Dec 30, 2004 - Day on the beach

Hello all We're on the beach again and the weather, like 365 days a year in Goa, is beautiful. However, I'm still grieving over what happend on the East coast. I just can't get my mind around it all. The humm... is all over here. The papers in India are extremley graphic. That doesn't help matters, you can be thankful for scenorship. I just keep picturing the beaches we were at 2 weeks ago, the little villages that we visited and people we met. Now, if alive, I'm sure are devastated and their homes are destroyed. The last I checked the...

Dec 29, 2004 - Goa

Andate a vedere Udaipur, ci sono le foto del nostro primoa Natale da sposati. Ebbene si siamo a Goa. Non e' un'incongruenza rispetto a quello che vi abbiamo scritto a Bombay dall'aereoporto, il fatto e' che allora non potevamo sapere che il nostro volo per Bangalore avrebbe avuto sette ore e mezza di ritardo causa nebbia e che quindi pur di non rimanere bloccati, avremmo deciso di andare a Goa appunto. Oltretutto Federico cominciava a dare segni di febbre anche lui ed un paio di persone vedendoci bardati come degli alpini ci sono venuti a...

Dec 29, 2004 - Goa

I was stuck in Delhi with no ticket out of it. If I got a train I wouldn't have got there in time for New Years Eve, so the only option I had was to fly. Being a holiday there weren't many flights but I did find one agent who had a flight. However, even though the flight costs US$200 (which is what would be on the ticket) I would have to pay US$280. This means the man in the agency would get a nice bit of commission. He was very honest and said it was the only available flight. I had already tried the airlines direct and they said there...

Dec 19, 2004 - HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year greetings from the sun, sand, and sea of Goa, India. Goa and India - what an oxymoron! Goa feels more like Bermuda than India. It's clean, beautiful, tourist-friendly, and...catholic. If it weren't for the random cow walking the beach, or the group of wild pigs who play under the bamboo huts, I'd surely forget I'm in India. Here, the beaches are clean, the air pure, the sunsets dazzling, and the ocean refreshing. During the days I walk, read, eat fresh grilled fish (or indian cuisine) and swim. The...

Dec 19, 2004 - Goa

Well Folks, We have arrived in Goa which is a world apart from the rest of India. We are at a small hotel about 100 yards from the beach. Kendall and Connor arrived yesterday only 8 hours late from a flight from Delhi. Delhi suffers from thick dense (think Tule) fog which stops all comercial flights and trains. Goa is totally unlike any other part of India. It was a Portugese Colony until the 1950s. It is a vacation meca for tourists from England and the continent. Consequently is has many overweight bright red Europeans on the beach. The...

Dec 7, 2004 - Fun in the sun!!

Hello all We are in a small sleepy beach town called Benaulim and loving it. Finally after so much moving around, oneday here the next day there, we can relax for a while. Our accomadation is right on the beach and between lounging in the sun, eating some great sea food and talking with some new friends, our days are full. There are some very interesting travels that other people are doing, places I would not dream of going. It was a lot out of our budget but we decided to fly to Goa and avoid a 40 hour train ride. The flights here are...

Dec 6, 2004 - Goa

Written by Sarah 6th December We arrived in Panaji, the capital of Goa, at 9am. Hords of taxi drivers swarmed at us shouting 'Anjuna, Baga, Calangute, Anjuna, Baja' (referring to all the popular beach resorts in Goa). Very disoriantated and tired, a couple of Aussies and a couple of Candians who had been on our bus came to the rescue. Brian and Darren (the Candians) and Matt and Mark (the Aussies) were keen to stay as a group and suggested we spend one night in the capital to chill out and get ourselves together then head off to a beach....

Nov 11, 2004 - Palolem, Goa...the ultimate paradise! (so far!)

Hey Yall... Palolem, Goa, has all it takes to be the perfect getaway, perfect beach, or perfect retreat! While it's a far cry from Kovalam, it is nonetheless a gem of India coastal towns! I have been here the last 4 days and have not been bored, yet! Not that there are so much to do with para-gliding readily available which there is nary in sight! It is just that this place is big enough to wander around and finding something new and yet has a small town charm! I have found a really nice place called the River Valley, which is right smack...

Nov 9, 2004 - Panaji, Goa

Arrived in Goa today after 4 days on the beaches south of here. I was sick and was staying in a mud hut with no electricity etc. So things were a little hard. I like it here so far. It's colonial, reminds me of Penang in Malaysia. They have beef and wine that I haven't seen before on the menus here in India. Still feeling a little under the weather so not too much to say. Going up to Rajastan at the weekend if I can get a ticket. Devali here tomorrow so trains maybe fully booked. Can't find an cyber cafe with a card reader so cant't upload...

Nov 6, 2004 - Gokarna

I stayed at Om beach, so named due to it's unusual shape (like the Om sign). Very peaceful coastline just south of Gokarna but the basic accommodation (mud hut, no electricity, mattress on the floor etc.) wasn't comfortable enough for me with my worsening ailment (slipped and broke one of my Muji flip flops going to the communal toilet in the pitch black darkness one night!). Four nights was all I could take before I headed back up to Goa. Lots of smoking and chilling going on here, very little else...

Nov 5, 2004 - The beaches of Goa

Are you run down? Tired of the grind? Working yourself to the bone?? Well, just sit back, relax, take a deep breath and read about the beaches of Goa. Ok, now close your eyes and picture in your mind a blazing hot yellow sun, miles upon miles of milky white sand and waves of blue water crashing in the background as you sit back, sip a cocktail and wonder what you're going to do this afternoon. Will it be another dip in the Arabian Sea? A wander down the beach? or a nice cool beer under an unbrella. WAIT!!! That isn't you! Its Dan...

Oct 28, 2004 - Jesus Freaks and Acid Trippers

We are in Goa. Which is the last bastion of acid-eating hippies from America. Interestingly, it is also the Indian Bible Belt. The landscape is dotted with charming little ginger-bread churches left behind by the Portugese who reigned here for centuries, even while under British rule. On our over-night train from Kerala, the berth just in front of ours was jammed four people across, on each side, with good Christian folk. After what had to be 25 Hail Mary's and 18 Our Fathers, they began singing Church songs. My favorite was something about...