Travelogue – Coastal Andhra

9 Days. 2900kms. Toyota Innova. Meagre planning. Exuberant elan.

In a gist:

Bangalore -> Kanipakam -> Nellore -> Ongole -> Guntur -> Rajahmundry -> Araku Valley -> Vizag -> Kakinada -> Bhadrachalam -> Kurnool -> Bangalore.

The gist elaborated:

CHAPTER 1: ONCE UPON A MORNING

20^th October, 2012:

Started @5:45AM from Bellandur. Route to Kanipakam via Hoskote – Kolar – Mulbagal – Palamaner. The road is good all the way except a few very bad patches from Palamaner to Kanipakam where we had to take a diversion from the highway.

Reached Kanipakam @8:30AM. After a visit to the temple, had breakfast at ‘Bans- The Hotel’ on the highway en route. Although the hotel looked decorous from the outside, it is not well maintained and the food is a waste of time and money.

As we proceeded towards Nellore via Tirupati and Gudur, the wipers started acting up and the AC too started making funny noises. So we had to stop at Harsha Toyota, Nellore to get these fixed. They made good their promise and fixed the problems (new wipers and a cleaning of the blower for 750/-) and delivered the vehicle in an hour.

The service manager threw in a hint that the clutch assembly was at the end of life and the sooner it is replaced, the better. We chose to ignore that for now (with dire consequences later!) and proceeded to Rajahmundry. But the clutch assembly did indeed fail completely within the next 100kms and the Harsha Toyota guy said he can only send someone over the next morning.

So we called a cousin in Ongole for help. He came soon enough and we towed the Innova with a Bolero to Ongole which was 40Kms away. Honestly, I was surprised to see the Bolero being able to drag the heavy Innova laden with 4 people and loads of luggage in it. We reached Ongole and called it a night. Route map from Kanipakam to Ongole.

CHAPTER 2: OPERATION INNOVA

21^st October, 2012:

The next morning, Radha Madhav Toyota in Guntur sent in an Innova and the guys were able to tow our vehicle the next 100kms in an hour, in pouring rain, to the service center. The repairs took a couple of hours during which the clutch assembly was changed. The service guy remarked that he had never seen the clutch plate burnt to ashes in his seven years of service. Nevertheless, they did a remarkable job of fixing the issues in time and the Innova was raring to go.

So we started off to Rajahmundry after a quick lunch stop at a dhaba (nothing to talk about the food except that it was super spicy). Reached Rajahmundry at 8:45PM via pretty good roads and a couple of tollgates.

We had reservations at The River Bay which is an APTDC undertaking. The resort sits right on the banks of the Godavari and is very well maintained, with good food. For 2000/- per night and complimentary breakfast thrown in, the stay was a very good bang for the buck. The manager Mr. Satish was well versed with the places around and was warm enough to help us fix our itinerary.
A view from our room at The River Bay:

CHAPTER 3: GORGEOUS GORGES OF GODDESS GODAVARI

22^nd October, 2012:

We went on a day-long boat trip to Papi Kondalu and back. The place is a must visit although I didn't like how the boat trip was arranged - It was too loud and disturbing for me. Nevertheless, the breathtaking views and the majestic peaks of the Papi hills were a welcome respite to the otherwise blase psyche.

A few glimpses of the enchanting landscapes:

CHAPTER 4: THE EXQUISITE VISAGE OF THE EASTERN GHATS

23^rd October, 2012:

We started off to Araku Valley after a hearty breakfast at The River Bay. The last 40kms towards Araku Valley took us through some of the most scenic roads and the weather too was very cordial to us with clouds blocking out Mr. Sun who seemed to be hell bent on having a vendetta on us for exploiting the AC to cheat him all along the route.

Owing to our last minute planning, we could only get a reservation in Vasishta Inn in Araku Valley and though reasonable priced at 1200/- per night, we had hard time digesting the décor of the hotel. The less said about it, the better. But what made the visit to Araku Valley really worthwhile:

CHAPTER 5: GOA OF THE EAST COAST

24^th October, 2012:

After a night’s stay at Araku Valley, we started to Vizag @ 6AM to catch a glimpse of the valley in the early morning mist and we weren’t disappointed. The beautiful valley was bathed in fog and mist and made for a spectacular view all along.

The ~110km to Vizag took us almost 4hrs after multiple stops at view points. Once in Vizag, we succumbed to a Mr. Google to suggest a beach front resort and ended up at Sai Priya Resorts near Rushikonda beach. The property isn't bad - situated right beside the beach and with oodles of space. The rooms too are very... well, roomy. That said, the place is not worth the 4100/- they charge for a double executive room. The room service is pathetic at the best. 

