From Beaches to the Hills - Araku Valley & Vizag

After I missed my train the previous night, was lucky enough to catch a flight to the city of destiny. I straight headed towards the Haritha beach resort, Rishikonda where my team awaited for the trip to start. The resort is located on a small hill emerging from the coastlines of the bay of bengal and the view from the cottages are purely spiritual.

Our first spot on the list was the Submarine Museum. INS Kursura, which is the 5th submarine India had gained and was decommissioned after 30 years of its service to Indian Navy, now it stands tall as a warrior at the RK Beach revealing the unreal world it consist within .

We didn't have to go far for our next spot which was just opposite to the submarine museum, The TU-142 Aircraft Museum, which has the same story as the INS Kursura, it served for the Indian Navy for 30 Years and then was decommissioned, the musuem reflects the bravery of this aircraft and the soldiers associated with it. You can have a audio guide tour inside the museum available for free.

Next on the list was the Kailasagiri hill, it's a hilltop destination just 15mins ride from RK Beach. You are treated with breathtaking sceneries of the Western ghats, the City view and the endless ocean from here. The toy train ride was a bit boring though but compensated by the beauty the hill has. There's Shiv- Parvati statue which glitters in the evening darkness.

The day ended after a refreshing stroll down the Rishikonda Beach. Night filled with Rainy mist cannot be matched with any other.

After a long string of argument to whether to go by train or bus to the Araku Valley, finally it was decided that the train ride would be much better, and I'm glad we made that decision.

Every picture captured is a wallpaper in itself, lush green mountains, soaring in rain was a treat to watch, nothing is sexier than this view. The route consists of some 30 to 40 railway tunnel and you would admire the efforts taken by the engineers to build this route. We had to get down to Borra Guhalu(Caves) Station as it was some 30 kms from before Araku Valley. Initially I's a bit hesitant about this cave Idea, but, oh boy, that was a massive cave getting deeper and deeper as you go inside creating a sense of fear too with some bats flying here and there. This was a naturally formed cave founded by a british traveller in the 19th century. Sparkled with some fancy lights this place is must visit anyone coming to araku.

Now that we had burnt some of our fats, we desperately needed to have something good for lunch, and what better option would be than Bamboo chicken. It's a local tribal way of cooking chicken curry, inside the bamboo. Some might don't like the smoky flavour in it but if you are looking for something different give it a try.

For our surprise the organizers of our trip had arranged a tribal Dance for us after the lunch, as initially it was scheduled in the evening, but it was complimentary you can say. Well it was something I saw for the first time and did for the first time as well. The local tribal dhimsa dance is performed in circular motion especially by ladies and instruments played by the men. We tried our part too but failed to match the skills these tribal people had.

Next destination was the Coffee Museum which is just a 5min ride from where we had our lunch, (Mayuri Resort), you can witness the coffee churning out of the dried coffee seeds. Evolution of coffee is depicted beautifully through statue's. You can even taste some best coffee and coffee chocolate in the nearby shop.

Now we moved to the Botanical garden and the tribal museum. For me there wasn't much to see in both of the places as I've seen many spectacular gardens than this. Tribal museum is where you can buy some wooden antiques as souvenir.

The best part was the resort for the night stay, it was a cottage resort having balconies facing toward the mountains, a dream place you want to be, the best part - No Network. Yeah.

At night we had a bonfire and around that tribal dance again. Fitting end to a perfect day.