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Published: March 15th 2009
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How we love you.
Take all of that tension and stress from the past 8 weeks of travelling in this country, and just let it melt, melt, melt away.
I am not ashamed to admit that, though I was not fully aware of what was happening at the time, I was most certainly functioning on my very last nerve when we arrived here in Diu.
Of course the regular stresses of travelling in India had been accumulating but also for the past week we had been going along at a far quicker pace than usual and cramming more sights and activities into our days than we are used to.
So, YES, it is quite normal to feel as I did, absolutely ready to drop to the ground, kicking and screaming OR make a mad dash for Diu, which we had such high aspirations for.
And OH, how it did deliver.
The first thing you notice as you enter the town is "Gee, the streets sure are clean. Gee...how come the streets are so clean?".
And then it all starts to hit you, all at once, you cannot help to keep the questions inside,
"Where is all the
garbage?"
"Where are the heaps of cow poop that we are usually dodging and walking over?"
"Gasp! Where are the cows?!"
"Why is it so quiet here?"
"Where are all the usual mobs of people in the streets?"
And then it all clicks.
We are NOT, infact, in India, as we know it, anymore. We have been transported to some sort of Indian/European island dreamland where peace and quiet can and do actually exist.
Only 5 minutes into our walk from the bus station to the guesthouse, my jaw dropped and I exclaimed to the world
"I LOVE THIS PLACE!!".
And we really, really, really do.
It's been 5 days already , since we've arrived, and we've done exactly what we've come here to do; nothing at all.
We came here to relax and recharge our little travellers batteries and it's the most perfect place for it.
Diu is incredibly different from the rest of India in many ways. For instance, it was ruled by the Portaguese until the 1960's and has left little bits of Europe here and there. The most obvious being the GIANT, white-washed churches plotted throughout town. The usual street-side Hindu shrines
have been replaced by crosses formed by bright red light bulbs and Jesus Christ figurines set inside the small barred windows.
People have names such as George, Michael and Helena and the children speak Portaguese amongst themselves on the playground.
The island has the usual calm, tranquil atmosphere that most islands have and to top it all off the population of Diu is actually NORMAL (and not overly exaggerated) for its size.
We can actually fall asleep to the sound of absolute silence here. Without the aid of earplugs. Not a single motorbike whizzing by honking for the sake of making noise. I didn't know that such peace and silence could exist in India after the places we have just visited.
We can go for a walk through town or to one of the nearby beaches and its actually pleasant to walk since there is no traffic to dodge. It's just like walking on the streets at home; safe.
We spend our days doing extremely simple things: walking, talking, reading, eating, napping, sitting in the sun and watching the ocean.
We have made friends with a most wonderful couple from Italy and spend our lunches and dinners
with them, eating pasta or seafood, talking about travelling dreams.
Yes, of course another joy of being on an island (for Guillaume) is the abundence of fresh seafood readily available at every restaurant.
Tuna, shark, swordfish, kingfish, calamari, prawns, KING prawns and, of course, LOBSTER.
We have found a most wonderful guesthouse, run by a very loving family. Our room is large, comfortable, cheap and CLEAN (the cleanest, to date, I believe).
Guillaume and I just cannot believe how fortunate we were to arrive in Diu when we did. The timing could not have been better.
We cannot stop saying to each other how happy we are and how happy that we are to be here.
We are not sure how much longer we will stay and it doesnt really matter. When we are ready to leave, we will know.
As for today we are not ready yet, we've still got some relaxing to do.
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Kandarp Thaker
non-member comment
Cool Presentation
OOhhh i have such wonderful feeling and i am glad to see that, I also love this place, and i m lucky because its just 7 to 8 hours Journey from here. so i visited many time, I m also trying to write blog for diu. But it takes some time, www.diu-info.blogspot.com