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After our hectic time in Mumbai we were well up for kicking back on a beach eating lots of nice food washed down with galleons of beer.
As we had no accommodation booked and stupidly decided to leave our Goa guide book behind we were clueless as to where to stay. We landed in Dabolim airport and decided that our only option was to head straight to the tourist office and try our luck. We ended up staying at Calangut beach. The room we booked into for one night was fine and there was a lovely pool however the location was just too quiet for us. As it’s end of season there was hardly anyone around.
That night we saw lots of lights further up the beach so we caught a taxi up there to see whether there was more going on. That beach was called Baga beach and there was a lot more happening. We had a bite to eat and decided this was the area we’d like to stay for the next 3 nights. We therefore went on a hotel hunt and found a decent one for 1000 Rupees (£12.00) per night, which gave us
a clean air-conditioned room, a balcony, a roof top swimming pool, and most importantly it includes breakfast in the morning.
Well the next three days consisted of sleeping late in the morning, strolls along the beach, swims in the pool, which was mostly to ourselves, lots of curry and let’s not forget all the beer which are a lot cheaper than in Mumbai. We had lots of nice cheap meals. We mostly ate at the restaurants where all the locals eat, what’s good for them is good for us and the food was generally a lot nicer than the commercial restaurants and cheaper of course. Baga is a very lively beach with lots of Indian and foreign tourists. It was pretty if you look out towards the sea but if you look down on the sand there is quite a lot of litter around. It‘s very annoying that they don’t look after their beaches.
After our time was over in Baga beach we were ready to check out another beach. We caught a cab for 1500 rupees (£18.75) down south Goa to Palolem Beach. This journey should have taken 2 hours but we quickly realized that our driver
didn’t have clue where he was going and by the time we got there it took over 4 hours. At least he got us there I suppose! Straight away we preferred Palolem beach. The beach was so much cleaner and a lot quieter but not too quiet, there was still a lot of foreign travelers. We stayed in a beach shack for 400 rupees (£5.00) per night. We got the beachfront hut so sitting out on the balcony was practically the same as sitting on the beach but a lot less sandy. That night our spirits were high, as we were really pleased with the beach and happy with the beach shack. We went to a beach restaurant and had the usual curry and beer.
Unfortunately our stay at Palolem beach didn’t get much better than that night. The next morning we both had stomach cramps and were popping to the toilet more regularly than usual if you know what we mean. Well it got worst and worst through out the day. That night Sonny had a fever- it was actually quite scary because he was boiling hot with a very high temperature and then he started to shiver
and put both of our fleeces on top of him (was actually thinking about getting him to a hospital at one point). We got no sleep that night and to make things worst the water supply stopped which meant that I couldn’t cool Sonny down and also we couldn’t flush the toilet! When you think things couldn’t get any worst I dropped the only roll of toilet paper we had down two thin walls which meant it was lost forever. Also right in the middle of the night the power went off so we had no fan. Great.
Thankfully the water and electricity supply came back on in the morning. We dragged ourselves off the beach to see whether we could catch a cab to the nearest chemist. Unfortunately nothing was going our way because it was a Sunday, the chemists aren’t open. The only option we had was to just let it run its course.
The following day we were feeling a bit better but still very weak as we just couldn’t keep any food down us for long. However it was a Monday so we went to the Chemist and they gave us a course of antibiotics-
No prescription needed as we’re in India! The course only lasted a day and a half but basically worked as soon as we started taking them.
By the time we were better we had spent 4 nights at Palolem beach and most of this time we were toilet bound. However travelers diarrhea was going to happen at some point in our trip and at least we had the time to do nothing. I spent a lot of time on the balcony and that was very entertaining. There are loads of dogs on the beach and they are fascinating to watch. We got attached to one dog as she always used to come up on our balcony and she was very soft and friendly. She’d wag her tail every time we came out and also she was a great guard dog. We called her Scratchy for the obvious reasons.
We did have enough of Palolem beach in the end not just because we were sick but because everything was closing down all around us. The beach shacks and restaurants were being ripped down around us. Also the sea was taking away the sand due to monsoon being on its
way. So the day we were better we made it our last. We went on a boat trip around the backwaters, which was lovely and very peaceful. We also walked the full length of the beach and had a beer that night for the first time in 3 full days.
We caught a cab up to Colva beach the next day and stopped off at the train station on the way and bought train tickets to go to Hampi. After spending 10 days by the sea we were keen to go and explore some ancient ruins. We treated ourselves to an air-conditioned room and a hotel that had a swimming pool. That night Sonny went to the barbers to have a hair cut and came back 2 hours later. He said that he only wanted a hair cut but got persuaded into having a shave and after the shave they started giving him a head massage, back massage and they rubbed in 3 different lotions into his face. He started to think when it would ever stop as he only wanted a hair cut! It only cost him 200 Rupees (£2.50) though. As you can see by the photo
after losing 10 kilograms of weight due to being ill and having a pamper session he looks like a different person.
This is where our story of Goa ends, next stop Hampi.
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