Glorious Goa ... or what!!!!
Trip Start
Apr 29, 2009
1
18
Trip End
Ongoing
Candolim, India
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
As we came in to land after long delays at Delhi, it started to rain a little ... nothing much ... and then it cleared ...and there it was .... Good old Glorious Goa ......and sunshine ...I always appreciate it so so much when i return from these trips, the drive back from the airport was terrific, everything looked clean!! it usually looks dirty?? ... the rain has made the trees and hedgerows and fields greener and it all looks beautiful ...and no tourists, at least not any European ones!! just the very occassional white face of an expat as we neared candolim .....
The Zuari river was absolutely serene and so picturesque with the reflections the water and greenery either side....
Ahh Home..and clean!!
. looked like it could be anywhere, a rich resort sprawling out in front of us .... everywhere was quiet and peaceful, even the roads seemed ok .... I felt really happy to be back ...except we shivered a bit as we came off the plane ...for real !! it was 30 degrees here, and had been in the 40's in Delhi!!! don't worry .. we soon warmed up though ...Gita was here to greet us with a nice cuppa and the house looked amazing ...so clean and imaculate, so opulent!! really, it did, ... I am not saying it is!! ....... but after everything we'd seen and not being here for weeks on end it just looked fab!!!!
Every single item in those back packs just got thrown in the washing maching pile...ahh bliss, a washing machine, what a luxury!! .... everything stunk!!! even if we hadnt worn it .... then a steaming hot shower with no worries it would stop any second .... or turn cold .... in clean familiar surroundings where you are not worrying what you place where.....
When we jumped into that swimming pool i think that THE MOST AMAZING feeling ........ clean clear and warm ... like a bath ................ I couldnt wipe the smile off my face.i felt so blessed
The Mandovi, Panjim
. swimming up and down in the early evening sunshine, all i could hear were the sweet song of the birds all around, they sound amazing so loud ... ...it was wonderful and i didnt want to get out...and anyway i had made a pledge to myself that I would swim for an hour every day when i got back!!!! .... so far its only been about three quarters of an hour a day!!Oh yes, its good to have some home comforts and dont ask why, but the first day back i cooked us a good old english roast chicken dinner in the evening .... it was great having everything there in the kitchen and having it how we like it!!! roasties, cauliflower cheese, stuffing, gravy... the lot!!! I have enjoyed cooking a bit since we got back, having what we fancy, and not having to eat out every day as we have been doing for so long ....
Hey and we have a new bunch of bananas on our tree in the front garden!! but they will not be ready for a good while yet and we will probably be gone before we can eat them...nevermind! Gita and family will no doubt enjoy them!! I will def miss Gita when i get home.... we can forget what an iron looks like while we are here!!..and a loo cleaning brush :-( Oh well...needs must I suppose!! have to get my fluffy rubber gloves out when i get back....
The Mandovi, Panjim
Then finally our own bed, nice fresh, crisp ironed sheets and guess what i didnt sleep a wink!!!! no way!! all those weeks away and some right strange beds ..... I forgot to mention on my blog from Sureshs that the beds there were so short both our feet hung out of the end!!!...must be because they are all short?? .... and i slept most nights like a baby!!! and here I am with my own comfy bed and I dont sleep!! I don't get it!!
The following day we got on the bike and went off to Panjim to take my faulty camera back .... the one that died on the way to Bangalore....but when we got there it was closed ...for some reason today the ferry wasnt working so it took us longer going via the highway ...so to kill some time we went and had a drink in the Mandovi ...hadn't been in this place for about 12 years!!! we used to eat here a lot ... that was in the days when they serenaded you with violins as you ate!! infact i still have a menu they gave me back home in uk from those days..... the ceiling in this place is amazing, its actually the Oldest and 1st Hotel in Panjim....
After a refreshing ice cold G&T and some snacks in their bar, we were going to go back to the sony shop, when we got side tracked and went in the Pepe shop ...
The Mandovi, Panjim
. disaster!! we came out 2 hours later .... Oh dear and a bit poorer...but we do need some clothes for our trip to the UK..... jeans and things.... and they are a fraction of the price here ..so I suppose we saved money really!!!Today we did a few essentials and then went off to see Ram at his new restaurant he has opened ..a local place in Calangute, nice and clean...fish plate... delicious and filling for 40rps (about 50p) you get a heap of rice, various chutneys, piece of masala fried fish, fish curry, veg curry and tamarin .... what a treat!!! and such cheap booze!!! big ol measures ... I am thinking i am seriously going to miss all this when we get back to England ...i wonder if we will see a huge difference in the cost of living...we generally do!!! everything seems a ludicrous price!!!!
