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Published: March 17th 2009
After Mumbai we headed for a little visited area known as the Kokan coast, where palm trees, neglected medieval forts and golden beaches dominate the landscape.
Our first stop was Murud which is about 5 hours south of Mumbai by a combination of boat, bus and rickshaw.The place exudes a relaxed summer-cottage-by-the sea vibe, indian style of course, which means kids are playing cricket on the beach instead of volleyball and people are not munching on potato chips but papadums. Many people come down from Mumbai on the weekends to eat sea food and drink beers but the rest of the week the area is pretty much empty.
The biggest attractions in the area is a huge fort known as Janjira that explodes out of the sea in a narrow strait. It is unbelievably impressive and really a sight to behold. Why didn't they just build their fort on land like everyone else? Isn't that hard enough already?
Other than lounging on the beach all day we explored the georgous country side that surrounds Murud where shy, impeccably dressed school children wave at you at every turn and palm leaves fill the space between the glowing green rice
paddies and the bright blue cloudless sky.
On one particular bicycle excursion, following the beach studded coast, we fell upon massive, beautiful Islamic mausoleums that seem very much out of place in this tropical paradise. We roamed around looking at the fine carvings and intricate lacework, being astonished at what we had stumbled upon. Being little Indiana Jones' is really one of the funnest thing that India has to offer.
On one night while Jenny was making a phone call to her mom to wish her happy birthday (happy birthday Ursula!), as I was chatting with the shop keeper, a scruffy guy armed with a sling shot shows up beside me and starts a conversation with the shop keeper. He leaves soon after and I start questioning my conversational partner as to who that was. He tells me non chalantly ''Jungle man". As it turns out, there are semi-nomadic people that live in what remains of the forest around Murud, shooting birds with their slingshots to feed themsleves and their famillies. Is there anywhere else but India where cosmopolitan Blackberry using, fancy car driving, latte drinking people and sling shot wild bird eating people co exist side by
side so effortlessly?
After Murud we headed south to an area called Tarkali. We actually were not able to get there in one day even though it is only 200 km away. Distances can be very deceiving in India and are absolutely no indicator of traveling time.
Tarkali was a stunning, never ending golden sand beach that was void of foreign tourist. Indians on the other hand were fully aware of its existence and fully clothed bathers were the norm. We spent 3 days walking (a lot!), swimming ( a little ) and battling bugs and smells in our bungalows. On one particular instance we had an ant/spider infestation in our room. I went to get the owner to let her know. She sent in her 10 year old, pig tailed little girl to clean up and shoo away the critters. Have any of you ever been saved by a 10 year old indian girl before? Its really a nice feeling.
After a few days lounging on the beach dodging stray dogs, or lounging on hammacks dodging falling cashew nuts, the pull to meet up with our friend Jasmine, who was waiting for us in Goa, was
too strong. So we left the full on Indian region of Kokan for the full on tourist region of Goa. What a shock.
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