Day 17 (Sunday 23rd Dec 07)

Got up early and finished packing our bags. As promised went to see Ravi, he gave us a couple of CDs he liked as a present. Took some pictures of Ravi, his wife and his shop. Said goodbye and went
back to hotel to checkout. Took a photo of the staff at Amigo Plaza and Manuel picked us up to take us to Cavelossium. Got to Haathi Maahl, reception unorganised to say the least! Got given a room
looking out over the electricity pilons so asked if there were any rooms available facing the pool. Luckily they moved us and the room was a lot nicer. Went for some lunch and then did some much
needed washing! Had a walk around the hotel to see what was around and had something to eat.

Day 18 (Christmas Eve - Monday 24th Dec 07)

Got up and went down for a nice buffet breakfast. Played some cards and did the rest of our washing. Popped back to Casa Lisboa for a snack and then ventured out to find an internet cafe. Tried
uploading some more photos and copied all photos to date to CD as a back up. Got ready for our Christmas Eve Dinner Dance at the hotel. Amazing night, buffet was very impressive with lots of choice,
watermelon carvings, bread animals, ice statues and a prawn tower! Lots to drink, dancers, acrobats which were incredible and musicians. To finish the night off there were some fireworks, bit scary
as the guys lighting the things were so close to them!

Day 19 (Christmas Day - Tuesday 25th Dec 07)

Woke up and opened present from our families. Very nice surprise, lots of smushy stuff in the last few pages of the journal. Went down to breakfast and when we came back gave ourselves a budget to
go out a find a present for each other. Mark went out first and said to worry if not back in half an hour, all fine. Em then went out and was about 15 mins longer than she said she would be so Mark
was starting to panic! He had asked the bell boy if he had seen Em and didn't really help matters by saying "Not very nice people outside". Mark came searching but saw Em was coming back fine!
Difficult to get away from shops as they talk so much and don't want you to leave without buying anything! Sunbathed by the pool and had a swim. Used the hotel laptop to get on the internet and found
Skype worked which was a bonus so called home. Uploaded some more photos and went for something to eat.

Day 20 (Wednesday 26th Dec 07)

Got up and went down for breakfast. Em wasn't feeling very well. Went and lay by the pool. As it is so hot you can't lie for very long without going for a swim! Could here a cat crying somewhere
so we went to investigate. A tiny kitten obviously hungry and thirsty. When Mark ordered lunch the kitten ended up getting some of it! Made a new friend! Played lots of cards and got a lot of sun!
Didn't realise just how much until we came inside, looked a bit like a cooked lobster. Lots of aftersun needed! Went for food at Casa Lisboa.

Day 21 (Thursday 27th Dec 07)

Em not feeling very well at all today. Went down for some breakfast but then back to bed for most of the day. Flicking through the channels on TV and saw on Goa News that they were advising all
tourists to be out of Goa by the 28th, tommorrow, because of violent protests. Did some research on the internet and asked around and decided we should be ok, that we would just stay in the hotel.
Went out down the road to get some supplies and back to the room as Em was not feeling well at all. Ordered some room service but Em couldn't eat hers. Played some cards and watched some more TV.
Went out for something to eat later on and used the internet again to call home on Skype.

Day 22 (Friday 28th Dec 07)

Got up for breakfast about 9.30ish again. Em still not feeling very well, thinking it could be to do with the Malaria tablets. Decided didn't want to sit in the room all day again so went down to
lay in the shade by the pool. Played some cards but Em really struggling. To make things worse a bird shat on Em's arm not once but twice. Mark was in hysterics!! VERY VERY FUNNY! Mark ordered a
snack (which wasn't devoured by the cat today!) Then went for a swim and back to the room to do some washing. Used the internet and had something to eat. Drank quite a few beers today.

Day 23 (Saturday 29th Dec 07)

Got up and had breakfast. Em feeling a bit better today. Tried to get hold of Jet Airways to change our Kolkata flight with no luck. Found out we would have to go to a travel agents to change the
flight. Lazed by the pool, swimming and playing cards. Had tea where they had a musician wandering around playing to everyone.

Day 24 (Sunday 30th Dec 07)

Got up and went down for breakfast. Had a lazy day today lying by the pool, swimming and playing cards! Another nice buffet in the evening.

Day 25 (New Year's Eve - Monday 31st Dec 07)

Wanted to try and sort out our flights today so got a taxi to Benalum as reception told us there was no travel agents where we were. After waiting a while spoke to the travel agent and they said
that they couldn't change our flight, complete waste of time! Em still not feeling well so stopped at a pharmacy on the way back and got some medicine and slept all afternoon so would feel okay for
the evening. Mark watched cartoons as nothing else on! Got ready for the New Year's Eve party which was another amazing night. Massive buffet, live band, tightrope walking, puppet show, fire eating,
guys jumping up and down on broken glass, lying on knives and fireworks! Lots of wine! Fanatastic way to bring in the new year!

Day 26 (New Year's Day - Tuesday 1st Jan 08)

Got up, Mark feeling a bit delicate! Sunbathed by the pool and had some nice swims! Went inside around mid-afternoon to use the internet to call home. Also booked our flight to Kolkata. After
coming back from tea realised we were meant to be checking our the next day! oopss! Made a bit of a mistake as we thought it was the day after! Knew there was no chance of having all our of stuff
packed up in time so asked if we could stay the extra night. We were told they wouldn't be able to tell us until tomorrow.

Day 27 (Wednesday 2nd Jan 08)

Got up early to find out if we could stay the extra night, luckily they said yes but it was an expensive mistake! Started to pack our bags and decided we needed some more bubble wrap so ventured
out to the stalls to try and find some. Bit of a nightmare! One of the guys said he had some bubble wrap so we went to his shop with him and he said to sit down while his brother bought it. Then he
spent ages trying to sell us rings. Even after explaining they were out of our price range he wouldn't take no and took us down the road to his "other" shop. We then had another guy go through the
whole thing with us! When we finally managed to get out of the shop we decided maybe it was best to give up with the bubble wrap idea and just go and get a newspaper. The first guy saw us before we
had a chance and said to go back to his shop and he would give us the bubble wrap. Again the whole process started! We said over and over again we would just take the bubble wrap and didn't want any
rings. Eventually he said he didn't know where he had put the bubble wrap but if we came back later he would have found it. This time we decided to definately give up with the bubble wrap idea!
Bought some newspapers and went back to the hotel! Packed some more of our bags and decided to go and lie by the pool. Packed some more of our bags and went for something to eat.