Blogs from Candolim, Goa, India, Asia
February 6th 2012
First, we needed to get acquainted with the various women with whom we will be working. Sara is the business leader who is committed to providing work for as many women as possible. Her daughter Farnooz is volunteering and is more on the artistic and marketing side. Malini handles the books. After that, we have met too many women for me to remember individually. We are not sure how each "gift" box has been received. We do know that they were not distributed and probably won't be as we imagined. However, we did show good faith by bringing them. After some small talk, it was time for lunch. We LOVE Gujarati khanna (food), so have been eating far too much. To cook Gujarati food, which is totally vegetarian, but not vegan, you start with oil, add ... read more
September 25th 2011
DID WE SAY I DO Getting Married My name is Maureen and I am married just over 2 years to Derrick who was born in India. We met in Turkey on the last day of his holiday. He asked if he could keep in touch with me he living in London and I in Northumberland. After many phone calls and visits up and down the country we became engaged. When we visited Goa we decided to get married and thought it would be nice to do it on our beautiful complex in Candolim where we have our apartment. Easy you think NO. We had to visit a solicitor in Mapusa 30 mins away on the scooter and then he told us we would have to have 5 affidavits from people who new us. They had to ... read more
September 13th 2011
A hand full What is the great attraction that things that fly have to my husband. While on our travels from the UK to Turkey and then Goa India my husband always seems to attract things that fly. Here are just a few pictures of the things that have landed in his hand. ... read more
September 5th 2011
In and a round Candolim you can see many different forms of public transport. This is just a few photos ranging from a one man cycle richshaw to sheer luxurey tutu to the local ferry and all serve the same purpose to get you to your destination.... read more
September 3rd 2011
Need a change of make up girls. This is Holy, a festival day and if you do not like being coloured you are advised to stay in doors but you will miss a great colourfull day. If you fancey a change of colour in your make up go out and join in. Not only do you get a dot on the fore head but the rest of you and anything else around you becomes multi coloured when they throw the coloured powder at you making you look very fearse and frightening but it is all taken in good fun.... read more
September 1st 2011
Hi this adds a whole new meaning to going for a run. For those of you who have visited Candolim Goa know that almost any thing and every thing is carried on a scooter. So who is taking who for a run. Going for walkies or just dog tired. ... read more
August 31st 2011
For those of you who have not visited Candolim for a year or two the now famous River Princess tanker which ran aground almost on the Candolim beach is all but dismantled. After many years of will we will we not she is almost gone. She was a site to be hold and hold she was in many places and looking like an old rust bucket and not the princess she was. When she is gone the beach will look bare with out. So it is almost goodbye old girl.... read more
March 9th 2010
After leaving New Delhi on a high, we boarded a Spice Jet plane to Goa, on the south west coast. We grabbed a prepaid taxi from the airport, and a short hour later we were dropped in the very touristy town of Candolim. We had already noticed a change in the feel of the place on our car journey from the airport, but when we looked at our accommodation, it warmed our hearts. The rest of us was pretty warm too. The heat, even at 5pm, was a sticky 32 degrees. Our accommodation was an ensuite room with fridge and balcony, overlooking a garden of palm trees. It was an oasis of calm. We settled our things and then went off to discover the town. We had read online that Candolim has a large supermarket. Given ... read more
January 14th 2010
Incidentally, Goa-way & Czec-it-out is possibly the best name for a Eastern European-ran travel agency in the history of the world. Genius. I was supposed to stay in Goa for three weeks with my mum, but aren't actually leaving until tomorrow, precisely double the amount of time I planned. I'm not sure why because a week is enough to know Goa inside out, but I would guess it's a combination of hangovers and laziness that's kept me here so long. I flew into Cochin, in Kerala from Kuala Lumpur, which is chilled and dirty and has a lot of churches and goats and cows and nice people. I met a girl who'd being teaching in North India for three months, and hated me on sight because I was wearing a mini-skirt (everything else was dirty) and ... read more
January 7th 2010
Incredible, I was in Goa for more than 50 days and it seemed like a long time and now it is over! Today is my last day, I am super excited to leave even if I will miss Goa and the people I know here. I will come back anyway in a month to pick up a huge load of things that I don't need to carry with me on my way south. My last weeks in Goa were not super busy with exploring, although I did go to a spice farm close to Ponda. The experience was OK, but the farm I went to was very much a tourist attraction, they seem to be doing the same thing over and over again so it didn't have the authentic feeling that you find is smaller family-run ... read more
