Collage: A Short Trip to Port City Vizag

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Rishikonda beach Vizag

Again the smell of salt waters… again those foaming waves breaking on the shore… again the trailing foot prints on wet sands… I am talking about my recent trip to Vizag. The feel of cool seawater touching my feet was so refreshing… after a l-o-n-g time! I had waited eagerly for this trip for the last few months. The thought of going closer to nature always thrilled me. It was a short but much desired break.  We started planning for Sikkim and ended up in Vizag… 🙂

The port city has a rare combination of sea kissing the foot of the hills.

Rishikonda Beach, Vizag
Vizag has a rare combination of sea kissing the foot of the hill – Photo: Moon Roy

We were a large group of eight. Some of my dear friends were there in the group to make the trip even more memorable for me.  Starting from Howrah at 8:35pm, February 25 we reached Vizag the very next day at 10:20am. And to my astonishment it was 20 minutes earlier than the scheduled time (quite unnatural for Indian Railway!).

Destination Rishikonda Beach

An SUV was waiting for us outside the station. We reached the hotel only to keep our luggage and a take a bath. Rest of the day we were busy in enjoying at Vizag’s famous Rishikonda Beach and Kailash Giri. Unfortunately, it was not a sunny afternoon with the sky partly clouded. Still, the beach looked beautiful with roaring waves of Bay of Bengal thrashing the rocky shore!

Rishikonda beach, Vizag
Photos: Moon Roy

Toy Train Ride at Kailash Giri

The hill of Kailash Giri (‘Giri’ in Sanskrit means mountain) has a well maintained garden, food courts, ropeway and toy-train rides on the top of it. The breathtaking view of the entire coastal curve and the city was what I think the best thing we had at Kailash Giri.

Vizag, sea beach
The city of Vizag – photo: Moon Roy

I tried to capture the beauty of this gleaming harbor city at night.

Vizag city, vizag at night
Vizag at Night – photo: Moon Roy

Inside the Submarine

That evening we also visited the submarine museum, a must-see in Vizag. It was a real submarine called INS Kursura. After more than thirty years of service to the Indian Navy the submarine has now been rested. It has been transformed to a museum and is open for visitors.

Submarine museum, Vizag
The Submarine Museum in Vizag

The Journey to Araku

When you are in Vizag a day trip to Araku Valley is a must. We booked tickets for Araku as soon as we reached Vizag. The train to Araku will leave from Vizag as early as 7am next morning. The journey through the hills of Eastern Ghats range was remarkable. The train passed through a total of 52 tunnels with the picturesque Araku valley on one side and the steep rocks on the other. Though it took a long 4 and ½ hours to reach Araku it was never tiring, rather an interesting journey all through.

Araku, Vizag
The journey to Araku Photos: Debasmita & Moon

At Araku we boarded a tourist bus that took us along the winding hilly roads only to stop over the tribal museum and the Gala Viewpoint.

Insight into the Tribal Lifestyle

The collection at the Araku tribal museum tells the tale of local tribes – their culture and customs, their art and occupation. I liked the tribal jewelry, especially the necklaces made of one and two rupee coins. The wood crafts by tribal artisans are simply amazing. Wooden bowls, toys and showpieces are perfect blend of simplicity and uniqueness … ideally reflecting their plain-sailing, free from complicacies rural life. Kudos to them!

Araku Tribal Museum, Vizag
Tribal Museum at Araku, Vizag photo: Moon Roy

Viewing Araku from Gala Viewpoint

The view from Gala Viewpoint, the highest point on Araku hills, was awesome. The entire Araku valley bathing in the sun, was visible from there. The vista of lush green valley in the lap of the mountain and the clear blue sky over the top was so captivating, so beautiful that we stood spellbound for a few moments.

Araku valley, Vizag, gala viewpoint,
The stunning view from Gala View Point, Araku

Borra Cave: the Natural Wonder

Our next and final destination was Borra Cave, a wonderful creation of Mother Nature.  Until we reached there I had no idea of what was in store for us. It is a 150 million year old cave that contains naturally created stalagmite formations inside. Exploring Bora Cave was once in a life time experience for me.

Borra cave, Araku, Vizag
Entering Borra Cave
Bora cave, Araku, Vizag
Inside the Bora Cave, Araku, Vizag – photo: Moon Roy

Stop Over at RK Beach

On our way back to hotel we decided to stop over Rama Krishna Beach or more popularly, RK Beach. The moon was in full bloom and we were dying to see the beauty of moonlit beach. But much to our disappointment it was all neon and halogens that flooded the beach with a dimmed moon over the pitch black sea. However, I couldn’t ignore the glittering garland of neon lights along the promenade. Here is a glimpse.

RK beach, vizag
RK Beach (Rama Krishna Beach) at night photos: Moon Roy

The city, the hotel and the journey everything was so nice except the food. It was ‘awe’-some. .. 😛 :). Anyway, the next day afternoon (February 28) we boarded the train to Howrah to get back to our routine life… to get back to work again with sweet memories of Vizag in mind.

