The roads taken

I remember wanting to visit at least five places over the year 2008. Turns out I did much more than that. I almost did a tour each month and some of them were the best places I have been to. My personal favorite being the village tour. Traveling somehow has become almost an addictive habit with me this year. Every month or so, my itch to get out of the place and see the world out there just increases. Listed are all of my "getting outs" over the year.

• January - The Boat trip along river Godavari from Bhadrachalam
  
• February - Talakona Forests and the Horsely hills in South Andhra Pradesh
  
• March - Trip to Bangalore and the trek to Palad. This was an amazing trek that lasted 2 days when we walked over 30 kms in the jungles where Veerappan once roamed.
  
• April - NagarjunSagar. This was one of those boring trips done in the summer heats!
  
• June - Mumbai and Pune.
  
• July - The road trip to Kuntala and Pochera falls. Water soaked and wind hit all the way!
  
• August - The road trip to Araku and Vizag. Another one of those whimsical trips which involved visiting places with as few people as possible.
  
• December - Compensated for a drought of 4 months by going to 2 places in the same month. Made a tour of srilanka initially. Though only for a short period, it was fun! Then was the village tour to the end.

May the Vagabond prevail!

My culinary Experiments

Before you people judge! Take a look at the Pics :D

Now after a few ages, I decided to re-enter i once used to rule the roost - The Kitchen! .. OK just kidding, I barely ever cooked. In fact the best I ever did prior to this must have been the overcooked ready to cook soups. Anyway, this day I decided I will cook an opulent 5 course meal. First off I prepared my self a fake chef hat just to make things look a little more serious. I'm sure you can spot it with the word CHEF written on top, just so that you understand I was the one in charge of the food.

My theme for the day was that typical 70s American food with a fusion of global cuisine. The items I prepared were chicken steak, boiled vegetables, mashed potato, cold salad and garlic bread. All at the same time. Oh and ya the Dessert! It took me about two and a half hours to get to that picture with 4 plates. All except one were inspired ideas. The dessert is a completely new experiment which luckily did not prove too detrimental. I had some 5 grain Britannia biscuit on top of which i put a slice of strawberry cake and then sweet whipped cream on top and cut strawberries on top to garnish! Its called the Chef's Mess! (Courtesy : The TINY devil)

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

The Rustic Encounters - Day 1

It was 3 of us coming from 3 different places and bound for one common destination, The unknown. We spread an AP map before us at the Breakfast place and decided that we head towards the east coast on our first leg of journey. We hitched a bus ride to Tada which was on the border of AP and TN and decided we go up north from along the coast.

3 hours of a rocking bus ride later, some guy mentioned of a good waterfall near Varadiahpalem. It was only later that we came to know that these were the Tada Falls. We hired an auto to take us there for 150Rs To and Fro. After about 4 kms from the point the auto dropped us off, we reached a stream and a Tree House. The actual falls were another 3 kms from here. The tree house was more of a platform to construct a rope way across the trees. We negotiated with the officials to let us stay there and the charge was 150 per head. We spoke with the local watchman for food and that guy agreed to make us some at 50 per head. After all the arrangements for the night stay were made, we set out for the falls.

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. It was quite a risky one as the boulders were slippery and hence the fun. It took us about 45 minutes to trudge the final stretch. The falls were really something of a spectacle. The waterfall was cold, high enough and clear. We stayed there for about an hour. We had a tough time fending off the the monkeys who tried stealing things off. We returned back to the tree house by 6 and it was almost twilight. Dinner was served by 7 and that was one of the best meals we have ever had. All we had was breakfast since morning, So owe to the hunger, tiredness or the taste we ate up like there was no tomorrow!

The night was something else. We arranged for a fire by the night and we sat by it till 9. We had a tough time letting the fire burn as we had to find the appropriate wood. We crept up the tree house and decided to call it a day. 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.

Do check out the pics at Tour Pics

Sketches