North Goa = lapping it up!

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Hi everyone.

Thomas here! VV is busy updating her CV for job stuff (I know I know, she never stops does she) so I have been elected as chief blog do-a-ra.

Ok so for the last 6 days we have been in north Goa in a place called Anjuna. It’s basically a beach town famous for a Wednesday flee market on the beach and sun and sea and other beachy goings on. Because its been low season on our trip so far we have seen very few westerners but the first thing we noticed about this place is that its full of gringos (The South American term for westerners that VV and I have adopted to identify other foreigners). Some of them are stinky hippies that got stuck here about 30 years ago and some are just passing through for a day or two like us. From the word go we took a real liking to the place.

Firstly Food. We found an awesome restaurant that’s cheap and has no customers all the time and discovered a local goan tasty treat called Xacuti.
"Chicken curry cooked in a paste made with roasted aromatic spices and coconut. A traditional Goan specialty of chicken in a very rich gravy."
Definitely in our top 3 best dishes/meals we have had since we have been on this trip. Accompanied by 1 banana milk shake, 1 banana lassi, 1 bowl of rice and 3 roti................Mid day lunch or evening meal. DONE! (As Gordon Ramsey would say)

There is an awesome bar here called Shore bar and it’s halfway down the beach and geared towards gringos. We checked that out on the first day intending on just having 1 drink but got sucked into the amazing location, best seats, cheap alcohol and amazing service and friendly pack of dogs. I would have loved to say they had good music but was constantly reminded this wasn’t the case with dirty dancing soundtrack, Goan trance and our particular favorite Robert Miles - Children played on a massively distorted sound system. Oh well you can’t have it all. Anyway, we stayed there till late, got nicely drunk realised we didn’t have enough money to continue getting drunk and ended up with me staggering a 30 minute walk in the dark on the beach to the taxi stand and cash points etc. Made it back to get back on the kingfisher sauce.

This process of shore bar, xacuti and bad music continued for a few more days.

VV had noticed lots of gringos driving around Anjuna on motorbikes and scooters and with my limited experience of riding (couple of days in Thailand - crashed twice) was trying to talk me into it. In order to maintain her safety and good looks and good relationship with her mum, I resisted for 2 days. On the third day persistence paid off and we hired a bike for 3 days. No helmets, bike skills insurance etc. Best decision we could have made. With our new found stallion of transport and mindless sense of safety, we eyed up the lonely planet and found a beach town up the coast called Morjim, far away from all the farangi (Hindu for foreigner). The place we were looking for was called the Goan Café/resort. After an hour or so of asking for directions, cruising though small villages running parallel with the sea and beaches and some lush green landscapes, we found the café.
What an awesome place. You had a choice of staying in a tree house on stilts type thing or a normal room. We opted for the hut on stilts. Completely undisturbed views of the amazing morjim beach, palm and coconut trees, fishermen with nets, Birds of prey swooping everywhere and a very chilled atmosphere. Staff were very friendly, weather was amazing, had a fridge full of beer. We sat on our balcony reading our books, drinking beer with music in the background watching the dogs on the beach chasing the odd Indian on a scooter and occasionally annoying one another by reading to one another a particular good bit of the book we are reading (Tom - Shantaram, VV Michael Palin Himalayas). Other than VV being the biggest girl in the word about the bug situation and to be fair to her they were infested in the mattress we slept on and literally falling from the ceiling onto our heads, it was an amazing time. Probably one of the highlights so far we intended on staying 1 night but stayed 2.

During the couple of days we did some more cruising on the bike (by this time I was a seasoned motorbike specialist - OK it was only a twist and go 50cc but schme!) checked out another beach town called Arambol in the north and then now we are back in Anjuna and have just eaten another xacuti.

After VV finishes her CV we shall probably head to the Shore Bar for a swift few pints and then head home again. A pattern is starting to emerge. It’s a hard life believe me 

As much as we would like to stay, tomorrow we jump on an overnight bus and head north to a place slight northeast of Mumbai called Nasik. The town is named after something to do with someone’s nose falling off or maybe being cut off or something???? VV will fill you in next time.

Adios

T+V

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