480 km travel today, which is slightly more than what I am happy doing in a day. What served as an immense boost was the superb condition of the national highways in Andhra, be it NH16 which runs from Kolkata to Chennai, or its younger brother NH216, which we used for 100 km since we made a diversion to Suryalanka beach. While NH16 is a full-fledged 3-lane expressway with service roads, NH216 was a 2-lane highway running from Suryalanka to Ongole. In both cases, the maintenance was immaculate and traffic very predictable and disciplined. I drove at 100 kmph for around 150 km with no stoppages or slowing down. Purbanchal expressway or the Delhi-Mumbai expressway are newbies compared to the highways of the south, who have been carrying traffic with buttery aplomb for ages. Today also our POA of stoppages were like the last two days: Leave Guntur at 7.00 am. Breakfast at Suryalanka beach at 9.00 am. Coffee on the way at 11.00 am. Lunch near Nellore at 2.00 pm. Tea break at 4.0...
A month long travel through the southern states of India.