Bullet Points II (Mumbai to Mizoram) - Exploring the beautiful Andhra Pradhesh

I am in love with Andhra Pradesh. After spending 4 awesome days at Hyderabad, we decided to spend our Diwali on road. It seemed like a stupid decision. But one after another, we kept on passing by tiny villages, where all the houses were lit up with nothing but diyas, was a delight to watch. Where instead thrill of huge firecrackers, joy showed on the faces of little kids with a couple of phooljhadis.  And in some cases, there was no trace of celebrations. We saw a new side of Diwali. 

Vijaywada 

• Roads are excellent everywhere in AP. Highly enjoyable night ride. 
• A big city. With hills here & there. As we reached in the night, we couldn't appreciate its beauty the first day.  
• The Krishna river here is huge, & makes a complex water system. There are canals, barrages, dams, islands etc. And all this among hills. 
• We visited only the main temple of the city, Kanaka Durga Temple. You get a brilliant view of the city from here. We went here again to capture a gorgeous sunrise. Temple opens from 4am to 9pm. 

• The food, at least what we found, was awesome everywhere. And super cheap. 
• The Irani tea influence from Hyderabad is visible here, as there are 'tea point' shops (big shops) everywhere. These have excellent Irani tea. 
• We had Andhra meals somewhere in main market. It was lipsmackingly delicious. 
• Since we reached late here. We couldn't find any Dharamshala here. And the rooms are not that economical here.

Rajahmundry 

• An awesome city again. This time, river Godavari does the trick. 
• Some very picturesque bridges here. Some 120 years old. And the 2nd longest rail cum road bridge in Asia. 
• The Aarti at Pushkar ghats beats any arti in India (yes, even Varanasi's arti looks childplay in front of this). 
• Just outside the ghat complex is a huge shivaling with fountain. This fountain works as a the biggest public bath I have ever seen. 

• The city is famous for its Mirchi Bhaji. They are delicious & everywhere. 
• I also had a dry khichdi, which is nothing but a different (and better) version of our bhel. Its just better mixed. 
• We had a lot of trouble finding rooms here. There were a number of Dharamshalas near ISKCON temple, but none accepted us. Had to settle in a lodge again. 

To Vishakhapatnam 

• After completing 2 weeks of the trip, we reached Vishakhapatnam. 
• Yet to explore around but the city looks beautiful.