Kitch on the Coast (Special Bonus Entry!)

As you can tell, I've been a bit blogged-out over the past couple of months. I have, however, been secretly updating past entries from the India series with the new and improved photos. So if you go through some of the past entries you'll see improved, and in some cases, new photos.

There was one place in India I never got around to blogging about because of where it fell into my trip. This was one of the oddest places I visited on my whole trip: Vishakhapatnam.



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It was February 17th...

I had a long overnight train ride from Chennai (Madras) in the south, along the coast to Vishakhaptnam. I chose to visit this city because I wanted to break up the journey from Chennai to Kolkata in the north (that would have been a 30-hour train ride).

So I decided to spend one night in the coastal city. My Lonely Planet guide didn't say too much about Vishakhapatnam other than it was a bit of a beach resort for Indians. That sounded nice to me.

This was the train ride with those cute kids...




And the boy who I let use my camera...




The countryside in Andreh Pradesh was nice...








The train, however, was about six hours late when we arrived in Vishakhapatnam. It was already starting to get dark as I left the station. The Lonely Planet book had no map of this city and it wasn't nearly as easy to find my way around as I had hoped.

I refused all offers from rickshaw drivers because one of the hotels mentioned in Lonely Planet was near the train station. I walked the streets around the station and asked people for the hotel but no one knew it. All the buildings (including the hotels) in this part of town seemed run down and dodgy. It was a few kilometers from the coast and so I decided I would just take a rickshaw to the coast where I could find a decent hotel.

The rickshaw driver drove through the smogy dirty city to the coast and I let him take me to his choice of hotel (I gave him a rough price range). The first hotel was booked, the second was too expensive, by the time we got to the third hotel it was getting dark and I was tired. I took a look at the room, it was pretty dingy, and overpriced for what it was, but still in my price-range. I took it.

There wasn't a lot to do in the area around my hotel so I just ate dinner at a nearby hotel (I was the only one in the restaurant so I just chatted with the Bengali waiter). I went to an internet cafe and nearly got asphyxiated by the fumes from the nearby road. I was already looking forward to leaving the next day.

Luckily, I was able to sleep in a bit. While I was getting dressed in the morning there was a knock on my door. I was still putting my pants on and a the knock came again more urgently. I zipped up and opened the door, it was a man with a few women behind him holding brooms and cleaning supplies. I thought, "oh housekeeping!" except all they did was stand there and the man kept putting his hand to his mouth like he wanted a hand-out from me. I was dumbfounded! Now, I don't want to sound uncharitable, but I found this behavior ridiculously unprofessional and downright intrusive. The women burst behind the man into the room and wagged their brooms across the floor a couple of times and then started begging as well. I kicked them all out and locked the door.

A few minutes later when it came time to leave I tried my best to avoid them, but the man was waiting in the stairwell as I hurried past and got out to the street outside.

I wanted to go to Kailasigiri, a little amusement park in the hills overlooking the coast. I asked several people which bus to take to get there and I got a different answer each time. My favorite was, "take the bus with no number." Not helpful.

Somehow I found the right bus and soon it was ascending the hill to the entrance of the park. Now, just so you understand, since arriving in this city I hadn't seen another white person the whole time (nor would I, actually). I was really the odd man out in this part of India. I got more attention here than about anywhere else. This was the town where the Indian tourist come for vacation.

I got out of the bus at Kailasigiri and found the Titanic overlooking the parking lot...





The entrance arch next to a giant weather station (or possibly, shield generator). Entrance was cheap and I went inside...




There were some nice views of the coast below...




There were a variety of playgrounds, a mini-train, some gardens, and several nice places to sit and enjoy the nice views and fresh air away from the smog of the city.

I chatted with this fellow a bit...




Fishing boats below...




Giant statues of Shiva and Parvati...




I enjoyed a nice and cheap thali for lunch and just took my time enjoying the park. I walked by some booth for the Andreh Pradesh tourist information center and the worker there was so excited to see a Westerner that he came right up to me and started telling me about all the things to do in the area and he even gave me a bunch of postcards for free! When other Indians came over to the booth while he was talking to me, he shooed them away so that they wouldn't bother our conversation. It was pretty funny.




It was time to leave Kailasigiri so I rode the ropeway to the bottom...




And caught the bus back to the main beach area.

The waterfront was a sight to behold. It was so random and kitchy.

Like, a big submarine.... okay, that makes sense...




Army boys or something (and a penguin)...




An owl and a giant turtle...




A fisherman...




These guys shouted and whistled at me from across the street as I walked by...




