Vizag to Anantagiri: 150 KM
Anantagiri to Hyderabad: 700 KM
The first long drive after marriage is finally here. I had
been waiting for this for 6 months now. It was a really long drive with the
following itinerary:
Day 1: 03-Apr-11 Hyderabad to Vishakhapatnam (Left Hyderabad 6 AM reached Vizag 7 PM)
Day 2: 04-Apr-11 Local sight seeing
Day 3: 05-Apr-11 Local sight seeing
Day 4: 06-Apr-11 Vizag to Tyda via Bhimlee beach, cyber
valley. (Left Vizag 9 AM reached Tyda 1 PM)
Day 5: 07-Apr-11 Tyda to Anathagiri, Ananthagiri to Borra
Caves and Araku back to Ananthagiri
Day 6: 08-Apr-11 Anathagiri to Hyderabad
The whole journey was very fulfilling for both of us.
My wife was excited with the Sea and I was thrilled with the Hills. Not to
mention the drive all through was so gratifying.
Day 1: The road to Vizag from Hyderabad was nice after Vijayawada.
Till Vijayawada the 4 lane work is still under progress and it is really tough to
drive. Need to chase the trucks all through and whenever get an opportunity,
press the gas and overtake, taking care of the oncoming traffic as well. Till
Vjw it is a pain to drive, after that it is probably one of the best roads in
India. Vjw to Viz was super cool, 4 lane, toll plaza after every 100 km but
nobody will mind paying that as this leg of the journey you will complete, before
you even realize. We decided that we wont rush hence never crossed 100 kmph
mark resulting in my petrol ford fiesta with AC on always, giving a mileage of
17 kmpl in that stretch. Finally reached vizag in the evening, google maps guided
us to Hotel Park on the beach road and we spent the entire evening sitting on
the shore hearing the blissful waves in the wind.
Day 2: Only local sight seeing, no driving.
Day 3: Local sight seeing again in a taxi, no driving.
Day 4: Had our breakfast and left Vizag to see bheemli
beach, from bhimlee beach the plan was to go to tyda. Totally dependant on
google maps, it took us to some awesome village stretch, road was narrow but
not bad. We saw the cyber valley where the big IT companies are coming up. Awesome
work location indeed. Finally after a beautiful ghat stretch, reached tyda. The
Jungle Bell resort, where we were staying for the night was super cool. Amongst
deep woods, the serene surroundings and the birds chirping were just mind
blowing. Had our lunch there, and stayed back there for the night. The most
surprising thing that happened was that nobody was staying in the resort for
the night. All the cottages were empty and we were all alone. The worst part
was that even the phone intercom was also not working. To be honest, both of us
really felt a bit scared after a point in time in the night. It was indeed dead
silence all across and pitch-dark outside. Preferred to sleep early in that
scary night.
Day 5: When we got up early morning the fear of the dark got
washed off with the seeping sun rays from the dense forest. The calm quiet
morning was more just too good to make us forget the night before. Had our
early breakfast and headed straight for Ananthagiri. And boy, that was another
heaven on earth. After a long time in my life did I realize the beauty of hills
and valleys. The cottage was situated in an ideal location, beautifully facing
the deep valley, permeating the hills on all sides. People say anathagiri is
Ooty of AP and I must admit I was not disappointed. Finally the entire day we
just drove in the nearby hills, went to see araku in the valley, borra caves in
the deep hills, and had a beautiful evening on that cottage balcony.
Day 6: Time to go back, got up early had our breakfast and
headed straight for Hyderabad. As usual, road was good till Vjw, but from Vjw
to Hyd it was pain. More so, because relying on the google maps took us
straight into the city of Hyderabad. On the other hand if we had taken the ring road then
things could have been much easier. Anyway, all in all the trip was really good
and we enjoyed a lot, with a lot of beautiful memories all through.
Not to forget, a toast goes to my “Fiesta” for cruising us
through all these stretches without any complain.
