Apa Yang Menarik Di Visakhapatnam, India?

TEMPAT-TEMPAT MENARIK DI VISAKHAPATNAM | India yang juga merupakan destinasi percutian bagi mereka yang gemar meneroka budaya, pemandangan dan banyak lagi. Other than New Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, pernahkah anda terfikir untuk travel ke tempat lain dekat India ni?

I never been to India. Most probably my first destination in India is Visakhapatnam or well known as Vizag. Tempat yang aku tak pernah terfikir untuk visit but I just did it. Nak tahu more about Visakhapatnam? Stay tuned *Cewah. Ala-ala komersial pula kan*

But before I write more about Visakhapatnam, anda semua mesti tertanya-tanya berkenaan dengan flight ke sana kan? Baru-baru ni (sekitar 7 Mei), AirAsia telah pun memperkenalkan their new route to Viskhapatnam.

Below is the AirAsia’s Flight Schedule for Kuala Lumpur – Visakhapatnam (VTZ)

Enjoying my onboard meal – spaghetti bolognese. Nyumy! TQ AirAsia

My first experience taking this flight was just wow. It was full house (route from KL – VTZ). I’m sure after this akan ramai pengunjung especially from Asia yang akan datang sini. Yes, anda semua kena datang since it is still considered as ‘virgin’ place.

Briefly about Visakhapatnam, India

Visakhapatnam atau lebih dikenali sebagai Vizag merupakan bandar yang terbesar di negeri Andra Pradesh. Ianya terletak sekitar 370 kilometer di Timur India.

Dahulunya, Visakhapatnam merupakan bandar yang ke 17 terbesar di India dengan kadar populasi sekitar 1.7 million pada tahun 2011 and now of course the population is continuosly increasing. According to Andra Pradesh Tourism, the population now is nearly 6 million.

Most of the people here will speak in Telegu laguange, which is Visakhapatnam’s official language. Now I know as i’ve been wondering why are some of the Indian peoples here used English language to communicate with each other.

Transportation?

Pelbagai jenis transportation yang available dekat Vizag ni. I’ll list some of them dalam entri ni. The transportation consists of:-

Roadways

They have good and well developing roadways. Just like some other places such as Tana Toraja, Surabya – their roads are not that bad. Slow traffic tu biasa la kan? Mana-mana pun ada. Kebiasaannya ada la banyak bus yang pergi ke bandar dan juga luar bandar. Para pengunjung boleh la take the buses here to tour around the area. [Click here to view the bus]

Railways

Aaaah. This is my favourite part. Sebelum ni, stesen kereta api mereka dikenali sebagai Waltair Railway Station but later the mayor of Visakhapatnam changed the name to Visakhapatnam and maybe in future nama stesen ni mungkin akan bertukar according to the mayor.

For our journey, kitaorang sempat jugalah naik train (classic train and I enjoyed it). The train was Kiran Dul Express from Visakhapatnam to Araku. You’ll be witnessing 84 bridges and 58 tunnels along the way to Araku. Tak sabar rasanya nak bercerita berkenaan dengan journey naik train haritu.

Airport

This is the most important part for transportation. Of course they do have their own airport. Do you know that Visakhapatnam International Airport is the busiest airport in Andra Pradesh? Banyak jugalah flight yang guna airport ni such as flights from Dubai, Singapura, Kuala Lumpur, Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai, Kochi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Kochi dan banyak lagi. This 24hr operational airport has been operating night flights.

First day – arrived at Visakhapatnam International Airport

Kitaorang disambut dengan meriah oleh Andra Pradesh Tourism

Suasana sekitar pintu ketibaan

My room at Rishukonda Beach Resort – nice resort!

My room dekat Ananthagiri Resort, Araku

Our supper – Indian traditional cuisine

Breakfast – most of their foods are pretty enticing!

Panjang pula introduction kali ni kan? Now, jom kita tengok tarikan-tarikan utama yang terdapat di Visakhapatnam. [I’ll explain in brief form. Full article for each attraction will be up soon].

Tempat-Tempat Menarik di Visakhapatnam

Rushikonda Beach

This beach is located 8 kilometres from the port city of Visakhapatnam. Rushikonda yang juga dikenali sebagai Jewel of East Coast merupakan tumpuan utama setiap pelancong yang datang ke sini kerana lokasinya yang strategik (banyak resort di sekitar beach ni). Uh! The wave here is quite huge – which is a good place for surfer. Kalau planning nak ke Rushikonda Beach, boleh la stay dekat Rushikonda Beach Resort.

Simhachalam Temple

(No picture – couldn’t get any pic outside and inside the temple)

Temple yang juga dikenali sebagai Simhadiri ni terletak berhampiran dengan Visakhapatnam, sekitar 16 km. Basically, this temple is considered as the greatest temple here in Vizag. If it is listed in your list (which is you must!), don’t miss to enter the temple and see the environment there. You’ll see a different world. I love the process of making a wood sandal there and the architecture of this temple. Nice! However, photography is highly prohibited inside the temple. Don’t worry, the whole experience inside the temple will be the most valuable one!

Submarine Museum

Selain daripada pantai dan temple, anda juga berpeluang untuk merasa atmosfera berada dalam kapal submarine. It is a real submarine though! Muzium ni terletak di sekitar Ram Krishna Beach. For at least, dapatlah juga merasa kehidupan mereka yang berada di dalam submarine ni. You ask what was my experience? It was priceless though!

Bheemili Beach

Tribal Museum

Sampai dekat Araku, don’t forget to visit Tribal Museum which is one of the interesting museum here. Pengalaman meneroka Tribal Museum akan membawa anda dekat kepada kehidupan orang asli di sini. Nice experience!

Borra Caves

Gua yang juga dikenali sebagai Borra Guhalu yang bermaksud something that has bored into the ground and ‘guhalu’ means caves. Ianya terletak di Ananthagiri hills, Araku Valley. Gua yang juga berumur sekitar 150 juta tahun ni merupakan antara gua yang terbesar di India. Apa yang menarik pasal gua ni? When you walk through it, you’ll puzzled to see the natural rock formations which some of them will look like popular mythological figurines.

Actually, ada banyak lagi lokasi yang nak dikongsi but I just couldn’t fit the whole journey in one entry. So, for now you can start planning your trip to this destination.

I heard now diorang buat promo untuk flight ke Vizag! Apa lagi? Jom check!

Visakhapatnam is waiting for you to witness the beauty – A city of destiny. Book your ticket now with AirAsia (Click Here)

Jumpa lagi di entri yang seterusnya. More stories are coming! Jangan ke mana-mana. Now, plan la trip korang untuk ke sini!

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This blog post was made possible through a media trip to Visakhapatnam, India organized by AirAsia & Andra Pradesh Tourism