166. Travelling to Vizianagaram

I know that I had mentioned that the next few blogs would be on the documentaries😊.  In the meanwhile, I had an opportunity to go for a trip and had a great time there.  So, I am sharing the same with you over the next few blogs.

It all happened as my anniversary was coming.  Instead of buying clothes and go for a dinner, I thought let me organize a trip so that at least we can go outside Hyderabad and it will also be a change for the family.  I had thought of visiting Yadagirigutta, but the construction work was still happening there and it was assumed that it will take about 3-4 more months for the place to be worth visiting.  We had earlier discussed in the family about a Ram temple in Vizianagaram which was built in the shape of a bow.  So, I decided to enquire about the place and find out if the same can be done over a weekend. 

The flight was available for Vishakhapatnam.  From there, Vizianagaram was just about an hour and a half distance away.  When checked with the railways, Vizianagaram had a station and there were a couple of trains running from Hyderabad to Vizianagaram.  Money-wise also it made sense to opt for the train😊, albeit in a 2nd AC coach, thanks to Covie-19😊.  When I checked for the tickets, it was in Waiting List!  I checked with my cousin, Kavitha, if she can get the tickets confirmed.  She said she will take care of it. 

Next was the other places that can be visited around Vizianagaram.  I shortlisted about 10-15 of them, based on tripadvisor and other websites.  Finally, brought it down to 5 with the Ram temple being the 6^th attraction.  

Then I told my wife and my mother about the trip and asked if they want to come for the trip😊.  The question was that the kids would have to be left behind to fend for themselves for food during the weekend.  Now if this were for some other trip, both would have refused to come leaving the kids behind.  But the “temple” visit made both of them agree to the trip immediately😊!  It was decided that they would make 2 sambhars and 2 vegetables and the kids would use that for the 2 days.  Of course, there were other snacks available in the house too that they can devour on!

So, I booked the tickets and also enquired about the hotel in Vizianagaram and booked it.  I checked with the hotel guy for car arrangement and told him of the 5 places that I need to visit in a single day.  He put me in touch with the car guy and I confirmed that trip too.  First day would be to reach Vizianagaram and see the Ram temple and the next day would be the other 5 places and catching the night train back to Hyderabad.

Kavitha was able to get our onward tickets confirmed.  While we were on the train, I checked the train schedule to see if the train was running late.  While checking the stations, I saw that Simhachalam was a halt before Vizianagaram.  That made it just about an hour’s drive away from Vizianagaram by car.  I asked my mother if she wanted to visit the Narasimhar temple there.  She said yes as the last time we visited there, we were not able to see the idol properly.  I then called the car guy to see if we can get his car on the earlier day also so that we can visit Simhachalam in the morning and then the Ram temple in the evening.  Based on the time it was felt that the Simhachalam temple might be closed by the time we arrive at Vizianagaram, freshen up and then proceed and arrive at Simhachalam.  Since it was a Saturday, a heavy rush was also expected at Simhachalam.  So, we decided to get down at Simhachalam station itself.  We checked into a lodge and then after freshen-up went to visit the Simhachalam temple. 

Nowadays, it is easy to visit the deity if you have money with you😊.  We went for the special darshan, wherein you are allowed to see the lord from very near.  The entire visit to the temple took just about half an hour from the entry into the temple to coming out of the temple.  The other “categories” of entry were fully crowded and we would not have been able to view the deity before the temple closed in the afternoon.

After the temple visit, we came back to the lodge, checked out and caught a taxi to Vizianagaram.  After having some rest in the hotel in Vizianagaram, we went to see the Ramanarayanam Temple which is built in the shape of a bow.  An excellent temple and should be in your must-visit bucket list.  I will write a detailed visit to the temple in my next blog, including photos of the temple and some video links😊!!

The next day, we went on the car to the 4 places – Venkateshwara Aalayam in Govindapuram, Kumili temple (about 12 temples in one small complex), Saripalli (Shiva temple, now maintained or non-maintained by Archeological Survey of India) and Ramatheertham (Ram temple believed to be over 1,000 years old).  The 5^th place was not known to the car owner, so we thought we will do the four places and finish the trip.  Luckily, we were able to visit all the 4 places by lunch time.  I then asked the driver to speak to his friends to check about the place.  It was Jami Vruksham, apparently the tree in which the Pandavas had kept their weapons before going for hiding for the 13^th year.  Somehow, the driver was able to locate the place and we were able to visit that location too!

For the return trip, unfortunately, my cousin could not confirm the tickets and we had to come back in a sleeper bus😊!!

I will be writing about these temples in my next couple of blogs.  Hope this will also interest you in visiting these places someday😊!!

Cheers till next time!!

Today’s Observation

It’s time to diet when you push away from the table and the table moves😊