My First SUP Lesson in India

I didn't know what to expect when I arrived in Orrisa. Since the day the plane landed in Mumbai life had been hectic. Whether I was wearing inappropriate attire, losing hotel keys, receiving fines from corrupt police officers, or swimming into green hair, something seemed to be going wrong. It could have been worse though, I was having tons of fun, and my Hobie Torque and Quickblade paddles continuously made it to all of my destinations unscathed. Life was good. The plane landed in Bubaneshwar, which was about 2 hours away from my destination somewhere along a desolate stretch of beach between Konark and Puri on the east coast of India. It was different here already. Driving anywhere in India is an experience in itself, but it was a little less life threatening here. (Although, it doesn't bother me anymore wherever I go, I've developed a tolerance. It's part of my training to maintain proper heart rate). The drive meandered through rice farms and small towns on a well paved street lined with tall palms. Each town looks identical and usually has more cows than people. Although, plastic trash was present, it was not as abundant as it was in the cities. After settling into my accommodations and surfing for an entire afternoon in ridiculous monsoon waves I visited the Surfing Yogis. They introduced me to a couple from Mumbai who were on vacation in the area and wanted to try Stand Up Paddling. The plan was to get together the next day and paddle down the river together. They we