Emily in India

The long-anticipated week of July 4th, where KPMG US and GDC are closed for “summer shutdown,” was one I would spend working. But since I didn’t have to go to the office, I wanted to make a special week of it by visiting somewhere beautiful in India. Somewhere I would have a nice view as I worked during the day. I also wanted to use hotel points for the stay and wanted to be able to fly. After looking at the available Accor hotels, I settled on Visakhapatnam Beach in Andhra Pradesh. I thought it would be nice to spend the week alone and told US Anna the same but after a funky weekend, I thought it better to have company and she bought a flight.

We took an early flight, found our driver at the airport and were headed to Bheemli Resort. Visak, the city, was very cool. A bustling Indian city like so many I’ve seen but the city is set against huge green hills on one side and beach on the other.

Bheemli Resort, which looks really cool online, seemed okay at first. We arrived early, couldn’t check in and so sat at a table in one of the restaurants. First the staff tried to sit us in the open restaurant (breakfast buffet was ongoing) but it was so loud and we had to work, that we moved to a quieter, closed area. We didn’t care to have food or drinks but it clearly made the staff verrrrry nervous to let us sit there. We worked and talked until our room was ready.

The hotel itself was humid and stinky. The room was even more humid and had a different stink than the first floor and 4th floor hallway but was also stinky. Like a grandmother’s house, is the only way I know to describe it. We cranked up the AC and went to the balcony to check out the view. The water off mainland India is never very pretty so I knew not to expect that and it was a great view. We were right across a small 2 lane road from the beach so our room had a great ocean view and clear sounds of the waves. We kept the door propped open all week for the fresh air and white noise of the ocean.

We went across the street to check out the beach and were hounded by 2 men begging US Anna for a picture. She has a nordic look – pale skin, light blue eyes and naturally blonde hair – and locals love it. They were offering to pay her 10 rupees just to take a picture with them. They were more aggressive than normal and way too close for comfort. As we tried to move away from them, we caught sight of a man’s skinny bare butt as he stood from a crouching position on the beach and pulled his dhoti back down to cover himself.

Before settling down to resume work, we went upstairs and made reservations at the rooftop Japanese restaurant. The infinity pool, which looked so luxurious online, was murky and dirty. I was super disappointed and at this point, rather embarrassed to have picked the place. I had envisioned sitting in/ by the pool working during the day and that dream was crushed by the cloudy water and unpleasant scents. After the workday was over, we went back upstairs for dinner. There was not a single person to be found. Not at the pool bar, not by the pool, not in the restaurant. We stood around for a while but the lack of vibes turned us off. We went downstairs to the buffet instead.

Another pattern in India is getting all of the service attention when you don’t need it and then not being able to get anyone to help you when you need it. We sat down and were asked no less than 3 times if we had a reservation at the Japanese place upstairs (remember me saying that deviating from instructions/ plans sure throws people offf here?). Our response every time: we did but we are eating here instead. We were visited by so many staff, taking drink orders, offering the buffet, and asking “what country” but got strange looks when we ordered chapati. It took unreasonably, but not unusually, long to get my Diet Coke and malabar paratha.

By this point we were laughing with frustration and disappointment. Of all the cool places to visit in India, I had dedicated an entire week to perhaps the worst choice. All week we’d find ourselves in fits of laughter over all of the bizarre happenings.

The next day, we went down for breakfast. I ordered a waffle and received 1/4 of a waffle. Honestly, breakfast was quite good. We worked a full day and then had a driver take us 20 minutes south to what was meant to be a nice(r) beach. It was crowded with people and vendors and dogs but we made our way past the stares and to a decent spot to read. It was nice. As we read with our heads down, people stopped to say hello and ask, “what country”? I was mad at myself for planning this shitty week and grumpy; I couldn’t be “on” so, for the first time ever, I just ignored them. I told myself, “they don’t know you speak English and aren’t deaf and you are not obligated to appease strangers.” It was actually nice to just stay in the zone instead of getting bothered and distracted. Boundaries! What a concept!

Dogs fought nearby and a 4-wheeler and horse took humans back and forth across the beach. When we got hungry, we went to a nearby Radisson Blu hotel for dinner. And boy were we glad we did! The food (spring rolls, pizza, tomato soup, veg sandwiches) was good, the service was decent. I wish I had booked that hotel instead!

We did the same exact thing the next day and eventually our disappointing trip was over.