Weekend trip- Vizag

Hi there everyone,

I am back with an another exciting trip. This time its Visakhapatnam (Vizag) in Andhra Pradesh. As many of you would know Visakhapatnam is a port city on the southeast coast of India. It is the second largest city in Andhra Pradesh after Hyderabad. Visakhapatnam is the base for many heavy Industries and also the headquarters for Indian Navy. Visakhapatnam has transformed from mere a port city to a city full of fun and economic activities with attractive beaches on one side and hillocks on the other side and SEZs (Special Economic Zones)  . Visakhapatnam is a major junction for all the trains travelling from east and north east going towards south and central India. It is also well connected by flights and regular buses ply from Bangalore and Hyderabad to Visakhapatnam. Some of the major tourist attractions are Kailashgiri, Submarine museum, Rushikonda beach, Simhachalam. Apart from the above are Borra caves and Arruku Valley which is few kms away from Vizag. 

We stayed at a hotel named Mahalaxmi residency in Dwarakha Nagar , one of the busiest areas in Vizag. The hotel is 10 mins away from the railway station and 2 mins away from the central bus stand. First day we planned to go to places inside the city and the second day to Arruku valley and Borra caves. We started off by going to a temple situated in a hill named Simhachalam temple. It is a hill shrine of Lord Narasimha 16kms away from the city. There are direct buses to simhachalam from the central bus stand to the hill top or one can take a cab. It has a carved 16 pillared Natya Mandapa and the 96 pillared Kalyana Mandapa are the highlights of the temple. Many of you much have heard about the legend of the Lord Narasimha. Anyway for those who are not familiar with it here is a sneak peak into the legend. 

The entrance to the Simhachalam temple

Hiranyakasipu was a Rakshasa king. He was one of Vishnu's Dwarapalakas or gate keepers in Vaikuntha, Jaya and Vijaya. They had to take birth in the mortal world thrice because of a curse given by Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanathana and Sanathkumara, who were not allowed to take darshan of Mahavishnu by them. The other palaka was born as his brother Hiranyaaksha. Hiranyakasipu wanted to become immortal and hence performed austerities (tapasya) to propitiate Lord Brahma. However, Lord Brahma said that was not possible so Hiranyakasipu asked Lord Brahma to grant him a boon so that he could not be killed by any animal or a man neither in the morning nor in the night, by any weapons, neither in sky nor on the earth.

Hiranyakasipu wanted the entire world to worship him. But, Prahalada, his son, was a devotee of Lord Narayana and always expressed his bhakti towards Him. In spite of warning him several times, Hiranyakasipu could not alter Prahlada's devotion.This made Hiranyakasipu angry and he made numerous attempts to get Prahlada killed. One of them was to throw him off the top of a mountain. However, Vishnu rescued him by moving the mountain and made a small path for Prahaladha. It is said that in the place where the Lord stood to protect Prahaladha is the place where the temple is built.

The most important thing about this temple is that here we can't see the God's feet. It is said that the feet is buried inside the earth. Lord Narayana came to rescue Parahalada on Garuda and when they threw Parahalada Lord Narayana jumped from Garuda to save him and in this process his feet went deep into the earth.

We had a good darshan and came back to the city to visit the Submarine museum. Unfortunately the museum opens at 2 PM only so we went to R.K Beach which is on the same stretch. 

The beach is very clean. From there you can get a glimpse of Visakhapatnam port. It is one of the busiest ports on the east coast after Kolkata port and Chennai port.

Submarine museum is a different experience altogether. This submarine was used in real during the world war II. It is named INS Kursura, the first of kind in India to run in Diesel electric. After decommissioning in 2001 it has been preserved as a musuem for public access. There are guides who explain the features and characteristics of the sub. The main features are it is run on Diesel electric, can accommodate 10 torpedos(6 in front, 4 in back), 26 cabins including kitchen and control room. The main control room is not shown in the demonstration. There are many controls and specific cabins which will be explained by the guide. It is a short duration of 15-20 mins and no photography / videography is allowed inside the sub. 

By the time we finished it was 4 PM and we went next to Kailasagiri hill . Kailasagiri is a hilltop park adjacent to the sea which offers views of the Bay of Bengal, Visakhapatnam and the Eastern Ghats. 

Kailasgiri

View of the ocean from the hill top

An aerial tramway accesses the park from the bottom of the hill. Beach Road, from the East Point colony to the coastal battery, is dotted with parks and statues and is an evening gathering point. It is a major location for great landscapes and relaxation. 

Rishikonda beach on the one side of the hill. 

After this it was time to have dinner. The busiest locations where restaurants and fast foods are available are Dwarakha Nagar, RTC complex and Jagadamba Junction. One can find many hotels at any of these places. 

Next day we went to Aruku Valley and Borra caves. It was arranged through APTDC. It is a rail cum road package. The package is good and is filled with adventure and excitement. We boarded the train from Visakhapatnam railway station at about 7 AM. One compartment was fully reserved for this package. There is also two guides who will explain about the package. For those who dont know Telegu/Hindi/English need not worry because the guide will tell in all three languages. So we aboarded the train and reached Arraku valley around 11 AM. There were lot of tunnels on the route. 

Going through tunnel

The scenery was breathtaking and there was drizzle which made the climate awesome. We reached around 11 AM and straight away we were taken to APTDC hotel in Aruku for a briefing about the valley. 

