Rajpurush Hotel Kolhapur

Firstly thanks to Claire for the title - credit where credit is due.......

So what did I achieve in Goa?

Went to beach several times. see attached for proof and also proof that cows really do go on beaches in India
Read quite a bit
Updated the blog (v important!)
Relaxed
Went on boat thru mangroves and saw crocs and birds (cormorants, storks, cranes, kites ...

... friends if I could. Just thinking that at this time 4 days here will get us some quality time with the kids and also let them focus on homework and a little relaxation. After Goa, we are off to Delhi with Bhupesh’s brother and his family, and we have some extensive sightseeing in store for us as well.

Hi Guys!

Finally I made it! The aeroplane had some kind of "technical difficulty" so had to stop in Tehran for 4 hours! We were not even allowed to get off the plane! The first thing that came to my head was o my days the neuclar weapons! Because of that everyone missed their connecting flights! After hearing a whole load of angry Indian people rant about how awful Jet Airways is, and ...

... found a nice hotel further in the centre of town.

One mammoth internet session later I had a confirmed flight and a hotel for the next day, I was off south to Goa......

Here I am in Anjuna, now a quiet village (a few years ago it was party central but it fell out of favour so it's now quieter again) staying in a great hotel. It is a 200 odd year old family home converted into a hotel, lots of courtyards to sit in, lots of character, nice ...

... Alan and I tried not to look at each other or laugh because we really wanted to. Sonu was just fab! I loved him. He made me smile with all his hand gestures, observations and particularly his ultra feminine poses. Sonu proudly announced to us that he often drapes brides. I guess he would be a safe choice. I ended up buying three saris. Only.

Food:

As many of you know, I love my coffee and cake - in particular the Ethiopian blend and their ...

... we were on the hunt to spot the sea water crocodiles (apparently they only eat fish!).

Along the way, I saw many small boats dredging the river....hard work as it is all down manually....under the hot sun, a man would use a very long pole with a bucket on the end and skim the bed until the bucket was full, then haul it up and dump the silt onto the floor of the boat....until the boat was full, then they would go to shore, filling ...

... opted to promote lager package tourism and less the backpacker crowd events.

As we wandered through the Flea Market, we noticed there were European vendors here as well as locals. I guessed that they were long term holdovers for the rave days. In fact as we wandered out to the beach and the nearby roads, we saw many more tourists on motorcycles and we believed that they were, in fact, long term visitors here. Many return every year for ...

... for the night! I then spent half an hour trying to find the right bus to go to a nearby hill station called Panhala. After trying about 10 buses in 2 different bus stations, one of the bus drivers just pointed me towards a cab, so I gave in and went by cab (well, more like dilapidated land rover). Of course, cabs here work differently - anyone who's going the same way jumps in when you pass by them. However, this did mean that I ...

... a baires,,,donde pico y sigo para uruguay, supongo,,,estare 2 dias en baires, y volvere en breve,,, pero bue,,,mi super Be de momento viaja primero a Londres a encontrarse con toda su flia, y despues a baires, cerca del 20,,,asi parece,,, espero que dios( para mi la naturaleza, la energia mayor de todas ) siga proveyendo para todos,,,amor, salud, comida, techo, pazzzzz, amistad, y buenas intenciones... los quiero mucho tam

... road did he start seeing ghosts in the shadows of the trees, did he have a near miss while driving.. I suppose I'll keep wondering. My wife and I on the bike and this guy following us in the car. We turned off road into pitch darkness and this guy panics again. He honks like crazy I turn around go to him and he asks for reassurance that the resort does actually exist... I reassure him and we keep driving till we reach the resort.. We ...