The countdown has begun...

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I'm sure after sampling our crazy midnight journey in Mumbai you're hungry for more white knuckle information on our next taxi ride! Now the journey down to Goa went far better than our journey in Mumbai. It said on the internet that our hotel was indeed 2 minutes from the airport, the domestic terminal not the international as we had originally thought. What was more impressive was the guy didnt need to ask for directions in order to get there. We got ourselves checked in on one of the many jetstar gates and made our way to security. What was different about this security gate was that the male has to have all of the bags and documents as they pass through the gate. It appears here that the male is the decision maker (they obviously haven't met Lisa!) The female gate is not very close and they have through separately, just seems a little strange. Anyway once on board we got chatting to a family who as it turns out live in Twickenham, they have family in Delhi and Mumbai. They had all been allocated different seats by the check in desk and had a little daughter aged about 3 years old. This meant that she too would be sat on her own. So we did what any person who works in a child orientated environment would do, and let her sit by herself, as its character building and she'll thank us in the long run! The screams for mummy! mummy! gently subsided as we climbed further or we just got used to it after a while...NOT REALLY we gave up our seats so they could all be together! They didn't seem very suprised by our adventure in Mumbai and said we should have threatened to report him if he carried on. Thats always better to know after the event! We arrived at Dabolim airport safe and sound and had to hand in yet another form about swine flu. The bloke at the exit just took the tickets without even looking at them! The Police seem extremely trustworthy in Goa, if you hire a moped and get stopped for not having a helmet, no license or maybe get caught speeding (god knows how with all the traffic!), or not having the right documents on you, you can either go to court and state your innocence or your friendly neighbourhood policeman will accept on the spot fine of whatever is in your wallet or a minimum of 100 rupees! That will make sure you don't get locked up! Policing in a country as vast as this must be extremely difficult and somewhat of a challenge due to the influx of tourists every year. Hopefully thats our exit out of india sorted! Fnding a taxi was a lot less eventful and easier this time however the bloke drove like an insurance salesman in pursuit of an ambulance! He even knew which direction to drive in, although he didn't know where the hotel was. After a few enquiries he got us there safe and sound. We got ourselves checked in to our 100 quid a week budget breaking palace which came fully equipped with none randomly flushing loo, berco boiler shower, sink, random table, wardrobe with a bendy shelf Uri Gellar would be proud of and finally a bed with a life saving fan above it. All in all a fairly value packed abode.

We explored our area on foot and went for a walk on Colva beach. This was a perfect opportunity for me to wear my new thongs that I'd bought in Australia. Along the way we negotiated a cow taking a walk, and another one or 2 hanging around with her cow buddies in the middle of the road. The beach was just one long strip of sand and sea with beach shacks every so often so you can get food and drinks along the way. The sand was very strange because when you walked on it it sounded like you were walking on snow. Cows being sacred here, people just drive around them with the usual horns blasting away. Seems a bit crazy to start with with people just driving randomly on whatever side of the road they want, up and down the street. To be fair though you do very quickly start to see that there is a strange logic to the way that they drive. We spoke to the barman at our hotel called Jack whos English was amazing, he said the Indian driving test for a moped is doing a figure of 8. Jack said that he struck up his moped and went forward a few feet and the instructor had already passed him before he got to the first corner. The testing here as you can see is very strict and challenging. The first week at Colva beach basically consisted of dozing around the pool. Many dips in this were taken as it was so hot, followed by a beer which by the way costs a massive 60 rupees, thats an unbelievable 80p! Its seems strange that when you go to other bars and they have beer on sale for 70 rupees you start thinking to yourself I'm not paying that for the same beer! Its only 7p more! We also met a lovely Swiss couple who are from Zurich and are travelling around India for 3 months. After relaxing for 7 days in Williams retreat we moved further north to a place called Candolim. Here we booked ourselves in to a hotel with air conditioning (we thouht we might treat ourselves) the only down side is its a tourist resort! Full of people from Yorkshire 'who ave t' let hole wurld no that thee is goin fa fag'! No matter where you go in the world you can bet your life you'll meet someone from there.

We decided the only way to get away from package holiday hell was to hire a moped. Its a lovely little yellow peril with a broken speedo. We have been down to Aguada Fort, it boast of having a light house which is the oldest in Asia. Next to that is Aguada jail, this place looked like hell the front gates are definatly the closest we want to get to it! Booked ourselves on to a boat trip the other day but unfortunatly woke up with the two bob bits and cancelled ourselves of it.

We drove our yellow peril moped, with the broken speedo, to Old Goa earlier this week which used to be the capital of Goa until various bouts of malaria and other diseases meant that people moved away to Panaji. This place had large old catholic churches and a ruined monastery. Driving here was no mean feat as there were various things to negotiate including cows, stray dogs (loads of them!), people on push bikes, other mopeds, cars, lorries, buses, and even elephants!
Wic did a fantastic job of getting us there and back in one piece as no one even wears a helmet here. Another highlight along the way was seeing the bridge that featured in The Bourne Supremacy, when Matt Damon and his girlfriend go flying off the bridge after a car chase. The posh hotel where they stayed during filming is also in Candolim... bit out of our budget that one! We handed back our yellow peril with the broken speedo, as we had booked ourselves on a trip to Hampi lasting 3 days. This is a 14th century temple place, and the trip involves over 7 hours on a train through India. We had an English speaking guide who talked us through the various temples and Kings and queens palaces, we were able to get up close and walk upon the site as it was around 26sq kilometres. We were able to watch a sunset on one of the highest rocks. Lovely!

The most random thing we encountered on our return journey from Hampi was seeing one of the waiters from Papillon Restaurant in Colva Beach stood at our window of the train at a station miles away from Goa. What was even more strange was he could remember our last meal order there, and the Swiss couple who we ate with!!!

This is the start of our last few days here as we get home on monday evening, so we would like to thank everyone for taking the time to read maybe some of our travel blog and hope we havent just droned on forever and ever. See you next week love from Lisab and Wic who have nearly gone around the world in more than 80 days!

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