We arrived in Bhubaneswar last night on KingFisher Airlines -- the flight was uneventful and Mary was the only caucasian on the flight. English is not spoken by many in Orissa as compared to Delhi. There have been lots of nods and smiles!
Of the 28 states in India, Orissa is one of the poorest. Mining and Agriculture are the primary industry. Now is the harvest time for rice (which is harvested 2x a year)....we noticed many women working in the fields -- WHERE are the men?
Bhubaneswar is the city of temples -- there are 57 temples within 10 kms and most are to the God Shiva. We were not allowed into the temples because we are not Hindus but we were approached by a "priest" next to one of the temples : He could take us into the temple but first we needed to make a "donation" for the new "roof" -- see the pic!
The roof looks pretty solid?!
The hotel:
The Trident is the only 5-star hotel in Bhubaneswar, note: the star rating is relative. Its clean, the tap water is filtered but we continue to drink bottled water; the grounds are beautiful with flowers and vegetable gardens; the pool is in the center courtyard and in good shape. But the tennis courts look very old and are of an odd size.
