alicetrips

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton

First Journey with Lifeline…Araku Valley

Really unplanned trips are d best….At least u have some memories to talk, laugh, cherish d whole life….We r in a digital world, but our memories should be analog….Don’t just capture it in photos and share in instagram,twitter, facebook or whatsapp. Enjoy it & cherish it lifelong.

Araku is a quintessential untouched hill station near Vishakhapatnam, Andhrapradesh. It has freshness in its foggy morning….No hustle bustle of tourist or screeching sound of vehicles…..Just lush green mesmerizing beauty which will give a break from your monotonous life.

We also went Araku valley to relax for three days….as we both were quiet busy in those days. we went in february..it was cold and foggy morning and evening. There are not much train connectivity from the nearest city Vishakhapatnam…may be this is d reason why it is untouched. Really irony is we human being only make or break things…No human interference, no devastation to nature…stunning, mesmerising,serene & pleasing.

So where are we…..Modes of transport– only train & taxi . There are two trains(one passenger & other one express) from Vishakhapatnam. But the passenger train timing is good according to my opinion(06:50am-10:45 am),the express is in night (09:40pm -12:48am). It would be difficult to arrange taxi or auto to reach hotel at 1 am night in a small hill station like Araku. So i suggest d 1st one. Otherwise you can book a taxi..it is approximately 120 km from Vishakhapatnam. You can try Ola/Uber….

We preferred train journey..but both train and taxi journey are beautiful. we planned to reach VSKP station by 3 am and our passenger train was at 06:50am for onward journey. But the 1st train was late by 5 hours and we were thinking of booking a taxi. Thanks to Irctc website, we got to know still we can board d passenger train from Kottavalsa station, as ours also crossing d same station. So we two happily deboard our previous train and jumped to d passenger(tickets done from Kottavalsa to Araku). The train was not much crowded and we managed to find seat. You will be amazed to know the total tunnels in d journey(58 tunnels! can you imagine). We reached there on time. We were super duper hungry( seriously felt lyk pet mein chuhe kud rahe the). Anyone opting for train journey, please carry breakfast and munching items…trust me you ll not get anything dhangkaaaaa. If i search in my RAM (heheeeeeee), i vaguely remember of some lady selling guava. So, we rushed to a decent restaurant and ordered south indian thali. It was nice and feeling. We got a good hotel( Sorry! don’t remember the name) near the restaurant, it was little away from main town but walkable( If you like evening walk). We relaxed for the day as we were very tired.

Next day we took a walk in misty & foggy morning. Trust me, it was so refreshing. After breakfast we went to Borra caves and Chaparai waterfall. Borra caves might be the largest Karst topography in India. Worth visiting if in Araku…It was dark and water dripping from the roof. It was little slippery…so watch your steps. Lots of stalagtites and stalagmites structures inside the cave. some were of animal shape, Shiv-Parvati etc.A Shivalinga is inside the cave(it is a stalagmite), People used to worship.

Next place for the day was Chaparai waterfall. It was indeed quite,serene. We relaxed for some time and had our packed lunch. People used to do picnic here. How time passed so quickly, from morning to afternoon.It was almost 4, so we thought to move back to hotel.

Went to the Araku market in the evening… just loved it. It was a small tribal market with some shops…No fancy thing but you will get the necessary items. Bought one gajra as i love mogra…….That’s it for the day.

Next day our itinerary is tribal museum and botanical garden. Not much to see there but shopped some souvenirs.Bought a bamboo looking hollow stick, if we rotate, it sounds like humming sound of bird. The tribal people took it to jungle to hunt bird.

Enough hopping to places…It’s time to do some petpuja. So in the evening ordered for Araku famous bamboo chicken, it took 1 hour waiting time. But worth waiting, It was delicious. We relished it thoroughly.

Our 3 days trip came to an end. Said goodbye to Araku with heavy heart with a promise to return again to Araku with a short trip. We moved to Vishakhapatnam the next day. Stayed there for 1 day and returned back. Really Araku was a pleasant surprise in our busy life. We enjoyed every bit of it. Thank you in advance……….byeeee for now…….. ll come with a new trip.