Hello again!

Well here we are in Goa, India at Palolem Beach. We arrived in India on the evening of their big festival of Diwali. We've never been in India for this festival before and it was really nice to see. Houses and businesses were lit up with candles and fairy lights and little clay pots burning coconut oil with cotton wicks. Flower garlands hung over doorways. Colourful paper lanterns were hanging off balconies and doorsteps had colourful chalk Rangoli designs (see photos).

We spent the first five days at Colva Beach and met quite a few locals that we remembered from last time we were here in 2005. After Colva we moved two hours bus ride down the coast to Palolem Beach - our all time favourite spot in India. Here we are staying in the same hotel, same room as the last two times we visited. It is nice to see the couple who run the hotel again and apart from painting the whole hotel pink (!) inside and outside (!) there have been hardly any changes (last time it was blue).

It's lazy days for us at the moment. We walk on the beach and swim and read books. Sometimes we visit the nearby town for supplies but mostly we are just hanging out. We've found some nice curry restaurants so that makes us happy. My only worry at the moment is the giant cockroaches (and I mean huge suckers - think Melbourne cockroach and triple the size and add wings) that seem to find their way into our room each evening. Brian has taken on the hero role and has been catching them but they are quite off putting. Especially as last night when we were watching a DVD on the laptop and one flies in sits on the bed with us. We've had one cockroach every night for three nights in a row. Does this imply an infestation? I think so. Thing is, its so hot here that we have to have the door and window open or our concrete room would become a furnace and I think this gives them freedom to just march on in. Ah well, I guess its just one of those things I will have to accept.

On Saturdays at the nearby town of Chaudi they have a big vegetable market. It's a wonderful place to see with all the ingrediants for a curry piled up in mounds. All the vegetables are so fresh and the spices smell great. I have also being doing henna and have met many henna artists (locals) on the beach. They have some wonderful designs here and its so inspirational. It's a nice way to meet the local ladies as we share an interest. I am once again spellbound by the culture here. It's so colourful and the people are really nice and friendly. Never do you see such colour as in India - the saris, the sparkly bindis, our pink hotel!

Ok, enough from me for now. Hope this message finds you all well.

Lots of love and smiles
Kerry and Brian
xx