Southern India, relax......

Trip Start Aug 28, 2004

Trip End Aug 2005

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Flag of India Colva, Goa., India
Thursday, December 9, 2004

It was a very early start to catch our next journey to Southern Goa in search of both Colva a small local fishing town and "Om Beach" further along the coastline, which Martin wants to check out. The train ride was purely western travellers and young ones at that, so we ticked off the places they stated they were intending to visit!!! And made sure we didn't end up there. Had to contend with one very ill man at one point whom could barely stand up and a woman who looked totally out of it (whom we later discovered were both married to on another!!). We managed to get the man to lie down and sleep comfortably, when suddenly the wife comes up and smacks him one in full view of us all!!! He gets up and falls down again and she is asking is there a Hospital in the town at the next stop??? Eventually she carts both him and her luggage off the train, without any further ado. There's nowt as queer as folk, even when there French Holiday makers.

Colva..

We eventually reaced Colva and settle into a Hotel full of Indian noisy nuns, and check out the local fare. I indulged in Giant prawns in a yummy sweet but spicy sauce and Martin had a Byriani, he was advised to go try a steak out further down the towns coast. It was definitely a big improvement on some of our previous food fests. The following few very relaxing days here were spent in a Hotel right on the beach with it's own pool for less than three quid a night, bargain!! The beach at Colva is lovely not at all crowded other than the initial entry point of the beach where the locals crowd out. You can watch the fishermen hauling in their nets fro the early morning cast, it's a day long process truly!!! There's a variety of restaurants all of those we tried were really good, we or rather I tried White Snapper, King Fish, Shark, we both tried the local Goan spicy sausages, definitely to be eaten again!! For all sea food lovers this is heaven, but there's also stuff for meat eaters/vegetarians alike too.
On the beaches you get lots of fruit sellers, my pure indulgance is fresh pineapple its just lovely, we also got lot's of girls coming along selling jewellery too. They are really sweet but know how to give the hard sell despite their young age they learn very quickly!!! It's all part and parcel of the easy going and relaxed nature of the Goan people. They tell you how it is and respect you if you are not interested, which can be a contrast to their northern and middle country folk

Friends at Gorkhana beach, Kernataka

. We took a boat out to see Dolphins and spied three from a distance it's just really exciting to capture their dorsal fin just peeking out of the waves and then you spot them playing, jumping through the water, so playful and free, they are quite inquisitive and come up pretty close, wonderful to see. Everyone gets real pleasure out of seeing Dolphins at play.

We left Colva, Goa and took a train onto Magalore, in search of Om Beach. We finally made it and bedded down in the most Hippy Beach Hut place on the beach as other places were full, the identikit brigade of South American Beardies were camped out here along with every other I wanna be a Hippy, yup we managed to home in on the most free place on the beach with "Special Chai" etc.........Typical eh!!! The beach itself was great (preferred Colva in some ways) sharing it with the cows and very few other people as our beach Hut guys were too stoned too move much further than their chair/Hammock!! It was very peaceful indeed. We explored the next beach south which was even more deserted than Om Beach, the Half Moon Beach, but more tricky to get to (can only walk) the guy with a Beach Hut place there was laughing as he had the whole beach to himself practically. We sustained Om Beach and sleeping on rattan mats for two nights,for 15p each a night but after spotting a few baby? scorpions and Martin getting bitten by the most vicious centipede in the world!

Friends of southern India

! We decided it was time to move on. We moved onto Kudle Beach which was the next one north of Om, our new sleeping quarters were plush with mattress and mosi-net too and sand/mud walls, very plush and great food too. We spent a lazy time here, rescuing star fish which had gotten caught up on the beach left to dry out, catching a few rays and swimming in the sea, lovely and peaceful. Every morning early on while it's much cooler, people are practising their yoga and meditation, it's quite meditating watching them at it.(oh come on Heike they are freaks, sitting there cross legged with arms out stretched and fingers pointing heavenward. Just to make sure everybody knows how deep they are, plus when I want to take a shot of an empty beach they ruined my shot!) Every day is same, same lots of sunshine, beautiful blue skies and a tranquil sea breeze every so often. You don't get many fishermen here but you do get people with their boats checking to see if you want to go into Gorkhana the main coastal town further up.

Gorkhana is a nice little place and the people leave you to wander about no hassles. On the beach we or rather I got mobbed by a whole swarm of school girls bathing in the sea with their full uniform on!?! They're loads smarter than our lot in England (generally).(not my school of course) I ended up having a chat with their school teachers, whom were so pleased to speak to us about their life in Kernataka (we've promised to send them our photo's when we return). Another special moment to treasure as they truly were genuinely nice people without an agenda. We left Kudle beach by boat, the following day to catch our last train over to Madras (Chennai). Sadly we did not have enough time to go onto Kerala and do the houseboat trip into the backwaters, so that will be another trip to India definitely. Although we saw plenty of similar scenery all the way down from Bombay with all of the Palm trees and inland waters etc....