Vizag

Once we arrived in Vizag, we took a rickshaw to the hotel. It was a crazy little ride as we swerved in and out of cars. When we got to the hotel, all I wanted to do was wash off my train experience in a hot shower. We were directed to our room, which was just being exited by an elderly couple. "You didn't even clean the room!" protested my coworker/friend/guide Ritu. The hotel staff quickly began cleaning the room. I can't believe they were trying to get us to just move into the room's dirty sheets and used towels!

After thirty minutes of waiting, bathroom was finally cleaned and it was my turn for the shower. I walked in the room to find just a shower head, a bucked, a sink, and a toilet. No shower area. Everything was wet from the previous shower. They just take a shower in the entire bathroom getting the whole room wet. With this damp room came complete with three mosquitoes that tormented me during my shower. As I showered I would fill up the bucket and toss it at the mosquitoes. I got two, one survived. Other than the minor shower battle, I felt refreshed.

We hired a driver for the day to take us around Vizag. It was an old fashion white car that looked like it was from Cuba and had a spunky middle aged driver. We went to lunch at a hotel for some Indian food that was yum (in India you don't say it was great, delicious, or yummy, you just say yum). We then took off to the beach. I put on a swim suite and a dress and brought along a sweater just in case there was a breeze. When we arrived at the beach I realized that I was under dressed. Everyone was in street clothes on the beach- aka saris and even burkas! They were even swimming in their clothing! The young boys were in their underwear and undershirts but for the most part, people were swimming fully clothed. I opted to sit by the beach.

As I was sitting there, a young kid came up to me and asked if he could take a picture with me. I said sure and before I knew it I was surrounded by 20 or so skinny Indian boys taking turns for pictures with me. My friends looked over from frolicking in the waves and ran to me save me from the overwhelming amount of kids surrounding me. We walked down the beach but they followed. I decided that I should probably not go sleeveless and put my sweater on and sat behind a boat. I spent the rest of the afternoon sipping on fresh coconut juice as I enjoyed the warmth and the waves. As we were leaving I had a line of mothers holding adorable toddlers who wanted me to shake theier baby's hands. SO CUTE! My friends started to call me Auntie (aka old woman) after one of the babies called me Auntie.

We then headed to a place with red sand and a meditation look out point with our crazy driver. We then went to an odd amusement park that had large statues of deities and then rides that give you the opportunity to look over the coast. It was like an adult Hindu Pixie Land. I had more photo opportunities with large groups who wanted the tall, white, tired, awkward girl in their vacation photos (exhibit A, group me with group of girls to the left). We first went on a monorail (named by Poppy, the slow boring train) that allowed one half of the train to see the coast during the sun set for about a minute and then it turned a corner and all you could see was dark for the remaining 20 minutes. It made it a little more exciting when the lights turned off on the train and flashy colorful lights started flashing along with Indian dance music.

After the slow boring disco train, we took a gondola down the hill. The contraption looked like it was from the 50's as we slid down the hill. I did not feel very safe in it and was very happy to get my feet on the ground. We then hopped in the car to dinner to an even more deathly situation. While we were at the park, our driver got drunk. He drove us to dinner and managed to turn down the wrong way only once. Luckily traffic in India is slow moving and normally as crazy as a drunk driver so the traffic almost expected all of his wacky maneuvers. Regardless, I vowed not to get back in the car with him as we sat down to dinner.

I ordered spaghetti which was pasta and ketchup. I decided to focus on ice cream for dinner (the ice cream so so creamy here- like frozen whipped crea and I can't get enough). We took one last trip to the beach at night (using the public bus) where we were greeted by tons of rats the size of kittens. It was time to go home and go to sleep. My conclusion on Vizag is definitely the Indian version of Santa Barbara with its quirky charm.