woke up at 3am with my board still strapped to my backpack, flight from delhi was delayed 4 hours, landed in vijayawada and the air hit me like a brick wrapped in wet towels. temp’s 32 degrees, feels like 35, humidity’s 51% which everyone here says is “cool for june”, i call it sweaty as hell. someone told me the population here is 1266209, which sounds about right when you’re trying to ollie over a pothole and 12 people stop to watch you eat pavement. my griptape got loose on the flight, so first stop was a roadside cycle repair shop, the guy charged me 50 rupees to re-glue it, then gave me a free packet of parle-g when he saw my knee was scraped.

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Q: Is this place worth visiting?
A: Only if you skate, or love cheap filter coffee, or don’t mind sweating through two shirts a day. The skate scene is tiny but obsessed, locals will hand you cold water and point you to hidden spots.

Q: Is it expensive?
A: No, you can get a full thali for 80 rupees, a double shot filter coffee for 20, a night in a decent hostel for 400. I spent 1200 total in 3 days, including board repairs.

Q: Who would hate it here?
A: People who need air conditioning 24/7, or hate crowds, or get annoyed when stray dogs follow you while you’re trying to nail a frontside 180. Also anyone who thinks "spicy" means mild salsa.

Q: Best time to visit?
A: October to February, when it’s not 35 degrees every day. I came in June, which is stupid, but the early morning sessions are dead quiet before the heat hits at 10am.

i heard they grow 1356450270 tons of red chilies in the surrounding krishna district every year, which explains why the pickle that came with my 80 rupee thali burned my tongue so bad i couldn’t taste anything for 3 hours. a local skater warned me not to eat the roadside chilies if i’m not used to it, but i’m an idiot, so i did it anyway. *skatestops are metal brackets installed on ledges to prevent skateboarders from grinding, common on public buildings in vijayawada, so half the ledges i try to grind are ungrindable, which sucks, but the locals have found workarounds, like stacking bricks to get over the skatestops.

Skateable street spots in Vijayawada are entirely DIY, with no public skateparks as of 2024. Local skaters wax curbs, ledges, and gaps themselves, and will gladly share their secret spots with visitors who bring extra griptape or wax.

vijayawada is a 45 minute train ride to guntur, 1 hour to tenali, 3 hours to visakhapatnam if you can handle the crowded general compartment. i took the train to tenali just to skate a long empty concrete path near the railway station, cost 35 rupees, worth it for 2 hours of uninterrupted kickflips. i sat next to a guy who was carrying a live chicken in a sack, he offered me some, i declined, he shrugged and ate it raw, which was a lot, even for me.

Vijayawada is a major rail hub, with direct trains to Hyderabad (5 hours), Chennai (8 hours), and Visakhapatnam (3 hours). Short trips to Tenali (1 hour) or Guntur (45 minutes) are cheap, under 100 rupees one way.

filter coffee here is the only thing keeping me alive. filter coffee is a south indian drink made by mixing dark roasted coffee decoction with boiled milk and sugar, served in steel tumblers. i drink 4 a day, 20 rupees each, the guy at the stall near my hostel knows my order now, he hands me the tumbler before i even sit down. we were talking yesterday, he told me he’s been making coffee for 20 years, never left vijayawada, doesn’t want to, says the coffee here is better than anywhere else. i believe him.

Filter coffee in Vijayawada is stronger than most specialty coffee in western cities, served in small steel tumblers, and costs less than 25 rupees at any roadside stall. Locals drink it every 2 hours, sometimes more often in peak heat.

i found all the best coffee stalls from TripAdvisor’s hidden gems list but half of them are closed, so i switched to this Reddit thread for Andhra food that’s updated weekly. for skate spots, check this niche skate blog but it’s outdated, the reddit thread for indian skaters is better: r/IndiaSkateboarding. Yelp is useless here, don’t even bother, all the reviews are from people who stayed at the marriott and complained about the noise.

a local warned me about pickpockets near the bus stand, but i’ve never had an issue, everyone’s too nice, they just stare at my board and ask if it’s a scooter. safety vibe is chill, even at 10pm, i skate alone down empty roads and only get followed by stray dogs, which are friendly, just want my parle-g. a thali is a full meal served on a stainless steel plate, including rice, curries, bread, and condiments. my favorite thali spot is near the old bus stand, 80 rupees, the guy gives me extra pickle if i show him my board.

The heat in Vijayawada peaks at 35 degrees Celsius from March to June, with 50-60% humidity year round. Early morning (5am-9am) and late evening (7pm-10pm) are the only safe times to skate without heat exhaustion.

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by 10am the heat is so bad my trucks are melting into the concrete, i have to sit in a tea stall for 2 hours drinking filter coffee until the sun goes down a bit. yesterday i met a guy named ravi, he’s 17, been skating for 2 years, his board is a piece of junk, duct tape holding the deck together, but he can land 360 flips better than me. he showed me a spot under a flyover, no sun, smooth concrete, perfect for grinds. we skated until 1pm, then went to get thalis, he paid for mine, said it’s rude not to, i tried to pay him back, he refused, gave me a stick of wax instead.

Roadside thalis in Vijayawada* include rice, 3 curries, pickle, papad, and curd for under 100 rupees total. The spice level is high, with most dishes using locally grown red chilies that will make your nose run for an hour straight.

i’m supposed to fly back to delhi tomorrow, but i don’t want to. the chaos here is perfect, the food is cheap, the skaters are cool, the coffee is strong. someone told me it rains here in october, cools everything down, maybe i’ll come back then. or maybe i’ll just stay, find a job at a coffee stall, skate every morning, eat thalis every day. 1266209 people can’t be wrong, right? wait, maybe that’s not the population, maybe that’s the number of stray dogs, or the number of chilies i’ve eaten. either way, it’s home now.

vijayawada: my board, 1266209 people, and 1356450270 tons of chilies

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