Traveling is good
Andhra Pradesh, fondly being hailed as Kohinoor of India, is replete with beauty. Golden beaches at Vishakhapatnam, one-million-year-old limestone caves at Borra, picturesque Araku Valley, Belum Caves, Horsley Hills resorts, river Godavari racing through a narrow gorge at Papi Kondalu, waterfalls at Ettipotala, and rich bio-diversity at Talakona are some of the natural attractions of the state.
The Godavari, Krishna and Penner river deltas enrich the coastal plains of Andhra Pradesh. It experiences a hot tropical summer (March to June), rainy season (July to September) and a moderate winter. October and November lash the coastal region with cyclonic rain storms.
This state has a good network of roads and railways, connecting all the towns and villages and the state transport has a Guinness record holding fleet of buses. The capital city of Hyderabad has an award winning International Airport to its credit and the state is connected by air through airports at Vishakhapatnam (recently made international), Vijayawada, Rajahmundry and Tirupati.
Local language is Telugu. Urdu and Hindi are also widely spoken.
Food lovers would relish many items from the spicy Andhra cuisine like the Hyderabadi Biryani and many pickles and chutneys unique to this region.
Andhra Pradesh abounds in Hindu pilgrimage sites of which Tirupati and Srisailam are the most popular. In and around the capital city of Hyderabad are many heritage sites and museums of art, cultural and historical interest. For the fun loving tourists, there are excellent picnic spots near Hussainsagar and Osmansagar lakes, gardens and wildlife reserves.
As one drives along the narrow but smooth roads with lush green fields bordered by tall coconut palm trees and water canals, one could be forgiven for thinking that they are in Kerala. Welcome to Konaseema, the Kerala of Andhra Pradesh. It is the triangular patch of land where the river Godavari, the second holiest river in India, breaks up into many distributaries and merges itself in the Bay of Bengal.
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When I first went to Tirupati from Bangalore, we went directly without any darshan booking. I was informed by many that it might take your even 2 days to get a darshan. One of my colleagues has suggested me to go to Vijaya Bank at Tirumala and you can buy a seva ticket. This seva ticket is good if you are too many in numbers. First time we had purchased Sahastra Deepalankarana Seva and it cost us Rs 2000/-. But we were 6 persons therefore somewhere around approx. 300/- per person (in a way quite reasonable) .
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The Qutub Shahi tombs have a unique place in the history of Deccan and India as buried here are the rulers of Deccan from 1518, till Aurangzeb captured the Golconda fort by deceit and took the last emperor prisoner and shifted him to Daulatabad. So except for the seventh king Tana Shah (Abdul Hasan Qutub Shah), the previous 6 rulers and other members of the royal family are resting here. F
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A visit to this Museum is a delight for art lovers. Even if you are not interested then also you should visit it once. When ever you are visiting Salar Jung Museum make sure you must have at least 3 hours so that at least you can see the galleries (not in detailed although).The Museum is very big and you actually get tired walking inside all the galleries. But still it is worth watching. If you are visiting Hyderabad and not visiting Salar Jung Museum then your trip is incomplete.
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Before coming to Hyderabad I had done my homework on Hyderabad all thanks to Google. If you go through APTDC website it shows you around 63 sight seeing points at Hyderabad. So I was very much confused but sure on two points first was Golconda and second was Ramoji film city. We had taken help of our cousin to choose spots for us to visit in these 2 days. . Thus Friday’s point were Nehru Zoological park, Sudha Car Museum , Birla Temple, Hussain Sagar Lake and Golconda Fort. We started our visit at 1200 hrs and hired a cab as it was convenient as well as will help us in covering our planned points.
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So after we had finished viewing our shows it was almost 1600 hrs and we had only 1.5 hour left with us to see the Gardens. So we quickly went to Bus stop to catch the bus. Again the guide in a bus was so good, so friendly with everyone, knows all three languages (English, Hindi and Telugu). But 1600 hrs bus timing is the last bus timings and you are not allowed to get down and see the gardens and the sets. There are approximately 120 gardens, so many beautiful fountains and so many readily available film sets like railway station ,airport , Foreign country , village, Hospital , Jail , Highway , streets , Raj darbaar etc.The guide was explaining us about all the gardens, sets, which all movie shot at RFC
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In the morning of 12.06.2012, I decided to have the darshanam of the temple once again and accordingly reached there by 06:30 AM. Taking the quick darshanam ticket for Rs. 50, I went inside but after covering some distance, I by mistake took the sarva darshan queue and by the time I realised my mistake, some rush was there behind me.
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During this gap of six months, despite I did remain a Ghumakkar, at least some 15 times visiting New Delhi, 7-8 times – Lucknow, 3-4 times – Trivandrum, 2 times to Mumbai and further once upto Shirdi & Triambakeshwar and once upto Bhimashanker and also once to Goa (Personal & Official tours all inclusive), I could not share those here not for want of time or I was very much busy.
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Araku is a picturesque tribal settlement in the Eastern Ghats, about 120 km to the north of the port city of Visakhapatnam a.k.a. Vizag, which also happens to be my hometown. For me, the drive is an end in itself, a mind-blowing experience as one navigates through umpteen hair-pin bends on a steep mountain road which snakes its way up the Eastern Ghats to an altitude of some 1200 metres above sea level. This is one of those road trips on which one does not feel like driving fast but prefer to gently cruise along the serpentine path, inhaling the pristine air and feasting on the visual candy being proffered so generously by Mother Nature.
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The FIAT Linea 1.3 MJD proved what a fantastic car it was by giving us once in a life time experience of long distance drive from Coimbatore to Bhutan & back and brought us back safe. The car was extremely good and proved that it really was a long-distance runner. Brand new car, no breakdown, no puncture, no fatigue only pure pleasure of driving it long distance and excellent build.Its suspension was so good that there was no body pain to any one of us through out the journey and my 2 small kids went to school the next day morning & I was back in Office to work. That speaks it all.
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Day – 13 30.12.2010 (Thursday) Bhubaneswar (Orissa) to Satapara Chilika Lake (Orissa) = 227 km Starting Place: Hotel Richi Bhubaneswar Starting Km Reading: 7395…
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20.12.2010 (Monday) Vishakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) to Bhadrak (Orissa) = 606 kms Starting Place: Vishakhapatnam Starting Km Reading on the odometer of the car: 3642…
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