This puja, while Calcuttans celebrated the arrival of Ma Durga, we went for a vacation to Visakhapatnam and Araku Valley down south. Train journeys have always been special to me, so we decided to go by the East Coast Express.

Our five-day stay was to comprise a city tour of Vizag and a journey to Araku Valley. Vizag offers a variety of beaches to laze on. Staying on Beach Road, in Vizag, we had ample time to visit all three on offer — Rishikonda, Ramakrishna (RK) and Yarada. Rishikonda is 11km from the city and is a favourite among tourists. One can bathe here as the waves are gentler than at RK Beach.

But Yarada, virtually a local secret, stands out. It is beautifully maintained, with magnificent greenery hemming the golden sands. The beach is surrounded by picturesque hills on three sides with the Bay of Bengal providing an exotic view in the fourth.

On the city tour, we visited Simhachalam temple, Kailasagiri hills, the Dolphin’s nose, the famous Visakhapatnam port and Visakha Museum.

Simhachalam temple is one of the most brilliantly sculpted shrines in Andhra Pradesh. At the Kailasagiri hills, a marble-white Shiva-Parvati statue towers over the park. We could view the entire city from top of the hill. A ropeway service can take one up to the top and down. The Dolphin’s nose is a huge rock jutting out into the sea.

On heading to the Visakhapatnam port, we saw fish being readied for transportation.

“Yeh sab machhli Japan le jate hai (They export the fish to Japan),” our driver explained. The port plays a crucial role as a distribution base to various corners of India.

On our visit to the Visakha Museum we got to view ancient armoury, stuffed animals, portraits and manuscripts, but it was a shell of an unexploded bomb dropped by the Japanese during World War II that caught my imagination.

The last stop was an entry into a submarine parked on RK Beach. The INS Kursura S20 was a Russian-built submarine of the Indian Navy which was turned into a museum in 2001. It was lugged to the shore at a cost of crores of rupees but a tour inside the giant museum makes one feel it was worth it.

The next day we headed to Araku Valley. The place charmed us. The clouds floated over the hills and we could see the rain at a distance on our way to Araku on Kirandul Passenger. The highlight was passing through 52 pitch-dark tunnels along the way.

The Borra caves and the Katki Falls made us gasp — one for its beauty, the other for the spectacular journey. The Borra caves are Karstic limestone structures extending to a depth of 80m. With thousands of bats inside and water dripping to slowly form stalactites and stalagmites over time, it was a treat we couldn’t miss.

There is a little temple in the heart of the underground cave, the deepest in the country. For the Katki waterfalls, we had to hire a jeep for Rs 900 just for a few kilometres as it was a tough ride. After getting down from the vehicle, we had to climb thousands of steps. We were gasping for breath by the time we reached but the refreshing natural waterfall bath (I know the artificial ones at Aquatica) took away all our fatigue.

Going

Take the East Coast Express or a JetLite flight

Staying

Visit www.tourisminap. com/home/intro.php or contact Andhra Pradesh Tourism Dev. Corp. at 4/1 Middleton Street, Calcutta - 700071