Puri beach sunset

Two voyeuristic 7” long latex geckoes watched that I showered carefully before having a really comfortable sleep. Up at sparrows again and off to inspect a village where the majority of the adults painted/etched traditional pictures on palm leaf strips.  Some of it was wonderfully intricate work – the leaves are boiled for an hour, then cut into 1” wide strips so the pictures are pretty small.  I was the only tourist there so had to visit every shop – it can be pretty tiring keeping a smile on the face amid the howls for attention. They also painted on cloth which was doubled up and fixed with boiled rice water and tamarind gum which was then polished – wasn’t too impressed with anything enough except the models of animals made by an old lady out of Holy Cow dung.  I bought a Holy Bull!  At least it is light for the suitcase.  Then onto a delightfully named village called Pippili where there were sweatshops and houses producing a vast array of appliqué work – vibrant colours that look marvellous here but awful at home though I did rather hanker after a red garden umbrella with black elephants appliquéd all around it.  Then I met up with a charming Tibetan man with whom I went for a swim – lots of people around and we found a lifeguard on the beach who for a sum looked after our things, watched as we braved the surf and said he had lots of safety certificates and swam well. The surf is a bit daunting when the tide is in but this evening at low tide there was very little so I must wait to swim tomorrow.  The Tibetan was born in Tibet and his family had to escape over the Himalayas in the snow when he was 5 years old.  They walked for 20 days with little more sustenance than a little flour mixed in boiling water.  The family were sent to Orissa to a camp where he was brought up.  He speaks Oria well and works here but the Canadians have given him a passport so he travels there to meet up with friends every so often. Two more days to lotus eat here…


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