Vizag Submarine Drive

It was 15^th November and we were planning for our next trip.

“Goa … Already went there last year,so little off mood for that .”

“Mahabaleshwar… Naaaa.”

“Ooty … Too commercialized.”

“Himachal Pradesh … It will be too cold and roads could be blocked.”

“Vizag and Aaraku … Has everything – beaches, island, hill station, caves, waterfall, beautiful train journey”

The endless discussions went on but finally we settled down for Vizag trip. Luckily everything was available – hotels, trains etc.

2^nd December, 2009

We took an overnight  train to Vizag. We saw many people going there for the same because of a long weekend.

3^rd December 2009

We reached Vizag at 9.30 AM and went to our hotel which was adjacent to the beach. We freshed up and had our breakfast and now we were ready to explore the city.

Since we were staying near to RK beach, we went their first. Played there a lot and taken few snaps. After that we had our lunch.

Our next point was RishiKonda beach which was outer to city around 8 KMs from RK beach (Yes 8 KM is outside the city J ). The only commuting option present is auto rickshaw. There were many resorts present on the way.The crowd at Rishikonda beach consists only of tourist. People were playing beach volleyball, boating and some people were having sun bath and reading books. There was a stretch where water was shallow (not more than 2 feet deep) and it was fun to walk in that.

Next stop was Kailasgiri Park situated above a hill which overlooks the sea. We took a cable car to the top and the view was awesome from there.The whole city lying in the valley between the sea and the hills was visible from there.

 It was a beautiful picnic spot and there was a temple with big sculpture of Shiv-Parvati. It has a huge garden with lots of eating option and there was a toy train which takes people around the Garden. The gush of winds during evening time was great and from the view point, eyeing the vast expanse of sea and land was really good. During evening time, the Sun started changing it’s color, and the sky changed from Blue to Red to Orange and then finally dark. The city then started sparkling and the road around the beach looked like a necklace. Then we came back to our hotel as we have to wake up early next morning.

4^th December 2009

My mobile alarm started crying at 5 AM and we got up early as the train to Aaraku is at 6.30 AM. In this train, seats can’t be reserved early as it’s a passenger train and run on a short gauge. We knew that the journey is of 4 hours, but when we went to the ticket counter and asked for the price, ticket was damn cheap – just 16 Rs. The auto guy who dropped us to the station took more money with respect to the train ticketJ. With some difficulty, we are able to get a window seat. We had the Idly-Wada as our breakfast. Even in this place, everybody was able to understand Hindi.

The train started and when it enters through the forest, the journey became good. There were around 35 tunnels and a dozen bridges we crossed. At Borra caves, most of the people got down, and everybody has enough space to even sleep.

our Hotel in Araku Vally

We reached Aaraku at around 11.30 AM. Aaraku is a hill station and the place consists of tribal people and around 10-12 resorts are there. We didn’t take the APTDC package, as we want few things to be on our own. So we didn’t got any hotel booking. But luckily there was space available. And the hotel was really good with garden and swimming pool and very spacious rooms. And the price here again gave us a shock – he said 1200 for a Suite and 700 for a deluxe room including complementary breakfast.

We freshed up and there were 3 restaurants in the hotel. We took the North Indian one, and had lunch there. After that, hotel guys arranged a tribal dance called “Dhimsa” by the local tribal women. 




They were asking us to join the dance and I was not able to control myself and started dancing with the women. Soon everyone started dancing with them and it was a mix of a urban-rural ladies.

 We also had our hand in archery with a real bow and arrow.

For sightseeing, there are few distant places totaling around 50 KM for a round trip, but the only travel option present is auto rickshaw. First we went to a waterfall, which was disappointing – just a 15 feet narrow stream of water. And Deepak is even able to jump across that stream. Then we went to a tribal museum and then back to hotel. It started becoming colder than Hyderabad. So we asked for more blankets.

5^th December 2009

The day was special as it was my marriage anniversary. And the climate made it awesome. It was very dense fog all around in the hotel garden and the fog was present till 11 AM. After leaving North India, we were seeing such a fog after a long time. It became exactly like a hill station of North India. We had our breakfast and then we checked out from the hotel. We thought that we are leaving Aaraku, but a surprise was waiting for me. My husband booked a tree house in a Wild Life Sanctuary. The room was small but was good and staying in a tree house gave you a very good feeling which can’t be described unless you don’t stay there. We went to Borra caves. The caves house the ancient stalacites and stalagmites formation of rocks and are a visual treat. There are natural Sivalinga formations inside which are being worshipped and the width and height of the caves is amazingly huge. We returned to our tree house after having dinner and we had a bonfire and later dance around that.

6th December 2009

 After having breakfast, we left Aaraku. We used the local buses as the train back is very late. The bus journey is through hilly region and we saw a lot of tribal villages on the way. Then after 2 hours, we came back to a hot climate and then we realized that we are reaching back to Vizag. At 1, we reached railway station and we kept our luggage in stations locker room. Our train was at night and we have full 7 hours to still enjoy the Vizag city.

We went back to RK beach, and our first stop was Kursura Submarine, an actual submarine which is now retired and kept at the beach. It looked like a big black colored whale. We went inside and were amazed to see that everything was kept intact and there was so many machineries inside that and so little space that people barely cross each other. 










The beds inside the submarine are bunk beds and the kitchen is smaller than my cubicle at office. There was a torpedo room from where torpedoes are fired. We were wondering that how people are living in submarines for 6 months.

      




  

At sunset, the beach became very cool so does the sand. There was a local man who was selling some Sea Shells and Conch shells. We bought a few of them and our trip came to an end. Reached back to the railway station to Say bye bye to Vishakhapatnam.

7^th December 2010

We reached to Hyderabad and we have to go to the office on the same day. But this trip has already recharged our battery for a long time. The trip was so amazing and so worth of money that I would suggest everyone to atleast go to Vizag once.