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Published: January 9th 2009
We thought it was about time we did a bit of an update as we've been a bit lazy over the last couple of weeks with Christmas and New Year. It's a bit of a long one so make sure your sitting comfortably.
We spent 5 nights in Varkala and it was a really chilled out place. We bumped into an English guy we'd already met before in Goa called Steve and his German girlfriend Evy so we had a couple of evenings meeting up with them just hanging out in a bar which was cool.
We ended up leaving on 20th December and heading down to a place called Kovalam which is right at the bottom of Kerala and the furthest south we'd be going in India. This was to be the place we'd spend Christmas.
When we arrived it was a little bit disappointing because as lovely as the beach is it's just backed by a mass of concrete hotels and restaurants. A bit of a change from what we'd got used to in Varkala where everything was made of bamboo and a bit ramshackle.
Also when we walked along the beachfront every few steps would
Varkala
Steve & Evybe a tout trying to sell you something or other then his mate would be a few steps behind him trying to sell you the exact same thing.
We couldn't even escape it in the bars or restuarants as they'd stand out front showing off their wares shouting at you. It was a bit nuts!
On the beach you could always hear the hunting calls of the always spotted fruit sellers. A nasal toned 'Papaya, Mango, Coconut, Pineapple' rings out all day like some kind of mantra. A really annoying mantra.
Anyway after the initial shock of the place we went off to play our favourite game of find somewhere to live and for xmas we decided to treat ourselves to a place with a pool as the beach was packed with pink package tourists. We found a place a little bit back from the beach and managed to knock the price down by nearly half to 800 rupee a night (about 11 pounds) so not a bad deal really.
When we went for dinner that night we met a really nice couple, Devin & Anita, because Vickie had been eyeing up their food all evening and started
Kovalam
Our luxury place with a pool!! asking about it. We got chatting and they invited us for a drink at their hotel the next night which is another branch of the 5 star Leela hotel that we staying in when we were in Goa.
So the next night we put on the smartest clothes our backpackers wardrobe would allow and went to the posh hotel. We didn't think the guards would let us through the gate but they just waved us through as if were guests staying there. Our disguises had worked!
We had a really good night and ended up getting stupidly drunk until the early hours.
When we left we even managed to convince the hotel staff to drive us down the massive driveway in a golf buggy.
We really should apply for MI6 when we get back
When we woke up the next morning we were surprised to learn that we had made it home. So we celebrated with more sleep. Then we ate. Then we slept. It was a good day!
The following day we got up early to make amends for our previous days laziness and went exploring to see if we could find another beach that wasn't
Kovalam
We didn't have a xmas tree so this was the next best thing as crowded. After a 10 minute walk we'd found one and it only had about 4 other people on it so we just spent most of the day there.
Any time we went to the beach after that we always went to that one.
On Christmas Eve we decided to 'treat' ourselves to a traditional Keralan massage. It was great, honest.
A little man didn't roughly massage me all over with oil and I didn't feel violated and try to go back to the happy place i went to on the train journey. La La La La.
Vickie didn't think much of her's either.
We went staight to the beach to wash the oil and the memories away.
Christmas Day was a strange one.
Firstly it didn't feel like xmas with it being hot rather than cold, dry rather than wet and strangers around us rather than our friends and families.
Secondly we had planned to have a big lobster dinner to celebrate but the problem was we had one too many festive drinks in the afternoon and after phoning the families so in the end our Christmas dinner consisted of a plate of noodles at about
Kovalam
Lighthouse beach 10pm.
Not quite the same but still delicious, i think.
The next couple of days were just spent lazing around on the beach and by the pool and just waiting until our flight back up to Goa on the 27th.
The flight went with no problems and when we landed we jumped in a taxi to Anjuna in Northern Goa.
Sadly that was the best the day got.
Everywhere we've been to so far we've had no problem finding accommodation as we've been told it's a lot quieter this year due to the Mumbai attacks and the credit crunch.
What we didn't reckon on was is that the type of people that come to Anjuna don't give a shit about either of these things.
They're the hardcore backpackers, hippies and nutjobs.
Consequently everything was booked up. We spent hours wandering around with our packs looking everywhere, following clueless accomodation touts and getting more and more frustrated.
We were almost ready to head off to the next town when Vickie decided to go off and look at at a place across the road from the bar we were crying in.