Then we had a walk down calangute beach road ... checking out what was open still, we were amazed really, how much was open, at this time of year ....the off season for us Brits is certainly becoming a busy season for the Goans with the Indians coming here.... and thinking about it our plane was full with Delhi wallahs coming here on holiday .... you didnt see it to this extent even a few short years ago ....
Bananas!!
its been sunny all day so far, apart from one small shower, but its been raining heavily at night. the shops and restaurants seemed to be doing a roaring trade....the beach was packed at the steps and beyond, but no shacks of course!! and the usual Indians in swimming in their clothes or the men in their baggy pants and then walking up the high street in them clingingly wet afterwards to the public wash room ...... lovely!! haha
It was heaving in Calangute.i just could not believe how many Indians there were there, absolutely packed!! it was great, this time last year the place looked empty!! we bought a couple of sticks of sweetcorn from the guy who cooks them on coals in the street there and they were so delicious, i went back for more, smothered in butter and masala salt...yummy but more expensive than Nepal!! only 10rps there (nepali rps) a whopping 25rps he wanted here and was adamant!!!! daylight robbery, but they were good!!!!
Candolim is peaceful and quiet, not many places open and ahh no traffic much ... what a pleasure after the madness of the roads in season ...and its surprising how much more you see of Goa when all the small shop shacks are gone.... Mike keeps saying..'oh look thats new' but its not...its just everything gets hidden in season by the many shops set up everywhere
Calangute Beach Road
.well a few more days have passed since i started to write this, yesterday the rains were coming on and off but it didnt stop me swimming, i just donned a new little fashion accessory!! my shower cap...one of those very complimentary see through plastic ones you get free in a hotel...I must say i think i looked very fetching and might even start a new trend haha I wont bother posting a pic though, as i dont trust Split not to do something with it!!!! ahha you cant fool me split!!! .... I dont want any nasty surprises!!! hehe ...
I also went to the dentists for my final clean and check up this morning, and must make an appointment at the beauty parlour for a manicure/pedicure and hair cut etc far cheaper here than waiting till i get back to the UK!!! ahh to be pampered ...
(next day) anyway it rained and thundered all night and is still raining this morning......... so i think maybe this is it and the monsoon has arrived ....the skies are a little grey ...this time last year we hadnt had any rain as yet.... i liked that better ... and the power is surging constantly and I am glad we have an invertor or we would be in the dark half the time!!
Calangute Beach Road
! . oh yes and my internet keeps playing up...that i don't like...We were intending to go off to Morjim to see friends today ... but lets see what the weather does .... hmmm just the sort of thing you say in England...and dont fancy going on the bike in this!!! I wonder is it still sunny there (England) cos if it is i cant wait to get back ... Monsoon is ok but hey not my cup of tea!!! talking of tea all this Darjeeling tea is a rreal treat and was worth carrying home ....
Well the rain all day today has remained relentless!! It just hasn't stopped and claps of thiunder on and off, now a strong wind is whipping up...this is supposedly just pre monsoon rains but the locals are even saying it seems like the real monsoon is here and I think they are right.... And I don't like the rain...a little shower is fine, but this.... Oh no... doesn't rock my boat at all.
but the advantage is, it has cooled down further...the disadvantage is, my internet connection is worse!! up and down like a yoyo. as is the power, massive surges which cant be doing my computer much good, despite having a surge protector...... Its on and off constantly, loads of thunder last night too...
calangute
. and the place looks a mess leaves everywhere, today I went off for a swim in my nice trendy shower cap again, but had to spend an hour netting the dead dragonfly's out, there were hundreds of them, and the boy hadn't long ago cleaned it.... But it was worth it...it was lush swimming in the rain... until Mike surreptitiously brought the camera out!! I mean ... a girl has her dignity!!! Very fetching pics...quick delete job I think!!! haha So we decided to abandon the Morjim trip today, with this weather, in favour of a couch day!!! Reading and eating and watching a bit of TV when the cable doesn't go down!! ............thank God for the DVD and a memory stick!! Can watch corrie!! Ahh how sad I am!!! Oh and a bit of swimming of course too!!
I have a sneaking suspicion that only did we have a load of cockroaches freeloading on us on our trip, but something more sinister as well.... I went to put on my bikini this morning and the most massive, massive, huge, long hairy legged monster of a spider dropped out of it onto the floor ...OMG I was terrified ... it could easily have landed on me!!
