Blogs from Palolem, Goa, India, Asia - page 9

Afternoon! It's been over a week since my last entry! Mainly either because alcohol has become freely available to me again and I have been too busy spending my days swimming and sun bathing. So to recap where I last left you I was feeling pretty stupid about myself for going to Jalgaon (a town that literally has nothing going for it) when the Ajanta caves were shut. I therefore decided to cut my losses and head to Mumbai. I had had very mixed opinions of Mumbai from people; my old man described it as the worst of both western and eastern cultures. Whereas others had described it as the only place in India that is clean and you can get a decent cup of coffee. After my visit I can firmly place myself in the ... read more

Wie auch letztes Wochenende sind wir relativ schnell nach dem Mittagessen ins Wochenende gestartet...diesmal gehn Sueden nach Palolem...und wieder mal haben wir uns ein Taxi mit den Englaenderinnen geteilt. Die hatten ein Taxi fuer 9 Personen bestellt. Das Taxi kam dann auch...war aber eher nicht fuer 9 Personen gedacht. Das haben wir zum einem am recht hohen Kuschelfaktor, der dann im Auto geherrscht hat, bemerkt. Zum anderen daran, dass unser Fahrer immer ducken geschrien hat, als wir an der Polizei vorbeigefahren sind, was drei mal der fall war. War aber recht amuesant. In Palolem angekommen sind wir natuerlich schon gleich ingequatscht worden, von wegen ob wir eine Strandhuette moechten. Wir haben uns die dann gleich angeschaut, noch ein bisschen um den Preis gehandelt und haben uns dann letztendlich auch dafuer entschieden. Tabea, Irina und Henrike in ... read more

Getting back from such a completely zen day and realizing that I didn’t have my passport was a shock to the system. All the comfort of the day was immediately washed away with feelings of panic, disbelief, embarrassment and humor (I mean, it is funny when you think about it). We looked through everything in our room twice, then went and had dinner, and then came back and looked through everything one more time. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Our thoughts ranged from, “Well, perhaps they can just fax us an emergency exit visa and passport?” to “Here goes another trip to Mumbai!” because the closest consulate is located there. Feeling like there was nothing we could do at the moment, we rounded up the phone numbers we needed to call the airline and the consulate and went ... read more

How to describe Janet and Goran? Intriguing I guess. On first blush we thought they were just a quirky married couple. He’s constantly running around asking if we’d like a drink. He’s sarcastic and a bit anxious, and really funny. She, on the other hand, is … dreamy and has a certain quiet charm about her. While she keeps to herself, which creates a certain intrigue about the two of them, Goran chats openly about their spats (“You’ll have to talk to Janet about that, she’s not talking to me right now.”) and constantly wants to be in on the action; joining us for a drink on the patio, taking us for tours on the scooter, inviting us to join them for dinner. There’s also an interesting uncertainty as to what their “story” is, not that ... read more

This is how I'd imagined monsoon in Palolem! We are blessed with sunshine which stretches on for days, before the humidity builds and releases torrential downpours which reflect and revive. We get a fantastic deal on a penthouse apartment on the Palolem - Patnem road, just 5 mins walk through coconut groves to the beach. We are living in sparkling clean luxury complete satellite TV, internet connection, our own kitchen and huge, completely private sunbathing terrace. I take advantage of the seclusion with some serious tan line free sun worship! We go to market in Chaudi every few days for fresh fruit, veg and fish. It's a real novelty to cook for ourselves after over 11 months on the road. Coming back after our jaunt in Karnataka, we find we have become 'local'. Villagers greet us ... read more