Dakshin Mahayatra

Today's journey of 410 km from Vizag to Guntur was simply a step in the direction of Chennai. Another jump tomorrow will take us there (Kolkata to Cuttack was the hop of the hop-step-and-jump). Why Guntur? To answer this would require the same level of wit and presence of mind as answering the question: Why Cuttack? Well, last time we had broken journey at Vijaywada and didn't want to repeat it. Could have been Amaravati also, or Suryalanka, but Guntur seemed a big enough city with a decent hotel on the NH16. Our POA was mapped out. Leave at 7.00 am after a sip of the bright-and-early, break for brekker around 9.00 am, break for tea at 11.00 am, break for lunch at 2.00 pm, reach hotel at 4.00 pm. Good planning? Periodic refreshment and blood circulation ensured. We will see how that went. Meanwhile, here are a few pics of us on the way. We crossed two big rivers today - Godavari and Krishna. Bre...

This was a day purely devoted to Vizag sightseeing, and the net threw up a number of options of beaches, museums and temples. We also found that the city was practically divided by a canal and places like the Dolphin Nose Lighthouse, Yarada beach etc were around an hour away, whereas we were staying in the Rishikonda/ RK Beach area. Simhachalam temple An hour away from our hotel, moving away from the seaside, this Vishnu temple (Narsimha avatar) is located on a small hill of 800m, architecturally beautiful and with a good view of the city. But like in most temples, there is a rule of no chappals and no cellphones. So I could not venture deep inside the campus as I need my chappals for my diabetic feet (health of sole is more important than health of soul). Panna sort of believes in 'I click therefore I was'. So we took an external gander, had some delicious medu vadas and coffee, and drove down the hill and onward to Dolphin Nose Lighthouse. ...

👆ini 😂 We had slated a day run of 440 km today, pushing off from Cuttack at 6.30 am, after our morning cuppa. We decided we h uikkkj7ijj iu ijjjjjkkkkjij9uwill break for brekker after 3 hours, at Rambha. Why there, pray? Firstly because it is supposKol ed to be a pretty place, nestling on the wei8iíj9stern bank of the Chilika lake. Secondly, I wanted to just look in on the place that was in my options for night stay (instead of Cuttack) and I wanted to see what I had missed, just because I would have been required to drive another 3 hours. Lunch break was a roadside Andhra dhaba. I remember that in my previous travel blog, I had complained like the dickens regarding AP food, especially the chilly powder content, but I was pleasantly surprised by this thali of simple sticky rice, daal, two sabjis of cabbage and ashgourd and curd. Just a hint of chilly and very tasty (VFM for Rs 100/-).