Last weekend I went to Goa. Goa, the home of Goan Trance (although this was apparently stolen off Israeli soldiers on leave after a tough year). Goa famous for it’s carnivals before lent and it’s all night long beach parties. Goa famous for it’s crystal white beaches. So I went and saw none of that. I wish I had, I was there for the right time and my bus even was going to the right place but instead we went to a cross between Brighton and an old people’s home.

The beach was ok though, not postcard perfect but quite empty, and as most beaches are, close to the sea. The first two days were pretty much the same. Leave our guest house (D’Souza guest house…very Portuguese, the height of our cultural experience) then go to the beach. Have a really good bowl of porridge (I love tourist resorts) and then read and swim all day. It really was worth it though. I think everyone wanted to relax after being in an urban environment for a long time and it was a good place to unwind (and get to know the new gappers from Gap Guru). I can also honestly say that in these first two days I learnt a couple things about Goa. For starters a lot of tourists, every second person seemed to be from the west and every third seemed to have an identity problem and large dreadlocks. Another was that Goa is very relaxed compared to everywhere else I’ve been as Molly and Alice found themselves serenaded by a rickshaw driver singing bob Marley during a negotiation over the price of their transport. Finally beer is slightly cheaper there…although I didn’t really go near it as a roadside chaat left my stomach slightly all over the place (shortly after finishing my chaat I saw them pour some water directly from a roadside pump into the soup mixture).

The final day was a bit different though. Kieran, Tom and myself, feeling a bit adventurous, decided to go to Panjim for the day and behave like proper tourists. There was one key problem though. It was a Sunday and all the local authentic Goan food places were closed (I was gutted…it looked really good and the owner was incredibly friendly). But food aside it was pretty cool. Followed the lonely planet walk guide through the city, going up a hill to a monkey god temple (the view was almost breathtaking) and down to a Gujarathi place for lunch where Tom and I kept on looking at Kieran to see if for some reason Gujarathi food was completely different and we had to eat somehow differently. Note…always check if the white mixture at the beginning is Lassi or rice pudding…because if you get the two confused and put your spoon into Lassi you will be frowned upon, or just laughed at like I was.

With a couple hours before we had to head back we went for the ultimate Indian experience. A Bollywood movie without subtitles. Delhi 6 I think out of the 4 I’ve seen is dead in the middle. Abysheck is always funny but would be better if I understood a word he was saying!!! Going to rent one with substitles next time so I can follow the plot without having to look it up on Wikipedia.

The bus ride home was…not awful, but close. I was right at the front so whenever the bus stopped and they opened the door it opened onto my foot (or toe). Meanwhile at the back the girls were throwing up (well one was…but this was it’s more dramatic) as the back has not suspension whenever the bus goes over a bump the back just rises up and down. But we got home fine…we all missed the beach though.

Will xxxx