Hello everyone today I want to share my recent outing
experience. We a group of 10
people(Vinod,Srikanth,Shiva,Prashanth,Ratan,Indra,Mahesh,Lakshmi Kanth,Rajesh
and My self-Vamshi) from FACTSET went to the trip in the month of July(7th
and 8th). Me, Ratan, Prashanth, Srikanth and Lakshmi were planning for a short
two day trip for almost one week. We went for many virtual tours on internet to
places like Maredumilli, Lonavala, Khandala etc. But, finally settled with a
short trip to coastal seashores of AP due to many constraints.
We first departed from our office at around 2 AM after logout.
Actually we planned to depart by 1 AM but, due to cab delay we started late. We
did a small prayer which we do generally at the start of our trip for a safe
journey. Indra and Vinod booked a 12 seater Tempo Traveller at an affordable
fare which was very comfortable. Our plan was to first visit Vijayawada then
Hamsala Deevi, Chirala and at last Amaravathi. I performed the guide role as
I’m a localite of Vijayawada and familiar with the surroundings.
Here we go…we were out of the city with in 40 mins., and our
ever busy boozers has already started their job. We played some folk and fulltoo
mass beat songs(nice collection by lakshmi) and danced with high energy levels.
The road to Vijayawada is a newly laid 4 lane one which is still under
construction but, good for travel. Our first halt was at a dhaba where we took
soft drinks for the non alcoholics.
We then headed towards our first destination Vijayawada…all
of us slept except me after dancing and boozing. There was a small drizzle all
the way during our journey and it looks beautiful when we entered the Krishna
district with green hill rocks at one side and ready to harvest fields on the
other side. There is a big 136 foot Hanuman Statue near Vijayawada in a village
called Paritala on NH-9. One can get down and take darshan or few snaps here as
this is the tallest Hanuman statue in the world and also the tallest statue in
India. No one was awake to see this
wonderful statue I, felt them as unlucky to miss this.
We reached Vijayawada by 7:30 in the morning-thanks to our
driver Ravi for bringing us so quickly (Just 5:30 Hrs. including halts). Me and
Lakshmi then started searching for the possibilities of having bath in the
Krishna river and performing our daily regularities. We found the conditions
are not idle as the water is stagnated and not floating. So, we started
searching for a decent satram or hotel. Vinod accompanied us and we found one
satram for just getting fresh up and leave. Srikanth and Indra dared and took a
bath in river, rest of us stayed at satram. Later we went for the Durga devi
darshan in a free bus service provided by the temple authorities for every 10
mins. There wan’t much crowd as it was a non peak season and we had our darshan
very peacefully and pleasantly. Most of our guys were feeling the hot and humid
conditions in Vijayawada as they were sweating continuously. We went down the
hill by foot as the busses were with full capacity.
We
then left to have our break fast at a hotel near the Bus Stand. The food is
just ok there. Later I took all to a Shivalayam located on the hill top at
Yanamalakuduru. The newly renovated temple is very good and we can have a bird’s
eye view of most of the Vijayawada city from there. Our guys took few snaps there.
I showed my house from there to Ratan and from that point onwards he started
commenting on me for not taking them to my home. I explained him the problem as
mine is a small house and it can’t accommodate 10 people at once. But, still he
tortured me till the completion of the tour.
Our next destination is Hamsala Deevi and there is a short
cut (we can save upto 25 kms by this route) from the Yanamalakudru Shivalayam
to Avanigadda from there we can go to Hamsala Deevi. The road is a newly laid two lane one and
pretty good for travel. We can enjoy the journey a lot as on one side of the
road there is a canal and on the other side is river Krishna . There wasn’t
much water in the river as there wasn’t enough rain during the monsoon. If the
river is with full of water then the journey will be filled with more
excitement and beauty. Most of our guys were asleep as they were tired with the
hot conditions. I remained awake as the driver doesn’t know the route. We
reached Avanigadda at approximately 2 Pm and had our lunch there. From there
Hamsala Deevi is about 24 Kms. The road to Deevi is a decent one lane one. It
took another 30 mins., for us to reach there. There is an age old Venugopala
Swamy temple in Hamsala Deevi which the locals believe that the temple was
built by gods. We skipped that temple due to time constraints as we need to
reach Chirala by night.
The beach was very pleasant as there were very few people I,
think not more than 10. The way to beach is filled with small plants and water
ponds on both the sides. It is a black sand beach which I never saw before and
if we crossed the borders of the beach our feet will get down in that light
weighted sand which is dangerous also. The place of sea confluence is about 3
kms from the Palakayi Tippa beach and only a light weighted vehicle can make to
that place. So we left our vehicle there and hired an auto for 250 INR which we
felt was a bit expensive but, there was no other choice for us. It is a
marvelous place we, were spell bounded by the beauty of it. The scenery of
river merging into the sea was so amazing to watch and we can spot out the
difference between the sea water and river water as there is a difference in
colors. There is also an Island which our auto driver cum guide told us that
previously people were allowed to ride there on boats and can spend some time
there. But, due increasing number of accidents they are not allowing that now.
There is a two storied building erected by the tourism department which looks
like a 50 years old one due to bad maintenance. One can have a bird’s eye view
from that building. One should be very cautious before entering into the water
as the depth at that point is nearly 30 foot. So, we avoided getting down into
the water and just enjoyed the nature. We also witnessed beautiful scenery of
rainfall on a particular area from that building top. We spent around 20 mins.,
there and left as our auto driver insisted us to leave as it may rain and
difficult for travel.
