[SouraC]

Hi BHPians, this is my first Travelogue and I am going to give a brief history of how it all started which has brought me even closer to this community

Sometimes Good things happen in your life even without asking. That’s what has happened to me when we went for a short trip to Tajpur in the month of August 2014 which was planned as an ice breaking session to initiate planning of Ladakh tour to be executed in August 2015 (with Hatch and Sedans).

Here I got introduced to few like-minded peoples (including BHPian avrendu, BlackPearl and Samba). In the evening we were having a gala time chatting among ourselves where the idea of a trip emerged (testing man & machines), please check the below link to find out what happened next.

North Sikkim: Conquered by hatchbacks, sedans and an SUV
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...-page-4-a.html

Although we are dedicated to our Ladakh trip but we can’t stop enjoying ourselves, hence we have completed another shorty, travelling to Mukutmanipur in November 2014.

The Travelogue for Tajpur & Mukutmanipur can be found in the below link.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...-tourists.html

All the Thanks for these Travelogues go to BHPian Samba who takes most of the pain to narrate our travel stories.

We didn’t stop here also and planned a year end trip (Christmas Drive) to Baruva, Vizag and Araku. This time we missed Samba in our trip as he got stuck with some work hence the Travelogue was not published in time. After becoming member of this great community I decided to share details of this unrealistic trip.

It started with constrain of time as because of work pressure we had only 4 days to complete our trip and the finalized plan was like this.

25th December : Kolkata – Baruva
26th December : Baruva – Vizag
27th December : Vizag – Araku (Via Bora Caves)
28th December : Araku – Kolkata

Before starting the travelogue let me give a brief introduction to the cars and there owners.

Maruti Swift Dzire- Mr Avrendu Majumdar with his wife and kid. (Team bhp handle avrendu)
Tata Zest- Mr Arindam Bandyopadhyay with his wife and two kids. (Team bhp handle Arindamxeta)
Fiat Punto- Mr Rana Adhikary with his wife and kid.
Maruti Swift- Me with my wife and kid. (TeamBHP handle SouraC)

Day 1 ( 13 hours to do 680kms drive. Kolkata - Baruva via Rambha )

We were scheduled to meet at Dhulagarh toll plaza at 12:30am. But on request from Rana we were forced to change the time to 2am and finally we all gathered and started our journey at around 2:30am. Because of these rescheduling we didn’t get any rest at all on 24th night. We reached Bhubaneswar around 8:30am and after completing our breakfast we continued to our first mid-way destination “Rambha”.

We reached Rambha around 12:30pm and decided to enjoy some Crabs and Prawn. While the food was being prepared we had enough time to take out the cameras and click some pictures.





Kids are enjoying after a whole night journey






Some Flora and Fauna






After satisfying ourselves with the Crabs and the Prawns we started our journey at 2:30pm (approx.) to reach our final destination of the day “Baruva”, we completed the day 1 drive around 3:30pm.

Baruva is a less preferred travel destination because of its proximity to Vizag but after seeing the place we were convinced enough that this should be the destination for all travellers who want to enjoy virgin beach and a cosy stay with APTDC.

The APTDC Resort




The Virgin Beach




Light House attached Parking


View from the APTDC resort


Day 2 ( 3 hours to do 210kms drive. Baruva – Vizag )

Some good things don’t last. We were forced to start our onwards journey because of our time bound schedule. We delayed our start time as much as possible and finally started at 12:30pm. Our stay at Vizag was with Sai Priya (Rushikonda Beach) and we reached our destination without much hustle. Food choice over here was obvious and we ordered Biryani without any delay.



The Cyclone effect on the Coconut Trees




As per our super squeezed plan we had to visit Kailash giri in the afternoon which we managed to do. This was the only local site seeing that we have done in Vizag except a mandatory visit to CMR Mall (Famous for Sarees) if you are travelling with your spouse.

Vizag City in Daytime


The Coast line




Kailash Giri the only Sightseeing of ours at Vizag




Vizag City at Night

[SouraC]

Lets continue with the last and the exiting half of our tour

Day 3 ( 5.5 hours to do 120kms drive. Vizag – Araku via Bora Caves )

What struck us next day morning (7:30am) was quite unbelievable. All of us received a call in the intercom when we were half asleep that “today is your checkout” (which we knew) “and the checkout time is at 8am” . We were forced to get up and get prepared in no time.

Finally we left Sai Priya around 8:30 and visited the beautiful Rushikonda Beach before enjoying our breakfast at APTDC, which is just above the Beach.

