palolem - goa

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in goa now. v. nice.

but first the last bit about mumbai. on the last night monica and i decided to go to the cinema, we asked at the hotel whether there would be english sub-titles... "oh no!" he said, "only in hindi, but go anyway, it will help you to learn" (people are very impressed by speaking even a tiny amount of hindi, and assume we are experts!).

so we decided to go anyway, and assumed that most bollywood films have very little plot and lots of dancing so it wouldn't really matter. we had seen posters around for a film called LSD Love, Sex, Dhoka. It looked quite cool. i still have no idea what dhoka is. anyway, it was not a typical bollywood film at all, but some intense drama, with three different stories that intertwined, and lots of deep dialogue and violence. so it was a bit of a surpise. there was one funny bits also though. we got about 70% maybe of the first bit of the film, and then just lost the plot entrirely. i will rent it when i am home with subtitles and find out what it was all about! but it was something to do y'know....

Helena arrived about 01:30am and we left mumbai at 6:55am. the journey was good again, except for yet more problems with these three-tier seating/sleeping arrangements..... each train has the same basic design but each also seems to have it's own little unique quirks. this one had proper aircon, not just loads of fans, and we got sheets and pillows (even though it was daytime train?) and lots of food on offer. so that was nice.

however, the steps to get the top bunk were rather narrow and awkwardly placed. monica had some trouble getting down and decided to jump..... tearing a ligament in her foot....

everyone on the train suddenly turned into an expert. people fetched pillows to raise her foot, got ice from the catering carriage. offered pain killers, gels etc etc. once again indian people live up to their reputation as kind and hospitable. one man, originally from goa with a portuguese name gave us his phone number and insisted we call him if we needed anything at all at any time whilst in goa. he really meant it too. another passenger was travelling with his elderly mum and loads of luggage. he had already contacted his brother-in-law who works in goa train station to organise a wheelchair and porter. he contacted him and organised a wheelchair to meet us of the train for monica. it was quite unbeleiveable how helpful and concerned people were.

the accident was about 2hours before we arrived into goa, and by the time we arrived although it was still painful monica was pretty much okay and in good spirits and enjoying the attention!

which was just as well, as when the "wheelchair" arrived it was literally a plastic garden chair fixed into a frame with wheels on. but it worked so we are not complaining.

so, we took a taxi to a nearby hospital to make sure there was no break, the foot was x-rayed and bandaged up within about 10mins. we then took a taxi to palolem and here we are! we met up again with tom and rafa and are all generally relaxing around the beach.

palolem is very beautiful, very green, palm trees all over, lovely beach. it is really toursity though. someone did describe it as india's benidorm but i think it's not that bad! it's just that all the westerners we have met so far have been travelling, backpacking, whatever, but here there are plenty of people basically on a package holiday. quite a lot of large wrinkly very red brits! this is only one part of goa though, goa is whole state, although it is quite a small one, i think once we start to move around we will find different types of areas. it's nice for now, i feel like i am holiday, but i am starting to think more about what do later in terms of another project or some farming work. apparantly there is some organic lifestyle community thing somewhere, mainly spanish, monica had heard of it, so we will look into that i think.

having said that i am trying to avoid planning too far ahead.

had a conversation today with monica and helena comparing the welfare benefits systsm in england and spain. it was quite weird talking about work. i had almost forgotten about it entirely!

i had to have a reflexology massage to get over the stress!

also this morning we went out on a boat to see dolphins, we only got a brief glimpse but it was still nice.

it's very hot, but there is a nice breeze from the sea, and plenty of shade, so i am managing to not burn. i have a few extra freckles!

so, yeah, beach life really.

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Comments

[marcia]

envy
Hi karen, i see that Monica was not going to let Liz get all that attention. I hope that you took a picture of her in the Wheel chair. is liz still with you. it is great to be able to follow you around the world .Marcia