Chirala Trip

 

A TRIP TO CHIRALA : A TRANQUIL, SERENE LOCATION

We were dying to take a holiday for a long time. We wanted to go to some place quiet and serene. We love the sea and always look to spending our holidays by the sea side. We had a long weekend coming up and decided to just take the plunge and go to Suryalanka. Friends suggested that Chirala (near Suryalanka) was a better place to find accommodation and had even better beaches. So we booked our tickets and headed for the destination. 

Usually people travelling from Hyderabad and neighboring towns prefer to drive down to Chirala. If you enjoy a road trip then driving is the best option to get there. But we suggest avoiding a night’s drive as it could be dangerous with the speeding Volvos. We took a bus to Chirala. It was quite convenient as we could relax and spend time together leaving the tension of driving to someone else. From Chirala station the journey to the resort is just about 7-8 kms and would cost you 100/- by auto. A better way to reach the destination is by train. There are many trains with convenient times which can make the journey all the more pleasant and relaxing.  The beach to which we were headed was called Ramapuram beach.

We chanced upon a resort called ‘Sea Breeze’ as we browsed the net for accommodation at Chirala. Having tried booking at a few places already we were ready to take a chance with this place. We booked ourselves a room at the resort for 3 days.

The best accommodation that you can book is the A/C rooms and the Suite. These overlook the sea and it’s the most amazing feeling to wake up each morning to the spectacular view of the sea roaring in the distance.

Our first view of the Sea breeze resort was quite ordinary. Driving through a narrow village road we arrived at a very innocuous looking boundary wall and gate. Beyond the gate was a world that we would fall in love with over the next 3 days of our stay there. Our first reaction about the place was that it was a real beauty.

People take a holiday to relax and eat good food. This resort offers both. Though there was a limited choice available on the menu we truly gorged on the meals there. It could be the sea breeze, the view and our relaxed mode, but we truly enjoyed every meal we had. The chef knew how to please our palate. Some of the items on the menu we loved were the Egg dosa, Omelette, Paneer butter masala, Mixed Veg curry and the Veg Manchurian. Unfortunately due to the Lenten season (a time of sacrifice for Christians) we were on a vegetarian diet and couldn’t try out the non-veg dishes. I’m sure it would have matched the vegetarian dishes in taste and presentation.

Dinner was usually on the lawns of the amphi-theater. You could also request the staff to make arrangements for your dinner on the beach. With some special lamps they would create the right ambience for a wonderful candle light dinner. If you go as a bigger group don’t forget to ask for the bonfire. 

THE ROOM

Now that we have the travel and food out of the way, let me tell you about the rest of the activities in the resort. If you are staying in the A/c rooms, the room is quite ok with a decent double bed and side tables/mirror etc. These are not great 5-star or even 3-star rooms, but are quite pleasant. The good part, however, is the balcony and the view of the beach. That really sets apart the place from the rest of the places we visited. We have never had such a good view of the beach in a few trips to Kerala and Goa.  The electrical switches were good but a few additions like caution notices and informing about switching off the geysers etc would definitely help. The water in the bath room was brackish albeit filtered to remove the saltiness to a great extent. For all potable purposes, they provided branded drinking water which was a good change. But I was surprised not to find a regular drinking water flask or bottle in the room.

THE PRISTINE, UN-TOUCHED AND SERENE BEACH

The first thing you do after having a bath and getting ready  is head to the beach. You are astounded by the virgin and untouched nature of the beach. The sand is so soft that you just sink into it while walking. The only other place we found such beautiful sand was in one beach in South Goa. It was lovely to just sit on the beach and touch the smooth sand. The beach itself is so serene and lovely that words cannot express the sense of calm quietude it brought to us. We never found such a long stretch of pristine, untouched beach except for the Cherai beach in Kerala. We were also told that the best time to visit is the rainy season because you get to spot dolphins swimming quite close to the shore. All beaches are commercial hubs with way too many activities for our comfort. This is like a completely private beach and it runs along in miles of serenity and tranquility. Occasionally you may find a biker or some villagers using the beach as a transit route between the different villages nearby. Overall, it is considered a safe beach though. Since it was so close to the room, we made it a point to go atleast twice to the beach – once in the morning and once in the evening. Even in the afternoon, it is not that bad, because of the breeze. Humidity, which we thought would be a major problem turned out to be a non-issue altogether. Only for around 3 hours in the afternoon, you do not have as much breeze as to your liking but for the rest of the day, the sea breeze is ample and perfect for the setting. It sure lives upto it’s name.

THE SWIMMING POOL

The other highlight of this resort is the swimming pool overlooking the beach. The scene is breath-taking as the pool water just seems to merge with the beach when you watch it from a distance. The pool is well maintained with constant filtration done to ensure clean water at all times. Even when you are in the pool at noon, it is comfortable due to the nice cool breeze wafting from the sea. We played quite a bit in the pool both mornings and evenings. Groups were seen enjoying pool volleyball and kids were learning to swim for most hours of the day. The kids pool had the most activity with squealing children diving off the sidewalk with floats attached. You are also provided with all the swimming gear needed to help you enjoy the pool. We were truly impressed by the pool instructor who was friendly as well as very courteous. He was constantly by the pool side ensuring the water was filtered, the pool cleaned out, the swimming dresses ready and washed out. We even saw families leaving small kids in the swimming pool under his guidance while they had some quality time away from the kids.

RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES

There were a lot of games which the resort personnel provide amenities for. One was beach volley ball. We found lots of people including ladies, playing beach volley ball. The ladies of course were playing throwball. But they were having fun-nonetheless.

