Life's a beach

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Well its funny how time flies when you're enjoying yourself!Its fair to say that Arambol where I am now is the best place ive been in India and I love it! We are staying in a room above some shops that are literally right on the beach and wake up each morning to look out of the balcony onto the beach below. We are at a far less frantic pace here then we have been on for the rest of the trip and we are all now truly chilled out, i have to pinch myself sometimes to believe I am actually here.

So, firstly I will say that Arambol itself is really cool, full of chilled out people - mostly with dread locks and interesting clothes- and it is said that the film The Beach was based on a travellers community that lived in the hills of Arambol a few years back. Its easy to see why as up on the hillside that is covered in palmtrees it is so chilled out and peaceful, guesthouses line the hillside with amazing rooms all off small winding paths with lots of tiny restaurants dotted aorund and everyone lounging around on cushions admiring the views. It feels like a secret garden in a way. The restaurants here serve the best food and its so cheap so we have been enjoying ourselves a lot here and smapling loads of different places to eat😊

We arrived here last sunday, and it was a welcome relief after the bustle of calangute(never seen so many scousers in my whole life on holiday!!), and we sat on the beach watching the amazing sunset. Although before that i have to say as soon as we got here i ran into the sea screaming (something that a lot of people seem to do here!) as it is so gorgeous. Our days have mostly been spent on the beach jumping through the massive waves and eating fresh pineapple that is sold to us by the pineapple man who walks round with a big basket full of them on his head. And there are so many cows on the beach (not good when they try to get too close for comfort!), as well as dogs and indian kids from the villages. We met some cute kids the other day on the beach who could speak no english other than '10 rupees please'-the kids here are obviously trained from an early age!

We met some really cool people last week and its been really good to go out with them for meals (mostly people from Canada, US, Israel and Oz) and drinking sessions-they make the best Mohito's out here and so cheap!!we all went out for a great Thai meal and met the cookie wallah-this crazy little nepalese dude who makes the best cakes and is really entertaining with it! so we sat on the beach at night drinking beer and eating cake...happy days😊 Some nights we have been to the blue seahorse restaurant that shows 3 films a night, and its great as you can order a massive curry and sit there watching a film, other nights we go to Gekko's which has amazing food and lovely staff....all this is done after sunset of course as that is one of my favorite times of day here and our time is now based on the sun-we rarely look at a clock these days!

Today we had one of the best days as we hired mopeds with our mate Alon from israel (a slightly crazy 36yr old but funny with it!).....we were a bit nervous as these roads are full of cows, dogs, pigs, anything really and the indian way of driving seems to be based pure luck!...but it was all going ok...Alon showed us what to do but two minutes after we set off Mandy crashed into an oncoming van!! Well i was behind her and nearly had a heart attack as i thought she would be dead but she managed to get away with a few scratches and bruises so she ended up going on the back of Alon's bike for the day. We went into the remote parts of Goa which was really cool, and i have to say i was a natural on that bike!!I loved it and it went pretty fast too, i had the biggest grin on my face for the whole day! We saw lots of remote villages-houses made of nothing more than palm trees, remote beaches and great scenery., all the way along we had kids screaming hello and waving at us westerners coming through.

So my main news is that I am leaving this lovely place on saturday to fly to Australia on Sunday!! I decided that as much as I would like to stay here (who wouldnt want to sunbathe for 2 months?!?!) I really need to get some work in January before I embark on a camper van tour of Oz in Feb with Craig! And the flights got booked up for the whole of dec so i am leaving on the 26th nov, I am a little sad to be leaving as this place is so cool but I am really really excited at the thought of getting to Oz as I will be spending Xmas with my family. I have virtually planned what I am doing for the whole of dec as Dad will be in Brisbane with work so i will see him aorund the 6th before heading to the goldcoast to an amazing sounding apt with lex on the 10th as she is also in oz for xmas! then we will both fly to Adelaide to see her fmaily and see the sights (personal guided tours are the way to go) before i fly back to brisbanme on the 23rd in time for xmas with my family in toowoomba! Then (tired yet!?!?) I fly to sydney on the 29th to spend NY eve aussie style with lex and some other aussie mates over from the UK too!so it will be a really good month full of things to do and people to see! After that im going solo and will travel around looking for work and hopefully meeting some cool people along the way too 😊

I will leave for Mumbai on saturday night on an overnight bus and arrive in the morning with about 12 hours to kill at the airport. It will be really weird and a bit sad to say goodbye to Mandy and Caroline as they have been my constant companions for the whole fo this trip and we have done and shared so much! Our nightly chats (usually all in the same bed due to budget...) have kept us all going but i'm looking forward to travelling on my own and finding my feet in oz...and meeting some people in real civilisation that is Australia! But I am glad I have 'done' India...Would I come back? Without a doubt. There is so much i still want to see here, mainly in the North and far South but maybe in a few years when the memories have faded of the harder times of this trip! The joy of India is having travelled it rather than actually travelling it- I read that somewhere and believe me it is so true!! We have seen such complete and utter poverty mixed in with some amazing sights, colours, smells, crazy people....each day we see something new that makes me think how alien this place is..but its been a real eye opener with so many memories from a short amount of time out here. So thats me done for now...the next blog will be from OZ!!!!😊 I will upload some photos tomo when i get the chance to walk up here from the beach...

Lots of love Axxx

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Comments

[The Doctor]

Edge of seat
Hey Bananna - so Oz already you lucky old bint!!! Well still stuck in the rat race as per usual! Loving it honestly!! Just over 3 weeks till xmas........yay! Cant wait! Miss you babe! - Whats your Oz mobile number - i can call them free from work - cheeky but so sorted!! xxx

[kasli]

BEST STATE IN INDIA..
GOA... THE BEST PLACE THERE IS IN THIS COUNTRY !! CHEERS

[Polly]

When do you come to melbourne?
I know you are in Oz now, so call me!! You have my number?! I move into a place this weekend so you will have somewhere to crash if you need it xx :-)

[Clairy]

Yo
Just sitting in DCS bored big time..... glad you are off to OZ - Have fun