Searching for inner peace - the healing power of Goan trance

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If you want to see 60 year old, pony-tailed men in tiger print g-strings then come to Goa, specifically Anjuna! If you don't (and some people may not), but you still want to visit a vibrant, colourful place with great beaches, bars and sunsets then consider other parts of Goa. This is one of the most well known holiday hot spots in Asia and is really fascinating.

Ollie and I have been in Goa over a week now and have travelled up and down the coast from Palolem in the south up to Anjuna in the north via Angonda and Calgunte. Apart from a very violent but thankfully short lived bout of food poisoning for me and a bit of a fever for ollie, we have enjoyed it. Whilst on the topic of the food posioning, the whole ordeal was made very much more trying by the power cut that coincided with my dash to the bathroom, the fact that my torch batteries had died in my bag and to top things off, the water had been turned off!

In both Palolem and Agonda we stayed in beach huts raised off the ground that were very basic but still fun. It is very pleasant to have to walk no more than ten yards to be on a coconut palm fringed beach where the sea is the temperature of bath water. Having had a dirty and uncomfortable 28 hour bus/coach/train combination from Kerala, we felt we deserved a bit of time kicking back on the beach with no obligation more strenuous than throwing a tennis ball around.

Agonda was just a short bus ride away yet, like all local Indian journeys, required at east one change. The place is a completely unspoilt little village with an enormous beach that hasn't yet been touched by too much backpacker tourism. It was here that we watched India get knocked out of the World Cup much to the disappointment of our hosts. One of them suggested that there could be reprecsuuions for the players when they arrive back from some very angry fans. Hopefully we aren't talking a Woolmer level of reprecussions though.

Anjuna was what you might expect Goa to be like. Although the massive beach trance parties that were famous a few years ago don't exist anymore, the people who are into that scene still come to Anjuna. Ollie and I were the only people without tatoos, long hair and at least three piercings. Similarly we were probably in the minority by turning down all the drug offers we received. Ollie ventured into the 24 hour techno party at the legendary Club Paradiso and commented that it felt like he had just boarded a UFO! Neverthless, there were elements of holiday normailty - we played crazy golf for instance (Ollie won but concerns have been raised about his 'putting' technique on the 6th where he crouched on all fours and, using the club like a snooker cue, slotted the ball up the elephant's trunk, out through its tail and into the hole!).

We are fortunate not to be in peak season as the guest house owners in Goa are well versed in increasing their prices for tourists. In kerala and hopefully other parts of India, the owners are more concerned with how good their hospitality can be rather than how much money they can make from you. Not so here in Goa!

We are spending our last few days in Goa in Calgunte. We are finding the commercialism here a welcome relief from the weirndess of the last few days! There are rumours that I might be showing Ollie Club Cubana ('The Club where OC's are always welcome') in the next few nights depending upon the speed of his recovery - I left him in the room with his head in the frisge!

On saturday we fly to Jaipur to welcome the big dog Matt Struve.

Peace!

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[Adrian Stearman]

Articles
Currently drafting articles (remember them?!) whilst 7 months into MY articles wishing I was somewhere like Goa for the remainder. Good to read up on you both - Enjoy! Adrian (Vinny)