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Published: October 8th 2006
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We've spent a blissful six days on the island of Diu simply relaxing, reading and eating. There wasn't many western tourists there (we saw maybe a dozen the whole week) but it is a popular destination for Indian tourists to visit because of the cheap booze. A big bottle 750ml of beer is $1.
We took a bus south from Junagadh, a mere five hours being squished in with many staring Indians. The ride really could have only taken about four hours but we had to stop for necessities like more chewing tobacco for the driver, to light some incense, and of course, you can always fit one more person in the bus.
We arrived in Diu at night so we checked into a shoddy and cheap hostel for the night. There was only one light in the room and it was red. Need I say more.
Scooty Pep
The next day we set out to rent a scooter for our time on the island to be our main mode of transportation. Diu is just off the mainland and only 10km long and 2-3km wide. After checking a few rental places we decided on "Scooty Pep" a brilliant
red scooter with only one missing mirror. At first Scooty was a dream: she zipped around quietly with grace and power. However, after two days of use her muffler broke and we were the loudest scooter on the road. A day later Scooty randomly started to leak gas.... the following day we're cruising down the road on our way home from the beach and the motor just dies. Thankfully some helpful young men who seemed to be following us from the beach got her going again. Overall for $3.50 a day Scooty Pep was worth every penny.
We drove Scooty out of the town centre and found a great hotel right on the water and scored a room facing the water with a balcony. Under the murmer of the fan in our room, we could just hear the waves crashing on the beach at night.
Fish Market
Excited to be at the beach and to eat seafood, Jarrod and I visited the fish market a few times and bargined to purchase fresh fish, prawns, and squid. We were keen on getting lobster, but we couldn't find any live so we couldn't be sure just how fresh they were.
Our Catch Of The Day
We bought 2 fish, 20 prawns, and too much squid at the local fish market for $4.00 The restaurant cooked it up for another $3.00 Once you got used to the smell, the fish market was a great smorgasborg with everything from little sharks, stingrays, crabs and an array of different fish, some with sharp teeth. On two nights Jarrod and I bought seafood and brought it to our hotel via Scooty and the hotel kitchen would cook it up for us however we wanted. Communicating how we wanted the squid made into calamari proved difficult and unsuccessful so we fed a whole plate of squid to the hungry kitty cats that hang around the restaurant.
Beach Adventures
The first few days we were there, the ocean water was a bit murkey and Jarrod was scared of getting a disease so we stayed on shore. Mind you I wasn't too keen to jump in either: the monsoon has just ended and there is a lot of runoff going into the ocean and the infamous shipwreaking is done only about 200km from here. Instead I spent a few hours reading on the beach in my bikini top and board shorts and likely had my picture taken about a dozen times. Camera phones really are a great invention for drunk Indian men. Only one person asked
if he could take my picture and I said no, but he still did. I wonder what they do with those photos... Tell all their friends about the blonde western girl they shagged? Post them in the mechanic shop or bathroom?
Each day the water got clearer and the waves got bigger so on our last day we decided the water was safe for a swim. We found a beach with only one other group of tourists in sight (Indians don't seem to like big waves as most of them can't swim). Walking along the shore we spotted a dead eel that was about five feet long and had a mouth full of sharp teeth as big as my hand . We put down our blanket about 75m away from the eel and headed into the water. After frolicking in the waves for quite some time, I got tired and decided to head to shore when all of a sudden this surge of pain hits my tummy, I scream, and swat at an orange blob in the water only to find pain and stinging now on my arm. I was being attacked by a jelly fish. Two young Indian
men were watching us swimming and I showed them my arm and tummy which had started to go red and puffy and was stinging like hell. They only spoke a few words of english but repeated "No Problem" which calmed me a bit until I realized that most Indians don't know how to swim so would they really know that this jellyfish is harmless? We decided to pack it in early and go back to the hotel where the owner spoke good english and we could assess the damage. On the way back, Scooty lost power and died. Luckly the Indian boys at the beach were following us and got Scooty going again (as I mentioned earlier). Back at the hotel the owner did say the jelly fish was nothing serious and the red bumps would go away in a few days, already they have subsided. In retrospect, maybe the dead eel should have been a warning to choose another beach.
Next stop: MUMBAI!
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Sheena
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Jelly fish...yikes!
I heard you're supposed to pee on the jelly fish "burn" to reduce the sting and swelling...I guess Jarrod was not up to the challenge...Hope you're feeling better. At least it wasn't the eel's mate or one of the small sharks you saw at the market! Keep on enjoying the travels.