6th - 8th Sept. Colva

Fresh local Goan fish: 2 (lovely garlic, chilli mackerel)
Taxi offers: thousands!
Jewellery sellers: too many!
Rain showers: morning, lunch, tea, evening, and night
Power cuts: 2

On arriving we realised we have come at the lowest season when nothing's open, so we didn't go down to the quiet picturesque beach of Palolem, but to the closest and busier beach, Colva.

Colva, and Goa itself didn't live up to expectation, but maybe it's due to the off-peak season. I'm sure it would be different during peak time when the sun is shining and the sea is blue.

One thing we were impressed with, was the tenacity of the taxi drivers and the jewellery sellers. One after another, they would ask whether we would want a taxi or a bike, eventhough they have just heard us turn down another person a second before! They then would always end it with, 'maybe tomorrow?'

During one evening's walk along the lovely beach lined with palm trees (but also rubbish here and there), we had to dive for cover from the Monsoon rain under one of the wooden local fishing boats along with the local pack of dogs who's territory we had entered. They didn't particularly like us being there, so they sat outside in the rain looking sorry for themselves. (We have pictures of this which will be online soon.)

We found the accomodation expensive (as there wasn't much to choose from), and thought it too quiet, so we decided to go further north, to Anjuna, where they have the world famous flea markets.

8th - 9th Sept. Anjuna

The taxi journey to Anjuna was around 1 1/2 hour, which was 800 rupees (10 pounds) and dropped us off at a lovely looking resort which was way out of our buget. So we put our rucksacks on and walked (rather I staggered (Vik)) down the road where we were offered very basic accommodation at 200 rupees per night (just over 2 pounds), and it certainly looked like it! Although, it did have a lovely view of the sea! (Take a look at movie and pictures when uploaded).

Sunday, we hired a moped so we could have a look at the scenery and find some other accommodation around Baga and Calangute. The hiring was easy, no need for licence, helmet, or insurance details - just twist and go! The moped was fun, and it was nice and cool riding on it instead of walking (as no self respecting person would do around here).

Baga and Calangute were certainly a lot busier than the other resorts we had visited in Goa, more restuarants, more shops, more Indian tourists and lots more taxi offers! We wizzed round (on our 'ped) the places that were listed in the Lonely Planet but found that they were either full or still shut for the monsoon, so we started looking further afield. We ended up on a quiet track leading down to the beach and rather accidently found "Ema's Guest House" which was protected by a large, barking dog which acted as a door bell. The room we were offered was a lot cleaner and more spacious (see pics) than we were currently living in and at 300 rupees (about 3 pounds 80 ish), it was a steal!

With our task for the day safely in the bank we headed off on our trusty 'ped to do some sightseeing at Fort Aguada (Portuguese Fort ruins), just down the coast. Wasn't much of the fort left to see to be honest, but there was a Bollywood film being produced while we were there and that provided a fair bit of entertainment for us (see pics).

10th - 15th Sept. Calangute

On arriving at Ema's place she offered us breakfast and prepared a gorgeous Portuguese-style omlette with fresh corriander and chai (extremely sugary, milky, strange-tasting tea) and also asked if we had any laundry (all for a small charge* obviously, as the people here are always very enterprising).

* Laundry about 8p per item - bargain'est goldmine ever!

We spent most of the rest of the week 'acclimatising' which basically involves eating local delicacies, drinking Kingfisher (at 90p a large bottle!!) and lounging around. By the way it has been still raining, so not much sunbathing (but still extremely hot and humid).

On Wednesday we hired a 'ped from Ema and set off to Panajim and Old Goa (on main roads not really suited to out little 'ped) to explore the Portuguese old town and churches (see pics). The churches in Old Goa were impressive (but once you've seen one...), including the remains of a dead saint, but they weren't really a patch on Italy and all had a big damp problem due to the constant monsoon rain.

Instead of going straight up to Delhi (which was our original plan), we thought we would like to see Hampi, a place which is suppose to be of great archeological importance and, according to some guy we met in Colva, a very 'special' place.

We arranged through a travel agent (as you'd have to be a genius to decipher the Indian Railway website), to take a train there and back to Hampi, and also the train to Delhi. We did ponder on the possibility to fly to Delhi (as the train will take 30 hours), but changed our minds as this would have cost 50 pounds and we have more time than money (would blow a big part of our buget).