Vizag Trip ..

It was a much needed break from work and a memorable trip in all sense. I left Delhi on Friday morning for Hyderabad where all the friends were leaving for Vizag in the evening by train. The most interesting part was that I had told everyone that I would not be coming and yet I had booked all my tickets and wanted to surprise Lini. I reached IIIT and went straight to her lab with my cellphone recording a video to capture the shock on her face on seeing me. I really enjoyed surprising everyone :)

I had plans to meet other friends in Hyderabad but it started raining pretty heavily. We had to leave for station in the rain and as expected, we all got wet by the time we reached the station. My new spectacles broke, my bag got wet and even the clothes inside it got wet. The joy of surprising everyone and the excitement of the trip seemed to fade a little bit but not for long.

Reached Vizag on Saturday morning and checked in a hotel - Hotel Prince. Satya B had a marriage to attend in Vizag and it was his friend who was getting married who had booked a couple of rooms for us in the hotel. That was a nice gesture and we were spared of room hunting. We all got fresh and started for Araku Valley in a sumo. The route to Araku valley is a treat to the eye and a heaven for the photographers. I never stopped clicking snaps from the front seat.

Midway there was a waterfall and all of us unanimously decided to stop for a while and climb up to wherever we could parallel to the water fall. It was fun though I hurt my thumb there. Even Neema di slipped while coming down but nothing serious as she is a "seasoned stumbler" :D

Next stop was Borra caves which was a very interesting and calm place. Its very deep down and lighted with golden lights everywhere. I had never been to such a place. There was a river flowing in the valley near the caves and P! and Lini suggested that we trek down to the valley and come back. It would have been real fun but I had a severe headache so I decided to stay back. Later the idea was dropped.

Araku Valley is more a natural beauty than a commercial place. We went to a small museum which was a very ordinary place. Then we went to a garden where there were tree houses, a toy train, some rides and flowers and trees. My photographer within me had woken up once again and I took some cool snaps there.

It was a tiring first day and we reached back to the Hotel by 8pm. Next day we planned to go to the Rushikonda beach early morning (5am). We woke up at 4 and left the hotel by 4:30. I had been to a beach only once before in Chennai and that too for a small time. I jogged for a while on the beach and then went for a long walk with my camera. When I came back everyone was in the sea already :) So I also kept my camera and got into the water. And we gossiped and played for more than 2 hours in water. Some waves were small and some quite big and each time we prepared ourselves to be on the top. Sometimes we won while other times the waves succeeded in passing over our heads. It was a great experience. Moreover, P! being there with us, we never felt any fear in the sea. Had he not been there I would have been washing my legs on the edge and would have never even thought of going any further into the sea. It was the best part of the entire trip. My mind still keeps drifting towards the beach from time to time and as Neema Di puts it, it will take another week for the "HANGOVER" to go :D

Later that day in the afternoon we headed towards Simhachalam temple. There are two ways to reach the temple. Either by road or you can take the stairs. We took the "path less travelled" i.e. the stairs. The stairs were at quite an elevation and they were 1000+ Neema di and I had a testing time reaching the top but nevertheless it was fun. On the contrary, Tarun soon vanished from our sight as if he was walking on a plain meadow and not on the stairs. On the way we came across two guys who were going to climb these stairs on their knees :O That is some dedication !! Coming down was a much easier task :)

We boarded the train to Hyderabad in the evening and bid adieu to Vizag. Last 2 days were fun packed and we all were already planning for the next trip in the train. We played dumb charades for a long time and that was the second best part of the trip after the beach experience. We laughed and pulled each others legs. We had to get down at Vijaywada and take another train to Hyderabad from there. Neema di took a train to Chennai from there and the rest of us proceeded towards Hyderabad.

Highlights of the trip:

• Reaching Sec'bad station all drenched :(
  
• Neema di's graceful stumbling from time to time :)
• Rushikonda beach experience.
  
• Lini's attempt to enact Asoka while playing dumb charades :D
• P!'s perfect accounts management, and his biscuits, laddoos and chikkis from roadside shops which were a nice "crunchy munchy"

Vizag through my lens:
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