She managed to get us a room straight
Kovalam
The crazy amount of people on the beach on xmas day away and for a lot less than we had expected to pay.
It was so nice to finally be able to dump the bags and have a shower!
The only problem we now had was that Vickie's friend Jen was coming out the next day to travel with us for 2 weeks and finding another room in Anjuna didn't look too promising.
Jen was due with us at about 11am so that morning we got up early and grabbed a rickshaw to the next village up the coast called Vagator in the hope that we could find rooms there.
We spent over an hour and a half walking the streets and everything was either full or way over our price range. Damned hippies get everywhere.
We had to head back to Anjuna with our tails between our legs as Jen was nearly due in and we had to be out of our current room by 10:30am.
We grabbed our bags and sat in a cafe waiting for Jen to arrive.
When she did it was strange to see a face from back home and a very white one at that.
I left the girls to catch up
and went off once gain to look for rooms. After a couple of hours of being told no someone said yes so I grabbed the girls and the bags and went to our new home.
The next few days get a bit sketchy as one by one all of us got ill. First Vickie, then a day later Jen and about an hour into the new year it got me too.
I've never been ill like it and I think the girls would agree.
Not the most pleasant start to the new year.
New years eve itself was for obvious reasons a fairly low key night. We just went for dinner on the beach and a few drinks. We all left by 1:30am and by this time the tide had come right up to the front of all the beach bars so we had to wade up to our knees in the dark back home tryng not to get too wet.
We were all still pretty ill on the 2nd but by this point we just wanted to get out of Anjuna. It's not the nicest place to get ill.
All down the road to the beach
Anjuna
The beautiful Vickie & Jen you get asked at least 10 times if you want weed. Then as you walk away they start reeling off a list of other drugs. The further you get away the harder the drug they call out.
The only drugs we wanted were paracetamol and rehydration salts, they never did have those. They'd probably make a mint if they did looking at all the people we saw that were ill in that place.
It must even get the birds, we were walking along and I felt a smack on my back and a crow had fallen dead out of a tree onto me.
It's supposed to be lucky if a bird craps on you so I figure I'm in for a whole heap of good luck (or bird flu)
Anyway, we left Anjuna and headed up the coast about 10km to Arambol.
It was a breath of fresh air, literally, and we found a room without any problems. We spent the next couple of days just getting ourselves healthy again and chilling out.
We took a day trip up to a deserted beach in Querim right at the Northern tip of Goa and took a walk up to
Anjuna
New Years Eve a an old fort which has now been converted into a posh hotel. We had a drink there and had a great view of loads of dolphins doing acrobatics.
On the ferry crossing to the fort we saw hundreds of bright blue jellyfish so even though we were boiling after we got back to the beach we thought better of going for a dip.
The following day we left for Panaji, the capital of Goa. We decided to spend a night here as it's close to Old Goa where we wanted to spend a few hours wandering around some old churches and ruins.
In one of the churches are the remains of St Francis Xavier who is on show in a windowed coffin which is a bit of a weird sight as he's still fairly intact, if that's the right way of putting it!?!
On the 7th Jen had to fly back a few days earlier than expected due to work commitments which was a shame as we were all feeling much better by now.
So in the morning we all went back to the coast to Colva so she could get some last minute sun before she
flew.
It was a shame to see her go as it had felt like she'd been with us for weeks rather than the 10 days it really had been.
We're due to fly out to Thailand on Sunday so we decided to spend the last few days a little further south in Benaulim just to chill out and sort out a few bits before we go.
We had a strange one this morning. We were having breakfast at the restaurant in front of our guesthouse and we saw one of the guys who runs it legging it up the beach with a knife in his hand being chased by a guy with a massive stick.
Then right in the middle of the restaurant it all kicked off with one guy being beaten with the stick and punched in the face.
The police wandered over, had a look and then wandered off just letting it carry on.
Turns out it was over some land dispute between the guy that owns the restaurant and some fishermen. At least that's what the guy with a bleeding ear told me.
Bizarre start to the day!
Well that's about it for India.
We're
both really looking forward to getting to Thailand and the next phase of the travelling.
There's only so much time you can spend on a beach!
I'll update again soon but maybe not such a long one.
Lots of Love
Jack & Vickie
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dave
non-member comment
Sounds fun, I love the story of the dead bird!!