21st August 2019, 19:43
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| BHPian Join Date: Mar 2019 Location: Kolkata
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| Monsoon drive to Vizag and Araku Valley in a Ford Figo S My first travelogue. Before I start, I would like to thank all Team-BHP members from whom I have learned so many things about cars, driving, road safety and many other things over the last one and half years since when I started following this forum. TBhp Travelogue section is my favorite. So, I though to write one. But when I started writing this travelogue, I realized, it is easier said that done. Managing time out of our busy schedule is challenging. I started writing this 4 months back and finally I am glad that I could finish it. And thanks to Google photos and Google map for remembering time, places and roads. It was almost 7 years since we have gone for any long trip. Darjeeling trip back in 2012 was the last one if I remembered it correctly. We were so busy in life that we forgot to travel which is the most useful remedy to get away from our monotonous daily routine. Finally, good things started happening in mid 2018. I changed my job and moved to Bhubaneswar, bought our first car and also got TeamBHP membership. We started planning to cover possible places in and around BBSR. Vizag comes to our mind first because my wife wanted to go there since long. It also offers everything - beaches, hills, valley, temples, cave, waterfalls - you name it. Earlier the plan was to go there during winter to avoid hot and humid whether, but things suddenly changed and our short tenure at BBSR comes to an end. We targeted 15th August holiday. Applied for one day leave on 16th and got 4 days (15-18 August) which should be sufficient for Vizag and Araku trip. Planning: Nowadays, planning a trip is cakewalk when you have TeamBHP and Google with you. I went through all recent Vizag travelogues and used google for all the planning. Since we were travelling with our 3 years kid, wanted to make things relaxing and not running behind all those popular places. Following are possible places which you can visit from Vizag, but we have visited only few of them.
Stay: While searching for hotel, I came to know about APTDC resorts but due to long holiday we did not get any room there. Finally, booked a hotel near Ram Krishna beach for first 2 days and APTDC Mayuri Resort at Araku Vally for Day3. We also booked "APTDC Haritha resort" at Rushikonda for Day-4 as our plan was to come back to Vizag from Araku and then start for BBSR next day. We were also considering to go back to Baruva from Araku on Day 4 but later cancelled that plan. But in the end, we came back to BBSR directly from Araku on day 4 as my son was not feeling well. That proved to be good decision as I got the chance to drive on very good state roads at AP. More on that later. Itinerary: Day 1 (15-Aug-19) - BBSR to Vizag (420km), Vizag sightseeing (Ross Hill, Ramakrishna Beach) Day 2 (16-Aug-19) - Vizag sightseeing (Kailashgiri) Day 3 (17-Aug-19) - Vizag-Borra Caves-Araku Vally (130km) Day 4 (18-Aug-19) - Araku-BBSR (500km) Car: Ford Figo S TDCI. Though it was only 9 months old at that time, it had already completed 15000 KM before the trip. 1st service at 2500KM was done just after 7 days of delivery and 2nd service at 8500 KM was done on February 2019. Before the trip few things are taken care of.
