Moment:
Saturday, September 14th at 9:27 PM IST
”My dogs are barking”
"What does that mean?"
"It means my feet hurt"
“Okay well I'm from the Midwest so my cows are mooing”
We got off the train in Visakhapatnam (Vizag for short) at 7:30 AM after a 12-hour ride, took an auto with all of our luggage, and walked into our gorgeous AirBNB. It was truly a glorious moment. The rain that we thought would ruin our plans suddenly disappeared and sunlight started streaming through the windows that overlooked the city. We soaked it all in...then immediately proceeded to take self-timer pictures on the living room couch.
When we finally realized that we could actually enjoy this newly-pleasant weather, we got into the first of many Ubers and headed out to Rishikonda Beach. We laid out our towels, attempted to prop up some umbrellas in the sand for shade and epically failed (the wind blew my bright pink umbrella straight in my face), then spent a couple hours laying out on the sand, hanging out with a really cute beach dog, making ridiculously hilarious videos, and getting Maggi on the boardwalk.
We then headed home after negotiating with an auto driver for about 20 minutes (Omar speaks better Hindi than all of us so he did most of the talking), and settled in for a night in. We played hide-and-seek and ordered WAY too much food from McDonalds on Swiggy (aka Indian GrubHub). Syamala and I ordered a McVeg Maharaja Mac (say that three times fast!) and took our first bite Lady-and-the-Tramp style, and we spent the rest of the evening watching Brooklyn Nine-Nine and ranting about social justice, as one does on a Friday night.
The next day, we went to Kailasagiri, which is a hilltop park in Vizag. As soon as we got to the top of the hill, we spotted a sign that said “Titanic Sea View” so obviously we had to recreate the iconic Leo-and-Kate moment. The ocean was absolutely beautiful from this point, so it was no wonder people were crowding around this spot.
We got some kulfi to help cool ourselves off in the very hot afternoon, then walked around exploring the gorgeous park for about four hours. We had come up in a cab, but headed back down to the bottom of the hill on a ropeway car...which was absolutely terrifying until the most beautiful birds-eye view of the ocean came into our line of sight. We got back on the ground and hitched an auto ride back to the apartment. The route followed the curve of the beach, so we got to watch the sun set over the horizon as we headed home.
At the AirBNB, I went full-on Mom mode and made dinner with ingredients we had picked up at the open-air produce market the night before. I put everyone to work picking gongura leaves off the stems, and I was reminded of the many times when I was a kid and my family would sit outside in our garden in the evenings to pick gongura, which my mom would often cook the same day. To this day, it’s one of my favorite things that my mom makes, so I was really excited to share the experience with my friends.
I also made egg curry, and when my brother saw a picture, he said it looked EXACTLY like my Mom’s. I‘m also happy to report that it even tasted exactly like hers, and back home, my mom is basically known for her egg curry, so I was pretty proud that I nailed it. Now I just have to learn how to make her famous sambar and I’ll be all set.
After dinner, we sat down in the living room with a guitar and went around singing and playing songs that meant a lot to us. We are all singers and three of us play guitar, so it was a really fun jam sesh that actually helped us learn a lot about each other’s background, both musical and personal, so you know for a FACT that this Texas girl belted out a country song. It was a wonderful experience traveling and exploring Visakhapatnam with these friends of mine and making some really awesome memories along the way. Stay tuned for Part 2!
