Back to India 'Bhubaneswar - Khadigiri - Dhauli - Kornak - Puri'

I was once again standing on the footboard in the door of the overcrowded train from Galle to Colombo Fort. I stuck my head out to look in the direction of travel. Suddenly, I saw the locomotive emitting a dark black cloud with all its might. And since the train was running at full speed, it wouldn't be long before I found myself in the middle of the cloud. I held my breath, squinted my eyes, and at the same time saw a billboard for "Restaurant Sea View"! Well then.

In Colombo, everything went according to plan. I walked to the bus station and looked for the 187 line again. The nice gentleman I asked told me something about a wait time of 30 to 60 minutes and suggested I go to another bus station instead. And lo and behold, it drove past me and parked 30 meters in front of me.

The Air India flight was once again delayed by 45 minutes. Which didn't bother me at first. It wasn't until 2 hours later when I stood in the arrivals hall of Chennai that the fun was temporarily over. I saw at least 10 customs officers who were doing anything but distributing entry stamps. No, they were all running around, probably having been prescribed some health movement by their employer!? I would have been pretty indifferent to this if my train to Bhubaneswar wasn't leaving in 80 minutes. After 5 minutes, at least one of them was willing to start stamping. However, with his incredibly slow speed, I calculated a waiting time of at least 2 hours and came up with a Plan B in my head...

Fortunately, after a while, 4 more officers decided to get to work. Eventually, it was my turn, but now, please, Indian thoroughness, not just Namaste, stamp, and have a safe journey. In response to my cautious remark about the urgency as my train was ready to depart, he first leisurely read my passport. A one-year visa? Yes! What kind of job do you have? ...! First entry? Nooooo, look at the stamps!!!!! Hmmm. Ah, which hotel did you book? In a hurry, I replied, "individual travel, I book on-site!" Which hotel did you book? Oh man, this gentleman is really checking well (I looked at my bookings) "Hotel ...." in Bhubaneswar! Ok, please write that here in the registration form...

Only 60 minutes left, I grabbed my backpack from the conveyor belt and left the airport. The first taxi driver was mine, he looked at his watch and skeptically said 20 km to the train station. I replied, "Ok fine, you my driver, you run PLEASE"!!! The ride in the old vintage taxi was fun. Luckily, there are not only 4 lanes on the highway, but also 5 intermediate lanes for the hurried and 8 more for the very hurried. ;-) 9 pm, we arrived at the train station. 9:05 pm, I bought some food and drink on the run. 9:08 pm, I boarded the train. 9:10 pm, the train departed. Sweating!!!!

I sat or rather lay down and slept in a very new and clean train. The journey was once again very pleasant, and after 21 hours, I finally reached "Bhubaneswar" in the state of Odisha.

The next day, I visited some beautiful old temples in the old town and also went to Khandagiri and Udaygiri, which were 5 km away. Here, there were the ancient caves where Jain monks used to live, and opposite on a second hill, a Jain temple. In the afternoon, I took a tuk-tuk to Dhauli, where there was a large Buddhist stupa on top of a small hill.

The next day, I set off by the overcrowded bus towards Kornak. In a village halfway, I was supposed to wait for another bus, but I decided to continue the journey of another 24 km by tuk-tuk. When I arrived in Kornak, there were hundreds of Indian tourists first, and after a short walk, I stood in front of another gigantic structure. The Sun Temple of Kornak. It was rediscovered about 100 years ago and freed from a sand dune. It is once again lavishly decorated with large wheels and many sculptures and depictions, including Kamasutra representations.

After a delicious dosa for lunch, I continued my tour today by bus to Puri, which was 33 km away. Upon arrival, I realized that this place is unexpectedly much larger than the small town of Kornak. Here, the gigantic "Jagannath" temple towers, to which non-Hindus are not granted access. But I circled the outer wall and admired the building from a distance, which was not difficult given its size.

In the afternoon, I strolled further through the alleys of Puri, where I later reached the beach, which unfortunately is not inviting. In the evening, I took the train back to Bhubaneswar, a one-hour journey.