Packing: The boring part. We made a list of things required but forgot to verify it in the end. The result - we forgot few important things. Learning for next trip. Camera: For me, taking pictures is solely for memory. All photos are clicked using my phone camera (Mi A2) and uploaded as it is (read unedited). Here are few sample photos. You might be thinking that this is Vizag or Araku. But no, this is beside NH16 somewhere between Barkul and Tangi. This only proves that Roads are equally beautiful like those popular tourist destinations. We experienced these spectacular scenes all along the highway. Something that you can only see during monsoon   Road to heaven  And the heaven (Araku Valley)  Ford Figo S - taking rest under banyan tree  Rushikonda beach from the restaurant of Haritha beach resort(APTDC), on a hot and humid day  Tenneti beach from Tenneti park  Tenneti beach at morning  Finally some could on day 2 after very hot first day  Beautiful Vizag as seen from From Kailashgiri    Beautiful Mudasarlova road that starts from Kailashgiri and meets Simanchalam main road which in turn connects you to Vizag-Araku road  Beside the road to Araku. Hills started showing up  A village on the lap of nature  Road where we can live all day  Ananthgiri mountain range  Stalactites at Borra Caves  Gosthani river flows beside Borra Caves  Gallikonda view point on the way to Araku  Tribal dance at APTDC Resort [Mayuri hill resort]  View from our room at Mayuri resort  Beautiful Mayuri resort  Beautiful paddy fields at Araku Vally  Finally some rain...   And some cloud     Thatipudi Reservoir [We discovered this place during our return journey from Araku to BBSR. More on this later]  Last edited by kousikjana : 31st December 2019 at 18:45. |
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8th November 2019, 00:32
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| BHPian Join Date: Mar 2019 Location: Kolkata
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| re: Monsoon drive to Vizag and Araku Valley in a Ford Figo S Day 1 - 15-Aug-2019 Bhubaneswar to Vizag (430 km approx.) Time Taken - 9 hours Most of our luggage was already loaded on previous day. Packed remaining luggage, some cooked food and lots of water. Finally started at 5:30am from our apartment at Chandaka and in no time we reached Khandagiri to catch NH16. From Khandagiri to Khurdah there was heavy traffic as usual. After Khurdah the road was mostly empty. Road condition was good except few pothole and unmarked speed-breakers. Before starting journey  Stopped here for breakfast   From Khurdah onward the road turns into scenic beauty and we were enjoying our journey. Beautiful eastern ghat range on both sides of the road will welcome you.     We crossed Andhra border at 8:45 AM. We found the road condition is even better than Odisha. We were comfortably cruising at 80-100 KM/h until we encountered the first diversion out of total 40-50 diversions till Vizag  They are building flyover at all intersections. Today's pain for better tomorrow...Some temple as seen from the road. They are making a road to reach there by car. Right now there is some road which is not good enough.       The plan was to reach hotel by 12:30 PM and have lunch there. We called hotel reception to order lunch but to our surprise they said that their restaurant is under maintenance and they will arrange food form outside. We were not informed about this while booking through makeMyTrip. We did not order anything and disconnected the call. We should have called them before booking. Later, we decided to go directly to APDTC resort at Rushkonda for having lunch. After crossing DPS Madhurawara, we took left turn into "100 Feet road" which is beautiful without much traffic. Forgot to click any picture there as we were hungry. This road also helped us to bypass Vizag traffic. We reached Haritha Beach resort by 1.20PM. The resort is beautifully located on top of the hill. The sea view from the resort is spectacular. We were feeling bad not to get any room here. You need to plan early to get a room here.  We went to restaurant and quickly ordered our lunch. The food quality was really good though quantity was not adequate. We were hungry, so food picture. After having a light lunch, we started our journey to "Hotel See Tree" which is 3km from Ramakrishna beach. We took the beach road but it was very congested and adding to that there are lots of speed breakers. It took about an hour to reach our hotel. On reaching hotel we got refreshed and took rest for an hour. It was really hot outside, hence waited for sun to go down. At 5 PM we went out and decided to visit Ross Hill Church first which was about 3 KM away from our hotel. Ross Hill Church: It is an isolated place but really beautiful and devoid of tourists. It seems that not many know about the place so there were less crowd even during long holiday. The road goes through the port area. GMap shows that you cannot go by that road. But on reaching there we saw public vehicles are also allowed. We went to the top of the hill after negotiating 2-3 hair pin bends. We really enjoyed being there and forgot all the stress of the day long drive. You can also sit inside the church and have some inner peace. Ample space for parking.  