A beach break in Goa


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January 7th 2007
Published: January 7th 2007
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Bry speaking: We left Kochi 2nd Jan getting an overnight train to Mangalore. Ernakulum station was awash with sacks of chillis and a number of cockroaches, so we decided that the last seat in the waitin room next to the toilets was preferable. We've been playing a lot of Scrabble, much to the interest of the locals who are chuffed with themselves when they undertand a word. None has figured out what Zo or Qi mean yet!

When the train pulled in neither of us saw the first few carriages and looked at each other in a state of some panic when it looked like the whole train was cattle class, not what we had booked for a 9 hour overnighter. We asked the conductor and had to sprint (with packs) to the other end of the platform to find the 3 AC carriage. Unfortunately, although it was quiet an comfy neither of us got a wink. After a few hours sitting in a pretty park playing yet more Scrabble (I've had all 7 letters out 5 times in 5 games, quite a record!) we jumped on the train to Madgao. We were slightly thrown when chatting to what looked to be locals but who turned out to be fully Australian, full-on Aussie accent and humour. The chap had been brought up in Ooty, lived in Aus for 40-odd years and moved back to India just recently.

So, we've done very little but lie in the sun, eat and drink beer in Palolem. It's totally touristy but has a much better feel than Varkala somehow. We're planning a boat trip to see the Dolphins and quiet beaches in the next couple of days, then it's a day in Panjim, 3 in Mumbai and on to Hong Kong where we've booked the Renaissance Harbour View hotel at a bargain price online!

Quick update to make the photos make sense: Our huts, called Cressida, were looked after by a cool chap called Raj. He obviously thought he could speak fluent English 'cos he'd jabber away, most of which you could just about make out by intonation... the gist was that he was a bit of a lazy goit who didn't like cleaning, Germans, Israelis and drunk people. He was also convinced I was Jewish and kept asking me to teach him Hebrew; I offered Welsh but he didn't seem interested. Met a great bunch of girls at the best beachfront bar (well we thought so). It's called Havana and is next door to the all nigth bar Cafe Del Mar. The main guy is a chap called Mohan who never wrote down an order and always got it spot on. He had adopted a couple of the beach dogs, of which there were many, Foxy, Diamond and Patch. Foxy was tattered and missing teeth from when Mohan rescued him from a bunch of local kids thinking that beating him to a pulp would makde good entertainment. Anyway... hope to meet up with Bernie, Julie, Julio and Lucy somewhere along the road.


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Foot art

Bry got a pedicure and some henna work done...


11th January 2007

Happy New Year!
Hiya - sounds like you are both having a fantastic time. Keep on with the blog and photos - I can live vicariously through you both! Kx

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