Palolem
Trip Start
Oct 27, 2007
1
27
30
Trip End
Apr 01, 2008
Palolem,
India
Monday, March 3, 2008
Not wanting to be stuck in a claustrophobic little coffin as last time, we opted fo the lower berth, which are fully reclining seats (in theory). Mine wouldn't stay down, whereas Shell's wouldn't actually stay up, great start... After a bit of pushing and shoving, we managed to get both of them down, and we bounced off in the direction of the coast, on one of the bumpiest roads we'd come across. A few bumps later, we also found out that they weren't just any old seats. Oh no, we were the lucky ones you see, we'd got the extra-special (and at no extra cost) ejector seats. A small bump, and we were propelled upwards, a large bump and we actaully hit the bottom of the berth above. Comical for about 10 seconds, then when we realised that we were in serious danger of ending up in the Hospital, and not on the beach. If you find yourself in the same predicament, just sleep the other way around, with your head at the feet end, and it's just your legs that get trown about.
Eleven hours later, and after a few hours sleep (which is more than I can say for the trip there) we arrived at Chaudi, just a short Tuk Tuk ride away from Palolem beach, at around 4:30 in the morning... Thankfully we were able to share a ride with a group who had been here before and we ended up in the 24 hour bar on the beach. Still dark, and groggy from the lack of sleep, we sat supping water until we decided that we'd arrived, and all we had to do tday was find somewhere to sleep, sleep, and maybe eat something. So we decided that we should really be drinking beer, after all we WERE in 'Cocktail and Dreams'. Thankfully the midget Cruise was no where to be seen. A few beers later, and after an incident with Fran (one of the group we'd joined) and his infected finger (two holes, one gammy pussy clot...), the sun began to rise and we could see our surroundings a little bit better. Soon it was time to walk up the beach, a little pissed and very tired. Finding a place to stay wasn't hard though, and we fell in to our beachside bungalow, and relaxed, we were finally here!
Palolem is a nice stretch of sand, more built up than Gokarna, but with a bit more life to it (not to mention 24 hour bars, which is strange after being in dry states where you have to hide your beer bottle under the table). Theres a fair selection of good restaurants, and it was great to tuck in to some fish again, which was strangely lacking in Gokarna. Not quite the catch that we saw down in Varkala, where every restaurant had it's own 6ft Merlin and array of fresh fish EVERY night we were there. The north end of the beach where we were staying was a bit quieter, but still only a few minutes walk from the main road with the Internet and obligatory market stalls.
We made the most of our time here relaxing and topping up our tans, playing in the see, and avoiding the cow dung that inevitably covers the white sands with pock marks of brown and black. We did manage to get to one of the Silent Noise parties at the south end of the beach on our final night. DJ's and music until 11pm, and then because of the new laws on noise pollution, at 11, you get a pair of headphones and tune in to one of two channels. A wierd experence that took a little getting used too. Met a sound group of people (Dan, Stuart, Iris and Hannah), and danced the night away. Missed the flight the next day, so we lost a day in Mumbai, which after everything wasn't too bad. At least it meant we had one more day in the sun :)
