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Published: January 8th 2008
Its been a while since I wrote again ....funny, it never seems that long but time flies! I'm now down in Goa, enjoying the sun and practising chilling out ....getting pretty good at it now! The days are flying by, I can't beleive its new years eve already.
When I got to Goa, I stayed in Benaulim originally, which was lovely, but exceptionally quiet. Fab for a while because I felt completely done in when I got here. The month at the hospital was great, but it was pretty tiring compared to all that doing nothing! I was sorry to leave in one way - I miss the dogs and think about a few of the guys there a lot, but I was desperate to get to the beach and chill out. I had a good send off from there though.....everyone gets a samosa party when they go! Also, there were 4 new volunteers just started so I knew things would be ok there. :O)
Saskia and Ben also came to Goa, but they were flying down and staying in Palolim, south of where I was. I was catching the train down to Mumbai and then the bus from there to Goa. The train, I thought would take 12 hours....it took 18. When I got to Mumbai, we stopped at a station outside central Mumbai and there were the usual crowd of taxi and rickshaw touts ready and waiting for you as you emerged from the station, tired and vunerable! I was overcharged, as I expected.....100 ruppees to go to the local govt bus stand, but what to do when you're in the middle of nowhere needing a ride. Anyhow, I got in and had the usual conversation from the driver and his friend who was also in there. Where are you from, first time in india?, where's your husband etc etc. Anyhow, first stop, a tourist bus stand, despite not having asked to go there. So I said, why've you brought me here, I want a govt bus stand. 'There are no govt busses to goa from here, this is the cheapest place in town,they can get you to Goa for 1500 ruppees'. So having made it perfectly clear I knew the fare should be around 4 -600 ruppees max, they suddenly decided this place could get me there for 600. Anyhow, I refused to get out and go into the place as I really didn't want to go down the tourist bus route again after the last experience so just waited for them to get the message and take me where I'd asked to go in the first place. Instead of that, the drivers mate goes in and gets the guy to come out to the rickshaw to do the hard sell. So I politely refuseand ask to be taken to the govt bus stand. At the same time, the traffic is getting a bit hectic.....we're still just pulled in on the side of the main road in Mumbai, and I think we were causing a bit of a hold up. So the driver decides he's going to park up. That's the point when I lost it! 18 hours on a train doesn't leave you with the most patience in the world, especially when you have another 12 hours on a bus to look forward to! I think I must have sworn about a dozen times in around the same amount of seconds starting with 'Don't ******park up, you're supposed to be taking me to the ****** Govt bus stand. Why can't you get anywhere you ****** want to in this ******* country. ' mmmm I know. I shocked myself, but there you go. It worked...they took me to the govt bus stand without another word out of them!
Anyhow, I got to the govt bus stand and the next bus was in 4 hours at 8pm, but there was only one bus that day. Bearing in mind, all the trains were full, I was pretty sure the bus would be packed, especially as it was stopping in down town mumbai first at 7pm and then coming to the bus stand I was at on the outside of mumbai for 8pm. The guys at the station weren't especially helpfull though and told me to wait the 4 hours and I would geton the bus. My gut feeling told me otherwise so I ended up getting a taxi into Mumbai to the bus station there. When i got there, I found out the bus was indeed fully booked and there was no way I was going to be getting on it. So it was the tourist bus route after all! Bit ironic really after my outburst at the first stand! mmmm kalma for losing my rag with them I guess! Luckily, the bus station guy and another passenger here were a lot more helpful. Between them, they worked out the best place to go to get a tourist bus that night, but time was getting pretty tight. It was nearly 6 by this point. They wrote down where I needed to get to and pointed me out the back of the station wher eI could get a taxi and told me the amount I should be paying. When I got to the taxi, surprise suprise, they wanted double what the guys in the station had said I should pay and I was arguing my case. Just then, the station guy who'd helped me out drove past on a motorbike on his way home from work. He stopped and had words with the taxi driver, who obviously wasn't budging from his 'white faced price', so instead he offered me a lift on his bike. What a nice guy. He said he couldn't take me all the way to the tourist bus place, but he'd take me as far as his route was going and he'd get me a cheaper taxi there. It's people like that who make the world go round. True to his word he dropped me off and got me a taxi for 30 ruppees. By this point I was knackered and just desperate to get on a bus that night.....the beach was calling! I didn't want to be in mumbai overnight. I got to the bus stands....a row of them down the road. Quickly worked out that the prices were the same where ever you went so, decided to get on the first one. It was fab timing as it was leaving in 15 minutes. Just time to have a quick ciggy before the guy walked me up to where it would pick me up from. The journey wasn't that bad to start with. The normal 2 hours driving half hour break type thing. They stop at various road side places along the way so you can get a drink or something to eat or visit the extremely grim toilet facilities, or take your chances in the bushes somewhere! All was going well til about 7 in the morning when we got a flat tyre. We changed it in about an hour and set off again....yippee 2 hours to Goa! until we got another flat tyre about 5 minutes up the road! This time it took another 2 hours for someone to bring out another spare! Eventually it turned up and all the men on the bus stood around giving there input into how to change it! he he! Anyhow, finally we were off and 18 hours after leaving mumbai, we reached Goa....not before the little girl who was sitting next to me started throwing up everywhere though....nice! Just about rounded the journey off nicely! Anyhow,I was there and the beach was pretty close. Just a local bus journey to go.
When I got to Benaulim, 2 local busses later, the guy from the beach huts picked me up on his scooter and took me down to the huts. The cheap ones were pretty grim with no toiled attached so I upgraded to the slightly more luxury ones with own toilet and bathroom. It was nice.
Benaulim is good, but v v quiet. Today will be spent v quietly on the beach reading my book chatting to the couple of ladies I've met here...Jenny and Chris from UK (or Spain now) and Holland. They're nice enough though and having been rushing around at the hospital for a month, its lovely to do nothing.
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Andy Littell
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Makes JCI seem like a walk in park !!
Hi Sharon - god that whole bus/ taxi/ thing Mumbai to Goa - makes JCI seem stress free !! ha ha - I used to hate that whole dodgy bus bit - around various countries -cramped up for hours - u have long legs so u know what I'm saying !! defo enjoy your beach time - u deserve it after that !! :-)