Beautiful Harbour  The church    Dolphin's nose as seen from Ross hill Church       Time to go back...  Came down from the hill and headed to Ramkrishna beach which was 2 KM away. Our intention was to see INS Kursura. But on reaching the beach we realized that we were not alone there  There were thousands of other tourists who were also travelling with us. We decided to skip submarine museum. Finding parking space was quiet a task, but luckily I found one for which I had to take U turn. We stopped for a while at the beach. We had some boiled corn with butter and Masala muri (puffed rice), then we left for Tenniti park along the beach road. On the way we faced heavy traffic. It was already dark when reached the park. Again, there was no place for parking at the parking zone. So we waited inside the car with Full AC on as it was super hot outside. After 5-10 minutes one car went out and we got the parking space. Surprisingly parking is completely free. The park was also full of crowd and all benches were occupied. The park is built in multiple layers, we went down towards the beach and sat there on the grass. Finally, we got much needed relief. Cool refreshing breeze was coming from the sea. It was full moon and moonlight was reflecting on the sea. It was indeed a beautiful moment to experience. We spent there for an hour, clicked few pictures, then headed back to hotel. Full moon   And let there be light  We packed our dinner from a roadside restaurant on our way back to Hotel. On reaching hotel we had our dinner and retired for the day. Last edited by kousikjana : 27th December 2019 at 19:06. |
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12th November 2019, 22:35
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| BHPian Join Date: Mar 2019 Location: Kolkata
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| re: Monsoon drive to Vizag and Araku Valley in a Ford Figo S Day 2 - 16-Aug-2019 Vizag sightseeing We woke up early in the morning and went out around 6.30 AM. As per the plan we went to Kailashgiri which was 2KM away from hotel. At morning roads were empty so we reached there in no time. There are 3 ways to reach Kailashgiri top,
On reaching there we saw rope-way is closed. The rope-way service starts at 11AM. We decided to go by road. The road is beautiful and well maintained. After a minute's drive we reached the toll gate. Unfortunately, the toll gate was closed and we were informed that the park will open at 8:30 AM. However, Vizag tourism official website mentions contradicting start time   Road to Kailashgiri  We returned back to beach road again and stopped near Tenneti park gate to decide our nest destination. Suddenly my son entered the park as the gate was open. We followed him and were amazed by beautiful Tenneti beach. There was almost nobody at the beach that time. Only a few people were doing pre-wedding shooting [a common trend nowadays]. We went down to the beach and spent some quality time there. We enjoyed a lot, particularly my son. First time we saw him playing with waves. Last time when we went to Puri beach, he was so afraid that we had to come back in hurry. Foggy Tenneti beach at morning   Rocks at the beach     Trying to see the other side of the sea  The park from the beach   Let me run please  I don't want to go back  After couple of hours, being tired and hungry, we came back to hotel. We planned to visit Kailashgiri that afternoon. Beautiful beach road  View from beach road  The hotel provided Edli and Upma as complementary breakfast. The quality was good. At 8:30 in the morning, it felt like noon. It was even more hot and humid than previous day. It forced us to stay inside the hotel. My son was tired and went to bed and slept for 2 hours. Meanwhile I was searching for Bengali restaurant for having lunch. I found one with good rating in Google named 'Hotel Nimatran'. I went to the hotel around 11AM and ordered 2 thali as parcel. The food quality is acceptable as long as you are getting that at south India. It was tasty but spicy, against our likes. Overall it was okay. After heavy lunch we rested for 2 hours while waiting for sun to go down. We went out at 4:30PM for Kailashgiri. We parked our car near rope-way starting point. Booked our ticket and joined the queue which was not so long considering the holiday. While we were waiting for our turn, we were admiring the beauty of the surroundings. Also the weather got changed as there was some local cloud formation. Hot air suddenly transformed into cold breeze. We started feeling good. The rope-way is waste of money. It takes only 30 seconds to reach to the top. The ride is so short and quick that you hardly get any time to feel it. It's certainly not recommended. You get the spectacular view from the top anyway. Best to go by road if you have a car. Finally some cloud   Rope-way is built and maintained by a Kolkata based firm.  