Araku Valley - located around 100 kilometers (62 miles) northeast of Vizag (Visakhapatnam) is not one of the most visited tourist destinations in India. Here, you can really experience the local life among the beautiful rolling hills of the valley. It's like being teleported to a different world and time.

The rich soils abound with coffee and black pepper plantations and the area can boast some magnificent waterfalls, caves, cliffs and forests. Also, don't forget that you are in India and the mentality is quite different, more relaxed, not everything works properly and according to a timetable and as a result of that you are about to enter the land of great adventure and if you keep on reading, you will see for yourself why.

Taj Mahal is the most famous attraction of India, it goes without saying. I just couldn't miss it during my hectic stay in this country. After visiting the tropical south: Visakhapatnam, Kerala and the paradise Lakshadweep Islands, I arrived in New Delhi. Now I had to get to Agra, where the famous Taj Mahal is located, so quite a long ride in a pre-booked taxi was awaiting me. I traveled with an Indian family throughout this vast country and it was a really good chance to meet the culture, customs and habits from the inside. The taxi was a mini van, really comfortable and air conditioned (which helped to endure the heat).

New Delhi, the capital of India and the city of Hyderabad were last two places I visited in India. After traveling through south and east as well as Lakshadweep Islands, those cities seemed a bit more organized and less polluted (according to Indian standards) to me than the rest of the country. The climate is different than in the south, drier and a bit cooler in winter, there's no lush green patches of coconut forests covering the hills but bare dessert like plateaus (especially in Hyderabad). I spent two days in New Delhi, then I took a domestic flight to Hyderabad where I stayed one day and from there I flew back home.

Crystal clear blue waters, coral reef full of colorful fish, white sand beaches, coconut trees leaning towards the sea, a perfect recipe for paradise. This is what Lakshadweep Islands are like. Formerly known as Laccadive Islands, they are situated around 400 kilometers (250 miles) from the west coast of India in the Laccadive Sea (above the well known hot tourist spot - Maldives). The archipelago consists of twelve atolls with around forty islands and islets, ten of which are inhabited. The name "Lakshadweep" means one hundred thousand islands in Sanskrit. The islands are governed by India.

The beautiful park located on the hill near the city was the first place I visited in Visakhapatnam. The traffic was absolutely mad and I still couldn't believe my eyes that all this was real. But the park and the view from the hill were stunning. It was cleaner there than in the rest of the city, but still, to see a lot of rubbish thrown everywhere in such a beautiful place was an eyesore. The interesting thing is that my friends and I didn't encounter any western tourists there with the exception of two white people during our 3-day stay in Vishakapatnam. Therefore we noticed huge interest and curiosity of the locals. They kept looking at us all the time and quite often someone (especially children) asked where we were from and they wanted to know  something about our life and culture.