[PriyanCAR]

The teaser pic

The planning or the lack of it

We (me, my sister Prakriti, her two boys and our beloved Gina - the yellow & white ZDi+ Brezza ) had our last trip to the hills in June'16 and it was already September. 90 days of this boring , mechanical life without any plans for a trip in the near future. Oh, Shit !! This was the exact feelings that we were experiencing. So, we had to, had to, had a trip. It was ordained to be a sea beach , and I popped the idea about "Vizag", and it was literally gobbled up by everyone. The planning had to be immaculate as the number of days those could be spared was sparse due to my nephews' ongoing academic session. It was bit of a "mad-dash" , actually.
The trip was planned as below :
Day 1 : Kolkata - Puri
Day 2 : Puri - Vizag
Day 3 : Vizag - Borra Caves - Araku - Vizag
Day 4 : Exploring Vizag
Day 5 : Vizag - Kolkata

D-Day

We had intended to start at 4 AM , but, as with all of our trips, we were late ! After bidding adieu to our home at 6.30, we were on Belghoria Expressway in 5 Mins ( a great advantage of staying near a major highway ).
Every inch of tarmac from kolkata to vizag was in superb condition, but my favourite was the all-concrete Kharagpur-Balasore Expressway. There's something about tyre noise on a concrete road that's music to the ears. Alongwith that, the abundance of "Kash phool" ( wild sugarcane or kans grass) along the route was truly a sight to behold, a reminder that durga puja was round the corner.



It was around 1'o clock that we reached Puri after a thoroughly enjoyable drive. The holidays were just beginning !
Evergreen Puri
This was our 3rd vist in a year to this holy town. So, it must have been a "been there, done that", kinda thing, right ?
You wish !!! There were a couple of things , missed during our previous sojourns to this town, that definitely needed to be ticked off.
Puri has always lived upto its billing of being " Bangalir Favourite sea beach" and never failed to amaze me . This bustling sea-side town not only boasts of pristine golden beaches ( some of the best in eastern India ), but is also one of the four earthly abodes of Vishnu ( idolised here as Lord Jagannath ) with Badrinath , Dwarka and Rameshwaram completing the quartet of the "Char Dham" .
Puri was more of a stop-over for us in this trip. We did not want to undertake a marathon , non-stop drive to Vizag and thus , Puri . Anyways, who needs a reason to visit Puri ! The prime attraction for us was a visit to the light-house as we had missed out on this in our previous 2 trips ( once we were late while the second time it was under renovation ).
We had our stay booked at The Chariot Resort & Spa. The check-in was smooth and we were greeted with refreshing "welcome drinks". The property was located quite a distance from the hustle of marine drive and was to our liking. After the customary splash at the beach, it was time for lunch and then, "Mission Lighthouse".
Located on Marine Drive, Puri lighthouse offers spectacular panaromic views of the Bay of Bengal. So,would let the pictures do the talking .





The evening was whiled away near Swargadwar, having fresh sea-food and phuchka ( Paani -Puri) from the "thelawalas", searching for a stone mortar & pestle (but in vain as did not find the required one ), buying a Sambhalpuri "Gamcha" ( towel made of cotton ) and soaking in the sound, smell and mood of the pandemonium, as best as we could, to savour till our next visit. After an all veg dinner ( a rareity for us on a trip ) at Govinda's on CT Road, we retired for the day.
Bring it on , Vizag !!

Day 2

Woke up early and started loading the car ( this is the best & worst part of a road-trip wherein you check in-&-out of a hotel room almost daily). We were ready to hit the roads by 7. Once back on NH16 , it was pretty quick sailing . In fact, it requires a great deal of self-control not to overspeed on these roads. Though the roads were of superb quality, the long arrow-straight stretches seemed to be boring, yet, a couple of incidents stood out :
1. Just after crossing into Andhra Pradesh, it started raining extremely heavily reducing the visibility to nil. Parked the car by the side of the road and waited for the rains to subside. Delay caused = 30 mins.
2. Saw a KA registered Ertiga, with a Team-BHP sticker on it, zoom past us. Tried to keep pace with it, but in vain. The driving of the Ertiga seemed to be a real-life iteration of a well-played video game. AMAZING !!

