Beach babies and farewell to India!

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Palolem in Goa = Amazing! I was so pleased to finally be in Goa after hearing so many good things about it!! We found what can only be described as a wonky shed on stilts to stay in! It had great character but everything was on a slant to the right- as they put everything in the room on the right hand side. After thinking it was going to fall down the owner reassured me it was meant to be that way... hmm, i wasnt so sure! We stayed in our hut for 4 nights, woke up and went to sleep listening to the sound of the waves every day! Went for a swim in the sea before breakfast most days too.

Reluctantly, we had to leave the beach paradise and board a night bus to Hampi. We asked for sleeper- it turned out to be 5 of us sleeping on the back bench of the bus. Wasnt great and once again it was really bumpy!! We arrived in Hampi at 6am and instantly we were harassed by rick shaw drivers. I ripped one guys map up when i told him we werent interested and just wouldnt leave us alone! We visted the temples here and got a blessing from an elephant. It was more of a bash on the head, but hey, for 1 rupee it was worth it for the entertainment factor! On one of the days we hired bikes and cycled out to see the old ruins. Saw some great Ganesh statues and visted the queens bath. Hampi is described as the worlds largest outdoor museum- pretty true i would say! We didnt get to see it all and to be honest i got a little bored of it. As many of you know, cycling just aint my favourite thing! After 2 nights here we were itching to get back to the beach again!

Another night bus took us back to Goa and this time we went further up the coast to Arambol beach for 5 nights. This place was hippy heaven! Loads of people with tattoos and dread locks! Lots of tibetan things to buy. Great chilled out atmosphere though. We had a brand new room right on the beach with a hot shower- something we have not had for the last 2 months!! The family that ran it were so lovely and made us feel very welcome. We visted the Anjuna market one day but didnt buy much as it was very expensive compared to other places in India! The tourists who are here on a week or two holiday have no idea they are paying really high prices for things that should be cheaper!

The last night train we took in India delivered us back to Mumbai. It arrived early morning so we headed back to Colaba backpacker district and checked into the India Guest House for the day. After eating our last Thail meal and drinking our last lassi we went to the airport. About 2 weeks previously we had been told that Kingfisher had cancelled our perfectly timed 1pm flight to Bangkok and instead we would be travelling on Air India at 12am. Perfect considering its only a 4 hour flight!! The flight was of course delayed for about an hour and when they served up dinner at 2.30am we already felt knackered! As with the rest of India, safety on board an Air India flight wasnt a massive priority!

I honestly cant believe how quickly the time in India went!! I really loved and hated it all at the same time! We visited 20 destinations, took 3 night buses, 6 night trains, 1 private taxi, more than 12 buses and lots of rick shaws!!

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