Trip to Orissa
 

Friend of mine lives in Orissa and has been asking me to plan a vacation there. I have only ten days left to go for a vacation in the year. Will Orissa be worth my precious while? Please advise. If yes, where all should i go when i am in orissa?

My trip report on Orissa is at www.wilhelmswords.com/asia2001. Main tourist site is the Sun Temple at Konark. There are a number of other temples worth visiting, mostly around Bhubaneswar. I enjoyed Orissa because it was a bit of the main tourist track. If you have a friend there to show you around ou shuld have a great time, although I might not spend all ten days there. See Kolkata, and maybe the Sunderbans tiger preserve.

Besides Suntemple at Konark, other places to see in Orissa could be Lord Jagganath temple at Puri. There is a beautiful sea too. You can also visit Chilka lake-seems to be the bigegst fresh water lake.10days could be a relaxing though 5days would be enough.Rest of the days you can visit near by cities.

The problem with the Jagganath temple at Puri is that only Hindus are allowed inside. The outside is interesting, but not THAT interesting. Also, when I was there the sea had a dubious brown tinge. It was not long after some flooding, so maybe that was why, but I certainly wouldn't have considered even wading in it. I wasn't wild about sharing the sea with the cow wandering along the beach, either.

Thanks for your inputs guys. But is there stuff other than temples to see in Orissa? Have seen way too many temples in the north.