My recent trip to Araku Valley

It is time to head to the Araku Valley. Though the valley enjoys the moderate weather throughout the year, the best time to visit Araku is in between October and February.  The weather during this season is very pleasant – there is a chill in the air and a dense fog in the mornings. The fields around can be slowly visible into a yellow blanket once the fog settles down.

Araku valley is a hill station located at a distance of 120 KM from Visakhapatnam. It’s a beautiful valley nestled in the Eastern Ghats, which has numerous waterfalls and breathtaking views.

The journey to the Araku valley is most enjoyable. We went by our new XUV500 along with our friend’s family. They joined us in Guntur. We started from Guntur at around 11 AM and reached Vizag by 7:30 in the evening that includes various  stoppages. It was a pleasure to drive on NH – 16. We stopped at Tanuku for lunch. I called up one of my friends and he recommended JK Restaurant in Tanuku, which is 1 KM off the high way. The food was reasonably good. We checked into the APTDC’s Yatri Nivas on Beach Road, MVP colony, Vizag at around 8:30 PM. After having a quick shower, we all left for a dinner at my friend’s house, which is around 20 min drive from our hotel. I met Rajeshwarai after 16 years! She prepared a lavish dinner, which was no less than the dinner I had at Fortune, Vizag last year. Ashok (Rajeshwari’s husband) is a kind of person with whom the strangers can also feel comfortable within no time. Frankly speaking, we did not realize that it was 11:30 in the night. We left the place and tried for some coffee near the beach at that time, but in vain.

We woke up early the next day. I went to the beach to see the sun rise and I was lucky! I saw people coming in their 2 or 4-wheelers ,  parking them near the beach and then taking the bicycles from there. The vehicles were not allowed beyond a point during certain hours in the morning as a measure to encourage people do cycling. I like that initiative by GVMC. After having a quick breakfast, we checked out the hotel at 9 AM and started our journey to Araku at around 9:30 AM.  The drive through the winding ghat roads was terrific. One can smell the aroma of coffee from the plantations across the valley. We reached APTDC’s Hill Resort at around 12:30 after noon. I strongly recommend Hill resort over the Valley resort, both operated by AP Tourism. We checked into the rooms that were well kept .We quickly planned for the rest of the day. Though there were not many options for lunch, it was good.

Dumbriguda Chaaparai

We started with Chaaparai, which is around 15 KM from Araku on the way to Paderu. Chaparai is scenic with water falls surrounded with forest.One can experience the beauty of water gushing through natural rocks.

As soon as we reached the place, we saw a young man running and shouting for help. Just then one of his friends drowned into the water. Several people rushed to the spot but no one dared to jump into the water. We felt really sad for the one who drowned. Another friend in their group was managed to come back. It looks very dangerous and locals told that there are quite a few whirlpools. It is better not to enter into water flow area during rainy season as the water current will be high and dangerous.

You have to take your own vehicle or hire a taxi from Araku to see this place. 

Padmapuram gardens

We went to Padmapuram gardens, which is famous for its tree top cottages. We enjoyed the toy train in the garden. Probably, this was my 3^rd time in that garden and it is sad to see that the garden is not being maintained well. We did not take any pictures here as the light was already failed. It is better to plan to be here in the morning or wrap up by 4:30 PM in the winters. The garden usually closes by 5:30 PM.

We came back to the hill resort. After having dinner, we went for a walk, but the valley was already sleeping. There is not much to do shopping in Araku, but you can enjoy the panoramic views of the valley and if you are a nature lover, there are a plenty of activities for you.

Dhimsa and Dinner

We had a private Dhimsa dance with camp fire followed by a dinner. It was a nice experience. There was a small crowd around the camp fire. The temperatures were as low as 5C.

 

 

Galikonda View Point

We started our day 3 with some group pictures followed by a nice breakfast. Later on, we went to Galikonda view point. It is a picture taking spot with some stunning views of the valley in the background.  From there, we went to Borra Caves.

Borra Caves

These are million year old caves. The cave is the biggest in India in terms of the area it has spread. The entry fee for adults is INR 40 and for kids it is INR 30. For still and video camera, you have to pay a little extra. If you have the external flash, you can try taking some pictures inside the caves, but they don’t come as good as you might expect. There is a APTDC restaurant in front of the caves, but literally there are not many options except plain rice, a curry and rasam.

