Odisha – Ian Louis Harris

India and Sri Lanka, 29 January to 26 February 2011, placeholder and links

We needed a long and complete break after the loss of Phillie, Janie’s twin, in December. But this holiday was a long and ambitious one by any measure.

We were planning it at very short notice, by our standards, of course, but fortune smiled upon us in that planning. The Central Plains of India; Chhattisgarh and Orissa (Odisha) can be quite politically volatile, Foreign Office advice yo-yos between “no problem” and “only go if need be”, due to Naxalite/Maoist activity. But what a fascinating tribal part of India it is.

Anyway, it was a safe time to go at that time and the plan, through Steppes East who were excellent on this one, was to use the family of the Maharajah of Kanker as our guides in that region. This was a great idea; Jolly Deo, the Maharajkumar, was the perfect host and guide. We learnt lots and had fun along the way.

I long ago posted the weirdest story from that trip; the day I was press-ganged into being a live cricket commentator, which was published on King Cricket a few months after the event.

We were also fortunate in the Sri Lanka leg of the trip; an opportunity to have a large villa in Galle Old Town all to ourselves for the price of a hotel room came up, by virtue of the villa only recently coming back onto the holiday market following a long-term family stay. I suppose our experience there was a bit like a cross between AirBnB (except without making life hell for the neighbours) and Lastminute.com.

In short, there were loads of adventures to write up from this holiday – pages and pages and pages of the stuff….

…and they are all up there now – pretty much one posting per day. The posting for the first day of the holiday can be seen by clicking here or below:

Journey From London To Hyderabad, 29 & 30 January 2011

Here are links to the photo albums, which I divided up into six short albums, one for each “leg” of the trip:

If you are really keen to explore my hand-written notes, just to make sure I have written them up properly, here they are in pdf form and good luck to you:

Here is the Steppes East itinerary, also available for download – at least you’ll be able to read this one: Itinerary-Wormleighton.

Finally, there are photo albums on flickr of the pictures that didn’t make the cut for the main albums – there are some gems in there nonetheless for picture lovers:

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.

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.

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:

We’ve Been Kondh, Chatikona Market & Other Such Places, Orissa, 9 February 2011

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

Early start – up and out by six – kerfuffle over light breakfast due early (Mr Tutu said last night) but the boys didn’t turn up – no matter – dash off at six without breakfast.

A vista stop and a peepee stop, then the really bumpy road gets us to Chatikona market.

A local helps us to find the right place to spot the women arriving. They are Kondh people – Dongria Kondhs (nose ring middle) and Desia Kondhs. Not unfriendly on the whole, but not too friendly either.

Daisy buys the bangle from the helpful man.
We then explore the market properly for a while – Daisy buys a book on the local arts and crafts.

Back to hotel for wash, disgusting cheese sandwich, beer and check out.
Long bumpy drive back to Jeypore.
Ged needs a nap. Daisy tapes up the massive gap between terrace door on suite floor in the “White House”.
Here we do dine in the semi garden – Jolly dresses in a red kurta korner for our last meal together – Cheten joins us at the table.

Becardi kebab (chicken). Tandoori chicken. Then chicken butter masala, mixed veg, daal fry and rice. Beer. Not too bad – perhaps we should’ve stuck to Indian yesterday

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

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:

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.

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.

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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