Travel Post -2

As per the goals set out for this year 2017, I wanted to travel a lot this year  across India. Thanks to Airasia offer in January which provided low cost tickets for various destinations starting from the month of |May , I happen to convince my colleagues Mr. Manoj and Mr. EV Subba Rao to plan and visit Goa for 4 day trip in the month of May. So we booked our tickets to and fro for just  Rs. 3200/-

We planned to visit South Goa first i.e., colva beach followed by dudhsagar waterfalls and then visit North Goa i.e., calangute beach followed by stay in the capital city Panjim. I was bit skeptical about the weather conditions as it was hottest season in India but things went on as planned and we had good fun.

Day 1 :  Colva Beach

We landed in Goa airport in the evening and straight away took a taxi to colva beach which costed us Rs. 760/- it was One hour journey to Colva. The road to colva was so pleasant because of coconut trees all along the road which cooled the weather nearby. We enjoyed the ride to colva.

Once we reached colva , we directly went the beach resort by name Colmar beach resort which charged rs. 2000/- for the room rent . The resort is very close to the beach and has its own swimming pool. we immediately checked in and went straight to the beach and had a good time.

Me with EV Subba rao and Manoj

Day 2: Dudhsagar Water falls

The next day in the morning after spending some good time playing on the beach , we planned to visit the famous water fall in Goa  i.e., Dudhsagar water falls . We spoke to local taxi association as there is no Ola or Uber in entire Goa and since we wanted to go calangute after visit to falls , the total fare taxi driver charged was rs. 3500/-. i.e., from colva beach to dudhsagar falls and from there to calangute beach. 

We had good time in dudhsagar waters as i was not expecting a good weather, but the weather was very pleasant from day 1. The water falls was not up to the mark as it was not rainy season but at the ground level, it was sufficient enough for everyone out there to have lots of fun.  The tourism board charges Rs. 1400/- for three persons as we are supposed to travel through Bolero vehicle only as it is some 5 kms deep inside. The route to falls was quite rough and we had good fun during journey as well.

Below are some of pictures and videos taken near the falls 

Having some fun ;)

The majestic view of the falls along with train passing by is recorded in this video.

We reached in the evening to calangute and stayed in the Calangute residency which is attached to the beach itself and they charged about rs. 5,500/- for the room. We had lots of fun in the evening and in the night as well.

Calangute Beach

Day 3: Fort Aquada and Panjim

We decided to go to Fort Aquada which is famous spot and both my colleagues decided that we should take a bike to travel to the location. They both wanted to ride Royal Enfield bike which after a long search we happen to find two of the bikes . The bike leaser just charged Rs. 700/- per bike per day. and let us go. I think they charged about Rs. 300/- for Activa which was most commonly used bike in Goa.

The Fort Aquada was built by Portuguese to defend themselves against various enemies at that time. The fort was water filling station for their ships. It was beautiful spot in Goa and one must definitely visit it.

Water storage unit in the centre

View from the fort 

In the evening , we decided to move to Panjim and we took a taxi who charged us Rs.500/- to the city. I dont remember the Hotel name exactly but they charged Rs. 2560/- for the room.  And in the night ,we went to casino Deltin JAQK (google it for more) and as always people say that " House always win"  was proved yet again with us. 

Day 4:  Panjim

The tiredness of hectic travelling took over us and we decided to stay in the hotel itself. Yes , we did stayed in the room completely for one entire day and that too in Goa ;)

All we could do is this;)

The Corleone Family ;)

Day 5 : Back to Hyderabad.

Amazing view of Goa  from the aircraft while returning back to Hyderabad. 

Last but not the least, we had great fun together and hopefully we shall have many more in the future as well.

Vamsi 

P.S. Thanks to AirAsia for making this trip possible ;)

Travel Post -1

This year as per my new year goals of 2017 , I intend to travel a lot and I had the opportunity to travel to two places in the month January and February namely Kanpur and Bhubaneshwar. I had a good time with my colleagues after a long time as I took a break and went on for a personal tour nearly after 5 years. Below are some of the pictures I wanted to share with you guys.  Hope you like it.

Pictures from Odisha

Saraswathi Goddess at Bhubaneshwar Airport

The sand art was created by world famous artist Sudharshan pattnaik and it was just awesome to see it.

LingaRaj Swamy Temple ,bhubaneshwar

The LingaRaj Temple which is constructed in 12th century houses every God you could possibly imagine and it was fascinating to see the intricate and dazzling architecture of the temple. As a engineer I couldnt stop myself appreciating the effort of the builders have gone to create this  monument of its kind and that too 800 years back.

Shri Jagannath temple, Puri  

JagannathTemple Entrance

The Puri Jagannath temple is one of holiest places for Hindus and a must visit in one's life. I was lucky enough to visit this temple which was constructed about 13th century and its usually famous for its yearly Ratha Yatra of Shri Jagannath swami. Everybody should visit this once in their lifetime.