Katiki Waterfalls

You will be stopped by several jeep drivers on your way to the Borra caves. They offer you a trip to Katiki water falls. We parked our vehicle and took a commander jeep to go to the Katiki water falls. They typically charge 150 rupees per person on a shared basis. But, we hired a jeep for our own and we paid 1000 rupees for round trip. It was an 8 – KM drive on a muddy and a bumpy road. The road will pass through a forest alongside of the Gosthani river. Jeep will take you near to the railway track and from there, you have to trek about a kilometer to reach the spectacular waterfalls.  There are some local shops on the way, where you can find corn and bamboo chicken. You need to be extra careful while trekking to the waterfall.

We came back to our hill resort and had some tea. In the evening, we went for some shopping. It was very chilling and we enjoyed that weather.

Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed our trip. It was one of the most memorable trips that I had in the recent times. The GPS in XUV500 helped us a lot and I should write at least a couple of words about that vehicle. It is very powerful and one cannot feel tired even after driving several hours. I covered about 2500 kilometers in less than a week.

Thanks for reading and I wish you all many memorable drives.

You can see more pictures at:
https://picasaweb.google.com/109037157987225477677/DiwaliVacation?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCMKnhrzpheH2uwE&feat=directlink

Written and Camera by Sasi Adiraju
saadiraju@yahoo.com
facebook.com/saadiraju
 

My Recent flight experience to the US

Travelling alone is never a fun, unless you want to utilize it as an opportunity to do some introspection or you want to convert it into your personal time.

I started another trip to the US, first in this year. I started from Hyderabad on a Saturday morning. The flight took off on time and the inflight entertainment was good. I watched a movie “The Switch’ and it was a good drama. The flight landed in Heathrow on time and I had a plenty of time to board my next flight to Chicago. I was just hanging around and taking some pictures of the Heathrow airport. Then, I boarded into the flight to Chicago, which was on time. The food that is served in the flight was good. I had some good sleep as well. The flight arrived into O’Hare, Chicago by 30 minutes late. The ground staff gave an express transfer tag and that helped me in expediting the immigration queue. I was at the gate at 8:15 PM and the American Airlines is scheduled to leave at 8:45 PM.

The flight got delayed by 30 mins and from there on, it gets delayed by hour by hour and so on. Finally at around 12 in the night, there was an announcement that the flight to Chicago was cancelled. They gave us a hotel voucher and the boarding pass to the next day morning’s flight. I went out of the airport to take a shuttle to the hotel. It was very cold outside and I waited there for about half an hour for the shuttle to come. I got into the hotel at around 1 AM and tried to sleep for few hours. I did not want to rely on the alarm and went back to the airport by 5:45 AM.

There was a big queue at the security check and it took a while to pass through it. I went to the gate by 6:30 AM and the departure was showing that the Flight is on time. I was happy that I will be in KC by 9 AM or so, hoping that I could take some rest. But, this flight too got delayed by an hour. The gate was opened and we got into the flight. Then, the crew asked us to go back and remain seated as there was some technical problem in starting the engine! Everyone in the flight was scared. I went back to the gate and they called us after 30 mins, so finally we got into the fight and it took off  everyone was clapping and treating it as a most awaiting moment in their lives. We were told that the flight will arrive into KC by 9:45 AM. At around 9:30 AM, the captain announced that the visibility is very poor and he will keep trying to land hoping the weather would improve. He went in circles for about 20 mins and finally announced that they are going to land us in St. Louis. I arrived into St. Louis at 10 AM. There I waited for about 3 hours only to hear that this flight also got cancelled. Everyone was upset. We got and luggage back on the belt and de-boarded. I was so sick of waiting any more. I decided to take a rental car and drive to KC. There were a couple of other passengers who wanted to join me. I took the car from AVIS and drove all the way to KC. It was raining heavily and the conditions were not that good to drive, especially after a long flight and the amount of mental agony that I gone through.

I finally reached the hotel and checked into it at around 12 in the night. I decided not to go to work on the next day and wanted to take a complete rest to be in a better shape for Tuesday morning.

This is the 2nd such bad experience in my last 3 visits, and this instance in particular is very rough. The only relief part of this entire journey was that, I did not miss the luggage.

Kumarakom - a trip to God's Own Country

What brought back us to Kerala is not only its easy going and relaxed nature but also the fact that it is God's own country.