View from rope-way station  Very common picture of Vizag.  On reaching the top, we first went to the toy train ticket counter and booked our tickets. The train already left the station and would take at-least 20 minutes to come back. Meanwhile, we entered children's play area spent there until the train returns. The toy train gives you all round view of the city and sea. Definitely recommended. Always opt of right hand seats. Though seat number is mentioned on ticket, no one is following it. You can choose your own seat. Toy train waiting at station     After 20 minutes ride, we strolled around various shops and bought few things. Finally we went to see the statue of the Lord Shiva. Clicked few pictures and came back. It was already dark and night view the city and sea was even more beautiful. We sat on a bench for a while with cold breeze fading away all the tiredness. Afternoon to evening is the best time to visit Kailashgiri. Another common sight of Vizag. See how beautiful the road looks  Doppler weather radar station  Entry gate to Kailashgiri   Let me walk off road please  Vizag city at night from Kailashgiri. The scene deserves a better photo  After 7 PM, we proceeded to Rope-way station. There was no queue at all as most of the people already left. After 30 seconds of rope way ride we came down and ordered for dry chili chicken from a roadside food truck. My son went to a footpath shop who was selling toys. We bought one 4-wheel drive off-roader for him for 70 bucks The car can go back and fourth, you just need to push it. My son loved it. We packed our dinner on the way back to hotel. Had our dinner and called it a day. We were excited because next day we would go to Araku, our main attraction for the trip. Last edited by kousikjana : 30th December 2019 at 17:00. |
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11th December 2019, 01:03
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| re: Monsoon drive to Vizag and Araku Valley in a Ford Figo S Day 3: 17-Aug-2019 Vizag to Bora Caves and Araku There are two ways to go Araku:
We woke up early on a cloudy morning, checked out from our hotel and left for Araku by 7:30 AM. The weather was relatively cooler than last 2 days. There are 2 roads from Vizag to Araku Road. We took Mudasarlova road that starts from Hanumanthaavaka Junction and meets Vizag - Araku road via Simanchalam main road. It is beautiful 6 lane road without much traffic. The small hills at both side of the road will give you company. Middle 2 lanes are used exclusively for Emergency vehicles and buses. Though, other vehicles are also entering allegedly. Mudasarlova road  We stopped here to have breakfast that we packed on our way. While we were eating, Figo was taking some rest under banyan tree.  Hills started showing up  Except the first 10%, Araku road is really in good condition and we enjoyed our drive thoroughly.    Entering Anantagiri mountain range. Hilly road starts from here. Smile on my face as this is going to be my first drive on hills  Although it is one of the easiest road to drive, but nothing takes away the 'fun of driving on hills' from you.      You will find lot of monkeys here  There was no hurry, so we were taking our own sweet time, stopping here and there, taking random snaps and just enjoying the calm and quiet nature. All other vehicles (mostly rented) were just flying out like there is no tomorrow as they have to get back to Vizag on the same day after visiting Borra Caves and Araku. At around 10:30AM we reached Damuku view point. Here are few snaps taken from the view point. Damaku view point      Some scattered cloud here are there but there was no sign of rain   We reached borra caves at 10:45. Lots of vehicles already reached there and parking spot was almost full. Fortunately, I got one. Again the parking is free which is surprising but at the same it makes you happy. From parking area you have to walk about 500 meters to reach the ticket counter. We booked our ticket and deposited our bags in the baggage counter. After entering main gate you need to go downstairs. Stairs are very difficult to traverse. You should be very careful while going downstairs, going upstairs is relatively easy even though it requires lots of extra effort. The cave is very big and you will be surprised to see what water can do over the years. Once you enter the cave you can hear the chirping of bats, sound of water droplets. Colorful lights are installed all around which makes the environment little artificial. Nevertheless, you should definitely visit the cave if you are in Vizag. Chasing Chickens. He is having fun.  Some more cloud  Borra caves     We spent 30 minutes inside the cave. After coming upstairs we took rest while seeing the Gosthani river and soaking ourselves in cold breeze coming from the river.  