Vizag

I just got back from Vizag and I am exhausted.  The trip was a lot of fun though.  It started with a 12 hour bus ride from Hyderabad that got to the coast at around 9 am on Thursday.  Once our crew unloaded from the bus we decided on a hotel and organized autos for everyone to get there.  It was a bit cumbersome traveling around with 16 people, not to mention the stares we got everywhere we went.  I began to feel like I was in a parade.  The hotel we stayed at was right on the beach and cost $3.50 USD per person each night.  It felt like staying in a bed and breakfast because the manager kept walking into our room, bringing chai, making small talk, and just being generally paternal and kind.  After we settled into our rooms the traveling circus departed for a hilltop tourist park.  We had to take cable cars to the top where we got a great look at the city and the Bay of Bengal.  They also had interesting statues all over and we took some funny pictures.  This was a pattern that continued as we walked down the street to our hotel after leaving the park.  We came across several different sculptures along the way, including a really creepy giant baby.  There was another one of a life-size elephant in mid-trot so I got the idea that everyone should pose in front of it as if we were being chased down.  The picture turned out great (check Facebook).

That night we went for dinner at a place called Fishland.  Maybe it was the name, maybe it was just that I was tired and not thinking, but I downed a glass of tap water as soon as we sat down at the table.  Once I realized that it wasn't mineral water it was too late; my fate was sealed and I spent the next few days taking frequent meetings with the toilet.  I won't say any more about that, don't worry, but you really have to take the water situation seriously here.  One false step and you're going to be on and off the porcelain for a long time.  After dinner, some of us wanted to drink so we played some card games and had a lot of fun.  Two of our fellow travelers were from Mauritius, which is a small island to the east of Madagascar.  I think this is the place that people picture when they think of paradise.  The Mauritians on our trip were very awesome people and fun to hang out with.  That's turning out to be somewhat of a problem though: I've met a lot of people recently that make me wish that I could stay here longer.  Oh well, new reasons to travel to exciting places (and people to host me while I'm there).

The second day in Vizag, half of our group left to come back to Hyderabad.  I guess they just wanted a taste of travel.  Now that we were down to eight, it was a lot easier to plan excursions.  The beaches in Vizag, as is the case with much of India, is disgustingly polluted.  For every grain of sand there is one piece of trash.  I was shocked as I watched the waves ebb and flow, crashing on the shore with a variety of shoes, styrofoam, plastic bottles, and on and on.  I can't believe that an entire country would be so apathetic about protecting their environment.  No one even uses trash cans, they just toss their garbage wherever they like.  In a country that is so heavily populated, this is causing most streets and bodies of water to look like garbage dumps, from what I have seen.  So the beach was less than desirable, although we were able to find a nice one a bit further away from civilization.  We spent Friday there playing frisbee and wading out into the Indian Ocean.  We also got some really cute kids to play with us.  They were in it for money initially, but once they started tossing the disc around you could see them turn from beggars back into fun-loving children.  After the beach, we went for dinner at a place down the street from our hotel that had really good food.  We started talking with our waiter about nightlife in Vizag and he ended up inviting us out to the club with him that evening.  It turned out to be a great time, even though they never honored my request to pay tribute to Michael Jackson with a few of his songs.  Our new friend, the waiter, even picked up the tab at the end of the night and took us to a late-night seaside chai and snacks place.

On Saturday we woke up early and arranged for a van to take us to Araku Valley.  The drive itself was beautiful as we passed vast green fields and tall skinny trees.  But nothing compared to the views that we got in the valley.  Lush green mountains were all around us as we ascended and descended the winding roads.  We stopped at Borra Caves, which is a giant cave system that is believed to be 150 million years old.  It was pretty cool, but not the greatest caves that I've seen.  We did see some cute baby monkeys running around though.  We stopped at a few more tourist locations along the way, but the drive itself was my favorite part.  The drive back was less amazing since it was dark and we were packed tight in the van.  I was sitting next to the driver, who kept knocking my leg when he shifted gears.  When we got back we returned to our new friend's restaurant and he recommended a hookah bar for us to go to that night.  I was hoping for a relaxed environment where we could unwind from the long day, but the place was just a club that happened to serve hookah.  After a while, I decided to head back to the hotel, citing fatigue and stomach problems as my main reasons.  As I left the club I ran into the waiter, who looked like he was having an argument with the bouncers.  When he saw me he told me to go get everyone else and tell them that he was stuck outside.  I did so and when we all returned to the door things had heated up between our friend and the bouncer.  Now more people were getting involved in the shouting and shoving match.  It was a fine example of the assertive overreaction of the challenged male ego.  Finally, the waiter was allowed into the club, but he continued jawing at the owner and the staff until they forced him out.  Now I was in a tight spot because I didn't want to be there at all, but I wasn't about to let the two girls I was with leave on their own later, knowing that our enraged "friend" might be waiting for them.  They wanted to stay a bit longer which was fine.  One of our other travel mates and I sat and talked for a while, making new friends as well and enjoying a hookah.  By the time we left though, it was 4 am and I was kind of resenting the girls for dragging out our time there when they knew I was only staying for them.  It wasn't really a big deal though because we all slept in the next day.

After the bus ride home on Sunday night/Monday morning, I did some laundry and then packed my suitcase.  I took it to the cargo office at the airport so that I could send it home ahead of myself and therefore travel lighter for the next two weeks.  This turned into an all day project because the airport is around an hour from the city.  Also, the guy who was helping me out took forever to do anything and dragged the process on for four hours, disappearing occasionally to go to a meeting without telling me.  Once I finally got home from the airport it was 9 pm and I was tired as Firestone.  I watched a movie with Hauke and Ben and told them stories from my trip.  Then, I prepared to go right back to the airport to pick up John.  After finding out that his flight would be delayed for a few hours I laid down for some much needed sleep.  Then I woke up and took the same bus back to the airport.  I was worried about being late, but it turned out that I had nothing to worry about.  I stood there, waiting for John for two hours before I spoke with some airport middleman who told me that some people from his plane had had their luggage forgotten in London.  Of course, John was one of these lucky passengers.  Finally, after making a claim, he was able to leave the airport and we were reunited.  It felt great to see a familiar face and weird at the same time.  Even now, as I type this, I can see him getting his few hours of much needed sleep in the other room and I am kind of unconvinced that he is actually here.  It was hard enough to accept the surreal feeling that I was here, let alone someone else from home showing up.  Now I will go wake John up so we can go for his first Indian meal and pick up a few essentials that he's missing from his suitcase.  After that, who knows.  Maybe we'll go check out the Charminar.  That's all for now.  Brad out.