51 thoughts on “Collage: A Short Trip to Port City Vizag”

  1. Pingback: Daily Post Weekly Photo Challenge: Forces of Nature | Footloose Forever

  2. It is beautiful Moon ! We are looking for a destination for the coming long weekend ..let’s see if Vizag is on the cards(will google a little more about climate and transportation from Bangalore )
    The images and the info you have posted are obviously good but as always I loved this calm unruffled tone of your writing..
    This is the first time I am hearing about Borra caves ! Its certainly Vizag calling 🙂

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    1. So nice of you to say that Kokila. It means a lot to me. 🙂 And yes…Vizag would be a nice choice for weekend trip. We took Howrah-Yesvantpur which I think runs to Bangalore. It was a good train.

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    1. Yes..most of the time my friends occupied the window seats I rarely got the chance for such a snap 🙂 .. thank you for dropping by and sharing your thoughts.

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  11. Aha…very interesting narration of your experiences. And wonderful collage of your photos.

    I have been to Vizag a couple of times. Its a clean city with lot of tourist attractions. I had been to the submarine museum too. Its a fabulous experience.

    Thanks for sharing this post 🙂

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    1. Yes..the submarine museum is wonderful! But unfortunately, I came to know from a friend of mine who recently visited the city, that after the cyclonic devastation by Hudhud they have closed the museum for the time being. Hope it opens soon!

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  12. Pingback: A rain-drenched day at ‘Queen’s Meadow’ Ranikhet | Moon's Blog - Travel Diary of a Wandering Mind

  14. Great!Awesome writing on a wonderful account of our trip and more awesome pics…i liked your description very much.awesome!!.it reminded me of my trip though I stay in Vizag..keep writing..

    Great work…keep it up!

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  19. Pingback: Blogging: 2010 in Review « Moon's Blog

  20. “Vizag ahs a rare combination of sea kissing the foor of the hill” – title of one of the otherwise fabulous pictures… a few minor mistakes (typo)… hope you would not mind my pointing towards them…
    by the way, your blog was a real treat… great going

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  21. Hey Moon D, thanks a bunch for writing a wonderful account of our trip to the port city..Brought back memories of the hectic but wonderful journey and the entire trip…feel like going back again but the ‘royal’ food continues to haunt us..Thanks for putting up with such madcaps 😀

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  22. Great!you have a wonderful writing skill..i liked your description very much.awesome!!.it reminded me of my trip though I did not visit bora caves..keep writing..

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  23. Really I don’t have much idea on this stipulated tour plan.But want to unveil it to the most. What is the name of the port you mentioned? Any idea on good hotels and reservation charges? Did you take any tour planner with you from Vizag? How much one should carry for 5 days stay over there including side scenes? what is your take?

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    1. Sanat …we stayed in a hotel away from the beach. A dbl bed room (which was large enough for three people) was 280 per day there while hotels near the beach might charge more than this. It’s better to book a car for travelling around and sight-seeing. Food is very bad and costly. You can try the Bengali guest houses that are located along the RamaKrishna beach… at least you won’t have to worry for food. 🙂

      If u do not indulge in shopping and don’t go for luxury hotel you can manage in about 6000/-.

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  24. Hi Moon, I couldn’t resist myself from expressing views on your trip proforma as I am planning to give it a try next Durga puja vacation. Have you touched on all the sight scenes and places over there with in just 3 days or so? I was thinking to settle there for 5 days, so any more places to include with the ones you cited ? Pls let me know. However the pics are nice and I don’t want to miss taking such snaps myself.

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    1. that sounds gr8 Sanat…that my photography inspired you. 😉 jokes apart, one thing I have to say that yes ours was literally a ‘short trip’ but we tried cover most of the tourist attractions there. And to add to that I must insist that you should visit the port there which I could not visit myself as I was too tired to visit it in the very day we boarded the train back to Kolkata. But my friends visited and took photographs of it. I’ll send u via mail. And yess, there is a garden that u’ll find on your way to Borra Cave starting from Araku station.

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  25. Awesome writing and more awesome pics…reminded me of my trip to Vizag, Araku and Borra last year. Some of the pics looked startlingly similar to my own album – as they great minds often think alike 😉 Great work…keep it up!

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  29. very nice writing dear……yaar tum to bahut accha likhti ho really u r very strong in writting skill.Mujhe bhi kuch training de do to mai bhi kuch likh-padh lun….kisi anjan ke liye ye Blog ak Guide ka kam karega……Ishi tarah tum apne life ka Blog likh kar bhejna ho sake to,taki mai bhi tumhare writing sai inspire hokar kuch naya karun…..I appreciat u and ur writing…khub sundar hoyeche lekhata….unexpectable

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  30. Osadharon … khub sundar hoyeche lekhata ….. ami bhabchi … ami jakhan vizag jabo .. takhan tor ei lekhata print out niye nebo .. khub kaje debe ….

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