit in the evening though, the bloody sun almost scorched me. All in all, one more city struck off the list now, a lot more to go…..