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Published: December 15th 2008
Toby!!
Our dog from when we stayed the season two years agoDidn't want to mention in the last blog that the day after we arrived back in the UK from Hong Kong we were straight off again, this time back to Goa on a package deal for a couple of weeks. Didn't want to mention it because we were going over to suprise Giane and Babu, our friends that live there, just on the off chance that their internet connection decided to work and they read the blog and it forewarned them!
Been a bit spoilt flying scheduled flights everywhere for the last three years, eleven hours cramped up on a charter flight wasn't one of our best experiences since starting travelling, it obviously wasn't too comfortable for our fellow passengers either, we saw two collapse on the flight and the flight attendent later told us there was two or three others over the trip. We tried to give first aid to the first one we saw (she was on the row in front of us) since Claire was an A&E nurse and I used to be a Paramedic, but the senior flight attendent grabbed the medical kit off her colleague who fetched it for us and refused to open it
or use the oxygen since it would cost the airline 50 quid. Maybe if they had actually at some point on the flight brought round some water (other than once bottles that you could buy for 1.60 each) then not so many would have been taken ill. Makes a bit of a mockery of the advice about avoiding DVTs.
We stayed in Goa for most of the season before last and so know quite a few people there. I reakon we must have shaken hands with well over a hundred people that recognised us although so many people return to Goa year after year, one of the tricks that hawkers use is to say "oh you came back to Goa again, I remember you from last year" knowing that you probably have been before. In fact of all the tourists we spoke to, only a couple were there for the first time, many had spent more time there than us. Our friends Giane and Babu own a shop in Baga, Karma Collection, and we'd spent many many hours with them outside the shop deciding between Kingfisher or Royal Stag for the night. We walked in to suprise them and
it was like we'd never been away, in fact Gi looked up and said hello just like we'd seen her the day before, before suddenly realising that we shouldn't have been there, and then nearly falling out of her chair! Babu couldn't wipe the smile off his face for the rest of the day, confidently telling Gi over and over "I knew they would come"!
Someone else we had to see was Toby, the dog that had adopted us when we stayed before. He belonged to our landlord, but was badly treated and chained up nearly all day with hardly any food or water when we arrived. We fed him up and left him in a really good condition. We were scared that assuming that he was still alive, he would probably be as emaciated as when we first knew him. We really shouldn't have worried, as we walked up to the old flat we called his name and he wandered out from what is now an ayurvedic massage centre looking a bit skinnier but as healthy as when we left him. He obviously recognised us and after a couple of seconds looking confused went absolutely beserk, rolling over
our feet in ecstacy. He followed us to the internet cafe like he used to, and then to the ice cream shop where we used to buy him a tub every few days. The day we were leaving Goa we took him a bone and then jumped in a taxi so he couldn't follow us, but as soon as we opened the taxi door he tried to get in. We used to take him round in a car, but he almost certainly hasn't been in one for nearly two years. It was so good to see him and fantastic that he remembered us. The landlords boy, Vijay, and the guys in the massage centre are obviously caring for him and he's probably one of the best looked after dogs in Goa.
So, it was really good to be back in Goa, it felt like coming home. Since starting travelling, it is the place we've spent the longest. We arrived back just after the the attacks in Mumbai though, and its had some effect on tourism, as has the credit crunch. Tourist numbers are down even from the year we spent there which wasn't a busy season. It seemed that
most of the tourists around were Russians rather than English. Many of the shopkeepers rely on the British who tend to buy more so lots are having a bad season. There did seem to be a bit of a depressed feel to the place, partly from the bad business and partly from jitters about Mumbai. Taxi drivers seemed as hassly as ever, if not worse, but many of the shopkeepers could hardly bother to call out. Hawkers on the beach have been almost banned. Some sellers have branched out into other markets, and we were offered drugs much more than previously, sometimes several times a day. In fact, two of the Calangute policemen were caught selling heroin while we were there, although it turned out it was only crushed mint!
We only spent one day on the beach in the end. The shacks are having their sunbed limits enforced by the police for a change, which means that the beach is a lot less crowded which is good, but along with the low number of hawkers meant that it did seem to have lost a bit of its character. One regular face that was missing from the beach was
Chips
Chuchundra murderer Old Mama, one of the fruit ladies. She's recovering from being attacked by a cow at home and it sounds like she only just survived. An improvement are the new lifeguards that patrol the beach, compered to the lifeguard two years ago who was too fat to get out his chair, even if he'd been awake to notice someone in trouble.
Sitting outside Gi and Babu's shop one night a mouse ran under my chair. Babs excitedly told us that it was a Chuchundra, the rat that Ganesh sits on. It was considered a good omen, business would get better. Unfortunately, no one told Chips, their cat, that it was a lucky omen and a few minutes later she wandered past with the now lifeless mouse in her mouth. Now, that can't be good karma!
Much to Giane and Babs amusement I spent a fair bit of time in Mapusa, the nearest big town to Calangute, taking photos around the market. Most locals avoid it if they can since its normally heaving with people and a lot hotter walking around than nearer the coast. I reakon it seems a bit more like proper India though unlike Calangute and
Baga that are more touristy. This time had to rely on public transport to get around, we couldn't borrow Gi and Bab's car as it was in the garage. Two years ago the roof was leaking in the monsoon, so they had it repaired and the whole car resprayed. Last monsoon it leaked again. Turns out the mechanic had cut a roof off another car and, literally, stuck it on top of their existing roof, filled the gaps and painted over it! This time hopefully its getting properly fixed!
Apart from wandering around Mapusa market fighting off Lamani stallholders, we spent most of our time just chilling and catching up with friends. Ramesh at Electric Cats restaurant was as suprised to see us as Giane, he's moved into bigger premises near Tito's road. His old place was almost opposite our old flat so we ate there nearly every day when we stayed before. It was worth the cramped flight just for his cheese garlic nans. It was good to see Sanjay who we stayed with in Kashmir as well.
The two weeks went all too quick and it was time to go home. We were offered the chance
to upgrade to (slightly) larger seats for 80 pounds each, which we jumped at. Funnily enough, the airports visa machine didn't work though, so we were taken to another office where we could only pay in rupees - at their abysmal exchange rate - so we ended up paying 100 pounds each instead. Funny that. Going through security we were asked about six times whether we had any lighters on us, we did one which was confiscated. It was lucky then that if you wanted to smoke in the smoking room the cleaner was at hand to sell a lighter. If we'd come back the next day we could probably have bought our own back. Its apparently not too important not to have any lighters on board though, because they're 3 quid for two on the duty free trolley.
One last note of congratulations has to go to Sheila Dikshit who has been voted back into power in Delhi, and also gets the prize for the best name!
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