A random dinosaur. (Incidentally, a wedding was taking place right by the dinosaur. Classy!)...




It was nice to see some people in the busy city take time to stop and smell the flowers...




Watch out for the shark!




A gorilla...




Pony rides on the beach!




I must say, the people-watching on the beach was first class...







Women would always swim in their saris....




I took my shoes off and walked the surf...




I was talking to some random people when I saw this guy approach me from the water. He walked steadily right up to me all soaking wet and then he just gave me a big hug and walked away...




All three kids fit on this bike somehow...








A cricketer...

It was actually quite nice walking the beach like that...



I had a train to catch that evening and so I went back to the hotel and cleaned up... I paid and rushed out of the hotel with the housekeeping shouting out the windows at me for a tip. Nope!

I refused to take a rickshaw to the station! So I walked to the downtown area, swimming through the exhaust fumes. I saw a biker get hit by a motorcycle. He got back up and just kept on riding.

I was able to find an internet cafe to use and a place to get a decent bite to eat. From the downtown area I just asked people where to go to get to the train station. It was a lot longer than I thought, especially with my big backpack on. But I persevered and had an interesting stroll past the marketplaces where many were selling fish and other things by candle light as evening approached. It really felt like I was back in time.

Eventually I made it to the train station and happily boarded my train that would take me to Kolkata where I would eventually meet up with Dad.

Vishakhapatnam wins the prize as my least favorite city that I visited in India, dirty, polluted, chaotic, and not all that much to see and do. And yet I still had an interesting time here filled with memorable experiences. I managed to get through the chaos, antagonizing touts, and bad directions and still feel good when I got to the train station. In my journal that night I wrote, "India did not defeat me today!"

...

Goodbye, Mumbai!

The difference between 1st Class and 2nd Class on Indian Railways isn't all that much. In 1st Class they make your bed for you, your compartment is separated by a lockable door (rather than a curtain), and your bed is marginally longer. Still, it's always fun to get bumped up to 1st Class. I slept fine.

The next morning I woke up at Mumbai Central Station. It was much more humid than the desert cities I had been in the past week or two and I could see the high-rise buildings out the train station windows. I boarded a city train to take me to Churchgate station further down the peninsula. A few minutes later I had arrived and walked out into the city.

It was Saturday morning and traffic was light. I walked from the train station, past familiar sights from my original visit in Mumbai. The city, which once felt so new and exotic, busy and dirty, was now familiar and, compared to many places I had been, clean, modern, and even a bit laid-back.

I didn't have a hotel booked, but I had one in mind that a few other travelers had recommended and that wasn't in the guidebooks. I walked straight there in hopes that they would have a room available.

The hotel was located directly behind the famous and grand Taj Hotel (pictured above). I was in luck, as they had a room available. The window (with mini balcony) even looked out onto the Taj. Because of security concerns since the 2008 terrorist attacks at the hotel, photography was strictly forbidden, even from adjacent buildings like my hotel. So I had to be sneaky while shooting this. So far as I know, everyone in the hotel was safe after I snapped this photo...

Feeling good after a shower, I went back out into the city and walked around the corner to the Gateway of India, where they were selling tickets of passage to Elephanta Island. I bought a ticket, boarded a boat just below the Gateway, and was soon on my way across the harbor to the small island.

The distinctive Mumbai landmarks slowly disappeared in the haze as we rode further into the waters...




An hour later, I set foot on the island and walked through the gauntlet of souvenir stalls passing some angry monkeys...



...to the main attraction of the island: the cave temples...





Several ancient Hindu cave temples puncture the island, but the largest contains the most stunning artwork. Stone carvings, primarily of the deity Shiva, mark each of the caves entrances and its rear wall...




Shiva is angry and so am I...

The masterpiece of the island is the Trimurti, an enormous, exquisitely carved likeness of three faces of Shiva...




Of course, with the lighting it was hard to get a picture that captured the serenity and 3D awesomeness of the carving...




The island is home to a lot of rhesus monkeys as well...








Or as I like to call them, the "Benjamin Button" monkey...




After a fine time on the island I rode the boat back to Mumbai. I sat with a very nice family from Punjab who offered me snacks and chatted during the journey...




Back in the big city, I visited Mumbai's most famous beach, Chowpatty Beach. While there I got myself one of the best snacks Mumbai has to offer: Bhelpuri. It's puffed rice, crispy whispy noodles, a cracker, chopped onions, cooked potato, lime juice, chopped coriander, and some other spices all mixed together and served in a newspaper (or in my case, magazine pages). It was delicious...




It was fun people watching on the beach...



