We had an excellent four days in Goa. (Let me clairify) As we were just lazing around on the beach I didn’t really have much to blog about. There are great little restaurants all along the beach. You can find a wide variety in cuisine: including western, Israeli and Italian. And when the staff aren’t trying to sell you weed you really get quite good service. It’s kind a of a little hippy hub, in many ways. You don’t have to walk far to find a bong for sale, a purse with mushrooms stitched onto it or a place that will put in dreadlocks for you! Many people seem to just come to Goa to work for the high season (which is just beginning) and then return home for the low season. Not many of the people we met working in Goa were actually from there. And many of the tourists seem to live there for the entire high season. It’s not all young people. Authentic hippies are not hard to find…they have not aged well. Leathery skin and unkempt hair are in abundance.
I really enjoyed the laidback vibe and the easy going energy. Although I must say if you’re looking to experience authentic Indian culture, I don’t think it’s on your list of places to go.
Some hilarious highlights:
In the ever so conservatively dressed boarders of India, Goa stands distinct. The lack of clothing was really quite shocking!
We saw our first ever male g-string proudly marching down the beach.
And an very old man, with waist length long grey hair and beard, standing in the middle of the beach retying his white sarong. It is strange, in the first place, how many men wear sarongs in Goa. And in the second place that, he was wearing nothing at all beneath the this sheer fabric! And thirdly that he opened widely and really took his time about retying his wrap! Bah! My eyes are burning!!!! Bahaha!
Aside from the expose…Goa was really great! We just loved it and are looking forward to passing through on our way home again.
We took a ten hour train trip from Goa up to Mumbai. We arrived late in the evening around 9pm. Anja, Ureshnie (her very close friend) and Auntie Shama (sp? -Ureshnie’s Mom) arrive shortly after Midnight from South Africa. We met them at a lovely hotel (which Anja spoiled us with!)
We stayed up for a few hours being excited to see one another and catching up!
Then we started our day early and went to check out this fantastic city. I really like Mumbai. It seems to me like the Manhattan of India. It feels quite different from the rest of the country we’ve experience so far. It’s fairly crowded and bustling as would be expected of a major centre but it’s quite different in many ways. It was British in it’s early colonial roots, I think, and that seems to give the architecture a really different look.
We took, an hour-long, ferry over to the Elephanta Caves. Which is sort of a temple dug into the rock. It’s an ancient Hindu Temple primarily dedicated to Lord Shiva. The carvings were very cool! It’s quite neat to see!
Then we checked out the city and did a bit of street shopping. It’s great shopping! There are little booths with treasures all a long the side walk. It’s cramped but at least out of traffic! They have everything! We will do our purchasing on our way back through Mumbai on the way home though, so we don’t have to carry it with us for our whole trip.
We finished off the evening with an excellent dinner and then went back to our hotel to hang out.
It’s been just SO wonderful to get to see Anja so unexpectedly soon! We feel very blessed to get to steal this time together!
Tomorrow we plan to take a tour of the city and check out the sights.
N and I leave for Bandhavgarh National Park around 9p tomorrow night. Again hoping to catch a glimpse of those famous wild cats!!!
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