Rushikonda Beach in front of Sai Priya


APTDC Resort on hill


Kids are enjoying morning Sun in the Rushikonda Beach




Flower at APTDC


Rushikonda Beach Panorama from the APTDC restaurant Balcony


Our days drive started around 10:30am and soon enough we reached our midway destination Bora Caves around 1:30pm.

We were forced to wait for another 30mins before we could start enjoying the mesmerizing natural formations of Stalactite Stalagmite as the ticket counter was closed. Believe me you might be truly prepared with all the information and pictures of what you are going to find inside but once you are in it will be another world to explore and you will be swept of your feet in no time.

A must read before you enter Bora Caves


What you see below (the surface) can't be explained in words or Pictures














The Brain !!


The outside world is Sooooo FAR


Now as we were engrossed in what we found inside, the first thing that we felt when out is hunger. By that time it was 3:30pm in the watch and we reached APTDC Anantagiri by 4:15pm and completed our Luffin (Lunch + Tiffin) by 5pm.

Day 4 ( 17 hours to do 910kms drive. Araku – Kolkata )

Oh! God it’s the last day, we need to reach back to Kolkata for next day’s office and we are on the other side of the world.

We got up late, had our breakfast and enjoyed the max we can inside APTDC compound. Started our return journey around 10am in the morning with 2 small detour to visit one waterfall and a Dam with big reservoir.

Anantagiri APTDC.. a place to Stay within nature.






Back yard Parking for your cars.. !!






The Waterfall .. again our only Sightseeing at Araku




The Team without me. I was there behind the camera


After visiting the waterfall we started our downwards journey from Araku around 10:45am and again stopped at the reservoir round 11:30.



Reservour Panorama


Finally at 12pm we realized that we are late enough for an 875km (approx.) drive back home. We crossed the AP boarder (Ichchapuram) and stopped for our late Lunch only to start our final drive at 5pm and another approx. 650km to cover.

We were forced to take a 30min break at kolaghat to refresh ourselves as by then our energy meter was giving final warning of a sudden collapse after this tiring tour and after much needed refreshment we finally reached home around 3am in the morning to end this Insane / Hectic / Beautiful tour.

Now what I have not mentioned in this Travelogue is all along the roads we travelled were good to awesome, every evening we enjoyed to the fullest whatever time we had in our hand and discussed about how it would have been much better if we had couple of more days’ time.

What we have missed in this trip:
1. Formal tour starting and ending pictures.
2. Photographs of the beautiful roads that we have enjoyed driving
3. All the sightseeing in Vizag and extended Araku drive.
4. More time to spend in the beautiful Baruva beach.

We all have realized and agreed after completing this trip that it’s overkill for people and you miss a lot of thing which are in most cases mandatory to call it a success.

But for the people who always get slender chance to run away from their work pressure and busy schedule should try this sometimes to rejuvenate the soul.

[Rudra Sen]

Mod note: Thread moved from Assembly Line to Travelogues. Thanks for sharing.

[Samba]

Excellent travelogue with some breath taking pictures. The crisp narration with all the required details made it a good read. Kudo's to the whole team for doing approximately 2000 kms in 4 days with family and kids and still had the energy left to enjoy the beauty of the places !

After reading the travelogue i can realize what fun i missed! Thanks to my year end work pressure.

Edit : Rated High 5 ! The pictures do deserve 5* ratings!

[himadrimondal]

Fantastic writeup but whatever I mention about the photographs will be an understatement. The first photograph is a stunner, hope you have shot in raw format for it has endless possibilities. Thanks for the lovely and sweet travelogue.

[SouraC]

Originally Posted by Samba

Excellent travelogue with some breath taking pictures. The crisp narration with all the required details made it a good read. Kudo's to the whole team for doing approximately 2000 kms in 4 days with family and kids and still had the energy left to enjoy the beauty of the places !

After reading the travelogue i can realize what fun i missed! Thanks to my year end work pressure.

Edit : Rated High 5 ! The pictures do deserve 5* ratings!

Thanks Samba, I will try to maintain the high standards that is being followed in this forum.
I missed quite a lot of finer details ( 3 month is quite a lot of time )of the trip which could have made it more interesting to read. You are spot-on regarding the distance as I have completed the tour with a trip meter reading of 1916km.
Lastly we also missed you, happy to know you have realized the same at last.