We started our vacation with our first stop at Mahabalipuram, which is now famous for its spectacular Shore Temple (We were in Chennai for a couple of days before we left for Kerala and we made a trip to Mahabalipuram in one of those days). This is our second time in Mahabalipuram,the full display of marvellous sculptures has pulled us again to visit this beaufiful place. You can see the waves thrashing against the wall of the shore temple, which is surrounded by Nandi Bulls overlooking the sea.When we walked down the streets, we found a number of sculptors fully engaged in stone carving. In the return, we stopped at Adayar Ananda Bhavan near Mahabalipuram for lunch. We reached Chennai by 4 PM. In the evening, we went to Express Avenue, a shopping mall that has come up recently. Sumu bought a lightning Mc Queen for himself and he was very happy with that car.

Next day morning, we went to Pondy Bazar, which is famous for shopping clothes and jewellery. We went to Chennai Silks and RMKV and did some shopping.

In the evening, we took the train to Kottayam. We arrived in Kottayam at 7:30 AM, the next day. Kottayam, the first town in India to achieve 100% literary is an important commercial center for the near by tiny villages. We took a taxi to go to Kumarakom. The road was really in a bad shape and it took 1 hour to reach there, which is 20 Kms away. We went straight to the Green Garden Homes. This time, we have selected the option of home stay. We waited in the reception for a couple of hours to have our room ready. It was very quiet and serene.
We got ready in an hour and went to the dining hall for lunch. After having lunch, we took a car to see in and around Kottayam.

First, we went to St.Orthodox Church of Cheriapally (which means small church). This is one of the old churches that still exist in its near original state. This church has an impressive facade and 400-year old vegetable dye paintings on the ceiling and walls.These paintings are as old as the church. The wood work is remarkable. Nilavilakku, which was placed in the middle of the church is a fine piece of work. From there, we went to Thirukkara Shiva temple. We waited until the temple was opened at 5 PM. This temple was built in typical Keralan architecture. It is well known for its tradional Kutiyattam. We returned back by 7 PM. After having some tea, we relaxed in the quite atmosphere of the sleepy little Kumarakom.

Next day, we woke up early, had breakfast and we were planning for the day. We planned to have a day cruise in the houseboat. Christmas is the peak season with lot of tourists and obviously the prices were sky rocketing. The receptioninst enquired some travel people and told us that a 4-hour day cruise costs 10000 rupees. I observed the other families who were staying in the homestay were also making enquiries for house boat. I immediately gathered those 2 other families and worked out a shared model. We later went to the receptionist and negotiated for 12000 that included welcome drink, lunch, tea and snacks during the 5 hour day cruise through the huge vembanad lake.A car had come to pick us up and transferred us to the boat jetty. There we saw a lot of house boats stationed. The house boats are very huge in size and have all the facilities like Dish TV, AC bed rooms(s), kitchen, dining area etc.We saw the rice boats and small ships plying in these back waters, carrying bananas, coconuts and spices to other places for trading. It was surpsing to see that even today, these waterways are playing a major role for trading in the state. We stopped at some point to take some break. We had some coconut water,it was very expensive in the land of coconuts.
We had our lunch and we were surprised to know that it was the cook's first cooking experience, ofcourse it was shown in the food. We some how managed and continued to explore the back waters. I took lot of pictures with my Nikon D60. The weather was perfect for photography. At around 4 PM, we had our snacks (bananas fried in coconut oil)and Tea. Suddenly, the weather got changed. It became cloudy and started raining, we were almost done by then. We returned by 6 PM. It was an incredibly different experience to cruise in the back waters in house boat, absorbing the beauty of the villages. After having another tea, I went for a walk. It was so dark and there were no street lights on the road.

Next day, I thought of visiting the 16 acre bird sanctuary, another major attraction in Kumarakom. I was told that there were no birds and the migratory birds can be found during summer. So, I dropped the idea of going inside and came back to the room. The cook served us the Kerala Special breakfast. It was good. We just stayed home and watched the highlights of India vs South Africa test cricket match. We had an early lunch and were ready to checkout. The receptionist came with another breaking news and she told us that the taxi drivers were in an indefinite strike since last night and there were no taxis available. We were shocked. We had to board our train from Aleppey to go to Trivandrum in the evening and the journey from Kumarakom to Aleppey is about 90 mins. Somehow, we were able to get a car and reached Aleppey. We waited for more than 2 hours to board the Janashatabdi train. We arrived in Trivandrum at around 9 PM. There was no power in Pavan's flat, where everyone else had. We tried various options and one person helped us in locating the mains in the cellar and we found that the mains were turned off.

