Rustic Encounters

"A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving." -- Lao Tzu

This statement summarizes what we had been upto the last 4 days. Here are some of our goals before we set out on this trip:

1. No fixed plan
2. Do what we like
3. Spend the least
4. No certain destination
5. Eat only the Local food
6. No private transport
7. Walk as much as possible
   

Ironically it turned out to be a lot better than any of those planned outings and way beyond our expectations. We spent about 1200Rs in 4 days. The itinerary we followed was purely out of whim! Never was traveling this much fun. It gave us complete freedom and allowed us to do certain things that we only wish we could.

All our transport through out the trip was restricted to RTC Buses or Sharing autos. We have even hitched a tractor ride once. Infact there was this time when we were waiting in a bus stop and we happened to see a movie poster showing some random movie. We decided that we will stay back that night in that town watch the night show of that movie. We had about 2 hours before the movie and so we went and sat at the railway station of Nayudupeta, the town we stayed in, watching the goods trains and express trains fly by. We even purchased a platform ticket to do the same. It was a spectacle watching the slow town life where people get together in the evenings discussing their daily turn of events.

We ended up in the Tada Falls on the first day which was a difficult trek. The route to the Falls was an amazing one. The first 3 kms were through a jungle followed by a km where we had to cross the stream through the boulders. The night was something else. We arranged for a fire by the stream and we sat by it till 9 and stayed out the night in a tree house. Sleeping with the constant rumbling of the stream, looking up to the clearest skies I have ever seen and on a tree 10 meters above the ground is something I can't possibly describe in words. We even found a beach in a remote village called Tupilapalem. The shallow and crystal clear beach with its moderate waves was ideal for fun.

We ended up walking roughly about 45 kms in the 4 days that we roamed. We saw over a thousand stars in the sky amidst a forest, something which a city never permits us to do! We walked about 8 kms of the sea shore in search of sea shells. We sat watching birds in a sanctuary for about 2 hours. When was the last time you ever had time for these?

Do check out the pics at Tour Pics