Blogs from Betalbatim, Goa, India, Asia

Today’s plan was for a little less scootering and a bit more relaxing. After breakfast, smothered in factor 15, we headed for the beach and the sea. These days in Goa are the only ones when we are fully exposed to the sun as we tend to cover up quite a lot in the cities. There are red flags along the beach but someone was in the water with a small child directly in front of the hotel so we went in there too. Then a man in high viz came along with his whistle and ordered us out of the water, said we couldn’t swim at that red flag, we must swim at the one to the left or the right as those had a lifeguard sitting underneath. So we went left and sure enough ... read more

Went along to reception after a leisurely breakfast, because it is impossible to rush in Goa. Far to hot and laid back here and this is our chill out time. Oops scooter I had asked about before we arrived and been told they would sort it when we got here, was a non-starter. If there had been any available before, there were none now, all hired out. They suggested we could pop along to Colva and pick one up from there but not really happy as I had asked about it before we came And last night. Reception girl decided to try harder and phoned “Steve” who came up with the goodies and 30 minutes later our scooter arrived. Came with only one helmet though we had asked for two so a second helmet appeared with ... read more

We decided to take a walk along the beach, left goes to Colva. Checked at reception how much a taxi back should be in case we wanted to get one. 300 rupees. Best to know proper price as Goan taxi drivers have, it seems, a bad reputation for overcharging. Idea was to walk before the full heat of the sun so we set off at about 10 am after I had liberally slathered myself in suntan lotion. Lovely walk along the beach, nothing better for getting a bit of exercise and also an even tan. Note no suntan has hit my skin so far despite having been in India for 10 days. We stopped quite a lot really to look at things most especially the fishermen and their boats. We’ve seen similar boats in Sri Lanka. ... read more