November 2 – Drive to Chilika

Today is travel.  Lots and lots of time on the road.  Left at around 8:30am and arrived at the Chilika Resort around 7:00pm.  With about 1 ½ hours of stops (lunch and sightseeing) that amounted to about 9 hours on the road.  We all arrived exhausted.

However, even though we are on the road most of the day doesn't mean it is boring. Travel in India is never boring.

The countryside was gorgeous and mountainous (but hazy).  Saw lots of cattle and goats and water buffalo being moved around the area.

You never know what you'll see on the roads in India.

We passed a dike/retaining wall along a reservoir.  Due to recent high rains the reservoir was overflowing its banks and it looked like a mini-waterfall along the entire long length of the dike.  Much of the roadway was covered by water.

Along the way we saw some people working on separating rice grains from the left over harvesting debris.  One man would slowly pour the rice in front of a fan while another man hand cranked the fan to blow away the debris.  Talk about labor intensive.  They harvest a LOT of rice that must be cleaned this way..

There were also women sitting beside the road with rice laid out on mats.  They were mixing and turning the rice so that it can dry. 

Made a brief stop beside a work area where we gave the children bananas...

and watched people make gravel.  Yes, people (men and women both) earn a living by hand chipping large rocks into gravel.  Talk about a hard life. 

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Watch video of making gravel.
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One of the ladies at the gravel making place.

Saw some women from the Kutia Khondh tribe with facial tattoos...

and women bring large bundles of firewood home.

There was a lot of livestock along the roads, as usual,

including a bullock cart.

A cattleman out with his cattle.

We occasionally pass rivers where they are doing laundry or bathing.  Don't know how either the laundry or the people get clean as the rivers generally look pretty dirty.

Our hotel this evening is a large step above the hotels we’ve had for the last few nights.  We were greeted with shell necklaces, a tilaka (a mark on the forehead something like a bindi), and a glass of neon blue (?) apple juice. The rooms are large and spacious and the beds extremely comfortable (not the usual rock hard Asian beds).  We will sleep well tonight.