We reached Palakayi Tippa beach in 15 mins., by that time
rain started and we too started playing in the beach amid rain. Rain went away
quickly and we had a running competition there. Where all of us contested but,
the contest was held between different genres of us fat guys first then short
(potti) later medium sized like that. The race was with full fun as every one
tried to cheat others by running short distances and return. We played high
catches also with the ball which we bought at Vijayawada.
We left the place at around 5’O clock in the evening and
headed towards our next pit stop Chirala. On the way a newly constructed bridge
was built on the Krishna River. Unlike in other places we saw the river with
full capacity there. We took a halt near Repalle for tea and ate few
bananas(poor Srikanth he bought a dozen and got just one to eat). We reached
Chirala around 8 PM and missed the route to our beach resort and landed at a
different place. We enquired with the locals and reached our resort Sip &
Dip where, we boarded for the second time after we came last here for the Team
Outing one year back. The resort is strictly just ok. Our actual plan was to go
Bapatla beach and stay for the whole night there but, we didn’t get rooms at
the APTDC resort and that prompted us to book the same resort again as we don’t
have any other choices. But one thing is good at this resort - food is too good
especially non veg. We left for the fire camp in beach by giving 200 INR for
the local guy to arrange it.
Here started the fun again our, boozers were in full swing
and boozed till late night. Prashanth, me and Ratan went for a walk in the dark
seashore between the red crabs. The crabs were hundreds in number and I refused
to walk further as I was a bit scared (I think they too are scared but didn’t
showed that). Later we moved for the dinner and after that few including me
went for sleep. But, our boozers Prashanth, Shiva, Vinod, Indra and Rajesh were
awake till 4 AM. Indra and Vinod are not under control they even slept in the
boats parked at beach.
Our actual plan was to wake up early in the morning for to
see sun rise. But, due to heavy clouds we were unable to see that. We then left
to the near by Ramapuram Beach as the Vodarevu beach was filled with “Nippulu”
and bad smell. Ramapuram beach is one of the best beaches that I have visited
so far. It is wide, peaceful and pleasant. We hardly found a human being in
that beach and felt like that we were in a private beach of our own. Our
enthusiasts Shiva, Mahesh, Indra, lakshmi
went into the water the moment we get down our vehicle. Me, Prashanth
and Vinod were busy in preparing pitch for beach cricket. This really
brought a huge fun into our trip as
every one except shiva involved in that and played some variety cricket only
possible for us. I can’t explain it in words we enjoyed a lot by playing beach
cricket. After playing cricket we entered into the sea and second round of fulltoo
fun session started there. Almost every one in the group were lifted by others
and throwed up into the water we, felt it hard to lift Lakshmi as he is the one
big man of our troop. We played there for almost 3 hrs. and left to our resort.
We had our bath there and vacated at around 12:30 PM.
Our next destination was Ponnur Anjaneya Swamy Temple. Here,
a 25 foot statue of Hanuman is erected in 1960’sinside the temple. Yes, inside
the temple that’s the specialty of it. We reached there by 2:00 PM but,
disappointed to know that the temple will be open only after 3:30 PM. We
thought to stay back and have darshan although it becomes late. Meanwhile we
had our lunch at a near by mess. After having lunch we entered into the temple
and took some rest. The temple is under renovation and workers are working on
erecting new pillars and sculptures on it. Vinod and Rajesh tried to help out
them in lifting a pillar. I don’t know their intention but it looks like they
were giving pose to photos. Temple opened at 3:40 PM and we had darshan of
mighty Hanuman it, is a black stone 25 foot idol. For except me all were
visiting it for the first time. We also visited the temples adjacent to it The
Sahasra Lingeswara SWamy temple where 1000 shiva lingas are there and also the
Akanda Jyothi pillars.
Our plan was twisted a bit as we actually planned to return
city by night but, due to delay at Ponnur we decided to go city only in the
early morning as it will be difficult for all to reach home in mid night. We
then headed towards Amaravathi our last destination. It is famous for its
Shivalayam which is part of Pancharamas and also for the Buddhist Stupa built
hundreds of years back. We reached there
by 5:30 in the evening and planned to go for boating but, the water level was
very low and we dropped our idea of going there. Later we sat near temple and
played few pranks on each others mostly
on Lakshmi and our virtual avatar Suneel. We then left for the darshan of one
of the tallest Shiva Linga’s in country and from there went to see the gaint
Buddha statue which is near by to the temple. Most of us were not interested in
visiting the remains of stupa and archeological museum set up on the name of
Buddha so, we skipped them. But, I felt they worth a visit.
We then hit the Miryalaguda-Hyderabad highway for our return
journey. We stopped at a dhaba for food and boozing. Here, Mr.Indra became a
bakra as all of us commented and played jokes at him on the name of Guntur and
his relation to it. We had a good time there. We left that dhaba and headed for
another one as the food was not available there. We started dancing again for
the mass numbers and Rajesh and Shiva wrote a new song called Bhatta on Suneel
by changing the lyrics of Bhutto song; we danced with high energy levels. There
was heavy downpour near Miryalaguda and our vehicle moved at a rather snail’s
pace as the road was not clearly visible. We stopped at another dhaba for food
and had enough there. By 5 AM in the morning we reached Hyderabad and left to
our respective homes.
Overall we had a great trip filled with joy, spirituality
and fun.
