Bhimavaram - Vizag - araku trip

Staying out of the country for a while, I always dreamt of a trip as soon as i go back to home.....yup the day has finally arrived and 'YES' Iam back to India after a tiring/ boring trip of KSA for the first time.

Stuck to hell lot of things heading back home, but never forgot to purchase a car as soon as i landed in my hometown (bhimavaram-West Godavari)... of course tried for many and finally opted to MARUTHI SWIFT VXi in the end as it is an already proven car ....Wow ... awesome feeling/ experience to ride a Swift ... it really Swifts :)

My friends Sammet, Vaishu, Daph, Hemanth planned for this trip . So got my vehicle serviced and packed all the luggage... As three(sammet, vaishu, Daph) of us will be joining in vizag(from hyderabad) thought i would be having a boring journey all the way to vizag but thanks to my buddy Hemanth for joining me luckily in the last moment...

Thought of heading to highway(NH-5) asap but unfortunately got some work on the way and chose BVRM - AMP - KKD - (kattipudi) - VZG route. yup its a bit long route but mainly traffic will be low and roads are gud. Started at 9:30 PM in the night and headed to Amalapuram ... its hardly a 1.5 hr journey, had nice biryani and went to a quick sleep after reaching there.

Woke up early in the morning... around 4:30 AM and headed towards Kattipudi to meet the highway....Woooo went crazy to drive early in the morning.... Now I got to know why some people like to drive in the early mornings... Had awefull nice drive ... maintaining 120 at its best ...( New car right..So no speeding). It was a bit long journey as we had some bad road after kakinada , almost 20 kms ....

Got to kattipudi....and entered the Highway lane and vrrrrrrommm .... speedo was almost hanging around 130 very simply and I cant resist beyond that.... just got the first service done for my baby...
Speeding all the way to Vizag..we reached the city of steel around 9:00 AM and joined our guys at the Hotel (Beach rd). Took some rest and got refreshed at the Hotel and straight away to Daspalla for a good lunch... Got to Kailasa giri and reached the top through the rope way.... Nice thrilling experience but not the best rope ways..as it the only one available :) joyed..njoyed at kailasagiri till the dawn...oops this is the time where my Nikon D5000 has got some really nice job ... yup had hell lot of pics at kailasagiri... Got down through the same rope way and had a awesome ginger tea at a mobile tea stall :) pranking jokes on each other.
Gals insisted on going to beach... y not? its vizag and the best place for hang out are beaches...so as it was almost dark we went to RK beach opting out Rushikonda... Had some good time there for couple of hrs ... fun part is i lost one of my chappal where one strong tide took it away....almost searching everwhere on the shore for that.. and suddenly sammet spotted it coming in one of the tides.... quickly grabbed it and never been into sea after that :) Few of us want to shop few things and the new place for this is now Vizag central..... almost visited all the shops and back to hotel with loads of shopping.... Thanks to the remaining boot space in my car even after a SONY EXPLOD Woofer.....

Who the hell would sleep in a trip like this .. We chatted for hrs and had a small nap for the next day drive... Woke up early in the morning... had breakfast at Dwaraka Hotel (tasty tiffins available there) Refilled full tank in the car and Jet set gooooo... to Araku....
Need to go to NAD Kotha Rd Junction and should take right if heading to the highway from vizag.. and the straight rd to Araku is all the way.... and the real thrill for a drive is when you enter the ghat.... hmmmmm what a drive all the way to araku on the hills(ghats) .. It is my best drive till date... and My car is njoying it tooo as felt from the steering :) urging for more ...and never saying NO from the power perspective...

Anyways ... On the way is the Ananthagiri waterfalls and thought of covering it now itself... so need to board a Jeep..be very careful in bargaining with them... and we hired one for a reasonable price..dont actually remember. The Journey in the Jeep is spellbounding .... I completely agree Jeeps are the best offroading vehicles... After getting out of the Jeep we need to walk almost 2 kms to the point and of course it would be apt to call trekking rather than walking.. :) Ultimately when you reach the destination you can find a wonderful waterfall at the top ... worth watching.... but be careful as it can be slippery at times coz of continous water flow.
As Borra caves is next to it.. just before Araku, we never regreted in saying NO... On the mark...oops we were already there.... entrance fee...guess it is 100 per member... but worth watching... we were accompanied by a couple who are newly married... so all together spent really nice time @ Borra caves ... Only one thing we forgot is Lunch..... and every one is hungry and relentlessly wants to reach Araku to have something in their bellies :) Amazing Rd from Borra to Araku.... No one can share the wheel to anyone if they are crazy behind them...
Enquired all the Hotels and finally decided to stay @ Pragathi Resorts (AP Tourism)... Quite good resort to see, stay but definetly not to eat... and the room service is disgusting... No one turns up for the service even after hrs.... anyways we had a good dinner and chatted/ poked for long time...
Woke early in the morning and this is the real beauty that anyone shouldn't miss.... the fresh early fragnance of Araku valley would almost make u adorable with its beauty and make u think of staying there :) cupid at times ...:) Went for a small photo walk with Daph in the resort and it was exciting with a cup of tea :) Myself and sis had breakfast just opposite to resort and it was tasty ..talking to the aunt at the tiffin center... we found out that she cooks for cinema ppl who comes there for shooting and we thought of trying it ... and yummy it was a typical telugu NATUKODI pulusu....... we gave the order and left to hotel.
Never eat in the resort .... bad breakfast but had something in the morning... everyone is very interested in having a swim in the pool..so y say NO!!! got into the suits and jumped into the swimming pool...Jai Bhimavaram nd thank GOD it was not so deep or else ??????? ...Overall njoyed to the max in the pool..learning to swim... and having fun :)
Back to the room ... when i saw from window felt bad for my car as it was looking ugly....so spent some time in cleaning some part of the it before the take off..... we thought of visiting CHAPARAIE....and on the way just outskirts of araku we had lunch at a restaurant.

Reached chaparaie.... journey is good with lot of scenic beauties... lakes...hills... etc.. We njoyed lot of time there and of course hell lot of pics ... We again drove back to araku with many stop overs for the pics and by the time we are back its almost dark and we gave a try to visit padmapuram gardens in the dark.... no passers by and it was just us going in a small car surrounded by tall trees making the gals frightened :) We reached the park and as expected it is closed ... but managed to get inside the park and sit in the complete darkness having good chat ... went around in the car and found the Jungle hanging resorts inside the park...and Hope they are good as per the local feedback..May be next time we will try that :)
Back to Araku.... Had relishing Tea at the bus stand and drove back to the resort..... as the NATUKODI pulusu is waiting for us.... Back to room...got refreshed and got the curry from the aunty....and and and..... hmmm what a curry.... ate till it was impossible and everyone was struggling to sit even.... still there was some curry left so.. we thought of going on a small walk and offer the curry to anyone.... so myself,sammet and vaishu started off in the chilling night for a small walk and it was really amazing....

Woke Up early in the morning again...and headed to Bhimavaram at a complete strech... a bit of stopovers till araku, ultimately for the photographs...and those were the highlight pics of the trip... Had breakfast at ananthagiri and headed off to vizag and then the same old route kattipudi - KKD (had lunch) - Yanam - Amalapuram( spent some time at my home place) - Bhimavaram....
In the return journey managed to get my car to 150+ with 5 ppl in and luggage..... Now iam in complete fida with swift..... I can recommend u having it irrespective of the version.
It was already 9 PM when we reached home and luckily my frnds had managed to have food prepared by mom and board the train on time ( of course its late by 15 mins that day) ... sending off to them ... its end of the trip and end of the story... Catch u again in next trip..

-KALYAN