Palolem in Goa

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20/2/10: We checked out of our hotel at 9:00 and waited for Jacinta’s good pants and towel to come back as they had big stains on them from being washed by a proper laundry service and had to be sent back. With great relief they return stainless and we walked to the bus terminals 10min away to catch our bus to Margao and then finally to Palolim. The tickets only costed 25rs for both of us as it was only an hour from Panaji. As soon as you bought the ticket you had to get on the bus and with one almost full and ready to go we tried to work out what to do with our huge packs as we had to take them on the packed bus with us. Jacinta was just in the entrance trying to find room and I was waiting for her to make room at the entry door, meanwhile we had a man yelling at me from behind to hurry up and get on. By the third time he yelled I lost it and yelled back at him saying “We are trying to put our packs somewhere so shut #$%@ up all right!” I ended up entering the bus with everyone staring at me and found the last and only seat at the front on the bus. We were in Margao in no time and not knowing if it was the right stop hopped off to catch another bus to Palolim. We lined up at the bus station to buy a ticket only to have a fat Indian lady push in front of us just as we were just about to be served. I couldn’t believe how rude it was and still not in a good mood from the last guy I gave her three stern taps on her shoulder making sure I really drove my finger deep into the top of her collar bone as I said “excuse me, don’t push in” in a deep voice. She got the message quickly grabbing her tickets and walking away without looking back. I’m sure she won’t do that again in a hurry. The tickets weren’t necessary as we could just hop on and pay later. We walked in the direction pointed and found the busses to Palolem, we asked how much and he said 20rs/person we made sure even drawing the number twenty in the air so there was no confusion. Halfway through the journey another man started to collect the money so I handed over 50rs expecting to get change. He looked at me and kept walking so I put my hand out for change and he said 25rs each, we both said “no no” at the same time. Still not in a good mood from the Bus guy and the lady pushing in, I said 20rs each in a stern voice and snatched 10rs from his wad of cash. I wanted him to argue with me about the money but he smiled and got the point that he wasn’t able to rip us off. We arrived in Palolim at 1:00 and checked into our beach bungalow for only 250rs/night this even includes a bathroom. We sat down for lunch and chilled out with Indian curry and a couple of beers looking out over the beach. It was the most relaxed I have been since we started our trip and it only made us realise how hard it was to travel Kolkata and Varanasi after Mumbai.******
21/2/10: Today we woke up late then walked 30m from our bungalow and went for a swim in the Arabian Sea laid in the sun and fell asleep, then had some lunch, then 5 hours later had dinner then went to sleep. A perfect day. ******
22/2/10: Today was the same as yesterday. We ended up meeting a great couple Nick and Maree from Sweden. We had dinner with them and didn’t finish up until 12:00 at night. We have a lot in common and Nick is a little like myself and is sick of the shit you cop being a tourist in India, getting frustrated Marie has to calm him down every now and then just like Jacinta has to do to me.****
23/2/10: Again we did the same thing mixing it up by going for a long walk along the beach resulting in my ankle flaring up again. This now meant I had to force myself to stay off my feet as much as possible until it healed, this should be to hard while I relax on the beach. The last thing I needed before the Himalayas was a dodgy ankle. We ended up going to town only 5-10min bus ride away, I think this was an excuse to get off our arses and do something. We wanted to get some fresh fruit and some things for lunches as we were once again sick of eating in restaurants all the time, even through the food was delish. We ended up finding a bakery that had cakes and sweets and the first thing we noticed was two locals with a yellow coloured milkshake. It was an almond milkshake with blended almonds and fresh milk; we had one each and couldn’t believe how nice it was. We had to wait 5 min for our bread to come out of the oven and with half a dozen fresh bread rolls set off to the local supermarket to get some cheese and supplies. The supermarket was small but they managed to squeeze as much in as possible in and the shelving was lucky to have 800mm of space between them, this made it difficult to carry a basket and cross paths with other shoppers whilst the shelves were also getting stocked. The two middle isles couldn’t even be accessed because the checkout queue extends up through the middle, it was probably the busiest grocery store I have ever been too. They had bad tomatoes so we had to go to the markets to get them. Loaded with supplies we had to endure the bus back to Pallolem. I thought the trains in Singapore and Mumbai were busy, our bus was so loaded there were at least 5 people hanging out the door to get a ride back. Jacinta lost her temper when two opposing people want to get off the bus and proceeded to push her from either side trying to make their way to the entrance only 1meter away she started to yell “Stop pushing me, stop pushing!” It was funny to watch as the person pushing in the front couldn’t see the one pushing in the back because it was so crowded. She kept getting pushed until the bus started to finally empty and she was able to move from the entrance. Happy to get back to our bungalow after the bus we made ourselves some cheese and tomato sandwiches that went down a treat. After lunch we spent the rest of the day swimming, sunbathing and listening to music until we were invited to go out for dinner with Nick and Marie to a restaurant called Brown Bread. We sat and talked the whole time not once running out of things to talk about. As we were eating, a cow came briskly walking into the restaurant and stopped at the counter. We laughed as the man behind the counter gave the cow a piece of bread and turned the cow around pointing it back in the direction from which it came. The cow then walked back outside unaided. This happened every half hour resulting in the cow getting a piece of bread each time. We worked it out that the cow just kept visiting a number of restaurants only to come back around again and we all agreed that this was one smart cow “Only in India”!!!
24/2/10: Yet another lazy day lying around on the beach. We bumped into Nick and Marie again and chatted for half an hour until we went for another swim. The days seem to be fading into each other and its getting hard to remember what we did on which day. We only intended on staying four days, this came and went and we haven’t even thought about when we should carry on our journey inland then finally carrying on southwards to Kerala. It is all too easy to wrap yourself in the Goan bubble for protection knowing full well that the bubble will eventually be popped and you will have to enter back into the unpredictable rat race of India. We had dinner with Nick and Marie again still talking about everything under the sun. We finished the night at around 9:00 as we were all tired.
25/2/10: Still another lazy day on the beach and I can bet that tomorrow will be the same.
26/2/10: Yep.
27/2/10: I was wrong the next two days were just like the last, and also the same as the last 6-7 days. It’s even hard to update what I have done in the last few days, It’s just as well I haven’t done much anyway.

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