Originally Posted by himadrimondal

Fantastic writeup but whatever I mention about the photographs will be an understatement. The first photograph is a stunner, hope you have shot in raw format for it has endless possibilities. Thanks for the lovely and sweet travelogue.

Thanks Himadri , I am flattered to receive this kind of appreciation from an experienced photographer like you. Alas I don't shoot in RAW.
Will surely remember your suggestion in future.

Just to add another very Important picture which I have missed earlier.

OUR BELOVED CARS in front of Anantagiri APTDC

[predatorwheelz]

Crisply written travelogue, and some great pictures. Welcome to the community. We look forward to many more contributions from your side.

Originally Posted by SouraC

We didn’t stop here also and planned a year end trip (Christmas Drive) to Baruva, Vizag and Araku. This time we missed Samba in our trip as he got stuck with some work hence the Travelogue was not published in time. After becoming member of this great community I decided to share details of this unrealistic trip.

It started with constrain of time as because of work pressure we had only 4 days to complete our trip and the finalized plan was like this.

25th December : Kolkata – Baruva
26th December : Baruva – Vizag
27th December : Vizag – Araku (Via Bora Caves)
28th December : Araku – Kolkata

I did this trip with my wife in December 2010. It was a last moment plan, and we couldn't manage any human company. Just the 2 of us (sob sob) with my faithful Predator.

We did have a little more time though. 6 days, so we had time for a night's stop over at Chandipur as well as detailed exploration of Vizag.

Here's the link to my original travelogue:

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...-2300-kms.html

Originally Posted by SouraC

Baruva is a less preferred travel destination because of its proximity to Vizag but after seeing the place we were convinced enough that this should be the destination for all travellers who want to enjoy virgin beach and a cosy stay with APTDC.

Looks beautiful, and truly unexplored. No idea if this resort even existed in 2010.

Originally Posted by SouraC

As per our super squeezed plan we had to visit Kailash giri in the afternoon which we managed to do. This was the only local site seeing that we have done in Vizag except a mandatory visit to CMR Mall (Famous for Sarees) if you are travelling with your spouse.

Truly super squeezed plan. You should have checked out the submarine museum in Vizag. The kids would have loved it.

Originally Posted by SouraC

APTDC Resort on hill

We stayed in this resort. The size of the rooms and location (on top of the hillock) were worth it.

Originally Posted by SouraC

Our days drive started around 10:30am and soon enough we reached our midway destination Bora Caves around 1:30pm.

We had visited Bora on 30th December. The place was full of Bengalis (who had travelled in local Bolero Maxxs and Xylos). Ours was the only WB06 registered car. As we drove up, we could hear people saying "Kolkata theke gari chalie eseche"

Originally Posted by SouraC

The Waterfall .. again our only Sightseeing at Araku

Araku is quite boring in terms of sight seeing anyway!

[Aditya]

Fantastic travelogue SouraC. Fantastic photography with an informative write-up. Borra Caves in particular appear very interesting to me. I've driven down the east coast on many occasions, but never been there. Hope I can visit the place some time.

Baruva beach looks brilliant as well.

[SouraC]

Originally Posted by predatorwheelz

Crisply written travelogue, and some great pictures. Welcome to the community. We look forward to many more contributions from your side.

Thanks predatorwheelz, Its from this community I have learned to express and share experience, which might help other members.

Originally Posted by predatorwheelz

I did this trip with my wife in December 2010. It was a last moment plan, and we couldn't manage any human company. Just the 2 of us (sob sob) with my faithful Predator.

We did have a little more time though. 6 days, so we had time for a night's stop over at Chandipur as well as detailed exploration of Vizag.

Here's the link to my original travelogue:

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...-2300-kms.html

Really whished to increase the time, but you know.
I have seen your travelogue earlier and in front of yours mine becomes a mere photologue. Will try to make it more informative in future.

Originally Posted by predatorwheelz

Looks beautiful, and truly unexplored. No idea if this resort even existed in 2010.

You are correct, it is a new property and became operational from mid 2014.

Originally Posted by predatorwheelz

Truly super squeezed plan. You should have checked out the submarine museum in Vizag. The kids would have loved it.

Probably it was closed due to the cyclone that has happened around a month back.

Originally Posted by predatorwheelz

We stayed in this resort. The size of the rooms and location (on top of the hillock) were worth it.

We had visited Bora on 30th December. The place was full of Bengalis (who had travelled in local Bolero Maxxs and Xylos). Ours was the only WB06 registered car. As we drove up, we could hear people saying "Kolkata theke gari chalie eseche"

Araku is quite boring in terms of sight seeing anyway!