History of Borra caves  After taking rest we came out of the main gate and there was a APDTC run restaurant. We ordered veg thali and chicken curry. Both the thali and chicken curry were really awesome. The best food that we had in our entire trip. Thanks to APTDC for putting such effort. My son took one national flag from gate of the restaurant and he started waving it in the air without understanding the importance of it. Happy independence day  Local people were selling handmade souvenirs. We bought one beautiful musical instrument made of bamboo. Bamboo chicken also being sold there. You can also visit Katiki waterfalls which is roughly 3km away from here. There is no proper road except a trail through the jungle. Also you need to walk about 500 meter to reach the falls. We did not take the risk of going there as we were not in adventure tour. There are also rented cars available which take you to the falls [Rent 300 per head]. We resumed our journey to Araku Vally at 1:15PM. There was long queue right after the parking lot owing to a narrow bridge. Lots of vehicles were returning at the same time. The bridge was blocked from both sides and no one wants to go back. The end result, everyone was standing still. After half an hour the jam got cleared and we started our journey again. Next we made a stop at Galikonda view point where we met a few office colleges who were also visiting Araku as a day trip. Local people were selling Bamboo chicken and chicken kebabs at a very cheap rate. We bought 2 sticks of chicken kabab (Rs.20 per stick containing 5 pcs). The taste was superb. Anyone visiting here should try this out. Suddenly met one friend at Galikonda view point  Last edited by kousikjana : 30th December 2019 at 18:55. |
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15th December 2019, 22:33
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| re: Monsoon drive to Vizag and Araku Valley in a Ford Figo S Day 3 Continued Araku Valley After having delicious kebabs at Galikonda, we resumed our journey on a beautiful twisty road. Next we stopped at Sunkarimetta view point where we got the first glimpse of the Araku Valley.   Finally the hilly road ends as we landed on the valley. The roads at the valley are breeze to drive. We reached the APTDC Mayuri resort at 3PM. The resort organize tribal dance show every day. When we reached there the dance was already started.  After the dance show is over, we went to the reception and they allotted us a room. Our booking was done for Non-AC Premium room which has private open terrace. The room is large, clean and well maintained. The view from the room and terrace is excellent. The resort has lawn and park. They also arrange bonfire on extra payment. You can order Bamboo chicken too, however bit costly compared to outside. Here are few pictures of the resort and surroundings.        After half an hour, we were out for a short drive around the valley with no destination in mind. Just driving through beautiful roads and admiring the beauty of the valley. It was already clouded when we started, rain comes after 5 minutes. There are few popular tourist attractions like tribal museum, Padmapuram Gardens etc. But we did not visit any of them. There are also few waterfalls nearby which you can visit. We did not go there either.      It started getting dark quickly. So, we came back to the resort. While coming back we faced heavy rain. Coming back to the resort we ordered tea. We sat in the balcony while seeing the cloud over the hills and sipping a cup of hot tea.    Later I went to the outside market and bought Bamboo chicken from there. We ordered our dinner from the resort. They only accept cash for food. We were really disappointed by the food quality at the resort. May be we ordered wrong items. We had our dinner around 8 PM and retired for the day. Last day of the trip was coming up. Time to get back home. 500km of drive was awaiting us on the last day. Last edited by kousikjana : 30th December 2019 at 19:11. |
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15th December 2019, 23:25
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| re: Monsoon drive to Vizag and Araku Valley in a Ford Figo S Day 4 - 18-Aug-2019 Araku to BBSR - 500km We always wake up early whenever we are travelling. Morning time is ideal to feel any place. There was no exception on the last day also. Miles to go before we sleep again. We left the bed and immediately went outside to experience the nature in the morning. Here are few pictures. The resort also provide complementary breakfast as buffet. But for that you have to wait till 8 AM. We skipped that. Before leaving we clicked few pictures of the resort for the final time.    We started our return journey by 7 AM. You should drive here during morning to understand why morning is the best time for drive. No traffic and spectacular scenes all around. Let the pictures do the talking.    