Day 44 - Mangalore to Palolem beach, Goa - Tuesday 29th November 2011

For once we arrived early, an hour early to be precise. The problem with this was that the station we arrived at was not very touristy or a busy station for locals, in fact it was dead. Plus it was in the middle of nowhere with no buses and there were only a few rickshaw drivers so we were a bit stuck for haggling. We ended up (what we think) paying double what we should have to get us across town. The reason we needed to be the other side of town was because our next train left from there, not the station we arrived at (I blamed Soph!!). After waving goodbye to our cheating rickshaw driver we set off walking and walking and some more walking. After walking for 30 minutes of walking in 33 degree heat with all our bags trying to look for a place to have breakfast we had an idea as we saw the magnificent Ocean Pearl Hotel. This place was beautiful and way out of our league. However our plan couldn't fail… or could it? We had decided to crash the hotel, stash the bags and get some breakfast. We walked in looking like a couple of sweaty homeless people and made our way past the crystal chandler and down towards the restaurant, it was 8am and not many people were around so it was easy. The restaurant was empty so we asked for a menu; the waiter told us that there was unfortunately no menu as it was buffet. Wow! Buffet!! "How much?" we asked expecting the worst. "200rs each" He replied (about £2.50) I asked if that was per meal. It wasn't - it was as much as you like!! It was amazing - we had 3 coffees each, 2 porridge and bannanas with honey, 8 slices of toast, water melon and pineapple, 2 omelettes and some masala dosas!! Plus we stole some bananas to have at lunch! We were well and truly stuffed and all for just a couple of quid!! With the thought of pushing our luck, we enquired if they had WIFI - they did and we used for 3 hours, plus using their business centre to print off our next train tickets. 5 hours after arriving we left, in the end the Ocean Pearl did us proud!

We walked back to the station to go to Cancona - Goa, for some coco beach-hut time! After about an hour on the train it stopped in the middle of nowhere, after about half an hour I realised that our carriage was suddenly empty, we looked out the window and everyone was on the tracks!! I left Soph to her book and joined the others. It was so weird, we were all just sitting on the tracks chatting and watching to see if we were there all night or if the train needed fixing etc. I stayed for about 20 mins then got on, 5 mins later we were moving again and it was quite funny watching everyone trying to get back on the moving train!

We arrived at Cancona Train station and got another rickshaw to 'The Place -Sea View' right next door to Flavia Paradice, where our friends Roger and Emma stayed last year. It was a coco hut right on the beach (which really means small brightly painted garden shed on stilts, plus a bed!) we loved it and at 400rs a night it was cheap!! We dropped our bags, sorted the passports and headed for a quick beer! 30 mins later we were ready for bed, still full up from all our breakfasts!!

Day 45, 46, 47 -Palolem beach, Goa - Wednesday 30th November, Thursday 1st, Friday 2nd December 2011

Ah the beach! Come daylight, Palolem beach is lovely, if a bit touristy. Fringed with palm trees and surrounding by green, lush forests it's a pretty ideal setting.

Our first day started with breakfast at titanic bar - such a classic name. We then sat in the sun all day and soaked up the rays as well as the goings on of the beach. It's an interesting people watching experience to say the least. We witnessed more than several times today pairs of girls doing "photo shoots" with each other - it's like a scene out of FHM or a soft porn mag with pouty poses whilst seductively laying on the beach ( to Adams disappointment!) the only difference is the models are like something out of readers wife magazine. It's great fun to watch!

After a full day of lazing in the sun, we showered and walked over the little footbridge to the next beach, Colomb bay, for some dinner of 2 different kinds of fresh fish. We got chatting to the waiter who was a really nice guy and also a couple called Stephie and Tim who were just at the end of their 16 months of travelling as well as cuddling up the friendliest stray dog ever - who I named Simbar! I broke my "no drinking for a month" with a beer! It was good!

Next day, we headed back out for our usual breakfast followed by lazing in the sun but come afternoon we met up with Stephie and Tim and went for a boat ride to fish and try to spot dolphins. The boat owner was a really nice guy and has 4 daughters so we felt a bit sorry for him (4 daughters equals 4 lots of dowry to give - very costly!). We rode out and after an hour anchored up for our fishing - we'd joked with the guy in the restaurant that if we caught a big fish he'd have to cook it up for us for free! Well, maybe that tempted fate as an hour later we (by we, I mean the boys) had caught 4 baby snapper fish the size of a goldfish - there goes dinner! Oh well, we thought, maybe we'll have more luck with the dolphin spotting especially as everyone says there is a really high percentage that dolphins will be spotted. No luck there either! Our fisherman looked even more disappointed than us! That night, we went to one of the restaurants on our beach and ate fresh fish - slightly larger and tastier then the baby snapper we caught!

Next day we were up early (well early for us) and out on the beach ready for our last day in the sun! The usual day followed of lots of eating and people watching. I took particular interest in these 2 russian woman with 2 little boys who seem to be permanently naked. Now, I have no issue with little kids being naked on the beach but we'd seen them the night before at 10.30pm and the kids still had no clothes on. Now, whilst I was munching on yet more food I turned to see one of the kids weeing on a dog in the middle of the restaurant whilst his mum looked on and laughed. I tried not to judge but can't help but think this is not ideal parenting - rant over, sorry.

That evening we went for some food and as a mini celebration of our last night decided to try some of the wine - it tasted like sweet sherry, I suppose India is not renowned for its wine. Better stick to the beer until we get to Australia!