APTDC Rushikonda is a beautiful property to stay but we planned it such late, it was fully booked by then.

We got the similar experience in Bora Caves, full with tourist from Bengal but this time there were 4 cars from Kolkata.

We enjoyed the APTDC Anantagiri property, in one word it was an exceptional experience.

Originally Posted by Aditya

Fantastic travelogue SouraC. Fantastic photography with an informative write-up. Borra Caves in particular appear very interesting to me. I've driven down the east coast on many occasions, but never been there. Hope I can visit the place some time.

Baruva beach looks brilliant as well.

Thanks Aditya, I hope to keep it up and bring you all many more write-ups.

Please visit Bora Caves next time when you drive through that region as it will be an awesome experience to see a world below the surface.

Baruva is still virgin as there are no more staying options except APTDC, who knows what will happen in couple of years time.

[BlackPearl]

Fantastic write-up and stunning pictures Soura!! We have heard of "Jack of all trades", you are turning out to be the "Master of all" - superb rider, driver and photographer!! Hope to see more such travelogues and pictures from you.

[JKDS]

SouraC, that is one of the best write-ups I've read in the recent past, a travelogue which I feel is complete in all respects, and one I can definitely rely on to plan my next vacation.
More importantly, the pictures you've shared here do showcase the beauty of the location and does aid and assist in portraying the serenity of the place. No wonder that this is one of the most desired vacation destinations in India!

Thank you for this contribution!

[SouraC]

Originally Posted by BlackPearl

Fantastic write-up and stunning pictures Soura!! We have heard of "Jack of all trades", you are turning out to be the "Master of all" - superb rider, driver and photographer!! Hope to see more such travelogues and pictures from you.

I don't have words to express my feelings after what you have said about me.
I hope this kind of travelogues should encourage more people to start self drive and start loving there cars.

Originally Posted by JKDS

SouraC, that is one of the best write-ups I've read in the recent past, a travelogue which I feel is complete in all respects, and one I can definitely rely on to plan my next vacation.
More importantly, the pictures you've shared here do showcase the beauty of the location and does aid and assist in portraying the serenity of the place. No wonder that this is one of the most desired vacation destinations in India!

Thank you for this contribution!

Even after your high praise, I should admit that I have missed many more finer details which I should not have missed. I will try to include all from the next one.
I also believe, Pictures say a lot and I hope this can at-least be treated as a Photologue.

[navsjab]

A 2000 km trip in 4 days! Kudos to the team. Especially when you have little ones around this may get a little tough. Great narration and splendid pictures

Thanks for bringing these places to our notice. I really did not know of these less-visited-beautiful places. The images from the cave are really good. I am sure the thrill when visiting it in person is another story altogether.

[sreenivass]

Originally Posted by SouraC

I don't have words to express my feelings after what you have said about me.
I hope this kind of travelogues should encourage more people to start self drive and start loving there cars.





Even after your high praise, I should admit that I have missed many more finer details which I should not have missed. I will try to include all from the next one.
I also believe, Pictures say a lot and I hope this can at-least be treated as a Photologue.

Good travelogue Soura. I made a trip to Vizag, Araku, Borra, etc.. around 2008 from Hyderabad. There are more places to see around, we were 3 families then too. You do not feel like coming back from some of those.

The road towards Orisaa from Araku, Necklace view of the Bay from Kailasa Giri, boating near Araku still are fresh in my memory.

[mr.sinha]

Souradeep,

thanks for the nice travelogue and the beautiful photographs. As it happens, I am travelling to Baruva tomorrow with family. A month back, in an urge to go somewhere, anywhere, I tried booking the APTDC resort at Rushikonda, but there was no vacancy. So a friend of mine suggested Baruva. I checked accommodation availability in APTDC website for Baruva, found 3 rooms left, and immediately booked one. Didn't do any research.

Today, I thought I would find some info about the place, and a google search revealed your travelogue.

Not many people in Kolkata have heard of Baruva, so I was feeling a bit hesitant to take the family there. But after reading your travelogue, I feel much assured now.

We will start tomorrow morning around 5 am, and hope to reach by 7pm. No plans to go to Araku, Bora etc. Just 2 days of relaxing, but will probably go see the Rushikonda beach. I am in the "4x4 addicts" whatsapp group, so if I have some queries, I will surely ping you :-)