Well here I am in Goa ...
I'd originally planned to head to Varanasi and Bodh Gaya but then the beach called .... a couple of cool nights in Rishikish did it. There's nothing like hangin out in a cold concrete cell to make you reflect on things ... ask any prisoner!
So .... I got the train to Delhi - very crowded, five hours, windows so dirty you could not see a thing out of them ... but ... free breakfast!! - a not bad omlette, two slices of white bread and the ubitquitous chai. I love the chai you get in the train stations ... 5 rupees .. served in a small unglazed pottery bowl/cup, that you throw onto the tracks when you are done! - saves on gravel I guess!
Then it was crosstown Delhi (pollutted - crowded - hot) to the rather pathetic domestic airport and a flight to Goa on Indigo ... one of the new private airlines that have recently sprung up in India. Often things turn out to be a lot less (or certainly different) than you expect in India, but for once this wasn't .. brand new Airbus aircraft ... 20 people on board, four immaculatly dressed stewrdesses. A 2.5 hr flight for $75.
I stayed the first two nights in Panjim, the State Capital, in a hotel that was one of the nicest I've ever stayed in. The Panjim Inn - located in a Portugese Heritage building, filled with antiques, air condititioned with a very welcoming staff - totally charming. Panjim was a nice surprise too .. Goa, an old Portugese Colony was once called the Rome of Asia) is full of old colonial buildngs, but is fairly clean, attractive with a prosperous feel to it.
I did make the mistake of going on a "sunset cruise" - the Indian version of a booze cruise ... about 100 Indian tourists and five or six westerners. The boat left about a half hour AFTER sunset ... nobody drank much ... thank goodness - but we were subjected to ear shattering Indian techno music and a demented DJ who alternativly cajoled children, couples, men and then women to the dance floor (in that order) - whilst telling the most patetic and sexist jokes imaginable. Thank goodness I didn't choose the 2 hour cruise.
I'm now at Sweet Lake Beach, just north of Arambol beach living in a very "basic" bamboo hut - literally 30 feet from the water at high tide. One extreme of luxury to the other! I have mixed feelings about Arambol .... The beach is lovley ... very long ... it's very touristy - mainly a young western crowd - predominantly dope smoking Isralis - I don't know what it is about Israli youth .. but as a group they seem very rude and cliquey. This means prices are high (for India) - lot's of western food, and all the computers are set to Hebrew .. you have to change them back to use them. For some reason the internet is painfully slow (only phone connections - sorry no pictures folks) and the streets behind the beach are filled with lot's of Israli younth guys on rented motorcycles that don't know how to ride them ... but are very intent on looking "cool"
On the other hand I've hooked up with Matt, Teresa and their daughter Ruby .. along with Sonia and Laura, my old neighbhors from the apartment in McLeod - nice to have friends to have supper with ..
I think I will begin a southward migration to less touristed spots Tues or Wednesday of next week.