Next day morning, I went to see if we can get any bus ticket to go to Chennai. All the buses were booked.Our train ticket from Trivandrum to Chennai was in Waiting List 1 and 2 since last 2 weeks, and from Chennai we have a confirmed flight to go to Hyderabad. In the evening, we went to Sankhumugam beach near Trivandrum airport. The major attraction near the beach is 'Matsya Kanyaka', a gigantic 35 m long sculpture of a mermaid. Sumu enjoyed a lot in the beach. The beach was very neat but crowded, may be due to the new year eve. I wanted to see the sunset but in vain. All of a sudden, it started raining. We rushed home. There was a huge traffic congestion, but surprisingly people were following the lanes and very disciplined. I found the city is very clean and has the walkways for most of the roads. I'm very impressed. We saw the fireworks from the balcony at the zero hour. Late in the night, I took a decision to book a direct flight from Cochin to Hyderabad for 1st of January and cancelled the waitlisted train ticket and confirmed flight ticket from Chennai.

The new year started interestingly. Early in the morning, I went to the Kerala RTC booking counter and booked a ticket for 10:30 AM Ernakulam bus. Later we went to Anantha Padmanabha Swamy temple. There was a huge rush due to the New Year day. We had a quick darshan and reached home by 10 AM. It was a rush hour, we locked the house and reached the bus station by 10:45, and we missed the bus. We took the 11 AM bus as there was no other option. Since we were already 30 mins behind, I started making enquiries with the driver and conductor. They told me that the journey to Ernakulam will take 6 hours. I was upset, it would be 5 PM if we continue in this bus and the flight will depart at 5:40(The journey from Ernakulam bus station to the Cochin airport itself is more than an hour). I called up some taxi drivers and also took the help of my fellow passenger and quickly assessed the situation. We decided to get down at Kollam to take a taxi to Cochin airport directly. He is a local of Kollam and he booked an Innova and it was waiting for us at Kollam. We immediately moved into the car and the driver is too good, he drove too fast. I stopped for a while to print the e-ticket. We reached the Cochin airport at 4:50 PM, just 50 mins prior to the departure! There was only one line for security check. We got in to the flight and it was full. It departed on time and arrived in Hyderabad 20 mins ahead of schedule. We reached home by 8 PM. A happy ending!

This is a long cherishable vacation and we will never forget this trip to God's own contry. We had a great vacation.

Written and photographed by Sasikant Adiraju (saadiraju@yahoo.com)

A ZIP TOUR TO THE LAND'S END

We were very excited when we thought about being in Kanyakumari and watching the Sunrise and Sunset.

We started on Sunday (Dec 20)morning and took a flight to Chennai. We reached Chennai airport at around 9:45 AM and went straight to Sailu's (Kala's friend)house in Manapakkam. We had our coffee and went to a park, where Sumu and Sriya played together. After having lunch,we rested for a while and left for Chennai Egmore railway station by 4 PM. We reached there at around 5 PM. Lalita (Kala's friend) came to the railway station to see us. We spent a few minutes with her. The train journey from Chennai to Kanyakumari was very good. Sailu's mother-in-law has packed dinner for us to have it in the train. We went to sleep by 10 in the night.

When we wokeup at around 6 AM, the train was approaching Nagercoil. The co-passengers in our cabin got down at Nagercoil. We reached Kanyakumari at around 6:45 AM. We took an auto rickshaw to go to Hotel Sea View. He charged Rs.20. Kanyakumari is a tiny, small town as we have seen. The hotel room was not ready when we reached there. We waited in the lobby and had some coffee in the meantime. We went to the terrace, from where we can see the Sea and Vivekananda Rock. The hotel offered some beautiful views. 30 minutes later, the room was ready and we checked-in.


After having our bath and breakfast, we went to see the Devi Kumari temple. The temple is situated at the tip of the land, overlooking the sea. The entrace to the temple is through the northern gate, while the eastern gate is always closed. We had our lunch at Hotel Tamilnadu. It was ok.

We went to the boat jetty at around 3 PM and took a ferry to go to the Vivekananda Rock. Amidst the sea, there are two rokcs namely Vivekananda Rock and Tiruvallavur rock, the view was spectacular.


Vivekananda Rock Memorial is another place in Kanyakumari which attracts large number of tourists. As its name implies, it is essentially a sacred monument, built by the Vivekananda Rock Memorial Committee to commemorate the visit of Swamy Vivekananda to “Shripada Parai” during 24th, 25th and 26th December 1892 for deep meditation and enlightenment.