Mumbai skyline from Chowpatty Beach...




The fishermen had their boats in for the day...




And I walked along the waterfront and enjoyed the late afternoon...





I explored a bit of Malabar Hill, where a lot of Mumbai's wealthy live, and then came back to the waterfront in time for the lights to come on...




I enjoyed a fine dinner of a veg tikka kebab platter at a restaurant near the beach and I was done for the day.

The next day was Sunday and I was looking forward to going to church. I woke up in plenty of time and hopped on the commuter train that took me along the spinal chord of Mumbai and then across the harbor to the suburb where the church is located. I then took an autorickshaw to the area where the address indicated and hunted around for the church. It was a bit tricky to find, but eventually I was walking through the door in plenty of time before the meetings started and I was able to meet many of the members.

We had some fine meetings (I was the keyboard player, as usual) and afterwards I just stuck around and chatted with some of the local members. Eventually they invited me to come with them to one of the member's homes where his son was celebrating a birthday.

We rode the bus...




And eventually arrived in the suburb of Thane, where we found the family's apartment. Jason was turning 3!

The proud parents (and little brother)...



This group of members was entirely from Andereh Pradesh, a state in south-central India that includes Hyderabad. They were all in or around Mumbai working and so come here to church. Most of them spoke Hindi (the main language of Mumbai), but amongst each other it was all Telugu. They were nice to keep me entertained as well. We had a nice Hyderabadi chicken biryani (chicken with rice) and some birthday cake!



It was a very peaceful, restful Sunday and I didn't get home until later that evening when it was time for bed. It was great getting to know some of the church members here in India.

The next day I took the train up to Mahalaxmi Station where the extensive dhobi ghats are. This is where Mumbai does its laundry...







I then took a walk, passing the horse ambulance...





...to the Haji Ali Dargah, a 14th century Muslim mosque and tomb located on a small island off the western coastline. It's actually only an island at high tide...



The tomb inside is a place of reverent worship and is pretty much a shrine, though Muslims don't have shrines...




Stonework was going on outside...






I then visited the Mahalaxmi Hindu Temple around the corner and then worked my way down along Breach Candy road. I passed the American consulate with a huge line snaking down the street: people waiting for visa interviews.

It was a hot afternoon and so I enjoyed a yummy lunch in an A/C restaurant, a quiet sit at Chowpatty Beach, and then some ice cream at a local joint. I was just taking it easy.

Dinner that night was at Delhi Darbar, a nice restaurant popular with the local Islamic crowd. I had my last meat meal of the trip. Lamb.


The next day I decided to go see some of the marketplaces. First was Crawford Market, but on the way there I walked through the indoor fish market. The smell was enough to knock a man down and the floor was slippery. It was a sight to see, however.

I got to Crawford Market, which is a large indoor market that is basically like Wal-Mart but with every department a store of its own...




Fruits & veggies...

And I got some spices from these guys...




I wandered through the busy streets up towards Thieves Market. This part of town seemed to be much more heavily Islamic. There were some grand mosques...



And a lot of those hats...




It was fun wandering the markets but it was soon time to get back to Colaba, where my hotel was, and get ready to leave.

I did some last minute shopping and got all the things I needed before leaving. I then set off for the waterfront. I had a nice sit on the concrete curb along the bay, just as I had when I arrived. I reflected back on the great and amazing trip I had just accomplished, sitting in the place where, two months previous, I had sat looking forward to all that I would see and do. A warm breeze came off the bay and the air was unusually clear...





The lights came on. My last night in India...




For my final meal in India I walked to the restaurant where I enjoyed my first meal in India, Samrat. I enjoyed another wonderful all-you-can-eat thali until I was properly full...



I went back to my hotel, packed, and fell asleep.

The next morning I gathered my bags and took a taxi to Churchgate station...



I rode the city train north to Andheri and then took an autorickshaw to the airport.

Soon I was ascending over the slums, hills, and high-rises of Mumbai and I said goodbye to an incredible country. I hope and expect that I will someday return.

I had the window and the aisle seat to myself and I enjoyed four movies and some scrumptious food. (Unstoppable, Kick-A**, 127 Hours, and Knight and Day, in case you were wondering.)

Half a day later I landed in London Heathrow and browsed magazines and the new iPad 2 until boarding my British Airways flight to Munich. It was a sleepy flight, over before I knew it, and I landed in Munich at 11pm.

My luggage was almost first off the belt and soon I was sitting in the familiar old S-bahn, yawning, and feeling like I'd hardly been away at all.

I arrived home to a clean room, a warm shower, and a soft bed. It was good to be home...

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