Thursday 19 November 2015

Goa Begins ……………

We’ve been in Goa for 3 days now and still haven’t got totally to grips with who’s tooting at who and for what reason. Our guess is that it’s a complete obsession and nobody takes any notice of anybody else – least of all the cattle!

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We have a very good room on the top floor …..

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……. with a balcony overlooking the pool.

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On day 2 we had a bus trip (yes – a rocket bus!) to Panjim. A 40 minute journey for 15 pence (it’s shear robbery). Panjim is quite a large town with many lovely vistas and many more that are not so lovely.P1040413

On the bus we got talking to Sam, a commerce student who, as he had time to show us around the town and who became a real asset as it turned out. We had lunch with him in lovely first floor, open restaurant overlooking the river and the “Old Patto Bridge”. Built between 1632 & 1635 and called the Pont de Linhares this is the Panjin end of the longest causeway in Asia.

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Perched on a wire across the river was this giant Kingfisher (?) about the size of a rook and very pretty.

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Apart from sight seeing we went to Panjim to get some suits made. This lovely family run Taylors gave us drinks and seat to sit on and took a vast number of measurements. We await in anticipation for the results on Friday.

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A sneak preview of something James fell in love with! It too has to be made to measure.

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To reduce the length of the bus ride back to Candolim we took the free ferry across the river. As usual, packed with cars, scooters and people.

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Once off the ferry we waited for the Candolim bus opposite a scooter “garage” (AA approved of course).

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A number of commercial vehicles seem to invite people to toot at them!

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Inside the Rocket bus back to Candolim.

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Instead of seeing his girlfriend, Sam decided to spend the evening with us at Ryan’s Shack on the beach. Perhaps it was the free beer that swung the decision! It was the least we could do as he’d been such a great help during the day.

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Children’s Corner at Ryan’s Shack!

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This is what the moon looks like over the Arabian Sea from Ryan’s Shack …….

P1040477  …………  and this is what Ryan’s Shack looks like from the Arabian Sea.

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Back to the Arabian Sea the next morning:  You might have the same initials but you look NOTHING like him – so stop trying!

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Today (Wednesday) and it was back to the Rocket bus – this time to Baga, just north of Candolim. As there was no direct bus to Baga, we had to change and pay twice.  2 x 10p!!!! (each!)

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This is Baga beach – very full of locals and ………..

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……… this is Baga High Street. James must have chosen the split second when there was nothing around.

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Moving up the coast to Anjuna, we popped in to have a look at a small hotel (for future reference) situated in the jungle environs behind Anjuna beach. Making it’s home on the owners car was this beautiful spider.

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The hotel owner, Sumit Yardi, took us for a drink a few yards down the road at the German Bakery. Oh yes, another cow (or bullock to be precise).

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Anjuna Beach is lovely, and full of shacks selling food and drink.

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Jeet take Doug’s order – “Two beers please”.

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This was our view of the Arabian Sea for an hour or so as the sun began to head towards the horizon.

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Some people play ……………

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……….. and some people work.

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We took the boat back south from Anjuna to Baga beach …………. 

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…….. watching the sun go down on the way.

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People play right up to the last minute.

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Getting off the boat at Baga (a shoes and socks off sort of job) we decided to take a seat at yet another shack and have a drink and some food, as we hadn’t eaten since breakfast. The kind local guy who offered to take this pic put his own artistic interpretation on the event!

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Baga Beach, as the sun sets, gets ready for the evening trade.

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As we had our meal we watched the final moments of the day’s sunshine – a whopping 34 degrees again today!

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After a taxi ride back to Candolim we popped into a local Barber’s shop. Doug had a shave and a head back and arm massage and James had a hair cut, shave (beard, eyebrows), a head back and arm massage and full facial moisturise. A total of £7 for the two of us!

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And James’ barber wanted to be in on the photos!

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