The sleeper train was a great investment, despite gate crashers in the form of an Indian family with no ticket trying to use our bed space and literally planting their kids on our beds (we put a stop to that). I was expecting heat from hell and a bad sleep, but no, managed a good 5 hours and Laura slept even longer. I only stirred to the smells and dulcet tones of the food sellers walking around with curries, chai and some kind of sandwich until the sun began to rise and I finally saw what I considered 'real India'. What was most relieving for me was that I actually felt cold some of the night with the 4 fans above us in a cramped carriage, plus the windows being stuck open, but relished the feeling.
The countryscape is fantastic and idyllic as expected, but being on a train to me makes it all the more interesting. The train speeds along so you are exposed to snippets of villages and towns: a summary of all the places we travelled through to Goa. By 10:30am things were really hotting up and you could feel the tropics approaching almost. When we arrived another foreigner joined us and was going to Anjuna as we were, so with 3 of us and 3 massive bags we somehow managed to fit everything in one 3 wheeled rickshaw for the 45 minute journey- how I am not sure.
Heading to the beach to find a beach hut accommodation recommended in Lonely Planet (I admit this with the aim of staying away from mainstream suggestions like this, but consider it useful the first time you arrive somewhere), but begin practicing my basic Hindi only to find an apartment that we can rent for just Rs 250 for the room per night. The place has it's own bathroom, fridge, sink/ kitchenette, balcony etc and was Rs1500 per night in the peak season.... sweet good rooms a bargain basement prices!
Making our way to the beach we find little Vagator beach and it is a really beautiful small beach that is quite due to being low season. The one bar/ restaurant on this small section, called Boom Shanka with comfy chairs pointing out to sea, free use of their sun loungers, body boards and a really down to earth family who run the place made us feel in paradise. Thinking of the things that I need in life and this really ticks all the boxes. A bar on the cliff top plays Psytrance music across the sea as the sun goes down, so with a body board in hand, a wooziness of intoxication and some good waves there is no better way to watch the burning sunset.
The same night we make this discovery I overhear a conversation about Anjuna and had to interrupt to see what was going on. "It is the last parties of the season this week at Curlies and Shiva Valley" said Andy a really sound Welsh guy who has been coming to this same place since '93, "Tonight is Shiva and Thursday's is at Curlies. We can share a taxi if
you guys are coming". So a little tired and expecting an early(ish) night we instead head to a bar called the Mango tree for a few beers. This place is built around a massive mango tree which regularly drops them onto the tin roof with a clang. Anyone can take the falling mangoes and as one almost killed Laura we nab it for trying. Talk about tasting the sun. Again, it was expected that fruit and vegetables taste better in a country, where it has been grown to a ripe stage on the plant. Very different to being given crap artificial light, packaged in the cold and ripened on a dark cargo ship to our supermarkets. I am looking forward to a lot more of this...
So after a few Kingfishers we set off the Anjuna, but unfortunately it is looking fairly empty with around 100 people kicking about. Even more unfortunately the Police turned up at 10pm and the music stops. Apparently a "Backshish" (bribe/ incentive) clearly didn't work this time to override the new 'noise pollution' law which prevents loud music between 10pm and 6am. Either way we had now met a Finnish guy, Frenchman who I was enjoying chatting in French to, an Austrian and Welsh dude and were all hanging out in the top of a bamboo hut overlooking the seas, parrafin in the air drinking Gin and Tonic. It didn't matter there wasn't 1000 people in the sea dancing to loud Psytrance and causing mayhem. This was relaxed. This is what we needed.
The next few days we developed our routine of waking up, packing bag, heading to the beach, eating breakfast, swimming in the sea, surfing, smoke, beer, veg sizzler (rice, fries, veggies stew, steamed veg- yum). This is our holiday period and so despite feeling slightly guilty do not deviate from this pattern for 5 days. This is with the exception of going back to Anjuna for the last party, which stayed open till 12am and the music was good, so we had a good dance and despite the tourists flaking out the guys from the bar turned up and joined us.