Beach Cricket is another sport which can be played, if you have enough number of people to play with. Coming to this place with a group of friends is, therefore, a great idea. There are a lot of activities which you can plan out as a group which might be difficult if you are just a couple.

CHILDREN’S PLAY AREA

They are setting up an area earmarked for children to play around and have various rides planned for the purpose. This is under construction and should be ready soon. In addition, children also have at the kids pool, swings and the lawn and beach to run around and have fun.

 MOVIES

The Amphi-theater was the real icing on the cake during our trip there. They have a very nice open-air amphitheater near the hotel which gives re-runs of some good movies. Just when we thought of retiring for the day in the evening, we were treated to a movie on both the weekend days (generally it is on a Saturday only). This was definitely unexpected and made our day complete. 

TELEVISION

Whenever we are in the room, we need the TV on. This I guess is normal for most people now a days. They have a decent sized LCD TV in each room. But this was a sore disappointment at the resort primarily due to the horrible power cuts by the AP Electricity board.  The resort has a DG set of 125 KVA to cater to all the A/c’s and other amenities. Somehow, they seem to have got connection from cable TV guy which is really pathetic. So, when electricity goes off in the village, so goes the cable TV as well. Half the time when I was in the room, I was looking at the classic insect fight on TV when there was no signal. The resort might want to look at the provision of having some other form of cable television which is more reliable. Especially during afternoons, when it is warm outside and electricity comes back due to the DG but the TV does not, it is disheartening. 

CLEANLINESS

The whole resort is quite neat and clean. The owners take special care to monitor the whole location. Water showers and bathrooms are provided at all entrance and exit points to the beach to ensure we are not trudging in with mud on us . Litter boxes are also kept at all corners to ensure that waste is appropriately dealt with. One particularly good initiative of the management is their ceaseless effort to keep the beach clean. They do a cleaning once a week to ensure most of the litter is removed from the beach. They also burn up unwanted junk on the beach. This mind you, is a public place and they are doing a service of sorts in addition to keeping their main source of income – the beach, from deteriorating.

THE RESORT TEAM 

The resort personnel were very kind and friendly and always glad to help. On the first day which was a Friday, we were the only couple in the first half of the day and we had royal treatment from all the people who waited on us hand and foot. But as the crowd grew, they were trying their best to keep ends up. Also, the focus shifts to the bigger groups whom they take care of quite well. For example, they arranged umbrellas and chairs on the beach for members who requested for it, arranged games and provided all kinds of support possible from their end.

ABOUT THE OWNERS

A word about the owners - this resort is built and managed by a doctor couple who have a successful practice and are running a nursing home in Chirala for over 40 years. Dr. Ravi Kiran is a general practitioner (I guess) while Dr. Mrs Kiran is a gynecologist.  What I loved about the couple was their hands-on approach to everything that they do. I found both of them, doing the rounds of the resort atleast 5 times during the day and even in the afternoons, when the Sun was at its peak. Money does not seem to their prime motive and hence commercialization has not set in yet, I presume. But the steely determination of all doctors is apparent in their appetite to do a good job in whatever field they enter into – beach resort included. Their nursing home is being taken care of by their children, which leaves them free to manage and monitor the resort and they do it well. They originally started out with a guest house for themselves on the beach and expanded to having a complete resort. 

LEAVING THE RESORT

The difficult part of the trip was leaving the resort after being there for 3 days and 2 nights. We were completely not in sync with the world during our 3 day stay that getting back to our routine jobs was now a reluctant action we had to take. Left us feeling – ‘if only life was a holiday’. 

One difficulty we faced was that the resort was not yet operational with a credit/debit card payment facility. In this time and age where people walk around cash-free, having to churn up a considerable sum of money in cash during check out was a nightmare. This is especially so as there are no ATMs etc nearby. We had to summon all our reserves and back-up resources to be able to pay the amount in cash at the resort. The resort personnel do understand that this is a big concern for a lot of customers and they are working to resolve this issue and thus, have a provision for payment through credit/debit cards. That would indeed be a welcome relief for most customers like us.

The memories of our trip will remain with us for a long, long time and we have been recommending our friends to also try the experience. The resort staff and the owners were so helpful that they did everything in their power to ensure we had a good stay even to the extent of helping us book our return tickets on a weekend when there was absolutely no scope of getting tickets back to Hyderabad.

We reached Hyderabad early in the morning at 4:30. A short nap later we were back at the grind of daily work.We had a great time and were so refreshed. 

OVERALL

We were sad to leave the place even after three days and head back to the regular monotony of a job the next day. On the other hand, we were very happy with the way things panned out and decided to write a travelogue to inform the world, especially those closer to Chirala about a hidden and un-touched beach and a nice resort. Overall, from our few trips to beaches, this is one of the best trips we have ever had. 

We relaxed, rested, read, swam, watched movies and enjoyed good food. This re-charged my batteries a great deal. Next time round we plan to drive down to the resort so we enjoy a road trip as well. We’re sure there’d be a lot of improvements to the current provisions. They do indeed welcome feedback and work positively for the betterment of the facility so we are waiting to go back and rejuvenate ourselves once again. Hope this information is helpful while planning your trip to Chirala.

For more details on my blog, please feel free to contact me on mailto:rejijohnk@yahoo.com.  For further details about the resort, please log on to their website directly on:  www.seabreezebeachresorts.in or contact Mr. Murali on 09908154490 or Manikanta on 9030623852 or Venkat on 8328441726

                                                       

  Happy Holidays !!!!