Panaji & Old Goa

Have enjoyed Panaji, it's certainly the most pleasant of all the towns we have visited in India so far. It is little wonder Goa is India's primary tourist state (and subsequently the richest), with it's sandy beaches, seafood and the attractive (if a little rundown) European architecture of it's cities and towns, it is most un-Indian. There's a slight feeling of being in a bubble in Goa, far from the chaos and filth, but also the excitement and intrigue of the rest of India. Whilst we like it here and are looking forward to another couple of weeks lazing around, we are equally keen to jump on the plane to Calcutta and get back into the thick of it.

We are staying in the Alfonso Guesthouse, an immaculate, colonial style building with sparkling clean rooms and a very friendly owner. It's a tad over budget, but worth every penny. We splashed out on dinner last night too, going to one of the plusher places in town. I had chicken for the first time since arriving in India - it was good, but I had the same feeling I have when eating seafood in India; that I am somehow taking a risk....I think I may stick to vegetarian food for the remainder of the trip. Old Goa is just 9km from Panaji and only 7 rupees on the bus. We took a trip over there this morning, plodded around it's modestly impressive set of convents, ruined churches (and some not so ruined churches) and even took in the Archaeological Museum (a hefty 5 rupee entrance fee). It was just OK, worthy of a couple of hours at least.

Tomorrow we head to the airport at Dabolim to meet our friends, Rew and Jim, who are coming out for a two week holiday. We have booked accommodation for the first week in Palolem so will be heading back down to South Goa for more beer and beach.

Back in Goa

Back in Goa after a few days temple gazing and boulder watching in Hampi. We spent last night in Margao as we really couldn't be bothered with the bus journey to Panaji after 7.5 hours on a train. Turned out to be a mere 45 minute journey to Goa's capital. Goa is an ex-Portuguese colony and this is reflected in many of the buildings here in Panaji. There's also lots of shops and a distinct lack of traffic/pollution. All in all, it's quite a nice city.

Hampi

The seven hour train journey to Hampi flew by. We talked solidly for five of those seven with an India man named Mohan, from Bangalore. He spoke enthusiastically about India and taught us a lot that we did not know. I will never forget: “You must go to Bijapur – biggest statue in the world – you will really freak out” and “DVDs are very cheap in India – I have Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Police Academy 1 to 7”. He was great.

Hampi is a really pleasant little town, stuck in the middle of nowhere in the state of Karnataka. It was once the capital of one of the largest Hindu empires in Indian history and so has many ruined temples in and around it. The scenery is stunning and many of the guesthouses here have rooftop restaurants where you can enjoy your evening meal against an incredible backdrop as the sun goes down (no beer allowed here though). Yesterday was mostly spent booking trains and hotels for the next part of our trip in Eastern India as it is a busy time of year in Calcutta due to an Indian festival and holiday. We were concerned we would not be able to proceed as planned, but, due in part to a very friendly woman at the train station who allowed us to book foreign tourist quota tickets for friends not yet in the country, we now have all the tickets we need. It’s a significant weight off our minds. Today we hired bicycles and cycled around the local area to see some of the ruined temples. It was good fun, although soured slightly by our not being able to locate the one place we had been assured sold alcohol…oh well, probably for the best. We have two more days of relaxing in Hampi before we head back to Goa….for more relaxing ;o)

Margao, Goa

We're in Margao (Goa's biggest town) for one night as we are getting a train to Hampi in the morning. We really want to go to Darjeeling but it is right in the north eastern corner of India (and we are currently in the south west) and so we have decided to fly. We have one way tickets to Calcutta, flying on 13th October from Bombay. We then have to get a night train up to a place called New Jaisalpur, before getting the Toy Train (the train itself is a UNESCO World Heritage site) up to Darjeeling. Can't wait!

Goa is a good place to chill out, with cheap beer and great food and it is easy to get stuck at the beach if you are in no hurry (sometimes it feels more like Thailand than India). Goa also seems to be missing India's customary throngs of traffic and general street chaos (maybe it's the time of year?) We have friends coming out to join us for two weeks and so will be heading back to the beaches soon, and, we have just learned, another friend coming out to join us in Calcutta/Darjeeling, which is great.

We will definitely post some photos in Hampi (this computer is so old I suspect it's mechanical).

Palolem...again

It looks a lot nice here now we've eaten food and slept. There's nice places to eat and drink and beer is much cheaper than elsewhere. The beach is dirty cos it's the monsoon season, which also explains why all the beach huts are covered with filthy tarpaulins. We like it here and plan to stay for a few days.