Now my rucksack was still open on the floor ...not quite emptied it yet!!
calangute beach road/high street
! ..... and I am wondering if he came out of there somewhere...having been using it as his luxury caravan for the last few weeks...popping out at night for a look round ... after all he looks strangely familiar ... very similar to the ones we encountered in that place in Darjeeling... and I have never seen one like that here in our house before .... Ever!! Not sooo big ... Anyway I was so shocked I just screamed and screamed for Mike and Gita.... Whilst trying to keep an eye on where it was going, as it ran like the clappers... and I was stood on the bed by this time wrapped in a towel. .... They both came running thinking something terrible must have happened, which of course it had !! .... and I think Mike was a bit daunted to really (but he won't admit that haha)!! But Gita ended up crawling round the floor, and under the bed trying to catch it in a dustpan with her witchs brush ... looking at me as if I had lost the plot!!!! Even though I am scared senseless of big spiders (having conquered my terrible fear of smaller ones) I still cannot bring myself to kill one, as it has been bred into me that its bad luck ... I am a very superstitious person, thinking about it ... but Gita had no qualms and I didn't have the cheek to tell her to keep it alive, I mean, how could she, this thing was so fast....i was just glad she was there!!
Ummm no comment !! lol
so better post this now my internet is back up ....but will load some pics of Goa, as it is now, first if poss.... not that i have many, sorry!! but do have the one of the shower cap now!!! i will have to think hard about loading that one hehe ...
will take some more pics when the rain lets up a bit of Morjim and calangute for anyone thats interested? ....thats if it does...let up !!
but i suppose this really is the end of my travel blog for now, as we leave for England in a week or so .... so I'll say good bye ... but i have really enjoyed writing it and its great for Mike and I too, having a detalied log and map of our trips and what we have done, hard as it has been at times, both living it and writing it !!!! so see you all soon ... either here in Goa ....or in the Uk ....
lots of love
Chilly and Mike (Aka Gilly and Mick ) xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
well, since writing this we have made it up to Morjim and out and about with the camera and added a load of pics of Goa in June after 2/3 days rain!
ditto no comment!! lol
! The Indians are not so much in evidence in Calangue beach road now, they must have been here for the weekend!! but having said that there were hoards of them on the beach in front of the steps at Calangue...
and the beach was so dirty with all their litter, that they just dump... they have no idea about protecting the environment whatsoever.... I have never seen this piece of beach SOO dirty!! its terrible...
Look how empty all the roads are ..its so strange as most of you will know in season the traffic is horrendous and you take your life in your hands just walking down the road..even by the market in Candolim you could walk straight across the road today and thats usually a right traffic jam...I love it!!!
And as for Baga road and Tito's road, nothing.... its strange though because half the landmarks disappear too...lol... all the temporary shacks and bar/restaurants... a few were open but pretty much empty apart from locals in local places.... I like it ... and after days of rain it was great to have the sunshine...
Mayonnies, Baga Creek
.UPDATE 9th JUNE
So again today beautiful sunshine and clear skies...and no signs of the monsoon rains..I just love it like this... we are starting to think about packing the house up and packing our bags!! I hate this job!!
still managing to keep up my daily swims and thankfully without my trendy shower cap!! I must be so ot of condition as i am aching everywhere in the mornings now aftre all this swimming!!!
THe rain has made everything in my garden grow like crazy!! it looks like a jungle, but amazing all the same... but there are snakes popping up everywhere we saw two on the road yesterday and accidentally squashed one with the bike and there are horrid flying bugs that come out in force every night although haven't seen many mozzi........ AND NO COCKROACHES!!! lol
we popped over to Annie and Sheys place yesterday to take some pics for them and spotted Roma (her maid) up there ..
road toward Arpora
. so off i went to check everything out.... they were both pleased to see me and told me to tell Annie to 'have no tension and relax and get better' as she has just had a heart attack..... i was devastated when i heard this on my return ....so!!!! 'do it Annie'!! and get well quickly!! I ought to send Roma over really to 'do' for you... hahaLawande supermarket has been closed all week (probably off spending all his profits again lol) and Newtons has been doing a roaring trade ... we arae off now to have a drink in Calangute at Ram's 'Dolphin Bar' .... and hope to catch up with a few friends to say goodbye this week....
Comments
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hi chilly and mike
the weather here has been roasting for a week but today we have torrential rain in north wales and temperature dropped a lot,should keep the tourists in their caravans,still i would rather be singing in the rain in goa must get barb one of those shower caps i see it as a must have fashion for the next season,glad you arrived home safe and sound
love clif and barbara
Welcome Back
Hi Chilly and Mike,just like to thankyou both for such a entertaining travel blog,have looked foward to following you both on every one and enjoyed them all.
so much so that at times could imagine being there with you,but without some of the discomforts that
you encountered. Loved the pics and i have all the ones i need on my computer for you know what.
Thanks Mike for sending the swimming/shower hat one to me you will see it in the glossy mag when you get home.
See you in UK or Goa soon. Joan and Split XX
annieibiza
have cought up now, loved it. yes please pics of candolim. love to both of you
home sweet home...
Your blog has been amazing and you really must get writing that book!