Entry #34

A day in the life of ... A tour was planned for all the missionaries from Visakhapatnam, Rajahmundry and Kakinada with three couples joining in. We had seen some of these sites before, but others were new to us. We visited Simhachalam, Kailasa Hill, Thotlakonda Temple, Parley Point Conference Center (where we had lunch), Rushikonda Beach, and the INS Kusura Submarine on Ramakrishna Beach. We went to the fishing harbour, took a boat ride on the Bay of Bengal and watched them build boats before finishing at the Visak Museum.

Details of Sri Varaha Lakshminarasimha Temple built in the 11th Century. The location is Simhachalam, which means "Lion's Hill" and this is a Hindu pilgrim center.

Hindu pilgrim

Shrine detail at Kailasa Hill

View of the city of Visakhapatnam from Kailasa Hill at 360 feet.
The park has 305 acres of garden, flora and tropical trees.
It was a very clear day!

Thotlakonda is a Buddist excavation site and is 128 meters above sea level. The Buddist monks harvested rainwater for their needs.



Peaceful and serene Rishikonda Beach.

This is the INS Kusura and it was built in Russia in 1969 and served in the Indian Navy for 31 years. The vessel was decommissioned and converted into a museum and now sits on the Ramakrishna Beach.

A trip back to the fishing harbour where women have been drying fish all day. When they run out of room, they dry it on the sides of the street.

A scene from the Bay of Bengal looking back at Visakhapatnam. We took a "little" boat ride. I made sure to see if there were life jackets.

Boat building at the fishing harbour, mostly by hand and with age-old tools.

The best part of the tour was this great bus that featured

air conditioning.