Ellora Caves & Palolem pics

Palolem, Goa

Howdy. Just a quick update - hopefully stick up a load of pics and some more details in the very near future. We went to a town called Aurangabad from Nasik and ended up staying for three nights. While a little grotty, we stayed in a great place with a nice restaurant and visited the nearby World Hertitage site at Ellora. The site consists of about 30 caves carved into the rock, some of which are pretty impressive. We also visited the "mini taj mahal", an exact replica of the real thing and fairly impressive in it's own right. After Aurangabad we travelled south to Pune and stayed for a night before getting a night train down to Goa. The train was fine, we shared a cabin with a young Indian couple and their daughter. We headed to Benaulim beach as soon as we arrived but it seemed pretty deserted so we are now in Palolem. The bus journey was an incredible experience, at one point it would have been physically impossible to squeeze another person on board (there were three people hanging out of the door and I virtually had an Indian man on my lap!) To be honest, we were a little underwhelmed upon arrival - the beach is palm fringed and attractive, but hardly pristine. The accommodation leaves a little to be desired and travellers out number Indians by three to one at least (but then we haven't eaten or showered or slept much for 24 hours, so maybe our opinions will change!). More coming very soon...promise...

Nasik, Maharstra

Well, India is something else. Quite an incredible culture shock and will definitely take some getting used to. Currently, about an hour of walking round is as much as we can handle before we have to head back to the hotel for a lie down! We were just getting to grips with Bombay (and quite enjoying it) when we decided to get a train to a place called Nasik. Booking the tickets proved easier than we expected, but we ended up in a second class sleeper, which is one above the lowest class you can get! It was certainly a baptism of fire. Just walking along the street in India is an insane experience; people stare at us constantly and the traffic is total chaos with every vehicle jockeying for position and constantly beeping their horns. The food is great though!

By far the most shocking thing about arriving in Bombay is the poverty. Walking out of the hotel at night you have to step over the bodies of people sleeping on the pavement (of which there are literally hundreds), not to mention the big rats! Whilst we haven't been hassled too much (there was a woman with a baby and a monkey on a chain who gave us some trouble), occasionally it's hard to walk past the beggars with out giving them a few coins. The train journey out of Mumbai took us through miles and miles of the worst slums we have ever seen. The tracks are lined with enormous piles of rotting rubbish and lines of men literally shitting onto the tracks (they simply have nowhere else to go). It's quite an eye opener.

Bombay Photos

Mumbai

Just a quickie to let y'all know we've arrived and survived our first night here. It's pretty crazy. The taxi journey from the airport to the hotel was one of the most insane and incredible experiences I've ever had! Hopefully stick some photos up very soon.

Northern Territory

The last week has been bloody great! Stopping in the Northern Territory was never our intention and was the suggestion of the guy at Trailfinders who sold us our tickets. Really glad we came to this interesting and unique part of the country, as I doubt we would ever have visited otherwise.

After picking up the van in Darwin, we headed east to Kakadu National Park and spent our first night at a bush camp in a place called Ubirr (a bush camp is a (usually unmanned) government run and maintained campsite with basic facilities). Next day we drove down through Kakadu, visiting a number of Aboriginal art sites, before spending the night in Cooinda. The Aboriginal art was a little disappointing to be honest – of little artistic worth and interesting only due to it’s age (and we suspect much of it was more modern than was suggested). The next night was spent in a lovely place called Edith Falls. Fantastic, picturesque, waterfall fed billabongs to swim in and a really excellent campsite with a super friendly atmosphere. Next we drove down to Katherine Gorge and then on into Litchfield National Park. Again, lots of great billabongs and rock pools to swim in (crocodile risk is minimal!) and cool places to camp. Our final night was spent in the best campsite of all, at a place called Berry Springs. Lovely, shady sites, free fishing tackle hire, a freshwater crocodile enclosure, kangaroos bouncing about the place and even an open air cinema! The mother of all campsites!

Driving in the outback basically entails hours of nothing but termite mounds, crappy trees and a roadside littered with kangaroo carcasses, punctuated by the occasional town (often consisting of little more then a petrol station and a small shop). Whilst the national parks were good, the best bit for us was the camping as loads of Aussies do it and they seem to really love it, with their enthusiasm and friendliness really rubbing off on us. We’re definitely keen to come back here and spend more time driving round the country.

Tomorrow we fly in to India. Whilst it’s a fairly daunting prospect, we are both really excited and can’t wait to get there.