Reached Vizag at around 1.30 pm and had no difficulty in finding our stay, Sai Priya Beach Resort near Rushikonda. It's a sprawling property right on the beach.



We had our lunch at APTDC Haritha, Rushikonda. It not only is a great VFM option for delicious Andhra Food ( the Chicken 65 is a must try ), but also offers spectacular views of the hills and the sea in the same frame. Definitely recommended.



It was now time to visit the submarine museum (the first in South Asia) near RK Beach. The museum is actually a retrofit on INS Kursura, one of the earliest submarines to be inducted into the Indian Navy. Retired naval personnels serve as guides and provide an excellent insight into the functionalities of a submarine and the life of the crew underwater.







We spent the rest of the evening at RK Beach, munching knick-knacks and absorbing the mood of the city. The fact which merits a special mention is that the traffic of this city is the most disciplined I have ever seen, anywhere in the country. We had dinner at our resort (which turned out to be quite pricey yet incredibly awful) and called it a day.
The mystical Araku and famed "bamboo chicken " awaited us.

Araku, Borra Caves & Bamboo Chicken


This was the day for our drive to Borra Caves and Araku Valley. As usual , we started early and were soon munching up the miles .
Our first stop for the day was the Borra Caves. The caves are limestone structures developed over millions of years and are considered to be the deepest in India. In fact, there is a point inside the cave where a rail line is supposed to pass over the ceiling of the caves. The experience inside the caves was simply magical . As we were about to exit the caves, it started raining cats and dogs . Delay caused = 45 mins.




And now, it was time for "Bamboo Chicken". Pieces of chicken, marinated in rustic Andhra spices, filled inside the cavity of bamboo and cooked over slow burning charcoal. HEAVENLY !!!! We had our entire lunch with this while the weather of the place was just the perfect condiment.




It was already past 4PM and we started our drive towards Araku. The drive was awesome , to say the least. We reached Araku, had a brief session of photoshoots and started our descent at dusk.



We arrived in the city and headed straight towards Paradise, for our dose of Hyderabadi Biryani. We were a regular of Paradise during our time in Hyderabad, and their unit in Vizag did not let us down. The food was truly, WOW !!!


Hyderabadi Mutton Biryani spread along with mirchi ka salan , plain raita and salad


Chicken 65


Apollo Fish


Qubani Ka Meetha

While handing over the car to me, the valet at the restaurant was surprised to notice that we had driven down all the way from Kolkata.

We returned to our resort and had a stroll near the beach before hitting the bed. We would be exploring Vizag the next day !

Our Tryst with Vizag

This was gonna be a relaxed day for us. The plan for the day was visits to Kailasagiri Hills, Dolphin's Mouth, Visaka Container Terminal, a nearby fishing village, a Go-karting track , Rushikonda Beach and anything else that we might discover.

Kailasagiri Hills

Located atop a small hillock overlooking the Bay of Bengal, Kailasagiri Hills' claim to fame are the enormous Shiva-Parvati statues. It also includes a small amusement park. The major attraction is a ropeway ride to the base of the hills and back.

Visaka Container Terminal

Could only manage to have a glimpse of the container terminal from the outside as entry is restricted.



Fishing Village

Visited the fishing village near the container terminal



Dolphin's Nose Lighthouse

It was a beautiful drive to dolphin's nose but the lighthouse was unfortunately closed for the day. Our jinx with lighthouses continue.

We were famished and headed for a sumptuous lunch at Delicacies

Now, it was time for some "Go-Karting" action at HUB FOR YOUTH, a fun park situated on the beach road towards the famous Bheemili beach.



