Renting a bicycle to discover Puri was harder than we thought. The renters we talked to yesterday were not in their shops... In fact, all the bike rental shops were abandoned! Except for this one guy who had one bike with a basin on top (we doubted if it was really a bike for rent, actually), and another guy way back in the market who said his rate was 4 Rs per hour (a super deal!). He asked where we were staying, and when we said Vishal Plaza he got angry and said he doesn't want to rent it out anymore. I asked why, and he said "I no like that hotel."
So we went back to the other guy, and we got the bike for 40 Rs (0,70€) until 6pm.
The two main things to see in Puri are the beach (done) and Jagannath Mandir, a temple for a local god who was incorporated into the list of avatars (sometimes interchanged with Buddha) but also doubles as the Lord of the Universe.
But non-Hindus are not allowed inside, so we just went around the temple. Again with the Indian vs foreigner thing! We're not Hindus, but that didn't stop people from trying to sell us idols and memorabilia.
There were little altars all around, and here's a miniature of the idols found inside the temple. The black one is Jay Jagannath and the other two are his siblings (the tiny one in the middle is his sister). The image is very popular in Puri, but hardly anywhere else. We saw a lot of similar paintings and mini idols in houses and stores, and the icon of Jagannath is sometimes painted on walls as a large red-rimmed black face with giant eyes. I think they look cute, like South Park kids, except the Lord of the Universe is not supposed to be cute :D
Hanuman, the monkey god.
One of the four entrances, and the most impressive. Where else have you seen a man carrying a horse carrying a man?
A man was shouting at us to take an oil lamp (for a fee, of course) but he wasn't even using Hindi words. So we grunted back, and then made animal sounds, and then a saddhu joined in and barked with us. The oil lamp guy didn't think it was so funny.
We were told there's a spot at a library where we could have a look at what goes on inside the temple so we asked for information inside. The men guarding the library said they would appreciate a donation but showed that visitors gave a hundred rupees each (I doubt they really did, the men must have written the amount). We told them a donation should be in the amount we decide, but they didn't want anything under a hundred and acted insulted because they take care of the library, etc. But the library was dusty, the books were falling apart, nobody was reading anything. Henri thinks it's just a cover story to legitimize their scam, because it is the only place to have a view.
But it wasn't such a great view. We could see the same roofs from the street. We left without giving them money (they didn't want anything other than 200, because, to quote them, India is a poor country and France is a rich country... as if that made extortion acceptable in India) but Henri gave them a piece of his mind.
We biked back to town to have lunch at Chung Hwa, a resto owned by a real Chinese guy! The food was OK, but not great for the price. I could eat better Chinese food in Manila, and even better in my house ;) But our waiter was nice so that's a plus point.
We felt heavy after lunch, but we had to bike to the train station to get tickets to Pondicherry. There were 119 people on the waiting list and we had to figure out a better exit strategy. One is to go through Chennai (Madras) first and wait for a day, or try if we can get the tickets to Pondicherry 24 hours before departure. That means going to the train station at 7am on Monday. If it works, we'll tell you about it :D
Next, we went to the other temple on Grand Road. Looking for it was a bit of a problem because everyone assumes you are looking for the Jagannath temple, another problem was our accent. Nobody could understand when we ask for directions. While trying to find our next destination, we practiced our accents.
Here's a simplified guide, say each one out loud with your voice going up:
Temple = Tempel Rickshaw = Hello Riksha Pimple = Pimpel
Palace = Peles Ghat = G-hat Madam = Medem
Eventually we got to the smaller temple, but it was off limits to non-Hindus also. That didn't stop a guy at the entrance to try to get some money from us, though. At least it wasn't such a waste of time because the gate was nice and colorful, and there were veeeery interesting tigers guarding the entrance.
After a day of weirdness, we felt like having a beer. Henri went to his suking tindahan (favorite store), where the beer is only 60 Rs. Imagine that! We've been paying around 120 on average since the beginning!
We took it to the beach, where the dude selling fake pearls and corals (grrr) told us alcohol is not allowed at the beach. A pair of Indian guys came by and warned us that the police will come for us if they see the beer (in fact, one of them was about to call the police on his cellphone). But I asked them for the sign that says beer is not allowed, and they couldn't, because there isn't. And I asked them where the police are, because there were none. Henri said the real problem in the beach is the trash and the poop, the people who litter are the ones who should be arrested.
It's so hypocritical, because there are a lot of Indian men buying strong liquor at the store who hide it under the shirt and drink it along the street. And WE are not allowed to drink beer? The guys sat down next to us and we had a heartwarming talk about the ills of society while Henri and I drank the beer with the newspaper wrapped around it. They left us a little later when the sun started to set, and Henri took a swim in the relatively cleaner part of the beach.
A reenactment of what we saw in the villagers' beach on our first day. Squeeze it, baby, squeeze it.
Not far from where we were, a stage was set with some musicians while a group of girls danced to the rhythm. (ERRATA de 07/12/11: They are BOYS, NOT GIRLS!)