The first stop was the tribal museum and nearby was a coffee shop where the coffee beans are taken from the local area. After a light refreshment we proceeded to our next visiting place which is a botanical garden. A good place to time pass that is what I would say about the place. 

Next we had lunch at the APTDC hotel. There was a tribal dance organised by the locals to entertain us. 

The last stop was Borra caves which as on the return journey to Vizag. 

Borra caves railway station

The Caves, one of the largest in the country, at an elevation of about 705 m, distinctly exhibit a variety of impressive speleothems ranging from very small to big and irregularly shaped stalactites and stalagmites. 

The route

Inside the caves

After the caves there was a slight refreshment at the APTDC hotel nearby. Atlast we left for Vizag around 7 PM and came to the city around 8.30PM. The adventurous day had come to end. 
Our short weekend trip had come to an end and we all packed our bags and left for our destinations. Hope the next trip will be exciting; till then its good bye from here. 

Happy Vishu

Hello,

Wish you a happy Vishu and Tamil New Year.

Some pics taken at my house on New year.

Sirsi trip, North Karnataka

Hello,

After a long time I went for a short trip few weeks ago with my friends to Sirsi which is located in North Karnataka. We departed from Bangalore by bus. I must say this I am amazed by the quality of the KSRTC bus. Can anybody imagine good quality bus and I mean really good quality bus in Government buses. I bet we cannot see this kind of bus quality in many states. We went in sleeper bus and thanks to the good roads we didn't feel much tired when we got down at Sirsi old bus stand.

Sirsi is about 400 kms and will take about 6-7 hrs by bus. Nearest rail station is Kumta which is situated on Konkan railway line is 60 kms from Sirsi and nearest Airport is Hubli about 100 kms away from Sirsi. This is a small hill station with very few landscapes. Since we went in oct there was no chillness. We reached Sirsi in the morning at about 7.00 AM and straight went to Madhuvana Hotel which is just 10 mins away from Sirsi old Bus stand. There is no place of visit in Sirsi town but around Sirsi there are lot of places. There is waterfalls, temples, some trekking areas through forests and beach. So we enquired at the reception and decided to go to temple and falls the first day and forest and beach the next day. We refreshed ourselves and had breakfast which was good. A reminder to the travellers this is a vegetarian restaurant. So we started our journey by visiting a temple first. The temple is called Saharsalinga which means thousand lingas. This is very significant place where sceulptures carved from stone are installed in the middle of a flowing water.






The river is surrounded by lush green forest.





The next place we went to Magodi falls which is another few kms from Saharasalinga. The falls is group of waterfalls which is falls from a height of 200 ft. One can see the falls only from the top and there is no access to go near the falls. The view is good as it is surrounded by forests and the sound of the waterfalls will make you relax. Here is the snapshot of the falls.

After seeing the falls we  had our lunch on the way back to Sirsi. After reaching Sirsi we went to one of the famous temple which is dedicated to goddess "Marikamba". After having the darshan of the goddess we went back to the hotel and got ready to watch cricket match.

The next day we had planned to cover Gokarna Beach and Yana. We left the hotel at 7 AM for Gokarna as it is 90 kms from Sirsi. It took around 3 hrs to reach there. Gokarna is a town in Uttar Kannada and is often referred to as temple town. Gokarna means "Cow's Ear" . It is believed that Lord Shiva emerged from the ear of a cow here. It is also located at the ear shaped confluence of two rivers Gangavali and Aghanashini. 

As said Gokarna is a temple town , one of the famous shiva temple is situated here. "Mahabaleshwar Temple" is a famous Shiva temple   situated at the edge of the western end. Gokarna is also famous for some of its beaches . As mentioned before Gokarna is shaped as ear. The Gokarna Beach and Om Beach formed the shape of the ear. The Gokarna Beach is near the Mahabaleshwar Temple. The Om Beach is little bit far but on the same stretch. The landscape is just breathtaking as the beach is surrounded by forest of the western ghats on one side and the Arabian Sea on the other side.

The Beach was very clean and we had wonderful experience by taking bath in sea, walking on the slippery rocks and watching various kinds of birds. We spended around 3-4 hrs in the beach. Words cannot describe the experience we had at Gokarna. It is must visit place for tourists.

After spending an excellent time in Gokarna we had lunch near the beach itself and boy we were so hungry after all this activities that we ourselves were surprised how much we can eat when we are ravenous.
The last place to visit in our short trip was Yana. Yana is about 50 kms from Gokarna. Yana is known for unusual rock formation. It is located in the Sahyadri mountain range of the Western Ghats. Yana is famous for two massive monolithic rocks. The massive rocks are composed of solid black, crystalline Karst limestone. It is surrounded by thick forests and streams making it a perfect spot for trekking. A cave is formed under one of the rocks and within the cave is naturally formed Shiva Linga over which spring water drips from the roof of the tunnel. This place can also reached from Karwar. It is advisable to go to Yana during morning or afternoon because after 4 PM this place gets dark very quickly and if it is a monsoon season then you would want to get out of this place as quickly as possible.

At last our short trip is coming to an end now. Back to hotel pack everything and waited for our KSRTC bus at Sirsi Bus station. Again I would say the bus was very much comfortable for a government operated services.

That's all about Sirsi and the surrounding places. Hope you got some useful information. Keep visiting this blog for any future updates on short trips . Till then have a beautiful life.