Vizag -> Guntur (31.10.24)

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.

Breakfast at roadside (9.02 am)

I have always maintained that the best breakfast, especially in the south, is available at the micro stalls run by families. The lady of the house is the prime mover, and in this case, ably assisted by the young daughter Bharathi, who is quite comfortable speaking in English, thank you kindly! Lovely plate of idlis, with Panna splurging on some bondas as well, all for a princely sum of Rs 60/-.

Coffe at Araku Coffee (10.55 am)

We realised after stopping here - purely by the clock, I assure you - that this was the exact place we had stopped during our monsoon_mahayatra on the way to Vijaywada! They serve lovely filter coffee; Araku Valley coffee is quite famous of course. An energising break indeed.

Lunch at Relax Food Court (2.12 pm)

This was a hep-looking joint which looked like it was serving all manners of cuisines, and pretty upmarket at that. But guess what we ended up having? Not our fault that they were serving an authentic Diwali Andhra thali for just Rs 189/- (see menu below). Seriously, who can resist something called 'Tomato Pappu'? This trip, I have thoroughly revised upward my opinion of Andhra cooking. Nice tiny samples, starting with gunpowder and ghee, and ending with payasam. We had ordered some spicy prawn as well, but packed it up for dinner.

Pardon me friends, for talking so much food today, but on some days, these are the only memorable things that happen.

Hotel Atlantis Resort & Spa @ Guntur (4.10 pm)

We had chosen a hotel away from the main city, almost on NH16, so that we can be prepared for a quick getaway in the morning. Nice neat place, where we checked in, dived into bed, and refused to move. Dinner in the room, as usual.

Tomorrow we leave for Chennai.

Meanwhile, wishing everyone Happy Diwali from Guntur (never thought I will say such a thing!)

Local at Vizag (30.10.24)

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.

Dolphin Nose Lighthouse

We travelled inward to seaside Vizag once again, sticking to the west side of the creek (which actually widens into a natural harbor for Vizag docks and shipbuilding). The lighthouse is open only 3-5 pm, and we hit it at 12 noon, after climbing a small hill. Requests for opening the gate fell on deaf ears, and the most dedicated rubbernecking did not yield a glimpse of the lighthouse inside. So we left in a huff and carried on to Yarada beach nearby (pic of lighthouse below is from the net).

Yerada beach

There are a couple of beaches on this stretch of Vizag, but they were reached by going downhill again through narrow steep roads and a congested village. We has guessed that this beach might not be very crowded, and we were partly right. Not many tourists, but a lot of fishermen going about their business, a major part of it was directing a boat out at sea, reaching out a rope to them, then hauling on the rope like a dedicated tug-of-war team, with lots of shouted directions and encouragements. We thought a rescue effort was going on and maybe the boat was not being able to come back to shore negotiating the huge waves that were relentlessly rolling in, but that was not the case. The rope pullers were simply helping the boatmen to spread out their net in the sea. Panna said 'They were not fighting for their lives but for their living.' How apt!

We had a simple lunch once again, and Panna was thrilled with her Hyderabadi biriyani. I had a very satisfactory veg thali. The food was only slightly spicy, but what made us sweat was the weather (feels like 37) and the power cut in the area.

Ramakrishna beach

We returned to our hotel for a bit of R&R, and attacked our end of the beaches around 5 pm. Rishikonda beach to our left, we had already seen on our last visit in July, so we went right side to the equally famous RK beach.

The trouble about beaches in Vizag is that bathing is allowed only in Rishikonda beach. We thought we would spend some time here then go across to Rishikonda for a proper bath (Panna that is; I am not much of a sea-bather). But in RK beach itself, Panna got her dose of wetness, wedged between some rocks for safety. We spent an hour on the darkening beach, then picked up a couple of rolls for dinner, back at the hotel.

That closes our Vizag chapter. Tomorrow we leave for Guntur.

Cuttack -> Rambha -> Vizag (29.10.24)

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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/-).