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Published: February 4th 2008
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Apologies for the conspicuous absence of blog over the last couple of weeks- but there's actually relatively little to report!
The day after we arrived in Arambol I chose to ignore the guidebook advice about raw fruit and veg, and had a big fruit salad: which was lovely until about 45 minutes later... I don't need to go into details, but needless to say it was not pleasant and four days before I was up and about. Fortunately a lovely chap named Paul we met in Anjuna has been along with us for a couple of weeks now, so Jodie wasn't bored to tears waiting for me to be better. Sadly though, just as I had recovered, she was struck down for a couple of days. A right of passage though I suppose, and better next to a beautiful beach in a nice clean bamboo hut with all the amenities right there. I dread to think what it would have been like being ill in Anjuna (see previous blog entry). So with one thing or another, we ended up in Arambol for a cool 11 days- a real tragedy!
After that much time we became good friends with a
couple of the bar owners near our hut. Deepo, who owned a beer bar and laundry place with his Dad was a brilliant guy, who comes down from Manali in the Himalayas to Goa to work the tourist season. It was amazing actually, as many of the Indians we've come into contact with have really just wanted to sell us things or rip us off; He gave us real insight into a lot of the parts of Indian culture we might not have heard about from 'the horse's mouth' as such. Though I think that Deepo's world is probably very far removed from the majority of Indians'- his family were obviously very liberal and wealthy- and in actual fact his and his family's views were no different at all from most of the people I know at home. Just goes to show the progression in Indian culture I suppose. Deepo took us around the hill to another beach, which had a 'Sweet' (freshwater) lake for swimming in. It was absolutely stunning, and you could walk up into the hills which were like dense jungle and find hippies sitting in trees covered in mud from the banks of the streams, which
is apparently supposed to be great for your skin.
One thing we've found a bit hard to deal with are the beggars and touts on the beaches. For me it's been harder to reconcile my conscience over the girls who walk up and down all day selling jewellery and sarongs. They will stand and hassle you, when you quite clearly don't want to be bothered, and unless you ignore them, you'll get drawn into conversation and before you know it you are mobbed by about fifty. It's rubbish, especially as I'm beginning (horribly) to have real contempt for beggars. Many of them are perfectly able-bodied, and when there are so many thousands of people here that work 20 hour days trying to make a living from their stalls and selling you tat that you really don't want, at least they're
trying to make a living instead of asking for hand-outs. It's hard to be so rude to someone who you know is only trying to make a living, but there doesn't seem to be a much better way of dealing with them.
We are currently waiting (endlessly) for my replacement bank cards to arrive, so are stuck in
Playing Frisbee
with a curious bystander- how very many there are! Goa until they do. We went back to Panjim for a few days, where there was a massive carnival with hundreds of floats, brazillian bands, dancing and quite bizarrely many feni'd up Indian boys getting very lairy to Sean Paul. God, I thought we'd escaped him! We ate that night for pennies at the street food stalls which were absolutely awesome then (as we have been doing so much) went to get some cocktails by the river and played cards most of the night.
We're now in the southern beach resort of Benaulim; about 45minutes from Panjim. There was so little to do and it was so expensive in Goa's capital that we thought a few more days at the beach couldn't hurt. It's pretty dull here though- thousands of British middle-aged package tourists! But despite that I ate a huge platter of fresh grilled seafood last night for 400 rupees (a fiver!), so who's complaining huh?
Well, I'm sure there is tonnes I've missed out, and apparently the broadband connection to Europe has a hole in it (hmmmm?) so I really cannot be bothered to sit here for an hour uploading pictures. I'll put some on once
Backgammon with Ajay
What a mental guy he was... I find a faster connection.
Hope everyone at home is well- we miss you all! I'll try and update again soon. Love to all!
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Jimothy
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Jealous
..... Yes i am. You guys are so lucky. Wish i was..... well, somewhere that beautiful. Bit too humid for me xxx