Well, with nothing much to do, we whiled away our evening in the beach. This beach is very notorious for regular mishaps as the water descends to unfathomable depths after just a few feet in. As we were warned in advance by the beach guards, we didn't venture  into the waters.

Post a luscious sunset on the beach, we went out to roam around the city and after driving around for an hour, found ourselves super hungry. With the tele-advice of a friend, we went to Heritage Restaurant and filled our tummies to the brim (after a waiting period of 20mins @10:15PM!). We were so impressed with the food that we went back for breakfast the next morning and had the privilege of tasting THE best ‘MLA-Pesarattu’.

CHAPTER 6: A PENCHANT FOR THE PENSIONER'S PARADISE

25^th October, 2012:

The scrumptious breakfast delayed our start to Kakinada by almost an hour! Nevertheless, the roads were very good, giving us no reason to slow down and lose time except for the few inevitable idiots omnipresent on Indian roads. We made a detour to a small place called Mallam (25kms from Kakinada) to visit a temple of Lord Subramanya. It was a very small village with just about 40 families but the warmth they showed us strange visitors was phenomenal. After spending a couple of hours there, we reached Kakinada at around 3PM and were desperately hungry. Thanks to a bit of home work done the previous evening, we had already reserved suites at “Arka” and hence drove straight to Subbayya Hotel for lunch. And even at that late hour, we had to wait for 20 minutes to get a table in the AC dining hall. Although we had heard the laurels of the place from various sources, we were knocked clean out of our senses by the food and the service. Any number of adjectives and blog pages would not do justice to the experience we had. It is hard to comprehend how they have been able to manage such high levels of customer satisfaction for so long.

Tummies overloaded to dangerous levels with food, we crawled back to the car and drove to the hotel with a great effort to keep our eyes open. Arka was another surprise in store for us. Kakinada was the last place I would have expected to see a hotel so well maintained and with features like Wi-fi, modular bathrooms, impeccable room service and above average food – all for 2000/- per night including taxes. We had a quick nap and raced to Yanam, trying to beat the setting sun. The sun did disappoint us but Yanam had another surprise in store for us. Since it was the last day of the Brahmotsavams, there was a procession of Lord Balaji for “Theppotsavam” on Godavari. The atmosphere along the beach road was galvanic, with multiple stages showing Hari Kathas, dances, dramas, etc. Even for me, given my aversion to crowds, it was a very satisfying visit.

CHAPTER 7: DIVINITY

26^th October, 2012:

A very hectic day planned ahead of us, we started early to Annavaram which took us through Pithapuram which is one of the Shaktipeethas, where one can seek blessings of deity Puruhutika Devi alongside Sri Kukkuteshwara Swamy. After the pooja and darshan at Annavaram, we were back in Kakinada, raring for another go at the lunch in Subbayya Hotel. Although it may seem improbable, our experience of previous day’s lunch was blown away with what we were now served. The special curd we were given still makes my mouth water! After lunch, we had a brief stop at the hotel’s shop to purchase some of their pickles and powders and headed back to the hotel. We vacated the rooms and started to Bhadrachalam at 5PM but had to head back to Kakinada and take up the same rooms after multiple warnings from kith and kin that the forest ahead was a naxal prone zone and travel through it in dark is not advisable.

CHAPTER 8: TRYST WITH THE WOODS

27^th October, 2012:

Eager to get into the forest, we started off to Bhadrachalam early in the morning @6AM. The route took us through Alluri Seetharama Raju forest and it would be a gross understatement to say that the forest was breathtakingly beautiful. The route presented us with sceneries that could rival those at Araku Valley, with regular pockets of deep forests thrown in and streams trickling beside the road all along. With multiple stops (again!) to admire the forest, we reached the destination at 10:30AM. After a gratifying darshan of Lord Rama, we were back on the highway by 11:30 to Kurnool via Hyderabad. With just two stops, one for lunch at AP Tourism’s Haritha hotel at Wyra and one for fuel, we were able to reach Kurnool by 8:30PM, covering 540kms in all. We also chanced to travel along the outer ring road at Hyderabad and the petrol head in me had only one word to describe the road – Gorgeous:

CHAPTER 9: BACK TO THE BASE

28^th October, 2012:

After the night stay at home town Kurnool, we were back to the same old routine in Bangalore.

Not to belittle the other locales but Kakinada was the pick of the tour for us - warm people wherever you go, excellent food and lots of places to visit around. We made a note to return there as soon as we could to cover what all Kakinada had to offer! Although inadvertently our 'poorly-planned' road trip did turn into a bit of a "theerth yatra" owing to the whims of lady bosses, it gave us copious amounts of surprise, satisfaction and recreation.