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  Vagator Goa, India
Friday, March 16, 2007

Masala Dosa - Yum!

We've been a little slack on making entries the last couple of weeks,
but to be honest life has become a blur of sand, sea, coconut palms
etc.... Tim has taken up crabs as a new hobby - he's already identified
about 6 different types on the rocks, sand banks, beach etc. He spends
a good bit of time chasing them in the daytime and spotting them with a
torch at night. I'm sure people wander what he's doing from afar, doing
odd side steps and leaps, flicking sad in the air and throwing himself
to the ground!!

We spent a very relaxing week in Talpona
village and were there for the Holi celebrations, which basically meant
a lot of firecrackers, and small singing and dancing parades going
along the little lanes and into various houses. We were invited to
visit our new friends,

Santosh and friends

Santosh and family, at Galgi Baga (Turtle Beach)
on one of the last nights of the celebtrations. A beatiful night with a
nearly full moon lighting the beach and waves. We thought we'd just
drop in to say hi, but were led to a table on the beach - a candle was
plonked down and a couple of beers then a whole range of dishes
were bought out. We'd already had dinner, but managed to squeeze in a
respectable amount of food - though poor Tim had to make a dent in the
chicken and fish alone! We felt sure that we should give some money for
so much hospitality, but it wasn't accepted. We ended up going into
town the next day and buying a big box of special Indian sweets made
from milk and dropping them in to say thank you. We did manage to see a
turtle one day - popping up out of the water near by while Tim was body
surfing a wave. We looked for it for ages, then noticed something shiny
further down the beach. It turned out to be a beautifully marked turtle
that had drowned in a fishing net and probably only died that day as it
still looked so life like. Tim pulled it in out of the surf and a local
guy buried it.

Turtle

A couple of days later we were treated to more
Holi celebrations, but this time at the family guesthouse in the
village. Priesh is the young guy who runs the place and he invited us
and the Russians that were also staying at the place to eat a speacial
meal for Holi. His old mama and other female relatives cooked up lots
of seafood and veg curries and we all sat around outside and ate
together. My favourite was a sweet cocunut soup that his mama made,
which was delicious. Later we got to watch an enormous fireworks
display from across the river with all the colourful explosions
reflected in the calm water. Our room was right on the river bank
across from the very posh Hotel Intercontinental (where the cheapest
room is reportedly $200 US - ours just a stones throw away and
only 250 Rupee!!) which freqently has celebrations.

We
decided to move back to Patnem after a while and took a hut on the
beach for a few days before renting a gorgeous little house in Colomb
village. Much more of the same, a little touristy here -
close to Palolem, but a lot more peaceful. Tim rode up to the airport
to pick up our friend Simon when he arrived from London. We spent some
time in Patnem, then went back to Talpona village to spend our last
couple of days in South Goa at Turtle Beach and also to say goodbye to
the friends we had made there.

We did the ride back to Vagator

Shiva carving on Vagator beach

(North Goa) yesterday morning and it was definitely the worst ride
to date! We hit some terrible traffice through the towns and there
seemed to be an excess of crazed truck/bus drivers on the road. But we
made it and breathed a sigh of relief! The bike wasn't running so well
for a while there as the petrol sometimes comes from plastic bottles
and who knows what's in them! We went for one last ride today to Mapusa
market,

Flower Market

Butcher

Fishmonger

Sea food market

Veg Market

which was good fun - especially the extensive fish section with
some incredible (and pungent) specimens. We also went to Panjim to have
a walk up to a temple in ridiculous heat.

Hanuman Temple

Strange festival float

So much for breathing a sigh of relief - we were pulling into our driveway a couple of hours ago and
nearly had a stack! Tim had the indicator on for ample time and had
slowed down to turn right, but first one bike then another came caning
up the right side - both young Indian blokes. The first one sped through,
but the second guy braked suddenly, lost control nealry hitting us and his girlfriend slipped back and
nearly came off the back as he skidded into the dirt on the side of the road. She was fine, but it could have
been nasty. The rider even had the gall to blame Tim! A couple of shopkeepers who saw it happen pointed out
the indicator to him. We couldn't believe this happened so close to the
end of our last ride!

On the day we leave the hotel we are confronted by the arrogance of two fellow Western travellers. One accuses the owner of serving him brown water and demands a proper coffee (this in a budget guesthouse - what does he think he's going to get??!!). The other guy is a Norwegian with an American accent and huge temper. He is shouting and carrying on about an incorrect bill in a complete rage. He ends up threatening to hit the owner then storming off. We later find out that he feels he has been overcharged 10 Rupees for his laundry (about 30 Australian cents)!! Nobody wants to get ripped off, but this place is a nice family run place and this guy may have smoked a bit too much ganja...

So a few more days here then onwards to Mumbai and beyond, finally, for more travels.

Cow park

Tim and K

Simon T & K and dog