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A Delightful Night in the Hussle-Bussle Beach of Puri, Odisha

I have a nostalgic feeling when I think of the traditional temple town of Puri in the east coast of Odisha. I spent my early childhood days at this place with faint memories. I used to enjoy going to the beach with my parents and siblings. Things have improved a lot than what it was few decades back.

About Puri

Puri has become synonymous with Sri Jagannath temple. It is one of the char dhams and is one of the most important pilgrim places for Hindus. The small temple town lies in the East coast of Odisha near the capital city of Bhubaneswar. Puri is one of the most important tourist places / pilgrim places in Odisha with much of floating population round the year. It lies in the Golden Triangle of Odisha.

Besides visiting the temple, the tourists spend a delightful evening at the beach. The very first thing that comes to mind on visiting the beach is the crunchy crunchy spicy 'jhal moori' also known as 'masala moori' sold by the local vendors.
Even at night the beach is heavily crowded with tourists and vendors selling eatables. In the above picture you can see a local vendor selling jhal moori. If you are keen on tasting the local delicacies, then this is one of the must-eat items in the beach. You can stroll in the beach crunching the spicy 'jhal moori' - a really enjoyable one.
In the above picture you can see a local vendor selling 'rosogollas' 'cham cham', singada',  'channa puda' etc.

These are yet another local mouth-watering yummy foods which is worth mentioning. When you go to the beach at around 3.30 or 4.00 in the evening, you can find local vendors sitting in rows or moving around holding 3-step aluminium containers balanced with a bamboo rod on their shoulders.
The stuff they carry in these containers are sold like hot cakes. They carry soft soft sweet yummy 'rosogollas' and 'chum chum' and hot hot 'singadas' (i.e samosas). These items are so fresh that you can't stop yourself enjoying these foods. They give these foods in eco-friendly bowls made of dry leaf. It's so ethnic and typical of Puri beach. They also sell other sweet items like 'rajbhog', 'channa poda' etc.

After enjoying the fresh evening local snack items at Puri beach, you can see one interesting thing at this sea. Though, it is Bay of Bengal in the east coast of India, you can watch the sunset in the evening. Isn't that really unique.
As you stroll in the beach, you can see children enjoy making sand castles and other such structures with sand. After enjoying the sunset in the beach, tourists who are shopping sprees can walk down the rows of shops in the beach road. Here you will find colorful ethnic handicrafts of Odisha. There exclusive Pipli applique work shops where you can find a wide range of handicrafts.

The beach road remains busy with tourists till late night. You have to compromise with the cleanliness of the beach as the local tourists just throw everything on the sands.

Puri is a terminal station in the East Coast Railways and is directly connected with important metros like New Delhi, Mumbai Kolkatta, Tirupati etc. Being a potential tourist attraction and an important Hindu pilgrim center, there is no dearth for luxury and budget hotels.

Till late night the beach remains crowded with lights and local vendors.
For moving around in the city, you can conveniently go around in cycle rickshaws or auto rickshaws.

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