Again, we made halt at the same point where we stopped while coming here. This time it is even more beautiful. Colorful paddy fields, foggy hills and cool breeze are truly refreshing. Time for some photo session.   Figo S posing himself soaked in rain and dew   He loves to throw stones whenever there is opportunity (spot the stone)    After a brief photo session we resumed our journey. As it rained on previous day, we encountered water coming down from hills and flowing over the road at various places. A mini waterfall  While looking for washroom, we visited 'Tyda Haritha Jungle Bells' resort which is situated on the Visakhapatnam-Araku road. Those who love forest can stay here. Again it is run by APTDC. We went to the reception and they showed us the way to washroom. Breakfast was being served at that time. Same system is followed at every APTDC resort. I forgot to click any picture there. As suggested by GMap, we took left near Bowdara after coming down from the hills. This road goes through Vizianagaram. By the same road we saw a dam named "Thatipudi Teservoir" and took a quick detour. The dam was completely empty at that time. Few people were selling peanuts and ice cream. We spent some time there and took few pictures. We also bought Ice cream and nuts to munch while driving.    Thatipudi Teservoir  Going closer to the water body  And throwing some stones into the water    It was already 10 AM and we still had 417 km to munch. Vizianagaram road is single lane but in very good condition. Traffic was less and I was easily driving in 40-80 km/h in fourth gear like an automatic. We enjoyed our drive on that road. On reaching Vizianagaram, we faced heavy traffic and it cost us almost 30 minutes. After crossing Vizianagaram, we stopped before a intersection to buy water bottles. From that intersection, there are two roads, the straight one goes directly to NH16 and the left one meets the NH16 just before Srikakulam. We took the left to avoid as many diversions as possible on the NH. The decision proved to be an excellent one as that road was best we experienced in our entire trip. A single lane smooth state road without any speed breakers and any traffic is hard to see these days. It was that kind of ride what you call as carpet ride. The road goes though the eastern ghat range, that means it is damn scenic. In no time we reached the NH. Till now the drive was so en-joyful that we were not feeling any fatigue even after 5 hours of drive. The road we took.  Around 1 PM we stopped at roadside dhaba for lunch. We choose this dhaba as it was looking attractive from outside, but the food quality was very bad. This dhaba is not recommended   After lunch we resumed our journey and experienced beautiful scenes on the both side of the road. like the picture below  We drove non stop and finally reached home at 7PM. 12 hours of memorable journey comes to an end. My wife says after the journey that she is not feeling tired which sounds very satisfying in the end. Excellent roads and maintaining a steady speed of 80-90km per hour made it possible. Before I conclude here are some pointers from the trip:
Although it was not a perfect trip from any angle, we enjoyed a lot in the end. That is what matters. Whenever you travel you will enjoy no matter what happened there. Eventually, you will forget those bad things and remember all good ones to cherries in days to come. Thanks for reading. Hope it helps others who are planning for Vizag trip. . Last edited by kousikjana : 31st December 2019 at 17:14. |
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31st December 2019, 18:55
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31st December 2019, 22:02
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2nd January 2020, 01:16
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2nd January 2020, 05:20
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| Team-BHP Support | Re: Monsoon drive to Vizag and Araku Valley in a Ford Figo S Quote:
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2nd January 2020, 07:56
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2nd January 2020, 09:42
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| Senior - BHPian | Re: Monsoon drive to Vizag and Araku Valley in a Ford Figo S Quote:
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2nd January 2020, 12:43
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2nd January 2020, 15:15
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2nd January 2020, 20:04
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| Re: Monsoon drive to Vizag and Araku Valley in a Ford Figo S Very nicely written travelogue Kousikjana. Unless you had mentioned, I wouldn't have fathomed this was your first travelogue. This is so beautifully covered and neatly detailed. Wishing you many many more miles on the rubber and travelogues to come. |
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