The beautiful south

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February 12th 2009

Published: February 14th 2009

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WillTKinsey

First snap of Anjuna

I survived the bus to Mumbai, leaving at 4pm and arriving at around 10am! That's a lot of hours to be on a bus. Was only really going to Mumbai to cath the train to Goa the next morning, so I found a hotel walking distance from the train station I needed and set up there. The room seemed nice enough, if a little overpriced, but it did the job (little did I know that the next day I would end up with more than a few bed bug bites and wake up to a cockroach running out from under my bed...) In the day I went round with two girls I met on the bus from Great Yarmouth and had in the evening we went to a pizza restaurant (really getting into Indian food and culture) on the water front, and then went and sat out by the water for a bit which was really cool actually, the Mumbai skyline at night was a sight to see. Mumbai definately exceeded expectations and I could have sent more time there, but wasnt too sad because next on the cards were the beaches of Goa!

I somehow managed to get myslef

Kingfisher

First goan beer

up and out of the hotel for my 5am train and arrived at Thivim station in Goa mid-afternoon, and after sharing a taxi with an indian guy I arrived in Anjuna beach and found my hotel. I went for a walk down the beach to get familiar with the place and on my walk I met a guy called patrick from Canada and we went for a beer on the beach. Later that night we went to a bar called 'Janet and John's...' where there was live music and a great seafood platter for $4 so it was perfect. Here I met a pair of fellow gap yearers called Will and Louise, and it turned out that Will is also going to Newcastle in September.

So the four of us spent the next few days doing stuff, some days just eating by the beach and swimming and the like, and a couple of days we (mum close your eyes) hired scooters and went off exploring the other beaches up and down the coast which was really good fun.

I only intended to stay for three days here, but there didnt seem to be any reason to leave so

Me sur la plage

I ended up staying for 9 days, spent a lot of money by the beginning of the trip standards but it was well worth it, had an amazing time. My room was very nice, clean with a TV and fridge, but for this was quite expensive. Luckily, and purely for economy reasons, I was happy to end up spending a few days sharing the room with a friend we made called Sophie, who happened to be blonde and norwegian. This worked out very well and saved a fair few rupees.

So by mid week we had accumulated quite a big group, comprising of Brits, a Canadian, an Israeli, 4 Norwegians and every night we'd head down to the beach after a hard day's relaxing to sit out on the beach at the various beach bars and eat and drink.

Absolutely loved Goa, great place, great people and amazing food... well worth blowing the budget!

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