After an adrenaline-filled session, it was time to relax at the Rushikonda beach, followed by dinner at Haritha Hotel and ice-cream on Beach Road near RK Beach. Our Vizag escapade was nearing completion.

The Homing Beacon

Started at 7.30 AM ( later than planned ) from Vizag and was cruising on NH16 in no time. Reached Cuttack at around 2.30 pm and had lunch at BPCL - COCO at Chandikhole. It was our last chance to gorge on Chicken 65, which was almost our staple diet for the entire trip. Left Chandikhole after a 90 minute break and again, it was business as usual on NH16. But as luck would have it, was stuck behind serpentine queue of trucks near the OD-WB border at Jaleshwar. Henceforth, the journey was uneventful. Reached home and parked the car at 11PM with the trip odometer reading 2345 Kms, thus bringing the curtains down on a very memorable trip.

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Travelogues Section. Thanks for sharing!

[yogesh.8984]

Nice travelogue! Thanks for sharing.

Food looked yummy and pictures awesome. Did you drive alone or someone else also shared steering wheel during the course?

[siddarthab]

Lovely travelogue and pictures PriyanCAR. This is also on my to-do list. Thanks for sharing.

Warm regards,

Siddhartha

[PriyanCAR]

Originally Posted by yogesh.8984

Nice travelogue! Thanks for sharing.

Food looked yummy and pictures awesome. Did you drive alone or someone else also shared steering wheel during the course?

The food indeed tasted even better.
I am fortunate to have my sister as a co-driver and the wheel was shared almost equally !

Originally Posted by siddarthab

Lovely travelogue and pictures PriyanCAR. This is also on my to-do list. Thanks for sharing.

Warm regards,

Siddhartha

Vizag is truly a great place to visit, almost any time during the year !

[ALTIMAed]

Last year, My wife, my 2 year old kid and myself made a trip from Kolkata to Vizaq. We stayed at APTDC Rushkonda. The rooms are very spacious, but keep in mind, the stairs to the room are considerably steep and could pose a problem for the elderly. Food there was good, according to me, but my wife just could not tolerate it. Hence, most of our meals was taken at Sai Resort.

I too found Vizaq, neat, clean and traffic well disciplined. Did not get the chance to visit Araku Valley, next time hopefully.

[AJ-got-BHP]

Hi PriyanCar, a very warm welcome to the Team-BHP Forum and congrats on sharing your debut travelogue !!

The name of the travelogue sounded very interesting and I was looking forward to a picturesque travelogue with more pictures of the BREZZA. However, though the travelogue is crisp, I think it is too short and I would have liked some more pictures. Thanks for sharing anyways and keep sharing more travelogues in the future.

[PriyanCAR]

Originally Posted by ALTIMAed

Last year, My wife, my 2 year old kid and myself made a trip from Kolkata to Vizaq. We stayed at APTDC Rushkonda. The rooms are very spacious, but keep in mind, the stairs to the room are considerably steep and could pose a problem for the elderly. Food there was good, according to me, but my wife just could not tolerate it. Hence, most of our meals was taken at Sai Resort.

I too found Vizaq, neat, clean and traffic well disciplined. Did not get the chance to visit Araku Valley, next time hopefully.

We stayed in aptdc rushikonda as an overnight halt during our Hyderabad trip but had to check out in the middle of the night, due to an abundance of BEDBUGS !!

Originally Posted by AJ-got-BHP

Hi PriyanCar, a very warm welcome to the Team-BHP Forum and congrats on sharing your debut travelogue !!

The name of the travelogue sounded very interesting and I was looking forward to a picturesque travelogue with more pictures of the BREZZA. However, though the travelogue is crisp, I think it is too short and I would have liked some more pictures. Thanks for sharing anyways and keep sharing more travelogues in the future.

Thanks for the suggestions Arav Da and it's duly noted !! I would definitely try to be more elaborate in my further travelogues. A lot of pictures from this trip were lost as my mobile was stolen within a week of coming back to kolkata and unfortunately the photos were not backed up to the cloud .