29/1/10 Panaji to Madgaon/Margao

We woke up reasonably early to get a taxi to one of Goas bigger towns Madgaon or Margao as its also known. The newspaper had an update on the sexual assault case. The police had gone to arrest the main suspect and his work colleagues had tipped him off so he'd done a runner too...suprise, suprise !! He eventually got arrested in Mumbai where he'd tried to hide with famly but they'd turned him away. A lot of the town names have been changed back to their original names as opposed to the names the British gave them so it can be a bit confusing. We spoke to one taxi driver who barely looked up from his paper then gave a really inflated price for the journey so we bypassed his offer. The next one we saw offered us a more realistic price so we began to load the car. A French woman came across and asked us if we minded her sharing the car which of course we didn't but then a man pointed out that we were actually going in the wrong direction for her. She wanted to go to Mandrem not Madgaon but the accents and language barrier had caused a confusion so it was just the two of us again. It was a nice 40 minute drive through tropical, rural Goa into the bustling town of Madgaon. The drive was the usual whacky races style of driving, no seatbelts and no road sense!!! The driver took us to the Goan Tourisms own hotel in the centre of town called the Madgaon Residency and Phil popped in to see the rooms. The cheapest was ok but needed to be cleaned before we could have it so we waited a short while then got the keys. We left the bags in the room and as there wasn't too much to see in the town we had decided to make an effort to write the blog. We tried to find a coffee shop which the Lonely Liar had mentioned but funnily enough it wasn't there !!! We found a place serving some non Indian choices and had sandwiches for lunch then headed to the nearest internet cafe for a few hours typing. Phil had to rearrange a train then loaded some photos on while Liz managed to catch up quite well with the diary side. Phil needed to use the loo but he didn't realise he had gone into the ladies until he got a glare on his way out. He is changing into a lady anyway with his manbag and sarong so maybe he meant to use the ladies !!! The internet shop closed at half seven so we wandered about to find another but without success. India has no night scene at all . Mumbai had a few clubs but elsewhere it has been pretty dead by about ten. We found a shop selling all sorts of Indian snacks and we got a couple of bags of the most delicious Bombay mix from there. After that we decided t return to the restaurant over the road from the hotel as the Lonely Planet said it was good. The restaurant was really colonial inside with ceiling fans and quite cool decor but the food wasn't really up to much. All the food we've had so far has been pretty good. Phil ordered steak egg and chips but it arrived on a tiny plate. The steak although cooked nicely was covered in a spiced sauce with the fried egg sitting on top and only seven small chips with it !!! Lizzies curry wasn't the best either but the food filled a hole. We went back to the room to watch TV as there was little else to do then went to bed. It was Friday night though which is scary night on one of the cable channels so we watched some films before sleep.

30/1/10 Colva and Benaulim Beach

We woke up and showered in our cockroach infested room. We had both ,amaged to murder a few but they still kept crawling out of nooks and crannys. Fortunately they are quite small so Liz is able to sleep without panicking she will find one crawling on her. We packed a bag for a day on the beach then headed out to find the local bus to Colva beach which was about 6km away. At the busy bus stand there was a bus for Colva waiting to go which we boarded and sat on. The buses pull out when they are full so wewaited about 5 minutes for some more people to pile on. As with most things here it was all very chaotic and noisy at the bus stop as the conductors continually yell the destination of their bus at the waiting crowd until it is full. It was a funny 20 minute drive to the beach with both the driver and conductor yelling out of the windows where the bus was going to anyone we passed just in case anyone wanted a ride. We arrived in Colva where the bus stopped right next to the bridge onto the beach. We went to have breakfast in one of the restaurants near the beach but the food wasn't great (Phil said his breakfast was minging) and it was overrun with flies!!! We crossed the bridge which had some pretty massive and deep holes in it onto the beach. The beach itself was very long and wide with really clean sand and a lovely inviting blue sea. We watched a few parasails fly off on the back of speedboats but were pretty disgusted when the lad tolds us he'd give us the Indian price and not the "white price" . Some of the stuff going on against any non Indians would be banned for being racist at home. There is certainly a white mans tax here on most things but we are all just seen as very rich Westerners so they feel justified in charging us all more. The beach even had a proper lifeguard station with lifeboats and lifeguards which was alot better than the solitary old man on duty in Arambol. We walked along the beach which becomes Benaulim beach after a couple of kms. The beach must stretch for miles as we couldn't see either end of it even after a couple of hours walking. We stopped for a drink at a beach cafe and chatted to a Canadian couple who said we were the first native English speakers they'd met as most of the tourists were Russian or German. The lady had been to the North of India before and agreed with us that things are much more relaxed in the South and the people so much nicer too. They told us that, where we were, in the South of Goa was more of a geriatric place as the crowd were older which we had noticed as we had walked along. As the beach was so huge it seemed really quiet and unspoilt as the beach chairs and bars were really sparse and spread out. We walked all the way along to past Banaulim then turned round to return to nearer Colva for the afternoon. We found two free sunbeds just near the main beach of Colva and spent the next couple of hours relaxing and swimming in the warm sea and sun. We had a great time people spotting as there were some sorry looking swimsuits on some equally sorry looking skeletons. One lady obviously hadn't treated herself to a new swimsuit in years as it became completely see through when it got wet so we got a nice clear view of everything which was not a pleasant sight!!! There were quite a few women in really skimpy bikinis and some were topless despite advice telling people that its offensive to the locals and to be a bit conservative on the beach. The Russian and German men all wear really tight speedos or fitted shorts which leave nothing to the imagination either. The Indian tourists think nothing of staring at the "ghost people" and will take photos of the flesh thats on display too, they've not done it to Liz thankfully. We decided to stay there until sunset and get a meal too as the choices were better than back in Madgaon. We ate in the restaurant which owned the sunbeds we were using and the food was lovely as was the sunset. At 6.30 we walked along the beach to catch the bus back. The first Madgaon bus was crammed full so we sat on another empty one behind. It soon staring filling up too especially as the driver was determined to get it filled. He spent the next fifteen minutes yelling at the top of his voice and pressing the horn, which was really deafening, to get people onto the bus. We drove off once the bus was full and wildly made our way back to town. One little old chap paid for his fare with a few bags of candy floss he'd been trying to sell on the beach. Once back in Madgaon it was about 8 so we went back to the room, showered and watched TV again as there was little else to do at that hour!!!