Onukudelli Market, Goodbye Jeypore, Orissa, Then On To Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, 10 February 2011

The main album of 65 photographs for Orissa can be seen through the link below:

001 8 Feb 2011 On The Road Towards Rayagada P1010584

Up & out at six – Jolly has taught the Hello Jeypore staff to make packed brunches for us (chicken sandwiches).

Lovely drive to Onukudelli market.

We find a suitable spot to see the Bonda women come down to market. Lots of photos. Not too many tourists.

Once Daisy gets bored with that, she starts to play with the local urchins. Skipping and racing with the children. Also chatted with one young bow and arrow man against the best advice, but no one seemed aggressive or rude towards us.

Sooner be playing with the other kids?

Then down into the market stopping at school to shed the last of our pens. Some confusion over the pens here, as the principal thought I was trying to sell them rather than donate them . Huge thank yous when the staff realised that the offer was a gift.

We see Gadaba and Didayi women down there and perhaps a little more rudeness, but still not much. Bitterly disappointed with the lack of rudeness – not – we head back to Jeypore.

Gadaba women
Didayi woman

We draw money and buy some flowers, glimpsing at the local movie house showing some Chinese movie. Then on to visit Rajesh and Shobha Toshniwal. She excitedly shows Daisy her arts and crafts wares – a mixture of commissioned work based on tribals and tribal antiquities.

Meanwhile we take Rajesh’s coffee (he is Karaput’s “King Coffee”) and Shobha’s commissioned some samosas for us (veg but not Join – she is Jain).

Daisy buys a choker, a belt, a hairclip and an artwork.

Late – we dash back to the Hello Jeypore to pack and say “goodbye Jeypore”.

Long drive to Visakhapatnam, with comedy cattle in Orissa and race for a pre-dark peepee stop.

Amazingly – roads improve one in Andhra Pradesh – we get to Gateway before eight, despite Jolly and Abhishek not knowing the exact location and Cheten the fixer not fixing!

We have a huge double room suite. The dining room lacks ambience but does have chicken satay, lamb biryani, black daal, spag bol and Suma wine.

A further 120+ pictures from Orissa (unlabelled) can be seen in an additional album, though the link below:

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From Bastar To Orissa (Odisha), 8 February 2011

Our album of pictures from Orissa (Odisha), 65 of them, can be seen through the following link:

001 8 Feb 2011 On The Road Towards Rayagada P1010584

Long drive today but no great rush to get up so we don’t rush. I do write-ups on restaurant terrace. Breakfast of Dhokla (gram – Gujarati sponge – two varieties).

Fond farewells to all and we are away.

Scenic

Just the odd scenic and peepee stop until Jeypore, where Jolly seems to be in the “Hello” an inordinate amount of time, but when we find him chatting to the owner/manager it’s “no problem”.

Also see a French “friends” from the Rainbow in the midst of negotiations.

Soon after that (past Koraput) we find a suitable picnic swap spot using a lari for shade. We eat the last of the Bastar “home cooking” – Jolly’s chicken samosas, which were excellent.

Don’t tary too long in the lari

Long drive on to Rayagada, where we have a little trouble finding the Hotel Tejaswini but it is a small town so problem quickly solved. Presidential suite is a bit OTT and windowless, but large.

Jolly let slip that he is a Maharajkumar (brother of a Maharaja) so we are offered the mosquito garden (no thanks) or private dining room (yes please) to have beer with our supper – a rather poor choice on our part of Chinese noodles (two types) but we were “rice & daaled out” by then.

Over dinner we learn that Gerard and Raj had a barney over the missing cardamoms from Raj’s desert last night!

In addition to the Orissa album, linked above, there is a collection of over 120 photos from that part of the adventure that didn’t make the album, which can be seen at the link below:

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