A belated Happy New Year to everyone!!!
A 27-hour marathon journey brought us down to Goa for Christmas and New Year. It started with an 18-hour overnight train ride from Jaipur to Mumbai (Bombay), where we arrived at 7:30 in the morning. We jumped into a typical Indian 1950s style taxi, which took us to Mumbai airport. This being India, the taxi dropped us off at the wrong terminal whilst swearing blindly it was the correct one. A ‘free’ terminal-to-terminal shuttle bus soon rectified the situation though the driver still tried to extort a fee from us despite the gratuity service. After a 5 hour wait at the airport, we boarded a small 30-seat propeller plane which flew us the short one and a half hour hop to Goa. From the Goan airport it was a further one and a half hour taxi drive down to Palolem beach. It took us thirty minutes to decide on a place to stay, after such a long journey, we were in no mood to extend our deliberations beyond the basic checklist: electricity, bed, fan and ability to hang mosquito net. Having dumped our bags, there was just enough time to jump into the sea as the sun began to set and the fisherman cast out their nets for the evening haul. At last we had escaped the mayhem of Northern India and arrived safely to the calming, easy pace of Goan beaches.
Platform vendors sell their goods through the window bars during one of the train stops.
The sun rises over Palolem Beach.
Life on the Goan coastline is in stark contrast to that in Northern India, particularly Rajasthan, where we had spent the last 3 weeks. The local people are far more laid back in their approach to daily life; the pace notably slowed and along with it was a grateful reduction in the number of hawkers, scams and the touting that we were previously subject to. There is a visible presence of western, particularly Portuguese, influence evident in the style of houses, churches, dress and cuisine. Typical Indian vegetarian dishes remain on the menu but were accompanied by meat and western choices; and of course, plenty of fresh fish. However, the real test lay in the cow population… they remained present, roaming both the beaches and the market place, but their numbers were smaller and the respect shown to the beast was much diminished.
A local cow claims his sun bathing spot.
Palolem beach is a beautiful crescent-shaped curve of white sandy beach lined with towering palm trees on one side and the gentle lapping of the Arabian sea on the other.
The sea draws back at low tide leaving us plenty of room to play frisbee.
Local fishermens' boats park up on the beach.
Accommodation on this stretch of beach is limited to temporary structures meaning that most come in the form of small coco-huts (ie little wooden shacks with plywood walls and coconut palm tree leaf roofs) which spare the beach from being overrun with ugly concrete hotels. We spent the first week not in a cottage/hut but stayed in a safari style tent which turned out to be pleasantly airy. The following week we upgraded to a detatched cottage for the New Year (complete with TV....praise be to whoever it was who made HBO available in India :-).
Our 'safari' tent.
Our daily routine for pretty much the next 2 weeks was rigorous! It began with breakfast taken at a beachside restaurant watching locals and tourists slowly emerge under the climbing sun. A morning stroll along the beach saw us claim our sun loungers for the day ('free' in return for buying lunch at the affiliated restaurant). Then the daily exercises began: a game of frisbee along the shore, followed by a cooling swim in the sea - repeated at least twice. Next was the agonising decision as to what to have for lunch, which was followed by an afternoon of snoozing, reading, and more frisbee and swimming. Evenings were torturous: Which restaurant to eat at? To sit under the palm leaf canope or at a candle lit table on the beach? Which fish to have? The shark, the red snapper, the tuna, the coconut fish? What to do after dinner..walk along the beach and watch the nightly fireworks or move on to a bar?
Christmas was a low-key affair; we exchanged a few token presents and splashed out on an extra big fish for dinner along with a few cocktails. New Year was celebrated on the beach. We spent the evening in one of the many beachside bars watching hundreds of fireworks being set off along the coast line. Safety regulations are rather lax in India and as a result many rockets misfired and went astray. On this occassion we were happy to cocoon ourselves in the middle of a crowd away from any immediate danger.
Our beach resort created a small nativity scene for the festive period.
After travelling on a budget for 6 months, the holiday season was a great excuse to indulge in some luxuries...and alcohol!! This was our 'holiday' from travelling and we thoroughly enjoyed it!