Vizag & Araku Valley

My friend has recently visited us for 3 days and below was our travel itinerary for 2 days with the last day spent at home relaxing..

Rishikonda Beach

Day 1 - We headed straight to Rishikonda Beach[ I have already blogged here about the beach] spent the evening doing photo shots, enjoying water.. 

Around 6 o clock we took an auto and headed towards Kailashgiri.. This time we thought of taking a ropeway to the hill and it was awesome ride with the night views of RK Beach and Vizag city.  

After walking around the hills and taking some pics at Shiva Parvati idol we headed for dinner at Daspalla, Jagdamba Center.

Araku Valley from view point

Day 2 - Our day started early with the breakfast at home and journey towards Arakku Valley.. We had hired a cab for this day.  After starting, our first stopover was at Coffee Plantation on the way to Araku valley view point. There were lots of vendor selling fresh coffee powder and spices.. We had coffee there, though skipped the hot pakodas :) 
Next stop was Araku valley view point - we got some very beautiful clicks of the valley from here.
We headed to Araku and had light snacks at Coffee House which is newly built in front of the Tribal Museum. 

Araku Valley

Next destination was Araku Tribal Museum which takes us through the life of Tribals in the area.. Its nice one although I dont have any pics from there as photography is not allowed :(

Limestone formation inside the caves

Just outside the museum there was stall and a hut were they were selling Bamboo chicken and how can we miss them..
Next was our stop for Lunch in a village near Borra Caves - which has lots of huts serving hot meals :) We were late for the Lunch - 3 pm but the food was nice. After having our food, we headed towards the last destination of the day - Borra Caves [ Borra = Hole in Oriya ] .. This cave has lot of Limestone formation [& Bats inside]. There are few waterfalls near the cave but we skipped them as we were exhausted for the day..

More pics from Borra Caves

Limestone formation - Looks like melted wax

Sun light through the Borra

Day out at Rishikonda beach...

Vast Bay of Bengal at Rishikonda Beach

On a Sunny afternoon in December, we had made a plan for outing, for which beach was a perfect day out destination. Also, it was one month since we moved to Vizag, India and surprisingly had not been to beach...


After having our lunch at Sea Inn, a small hut with delicious non-veg delicacies near Rishikonda Beach, we headed towards the beach.

To our surprise, normally calm and deserted beach was so crowded because of Sunday in Karthik. I came to know then that the Karthik month [eighth month of Lunar calendar which Hindus follow] is also Picnic time :)

We were welcomed by small merry go round, lots of corn stalls, and other vendors selling street food. Again this was not expected as last time when I have been to this place [ which was before 2 yrs], it was always calm and serene and not at all commercialized.

While walking on the beach, we went on the other side which is usually less crowded. This side of beach is rocky and not safe for swimming but a nice place to enjoy the walk along side beach. We spotted many of the below blue jelly fishes along the coast.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porpita_porpita

A movie @ Varun Beach Inox was a refreshing end to our wonderful day :)

PS- I am not good at taking pictures all the above pics are taken by my Husband...