Hi,
You know it's bad when...the best nights sleep you have had so far in India was on the sleeper train. A tragic fact but sadly a true one. Needless to say I enjoyed the sleeper train to Goa, though I was definitely glad I got an air conditioned carriage and it's going to take some pretty hefty convincing to make me travel otherwise. There are just some things a gal can't slum it on!
So before I even got to Goa I got a good (I say good, it's as good as it's ever going to get in India) nights sleep, a proper pillow (not one filled with hard beans), an amazing view of the Indian countryside from my window, a nice family for company who shared some snacks with me (I did have to strategically tip the rest of the one that was just purely cloves and spice into my bag and smile and pretend the first mouthful was nice) and an omelette sandwich.
I got a really good feeling about Goa as we travelled to our first guest house by rickshaw. It reminded me of when we used to go on holiday to rural Corfu and I instantly got the feeling that I would be happy there. Our jaws all dropped when we saw that the guest house in Baga was right by the sea, so we all pretty much knew from there that it was going to be a good weekend.
We treated our time there like a little holiday. We found a really nice little bar/restaurant which did cheap sun loungers and really good food (and some really horrible cashew flavoured local spirit called Fenne, never again) run by a man called Robert who looked after us the whole time we were there. On our first night we got talking to a group of guys who were a mix of British, American and Dutch who were all on a computer course (not a bad location for a work course if you can get it) and we all sat on the beach drinking beer and eating the amazing BBQ provided by bar. We then moved onto a bar called Curlie's (infamous bar in Goa apparently) which had yet more amazing food including the second best falafels I've ever had (the first being PilPel in Spitalfields, London for any veggie geeks) and my first experience of shisha*.
Speaking of more firsts, I had my first banana boating experience as well. Aside from the unflattering climb back onto the boat during which I'm sure a few inhabitants of the Arabian sea definitely saw my backside and being ditched in the sea by myself it was pretty fun and I haven't laughed so much in a long time. Next on the list...jet skiing!
The season in Goa finished this weekend so it was mostly Indians on holiday. It was definitely a different sight to the typical British holiday that you'd probably see in high season and there were a few things we didn't anticipate. The first was how everyone was going in the sea, fully clothed. I'm not talking just shorts and t-shirts but full saris, so we stuck out a bit in our bikinis and shorts. The second and definitely the most interesting is how much of a tourist attraction we were ourselves. Being low season we were pretty much the only white people in sight and all day long people were coming up to us, asking us to have photos taken with them. As soon as you agreed, suddenly twelve of their friends appeared wanting photos to. We found it funny at first and didn't mind, but when one group of men came and asked us whilst we were eating. We said maybe when we we're finished and they literally wouldn't go away. So we said no, then they decided just to stand there anyway and film us and when I decided to walk down the beach and take some photos on my SLR they stalked me and filmed me taking photos...crazy! I seriously felt more popular than the Tag Mahal! It's a weird feeling being the 'ethnic minority'.
Luckily we had protection in the form of Robert who chased away a few camera wielding tourists and our taxi driver Alex, who said he gives a 'good beating' to anyone mistreating tourists. We weren't sure whether to laugh or be scared after that confession. He did give us some good tips though, he said we'd probably get invited to 'parties' by random Indian men but never to go. Luckily we'd managed to dodge a couple of these 'parties' already with Amanda's famous line "We like public parties"!
Any downsides? My good old friend sunburn turned up for a holiday himself, haven't seen him in a few years. I spent the whole day wearing and reapplying factor THIRTY and I still managed to go 'colour of lobster' as someone said. So the last few days have been a tad uncomfortable and fuelled with ibuprofen and moisturiser. My legs and back are still a lovely shade of scarlet but my arms and face are probably as brown as they're ever going to be so there's a silver lining I suppose.
We also attempted to hire a scooter. We could only get one as Amanda was the only person who brought her driving license to Goa. She was pretty certain (I definitely was not) having never attempted to ride a scooter before that she would be able to drive the three of us to the beach. However after several near collisions with trees and the man's face not beaming confidence we decided to quit whilst we were ahead (and alive) and get a taxi. Scooters...definitely not as easy as they look!
Here we are back in the mentalness and beeping horns of Mumbai. We rocked up at 6am this morning, and to be honest none of us were in the best of moods. We'd all slept (and smelt) better and had to wait for McDonalds to open twenty minutes after it was supposed to. Normally I'm a fan of 'Indian Time' as it's totally ok to be late but not when it comes to affairs of the cuisine variety, I am not very patient. Still after some egg McMuffins, a snooze and a shower our moods improved.
So today's the day I've been dreading, the day the girls left this evening to go and see North India before heading home, leaving me on my own in Mumbai. I know it's only eleven days but I was on a real downer about it when we arrived back from the station. I came into my room, sat down on my bed and realised this was pretty much it. I wouldn't be able to wander across to the girl's room for a chat or have anyone to laugh with at dinner when we were served up stewed vegetables and different consistencies of lentils for the third time that day. I only really felt like crap for about two hours but it really hit me hard. I cheered up a bit when we went round to Jenny's (our co-ordinator) and she said that one of the girls, Lauren, from the project in Goa had asked for my details so she could introduce herself before I got there. Sure enough when I logged into Facebook she'd sent me a message so it's nice to be able to chat to her before I go.
As you will have gathered by now, I'm definitely going to be relocating to Goa. I'll be in a place called Merces for two weeks, then I'll be in Calangute for a month and a half after that. I'm a lot happier now that it's all been confirmed. All I need to do now is enjoy sightseeing in Mumbai and make the best of the projects for the next two weeks. Sorted :)
Big thanks to Sarah and Amanda for filling my first two weeks in India with loads of laughs and memories. Good luck with your Northern India trip and see you back in the UK, definitely not for curry!
That's my news up to date, hope everyone is well. All messages are still greatly appreciated.
Lots of love from
Holly
xxx
* Don't worry mum, I haven't taken up smoking ;)
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
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