At the end of the performance, the manager of Holiday Resort told us to come back the next day for a magic show. Later, we found out he was the magician :)
So we went back to the other guy, and we got the bike for 40 Rs (0,70€) until 6pm.
The two main things to see in Puri are the beach (done) and Jagannath Mandir, a temple for a local god who was incorporated into the list of avatars (sometimes interchanged with Buddha) but also doubles as the Lord of the Universe.
But non-Hindus are not allowed inside, so we just went around the temple. Again with the Indian vs foreigner thing! We're not Hindus, but that didn't stop people from trying to sell us idols and memorabilia.
There were little altars all around, and here's a miniature of the idols found inside the temple. The black one is Jay Jagannath and the other two are his siblings (the tiny one in the middle is his sister). The image is very popular in Puri, but hardly anywhere else. We saw a lot of similar paintings and mini idols in houses and stores, and the icon of Jagannath is sometimes painted on walls as a large red-rimmed black face with giant eyes. I think they look cute, like South Park kids, except the Lord of the Universe is not supposed to be cute :D
Hanuman, the monkey god.
One of the four entrances, and the most impressive. Where else have you seen a man carrying a horse carrying a man?
A man was shouting at us to take an oil lamp (for a fee, of course) but he wasn't even using Hindi words. So we grunted back, and then made animal sounds, and then a saddhu joined in and barked with us. The oil lamp guy didn't think it was so funny.
We were told there's a spot at a library where we could have a look at what goes on inside the temple so we asked for information inside. The men guarding the library said they would appreciate a donation but showed that visitors gave a hundred rupees each (I doubt they really did, the men must have written the amount). We told them a donation should be in the amount we decide, but they didn't want anything under a hundred and acted insulted because they take care of the library, etc. But the library was dusty, the books were falling apart, nobody was reading anything. Henri thinks it's just a cover story to legitimize their scam, because it is the only place to have a view.
But it wasn't such a great view. We could see the same roofs from the street. We left without giving them money (they didn't want anything other than 200, because, to quote them, India is a poor country and France is a rich country... as if that made extortion acceptable in India) but Henri gave them a piece of his mind.
We biked back to town to have lunch at Chung Hwa, a resto owned by a real Chinese guy! The food was OK, but not great for the price. I could eat better Chinese food in Manila, and even better in my house ;) But our waiter was nice so that's a plus point.
We felt heavy after lunch, but we had to bike to the train station to get tickets to Pondicherry. There were 119 people on the waiting list and we had to figure out a better exit strategy. One is to go through Chennai (Madras) first and wait for a day, or try if we can get the tickets to Pondicherry 24 hours before departure. That means going to the train station at 7am on Monday. If it works, we'll tell you about it :D
Next, we went to the other temple on Grand Road. Looking for it was a bit of a problem because everyone assumes you are looking for the Jagannath temple, another problem was our accent. Nobody could understand when we ask for directions. While trying to find our next destination, we practiced our accents.
Here's a simplified guide, say each one out loud with your voice going up:
Temple = Tempel Rickshaw = Hello Riksha Pimple = Pimpel
Palace = Peles Ghat = G-hat Madam = Medem
Eventually we got to the smaller temple, but it was off limits to non-Hindus also. That didn't stop a guy at the entrance to try to get some money from us, though. At least it wasn't such a waste of time because the gate was nice and colorful, and there were veeeery interesting tigers guarding the entrance.
After a day of weirdness, we felt like having a beer. Henri went to his suking tindahan (favorite store), where the beer is only 60 Rs. Imagine that! We've been paying around 120 on average since the beginning!
We took it to the beach, where the dude selling fake pearls and corals (grrr) told us alcohol is not allowed at the beach. A pair of Indian guys came by and warned us that the police will come for us if they see the beer (in fact, one of them was about to call the police on his cellphone). But I asked them for the sign that says beer is not allowed, and they couldn't, because there isn't. And I asked them where the police are, because there were none. Henri said the real problem in the beach is the trash and the poop, the people who litter are the ones who should be arrested.
It's so hypocritical, because there are a lot of Indian men buying strong liquor at the store who hide it under the shirt and drink it along the street. And WE are not allowed to drink beer? The guys sat down next to us and we had a heartwarming talk about the ills of society while Henri and I drank the beer with the newspaper wrapped around it. They left us a little later when the sun started to set, and Henri took a swim in the relatively cleaner part of the beach.
A reenactment of what we saw in the villagers' beach on our first day. Squeeze it, baby, squeeze it.
Not far from where we were, a stage was set with some musicians while a group of girls danced to the rhythm. (ERRATA de 07/12/11: They are BOYS, NOT GIRLS!)
They were incredible! Doing flips and pyramids and crazy formations... once, a tall girl had two girls hanging onto her neck by the legs and she spun around like a helicopter!
At the end of the performance, the manager of Holiday Resort told us to come back the next day for a magic show. Later, we found out he was the magician :)
2 comments:
Fantastiques images
Bisous à tous deux
Papa
Merci! Les images sont mieux que l'odeur, it looks better than it smells...
Bisous :D
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