Beach. Ahhh, the beach. No matter where you are in the world, there is something so restful and replenishing about hanging out at the beach. This is why we headed down to Goa and where we met up with Judy. Our arrival, as usual, was somewhat unsettling but we hung in there and the upside soon made itself available.
To get to Goa we finally got the chance to experience Victoria Station in Mumbai. Picture the last scene in Slumdog Millionaire but instead of a crowd of clean looking Indians with great voices singing the theme song by the Pussycat Dolls, there are thousands of weary Indian travelers and commuters. The building is gorgeous, old and huge. Our train was scheduled to leave at 7am so we left with plenty of time so we would be able to find our track amongst the 25 or so other tracks running. We soon found out our train was delayed by 4 hours. Thankfully we stuck out like sore thumbs and therefore received the information from generous people passing by. To ask anyone “official” is futile, either you can’t find anyone or those you do find and ask, give you the typical head bobble and nod to say yes (regardless of whether or not they actually know the answer) and vacantly wave their arm in whatever direction they choose.
Luckily we were able to haggle a taxi ride back to our hotel and use our room again before it was cleaned. Our train finally left at about noon. We rode first class which meant we had air conditioning, reserved seats for all of us and a sleeper bed for each of us too. The drag with first class is, the windows are small and tinted which make it hard to see the beautiful scenery going by. To see the view, we made trips to the sections between the cars and hung out the doors to take in the view. From what I understand, having a reserved seat and somewhere to lie down is much better than the bun fight in 2nd class unreserved. Although Ron travelled in 2nd class 25 years ago and said “Geeze, it wasn’t a problem.” We settled in with our sleeper car mate, a lovely professor from Mumbai heading down the coast for a conference. Actually, she was lovely AFTER she made darn sure she had the seat she wanted in our little cluster. The trip was accompanied by the usual sounds of crowded travel, spitting, barfing, snoring and noisy fans. Any rest we did get was constantly interrupted by guys roaming the trains chanting Chai, or Chicken lollipop in loud voices. At first we were irritated, and then we eventually found the humor. After that, we cracked up every time one of them went by - perhaps you had to be there, we were very punchy. The scenery was beautiful but sadly the sun went down at about 6pm and we didn’t arrive into Margao until 2am, a 14 hour trip!
Needless to say, we had to wake a cab driver up to drive us and he had no clue where our accommodation was. By the time we got to Camilson’s (thanks to Ron’s savvy travel guide navigation and Sadie’s awesome “just in time” sign spotting) at Benaulim Beach, we were exhausted and not feeling particularly upbeat. Nothing looks good at 3am, in the dark when you are tired. Fortunately a new day and sunshine (a rarity in Goa at this time of year) turned everything around. Goa is beautiful. The beach is very light sand with a small surf (not quite enough for good body surfing) and shallow water. There are a few restaurants and accommodations right on the beach but most of the life is nestled back in the thick palm forest lining the beach. There are small winding roads interconnecting each beach with its own small village. The ocean is so warm, and especially at this time of year, it is incredibly hot and humid. We were lucky, two days without rain. Because September is just before the busy season, everyone is busy cleaning up after the monsoons. We definitely didn’t see Goa at its prettiest but even during the 3 days we were there, we could see the unveiling of a great place. Lots of places were still shut down but enough were open for us to have a few great meals, coffee (Janet) and beer.
We tried to find a train to get us down to Kerala but the first class sleepers were all booked up (high fives from Sadie & Anna, they weren’t quite ready yet for another 14 hr. plus journey on the train). After careful consideration of whether or not we wanted to head further down south and talking to an airline booking agent, we decided to go for it. We were able to get flights for about CAN$85.
We have been using The Rough Guide to South India. Using guide books, on line travel advisories (tripadvisor.com) and travelers’ blogs is definitely the way to go. Although we do find the Rough Guide is a little bit out of date, especially the prices. It’s a good “rough guide” though. Alternatively, we have found it difficult to find on the spot local advice. There is the language barrier of course, and the ever present feeling that being a tourist in the dark (figuratively speaking of course) definitely gives the other guy the upper hand, leaving us as prime bait for higher prices. We have a cell phone with us and have bought SIM cards in most countries we have gone. Air time in India is CHEAP! Ron bought about CAN$12 air time when we were in Mumbai. We have used the cell phone tons and we still have more than half of the air time left, 10 days later (including 2 calls to Canada). Fortunately the cost of living here is much more reasonable than in Africa. Good, clean accommodation can be as low as $45 for the five of us. And food is much more reasonable too. We can have a big meal at a nice place for about $5 a person. Enough of the practicalities. We left Goa feeling lucky to have avoided rain in September and hoping we would have the same luck in Kerala.
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