Travelogue from the Driver's Seat - Hyderabad to Sikkim (Part 4 - Final)

Day 11 – Mar 11 – Departure from Durgapur

A sumptuous breakfast, a pit stop for refilling and back on the NH for another long day ahead. We had to make a quick call between Kolkata and another destination. We started reasoning it out. If we were to halt in Kolkata we get only half a day. It’s not being fair to a city which we have been dreaming to visit for a long long time. We had to skip the city of Joy to go to another unvisited place – Puri it was!!!

  Time for another looong drive. Crossed Howrah, Kharagpur, Balasore, Cuttack and Bhubaneshwar and took the NH that branched off to Puri. The roads were good all the way. We reached Puri around sunset. This place has a positive vibe to it. We were looking for accommodation and after checking a few places settled in on BNR Chanakya hotel. 

A little bit about this hotel in particular. It is a heritage property – 114 years old - managed by the railways. Had to negotiate on the price and finally got it within the range we wanted. The hotel has a theme and we were allotted a locomotive themed room. Vintage properties have a charm. Our room was adorned with pictures of vintage locomotives. It had a huge double cot in the centre, a big chair with a centre table and a really biiiiiggggg bathroom.

 After a quick shower, we set out to explore the town and also get a glimpse of Lord Jagannath along with his siblings, Balabhadra and Shubadra. We hired an auto from the hotel, which took us through the cute Puri railway station and dropped us around a km away from the temple. Except for buses and non-motorised vehicles, this road was closed for all other vehicles. We hired a cycle rickshaw for sheer fun of it. It took us back to good old days where we used this mode of transport to go to school. Being a Sunday evening the area around the temple was teeming with people and shops. Since we were warned not to carry our cellphones or any other electronics, I kept them back at the hotel and only carried some cash!

There wasn’t too much of crowd at the temple. Though we were haggled by some priests, we set to explore the temple by ourselves. The sanctum sanctorum was teeming with people.  We could see the idols though they were at some distance. We came out of the main sanctum and went around the temple. The towering structure was absolutely stunning with the flag fluttering on top. What attracted us was the height of the structure which was visible from more than a few kms away. The lighting also added to the beauty. After visiting a few ‘mini’ temples inside the big temple we headed out. There are a lot of sweet stalls near the entrance of the temple and one place was particularly crowded, so we thought we’d give it a shot. This place also looked very old and we bought a small cup of Rabdi. It was divine, more than worth the Rs.20 that was charged for it. We started walking towards the pick up/drop point for motorized vehicles, looking out for restaurants to have dinner. Most of the restaurants around the temple serve only veg cuisine. We settled for some khichdi, dalma and jeera rice. Dalma is a local cuisine, saw this in a Nat Geo program called ‘Mega kitchens’. Post dinner, we took an auto rickshaw back to our hotel and drifted to sleep yet again.

Day 12- Mar 12 – Puri / Konark / Vizag

Departed around 6:00 A.M to visit the famous sun temple at Konark, around 40 kms away from Puri. The drive was excellent passing thru reserve forests and some minor stretches along the coast. Parking was a good 500m away from the temple. This is a UNESCO world heritage site. True to its word the sun temple glistens in the sunlight. This magnificient structure is themed on the sun god riding a chariot pulled by xxx horses with 24 wheels. Each wheel depicts the time. It’s truly a work of art.

Checked out of the hotel around 8:30, had a quick breakfast and hit the road towards Vizag, our port of call for the day. Puri to Vizag was a short journey of apprx. 500 kms through good roads. We stopped for lunch at Srikakulam incidentally at the same hotel where we stayed during the starting leg of our journey. Mercifully we reached Vizag before the peak hour traffic set in. You are greeted by hills on all sides before entering the city of Vizag. The topography is a heady concoction of hills and the ocean. We checked into our hotel, had a light dinner, watched tv and retired early. 

Day 13 – Mar 13 – Vizag

After a sumptuous breakfast at the hotel, we headed out to the city. As always, decided to park the Thar at the hotel and hailed an Uber. Our first stop was the Tupalev 32 museum. Bang opposite the INS Kursura submarine museum. I had been wanting to visit this museum for a very long time, finally I was excited that it was coming true. We knew that the submarine museum opened at 2 but didn’t know that the aircraft museum opened at the same time as well. Realised it upon reaching the site. We hailed another taxi to drop us at Kailashgiri – another view point with some fun rides. We took the toy train which goes around the park. Incidentally there is an air conditioned coach on this 3 car train. It goes around the small hill for about 15 mins and comes back to the main station. With the weather being a little warm, no surprises considering it was mid day, we didn’t have the energy to walk around the park. We grabbed ourselves an ice candy each and headed towards the ropeway.  It was a little scary to begin with but the breathtaking view of the bay of Bengal made the journey worth it. We decided to visit the maritime museum. 

  Vizag is a port city and the headquarters of the Eastern Naval Command. There is a strong naval connection. The museum’s artifacts are definitely worth a visit. The entry fee is only Rs.10 per head. 

We decided to take a walk to the submarine museum as we had time on our hands. Sipping on soda we walked along the marine drive. We were still early and waited patiently for the gates to open.

The INS Kursura is a sight to behold. Kudos to the navy and the local government for undertaking an initiative to educate the public. The submarine was tugged from the sea and modifications were made so as to allow tourists to feel what it is like to be in a submarine. They even have torpedoes at the front and the rear end of the submarine. You have to undergo the experience. The sub has ex-naval officers who take you thru different sections and explain what they are about. You enter from the front, walk thru the different compartments and exit thru the rear. This includes walking thru hatches that connects multiple compartments. The cabins of the captain and the crew, the kitchen, cafeteria, the various switches and cables that run along the length of the submarine, the engine room, batteries, periscope and a host of other  gizmos makes it truly worth every rupee (entry ticket is Rs.40). 

Post this we visited the Tupalev museum. Similar to the submarine, this is a navy aircraft designed to destroy enemy subs. It is fitted with large cameras in its underbelly and even has a fibre glass cabin where you can see what is happening on the ground (or water). It is powered by 4 engines and has twin propellers in each engine. It is a mighty long plane.

There is a small gaming centre inside the museum. We tried the virtual reality games and also the simulator which spins 720 degrees. It was fun.

On the way back to the hotel we packed some snacks and sweets from Laddu Gopal (My wife loves this catchy name) to carry back to Hyderabad and Chennai. Once again it was a day worth spent.

Day 14 – Home run – Vizag to Hyderabad

  This was the last leg of our journey. We had an early breakfast and hit the road to beat the city traffic and get onto the highway. We stopped for lunch on the outskirts of Vijaywada and purchased some vegetables from the vendors at the toll gates. Mighty cheap fresh veges and fruits. The drive from Vijayawada to Hyderabad took us only 4 hours with almost all toll gates having a dedicated fast tag lane. We finally reached home around 6 p.m after an epic 6000 kms + journey.

A memory for a lifetime indeed!!!

Some key pointers:

·         1) Fastag lanes aren’t really fast, most of the times they are the slowest lanes, especially once you cross AP (towards WB)

·         2) Vehicles coming head on, predominantly on the fastest lane (extreme right)

·         3) Road conditions on top of bridges – a lot of craters

·         4) Availability of food outlets or the lack of it on many stretches. Thankfully we had help from HVK & his group

5) The positives outweigh the negatives by a huge margin so if you are planning for a long road trip like ours, just GO FOR IT. Happy motoring.