Walking back to the room at 3am it again strikes me that we are in Goa... we watch monkeys jumping between the trees and the cows walking nonchalantly down the road... seemingly not owned by anyone, but the most chilled out cows I have ever seen. The guard dogs owned by every household bark out of sink to fill the air where ever you are on our stretch of road. As one stops another starts. It is like they all work together and pick up where the other left off to pin point road users where ever they are. This for Laura really isn't fun.Now we have been here a week and things are really hotting up. It is not so much the heat, but the humidity. 35- 38C with 70% humidity and rising. Apparently this continues until the monsoon hits... it is becoming unbearable. Now I have had to make a bottle shower that I spray myself with about every hour of my nights sleep to evaporate under the ceiling fan. It really doesn't help that the room is hotter than outside. I am dripping with sweat non-stop and trying to drink as much water as possible, but it is quite difficult. 3 litres per day doesn't seem to be enough.
We have already sacked off anti-malarials for Goa as we literally have not seen any mozzies, due to being the dry season. I have only worn 2 pairs of clothes and plan to keep it that way. This makes me feel that we are starting to understand and get used to the processes/ context of this new world and can make real judgement calls on what we need. I'm thinking of shedding a lot of the stuff I have at this point. We are also debating whether going to Pune is a good idea.... it is hot here but is cooler due to the sea and has a breeze, without this I am not sure how we would survive and so now we consider our next steps....
The sleeper train was a great investment, despite gate crashers in the form of an Indian family with no ticket trying to use our bed space and literally planting their kids on our beds (we put a stop to that). I was expecting heat from hell and a bad sleep, but no, managed a good 5 hours and Laura slept even longer. I only stirred to the smells and dulcet tones of the food sellers walking around with curries, chai and some kind of sandwich until the sun began to rise and I finally saw what I considered 'real India'. What was most relieving for me was that I actually felt cold some of the night with the 4 fans above us in a cramped carriage, plus the windows being stuck open, but relished the feeling.
Making our way to the beach we find little Vagator beach and it is a really beautiful small beach that is quite due to being low season. The one bar/ restaurant on this small section, called Boom Shanka with comfy chairs pointing out to sea, free use of their sun loungers, body boards and a really down to earth family who run the place made us feel in paradise. Thinking of the things that I need in life and this really ticks all the boxes. A bar on the cliff top plays Psytrance music across the sea as the sun goes down, so with a body board in hand, a wooziness of intoxication and some good waves there is no better way to watch the burning sunset.
The same night we make this discovery I overhear a conversation about Anjuna and had to interrupt to see what was going on. "It is the last parties of the season this week at Curlies and Shiva Valley" said Andy a really sound Welsh guy who has been coming to this same place since '93, "Tonight is Shiva and Thursday's is at Curlies. We can share a taxi if 
you guys are coming". So a little tired and expecting an early(ish) night we instead head to a bar called the Mango tree for a few beers. This place is built around a massive mango tree which regularly drops them onto the tin roof with a clang. Anyone can take the falling mangoes and as one almost killed Laura we nab it for trying. Talk about tasting the sun. Again, it was expected that fruit and vegetables taste better in a country, where it has been grown to a ripe stage on the plant. Very different to being given crap artificial light, packaged in the cold and ripened on a dark cargo ship to our supermarkets. I am looking forward to a lot more of this...
So after a few Kingfishers we set off the Anjuna, but unfortunately it is looking fairly empty with around 100 people kicking about. Even more unfortunately the Police turned up at 10pm and the music stops. Apparently a "Backshish" (bribe/ incentive) clearly didn't work this time to override the new 'noise pollution' law which prevents loud music between 10pm and 6am. Either way we had now met a Finnish guy, Frenchman who I was enjoying chatting in French to, an Austrian and Welsh dude and were all hanging out in the top of a bamboo hut overlooking the seas, parrafin in the air drinking Gin and Tonic. It didn't matter there wasn't 1000 people in the sea dancing to loud Psytrance and causing mayhem. This was relaxed. This is what we needed.
The next few days we developed our routine of waking up, packing bag, heading to the beach, eating breakfast, swimming in the sea, surfing, smoke, beer, veg sizzler (rice, fries, veggies stew, steamed veg- yum). This is our holiday period and so despite feeling slightly guilty do not deviate from this pattern for 5 days. This is with the exception of going back to Anjuna for the last party, which stayed open till 12am and the music was good, so we had a good dance and despite the tourists flaking out the guys from the bar turned up and joined us.