I took pleanty of pictures, Sumu was very happy and played a lot there. It was very pleasant and totally a different feeling of being there, awsome! From there, we went to see the Tiruvallavur statue. It was a memorial statue of a tamil poet. The 3 tier pedestal known as Atharapeedam is surrounded by an artistic Mandapa known as Alankara Mandapam with 38 feet height. Surrounding the Alankara Mandapa stand 10 elephant statues signifying 8 directions with earth and space down. The father of Sri. Rama, the hero of Ramayana was called Dasaratha as he was able to charioteer in ten directions. To help the tourists to worship the holy feet of Thiruvalluvar 140 steps are constructed inside the Mandapa. We took the last boat to drop us at boat jetty.


From there, we went to the hotel room as Sumu was sleeping. I packed my photography gear and rushed to the sunset point, which is 2 KM from the hotel sea view. Unfortunately, it was a bit cloudy and I was not able to see the sun set, I was disappointed. But, I took lot of pictures,capturing the sky colous during that time.
Both the rocks were litted brilliantly during the dark and can be seen from our hotel room. It was very pleasant. We had an early dinner.


Next day morning (Mon, Dec 21) we went to see the Vattakottai (Circular Fort).It is a granite fort six kilometres north-east of Kanyakumari cape, forms the terminal of a line of ramparts known as the South Tranvancore lines built by Marthanda Varma to serve as defence for Nanjil Nadu. It is rectangular in shape and covers an area of about three and a half acres. The fort is enclosed by walls 25 to 26 feet high, including the parapet, 29 feet thick at the front, 18 feet at the corners and 6 feet at the rear. From there, we went to Vivekananda puram, where there is a Vivekanda museum (photo gallery). We went to the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial. Mahatma Gandhi visited Kanyakumari in January 1937. In 1948 his ashes were immersed in the sea waters in Kanyakumari. In commemoration of this event a beautiful monument has been constructed here. Its central shape is 79 feet high representing the age of the Mahatma at the time of the sun at Mid day on 2nd October would fall on the peedam through a hole in the roof.

We had our lunch at Hotel Sea view, took some rest and started again at around 5 PM to see the sun set. Once again, it was in vain. There were clouds and the view was obstructed. Sumu enjoyed a lot near the water and boats. In the return, we booked a car for tomorrow's drop at Kovalum.


We checked out the hotel on Tuesday morning (Dec 22)at around 8 AM. We had our breakfast and the car was ready by 9 AM. We went to see the St.Xavier church. The Church of St. Xavier enjoys a great fame as a place of miracles from early times. The annual festival is celebrated during the month of November – December lasting for 10 days.


We went to Suchindram,which is around 12 KM from Kanyakumari. The temple is dedicated to Sri Sthanumalayan. The word denotes Siva, Vishnu and Brahmma as. Sthanu represents Siva, Mal represents Vishnu while Ayan represents Brhamma i.e. Siva, Vishnu and Brhamma in “One Form”. It is said that Thanumalaya Swamy temple is the only shrine dedicated to the Trinity in India. I liked this temple very much.


Later, we went to the Padmanabhapuram palace. The palace with an area of seven acres, is situated in the very centre on the Padmanabhapuram Fort, amidst hills, dales and rivers. It was very sunny in the afternoon. We then left for Kovalum straight from there.


It was almost 2:30 PM when we reached Kovalum and cheked in tot he Swagath Holiday resorts. We dumped our luggage into the room and rushed to the restaurant for lunch. The food was ok, not too bad.


At around 4 PM, we went to the backwaters. It was a 2-hr ride over the back waters, which is really very good. We have seen lot of birds, trees during our ride. We once again were not able to see the sunset. Surprisingly, it is getting cloudy every evening in contrast to the hot day.

In the evening, we went to the Light house beach, which is just behind our resort. We spent some time and came back to the room. We had our lunch on the roof top terrace.


Next day morning (Wed, Dec 23), we went to the Kovalum beach and enjoyed a lot at the beach. Sumu played with the water and sand. After having breakfast, we checked out the hotel at 12 Noon and left for Trivandrum airport. It was a small airport. I bought some souvenirs in the airport. The systems were down and the Air India staff wrote the boarding passes by hand, which took some amount of time. The flight was on time and reached Bangalore at around 4 PM. We had a coffee at the Bangalore airport and spent a few hours before we took the next flight to Hyderabad at 5:55 PM. It was around 7:30 PM, when we reached Hyderabad. Luckily the strike was called off by the time we reached the city. I dont know why, but I felt like landed in a different state!