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Published: April 14th 2008
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A bit of Mumbai madness had us craving some beachy R&R, and, hippy-laced Goa seemed a reasonable cure for our sandy itch. Since Rozy was still scarred from our sleeper class adventures in northern India and Nicole was a bit apprehensive about Indian trains in general, we splurged for a trio of 2AC class tickets (these are the good ones). The hope of luxury was shattered at first sight of our curtained section of the train, however, 2AC had significant improvement over sleeper class featuring amenities such as A/C, sheets (albeit heavily stained), and little bungee cord pockets to hold random crap near your head whilst you sleep. On a high note, Nicole didn’t acquire the train scabies she was expecting, and, we made some nice Korean friends who traded us some beef flavored soya paste (seemed a bit random at the time) for a few of our chocolate biscuits. All in all, definitely not the luxurious experience we were hoping for, but, we did manage to get a decent night of sleep to arrive fresh in Goa the next morning.
Together with our Korean mates, we piled 5 deep (with luggage) into a cab and suffocated our way to
the local bus station. At the bus station we hurriedly boarded a bus to Palolem as the conductor was announcing its departure within minutes. In true Indian fashion we boarded the bus, sat sweating for 15 minutes, then, everyone was told to alight from the bus and board the neighboring bus where we sat sweating for another 20 minutes before finally pulling away from the bus station. The bumpy ride delivered us a couple hundred steps from the sand at Palolem, and, after muscling our way through the souvenir vendors and rickshaw wallas, we caught our first glimpse of a Goan beach.
Chockers with both coconut trees and people selling necklaces/cabins stays, Palolem was simultaneously enticing and annoying. The large crescent beach was absolutely lined from end to end with cramped, makeshift huts that seemed to lack charm, privacy and reasonable security. Men pushing rides on boats, souvenir touts, beggars, dogs, cows, and bare-breasted Europeans women peppered the beach in a mixture that felt more like a beach carnival than a tropical getaway. The water, while incredibly warm, didn’t glare with intense blues and greens that one would expect from tropical waters, rather, it was quite reminiscent of the
unexciting waters of Carolina beaches. The numerous roaming dogs constantly howled and aggressively attacked each other when territorial lines were crossed. Food around the beach was mediocre and, even sitting in a beachside restaurant you could not escape folks selling crap or beggars trying their luck. The beach wasn’t too crowded with people as it was not the high season, however, one could only imagine just how packed this large beach could become if all lodging was at capacity. On the upside, the waters at Palolem were warm, and, beautifully orange sunsets kissed a cloudless watery horizon each evening we were on the beach. All in all though, compared to other famous beach spots in the world, Goa lacked considerably, and, perhaps is a better place for getting high and living cheap (if that so happens to be your bag).
So, on a more practical note, our dynamics have changed. We are now a traveling group of three, and, our latest addition (Nicole) has had to make a considerable effort to blend into our style of traveling (which has taken on, shall we say, a pungent odor over the last three months). Nicole, arriving from the comforts of middle
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Visit me at www.danielshortell.com for purchase information. class western life, has been abruptly thrown into our grungy form of budget traveling. She has folded in nicely, and, we have done our best to accommodate her needs without sacrificing our desire for the basic. The lodge we stayed in whilst in Mumbai was crap, and, (understandably) Nicole had expressed her desire to find something a bit cozier and less stain infested at our next destination. Unfortunately, the grimy little huts at Palolem leave much to be desired, so, we will have to wait till we get to Hampi to locate a better lodge. Nicole has braved the scummy bathrooms, cuddled up to the mosquito net, and hunkered down in her sleep sack in order to find a slice of comfort in a filthy little beach hut. She has proven her grit and looks fit for the long and dirty trek around the tip of India.
STATISTICS * Flights taken = 9
* Intercity trains rides taken = 14
* Intercity bus rides taken = 30
* Times lost = 16
* Total instances of diarrhea = 6
* Total number of requests for pictures with Daniel = 11
* Total megabytes of pictures taken =
26,480
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