After a couple of nights in Chennai I caught the train to Vijayawada which was a rather relaxed place at the mouth of the Kishna river. There wasn't much there apart from temples, which hold no further interest to me, and so after a couple of days I caught the train to Visakhapatnam.
I arrived in Visakhapatnam at 2.15pm and found a hotel room, small and pokey but cheap. I went to the beach, very nice but not too much there. At night I strolled around the town looking for a pub.......no pubs. I asked someone where I could get a drink, nowhere, all the bars are shut for the election, they will reopen on Monday. So, two days without a beer, I'll survive.
Well, my hotel room was the noisiest hotel room ever with a fan that makes a racket. There is a windon giving onto the hall which can't be closed and a bloke walking up and down on a mobile and the noise from a blaring television. I shut the bloke up but don't feel I can interrupt the television, after all it's only midnight. Eventually I fall asleep but I am woken at 7am, do I want my clothes cleaned? Bastard. I'm awake and I thought "I'm not putting up with another night of this". I could have course moved to another hotel but I still wouldn't get a beer. So, next morning I am determined that I am going to the next point of civilisation, Bhumaneswar. I am down to the train station, no train seats free. Bus station, no buses go there. Air India flies there but the guy on the phone doesn't speak English. I am stuck. What about taxi? For a 450km trip it costs 65 quid. OK, we'll take it. 7 hour taxi trip and I get to Bhumaneswar and I get my beer.
Given that 65 quid is half my weekly budget, am I alcoholic or what? By the way, I like it here but the hotel room is still noisy and at 8am I got a phone call asking if I want a cup of tea!
