India Day 12- Goa (Margao)

We have had a most enjoyable last full day in Goa. This morning after breakfast we took a taxi to Margao- the second largest city in Goa after Panjim. Margao is only about 20 minutes or so away from our hotel and it was a nice, short ride through the Goan countryside.

Margao, we discovered, is much prettier than Panjim and a great deal less chaotic. It is the administrative capital of South Goa and this was evident in the number of municipal and administrative buildings collected around the lovely and colourful Municipal Gardens (see pics). Wandering around the Municipal Gardens, we had our best offer of the holiday so far..... a young man came up to Kate and started chatting to her in Hindi whilst pointing to her ear and trying to get a better look down it. I carried on pretending to take a photograph a few metres away and saw him hand her a card which she promptly gave back to him and said "no thanks" and made a swift exit. Turned out he was a professional ear-wax remover and was touting his trade. He targeted me later on and then we were both targeted by another man also trying to de-wax our ears. We politely declined and came away with our ear wax intact. I had a look on the internet when we got back and it seems that Indian ear-cleaners are pretty commonplace, as are numerous warnings not to let them anywhere near your ears.

We had a good wander around Margao, which is blessed with lovely, wide pavements and is designed with the pedestrian in mind, something that Panjim definitely isn't. The market was in full swing when we arrived which was really interesting. Unlike Mapusa, this seemed to be a permanent market which, I imagine must be a daily event in Margao.

On the way back, we asked our taxi driver to take us to Margao Railway Station so that we could see what a busy Indian Railway Station is like. We purchased our 3 rupee (50 pence) platform tickets at the counter that allowed us to spend up to 2 hours on the platforms. The station was a fascinating place, quite unlike any British Station. There were dozens of different stalls selling every imaginable food or drink, book stalls, tea vendors, fruit vendors; dogs slept on the platforms and parcels were lined up ready to be loaded on to trains. There were restaurants, cafes and separate ladies and gents waiting rooms. We took quite a few photos so we'll put some on the blog.

Tomorrow we head back to Bombay for our final night in India- back at our first hotel. We have loved our time in Goa.

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