Hi!

We are now in Palolem as most of you know from the last entry! It is absolutly beautiful here, we left Colva (which was basically a loooooong stretch of sand) and drove south some more to Palolem (a bay with an island on the north end). Ever seen lost? Scenery a lot like that! (palms, fronting the bay, green hilly mountains in tha background)  

We were a little sad to leave Colva as we miss our waiters from Strobes beach shack (chuckle brothers), and we kinda liked it there! We got a taxi down to Palolem for 500rupees which was real cheap but one one condition that we went into 2 shops! (OH NO) But we said we would go into one and thats it!!! Out of all the shops he could have taken us to to get commission he took us to a carpet shop! We walked in, turned around and walked straight out! Thats all you have to do and the taxi driver still gets a coupon for some reason! (maybe he needed a new carpet and its discount for himself. who knows).

We arrived and the beach front of Palolem and was mesmerised by the sight, alllll along the front of the bay are palm trees, and in amounst them are all the coconut and bamboo huts in little villages with a restaurants fronting the beach. There are some that look amazing (but are So expensive) and some that look shabby that are still expensive for what they are. We found a really nice hut, and ppl were just leaving so we were lucky! It had a bathroom (which many dont) and got it for what we found out to be a cheap price (we did barter tho).

Our hut was more like a tree house! We had to climb up a near vertical ladder, and a palm tree went through the bathroom and out the roof! It fronted the beach so we could sit on the balcony and read at night looking out to the sea (but so noisy in the mornings).

The place was very nice but a squeeze and Richard thought he was going to go through the floor everytime he showered and braced himself holding onto something (probably the palm tree) as he showered! bless him , he always thinks the worst!

Anyways he stayed 4 nights, which apparently is quite along time as we had 3 different neighbours during that stay, before moving to a guesthouse on the street (Pritams cottages). For cheaper than the hut, you get cable tv (always a good thing) nice secure shower room, a lovely grately appeciated fan, and a room you could move about in without stepping over your bag all the time. Needed a break from the noise of the sea crashing and the heat as the fan in the hut didnt work! The hut just needed to be experienced, and now we are back to clean, spacious room (and richard can now shower using both hands).

Yesterday we were taking it easy lying on the beach when suddunly this woman came screaming out of a restaurant behind us shouting "dolphin dolphin theres a dolphin". I was pretty amazed as it was so close to the shore and it was just 2 metres from ppl swimming, and was around for ages, but i dont think it quite needed that reaction! (As from the 10's of ppl on the shore trying to get you into there boats for dolphin trips you know there around). But it was remarkable just watching the dolphin surface and go back under!

Another funny animal story is one about a cow! Even though we are in goa and cows arent holy here, they seem to still get treated well! We were walking off the beach lastnight, must have been 10ish, walking up the street we happened to glanced in a restaurant, (probably a cow in the doorway that got our attention and made us laugh, commenting that he wanted a table) inside was this huge cow standing at and eating from a table, being stoked by a guy (had to be a westener though).

Our plans have changed slightly and we are going to fly upto mumbai (cheaper than rail!!!!) on the 1st dec and go inland to visit some buddist caves, theres 30 of them i believe before heading back to mumbai and catching our flight to Thailand!

Just uploaded some more pics for you! take care xx

UPDATE

Today (29th Nov) we got up amazingly early at 8.30, to face a boat trip! We enquired about it yesterday and got a good deal on a dolphin boat trip, which we had to do as 15 ppl as us up and down the beach everyday weve been here!  

It was just us 2 and the driver and the owner (these are just old wooden fishing boats with a motor on the back) it was a real nice trip, i would have been happy if we didnt see dolphins, but that made it more special. We could see the whole of palolem bay (looks more amazing from the sea than on it) and then the next bay (patnem) which is quite deserted, and all along the coast there were stetched of white sand. It must be the palm trees that have made Palolem so popular!!

We did see dolphins, although they kept swimming away from us and not showing again so we had to go looking for more so often. One left right out of the water which was amazing and then never showed up again. We also saw a group of them before they saw us and never surfaced again! I think these dolphins just must be shy! 

Where we are staying, they have this lovely dog (of course, EVERYONE whos anyone has a dog or several in goa) and he always runs up to the gate when we enter. On sunday we were off out to a british pub to get a sunday roast (SO YUMMY, and i miss them so much) Tinko (the dog) decided he wanted a walk, so he barged passed up at the gate and came with us! We did nt know if he was allowed out or not so we tried to convince him to go back. Walked him back, closed the gate and turned around to walk down the the pub again to find tinko looking at us disbelieving that we could ever try and shut him in!

We figured if he can jump over the wall he can get out whenever he wants so thats ok! He followed us all the way to the pub, came in and sat down under our table. After our delicious meal we got up to go, Tinko thought abuot it, but i think he wanted to stay (just one more).

Following this, everynight hes took it upon himself to give himself a walk with us, but if we go to far... say to the beach he stops, looks and makes sure we are going, turns back and goes home. (or so we thought). Apparently, the english guys next door to us saw him follow us down the street and said after he left us he found them in the pub and stayed with them!  sociable dog hey!

Thats it for now! Next time we'l be in mumbai xxxx