The next stop was The Sun God, Konark  and its brief history is given below. Here the photography was allowed unlike the other two places I have visited. Perhaps this temple is an engineering marvel and a blend of science and spirituality at a higher level. Our guide told us that the Sun god statue  was hung in the air using the magnets and it was constructed in such a way that the very first rays of Sun falls onto the feet of the  statue. This is enough to understand their mastery over engineering at that time i.e., 13th century is mind blowing. There are about 12 wheels surrounding the temple with each wheel explaining the various aspects of life. And to my surprise the wheels are designed to indicate the time of the day based on the rays of the sun. That was an incredible engineering feat. 

Sun God Temple ,Konark

The Entrance to Sun God Temple

The Sun God

The Wheel of life

Another Wheel of life

Pictures From Kanpur

The JK temple which was contructed by JK tyres company as it is located in kanpur is very peaceful. It houses the Lord Krishna along with Radhe, The height of the temple is around 50 metres is a feast to eyes altogether.

JK temple, Kanpur 

I happen to come across these cute cats in the airport !! and having the fun with them together was just joyful to watch.

My cute little frnds in Lucknow Airport

In the end , as I said I had a good time after a very long time and I intend to travel to explore more of India..

Stay Happy and Keep Smiling

Vamsi

Flower Post!!

Recently I have been to travelling a lot and I came across these beautiful flowers that stole my heart;).  It was just a feast to my eyes and I just couldn't stop myself from taking pictures of these flowers.  Im not aware of the technical names of these flowers ,but if anyone would like to educate me in this regard , I will be very happy to oblige. Hope you guys like the flowers. Enjoy.                        

May your life be rich with all the beautiful colours of Joy and Happiness:)

Stay Happy and keep Smiling ;)

Vamsi

A ride to remember : Mallelatheertham Waterfalls

My life is damn routine is the first thought my mind plays along when I just wake up.  Determined to kill this thought for this weekend, I decided to do a bit of traveling. I teamed up with my good old engineering friend Mr. Srinivas to do something. Inspired by the movie “The Motor cycle Diaries” We decided why not do a bike riding to a distant place together. We decided to go to Mallelatheertham waterfalls which is near Srisailam , Kurnool District and 180 kms away from Hyderabad.

We started at 10.15 am which, i think is not  a good time to start for long journey especially in summers. Armed with only a cap to protect us from scorching heat, we set out towards our destination on our "La Poderosa"- The Powerful- YAMAHA SZR. The journey through the city was slow with traffic piling ahead of us , but as we reached the outskirts of city, our speed picked up.

The travellers ..

On the outskirts of city, we stopped to visit one of the Hyderabad's famous temple by name “Maisigandi Temple” the home of Goddess Kali. The temple attracts hundreds of devotees daily from all over Andhra Pradesh offering their services to Goddess. The Striking part of this temple is that the mere sight of Goddess Kali appearance would just send a shiver through your body and warn you about the implications if you do any sins. On the vicinity of the temple, I also happen to come across the area which is dedicated for sacrifice i.e.,for execution of innocent animals painfully mostly goats and hens. It was indescribably horrible site to watch for me. I don't understand to this date why would God ask us to do something like this and at the same time ask us not kill in His name.

Maisigandi Temple

We moved on leaving behind my unsettling thoughts about offerings to God. As sun reached directly  over  us  , we started to experience his real power. The heat was just dehydrating our bodies and at  one point, we became desperate to have some water to quench our thirst. After 2.00 pm , the climate has dramatically  changed to pleasant cool weather as though to  welcome us when we reached the ghat roads of srisailam. It took one more hour drive to reach the waterfalls by 3.00 pm.

The waterfalls was about 100 feet high , not too tall when compared to what i have seen earlier. The flow of water was not that intense as it was unseasonal. The good thing is that this has better platform to have fun under it. We spend about 90 minutes having fun and exploring the peaceful surroundings.

 

Mallelatheertham waterfalls

A small trek will bring u closer to waterfalls

Srinivas having fun with water

As always serious

By the time we started back to Hyderabad at around 4.30 pm, there was a slight shower of rain which left with a cool breeze of air. The return journey was great as cool breeze of air was flowing through your face, the smell of mud after it rained was very pleasant, the beautiful sceneries around us was just a feast to our eyes and travelling while listening to your favorite songs was just awesome combination.

By the time we reached our home it was 9.30 pm and it was great experience altogether. We never travelled on bike for about 360 kms ( Up and down) along with 10 hours of journey time in a single day as well as never had back pain which will hopefully subside eventually.

I hope this is just the beginning of many more to come in the future …………