Tonight is our last night in Goa before we head off for bustling Delhi. We should be expecting a large contrast says everyone here...

The past few days has been spent like the first, sleeping, eating, drinking and sunbathing either on the beach or next to the beach.

Our first stop was Palolem beach. This is the neighboring beach to where we have been staying and is supposed to be one of the most beautiful beaches is in India. We set off after doing some standard haggling with a local Rickshaw Driver. Some regard their prices as "Cheap as chips" which obviously produced a few laughs. We adopted the haggling technique of Laughing at their price, offering a third of what they said before proceeding to walk away after they decline. They soon come running.... So we arrived on Palolem beach (Pictured above) after paying 80p or there abouts for transport. Our immediate reaction was WOW. It was beautiful. Lots and lots of local men and women, many many beach restaurants and plenty of sun beds. At first glance we were under the impression that this was going to be an authentic-ish experience! This was right before we settled down for something to eat in a restaurant which specialised in food "From the great wall of China."

We soon realised why there were many local men and women on the beach. They were constantly trying to sell us stuff. Got rather annoying, although with practice I felt comfortable declining all the time, Emily on the other hand managed to buy herself an ankle bracelet. This only attracted more of the sellers attempting to "give us good price." Plus if they werent selling, the local men were perving on girls. Not very nice when they are running round in their underwear. They did bring amusment as we watched them (unable to swim bare in mind) thrash around in the water with 4/5 foot waves owning them.

One of the friends we made called Lily told us to come with her and her friend Hanz to a beach called Cola beach. After haggling some more we arrived ahead of lily and Hanz at what seemed like a cliff face... We were then told we had to treck down to the beach which was more difficult in flip flops. The whole 10 minutes down we were thinking "What the hell is this place that stupid Israeli has led us to." We were soon to realise that it was worth it. We had a whole beach essentially to ourselves. Amazing. Plus there was a river which you could float down there aswell. We spent most of the day here with them before going home. We met her friend Hanz who was a real idol... The list of things he has done is crazy. Model, Nurse, Yearly traveller, wood chopper and a costume designer for Madonna! Not suprising he is gay (the pink inflatable belongs to Hanz). Great guy though. We went home after this to meet another friend, also an interesting crazy person, for dinner before having a quick power nap which would prepare us for the headphone disco.

The headphone disco was pretty good, drinks were cheap, lots of English but plenty of others there aswell. I managed to see a friend from home aswell by chance...small world. By the end of the night the alcohol, and the haggling stubbornness had got to us as we turned down a 2.60 rickshaw back home. We werent paying that extortionate amount of money at 5 in the morning. He must have thought we were stupid. We were.... We ended up going to a 24hour bar for food before deciding we would WALK home along the beaches... It was tough, however we did managed to find a dog coined "patnem" who followed us for over 45minutes home through thick and thin. Highlight of the walk was arriving back on Patnem beach with all of the other dogs barking at this new arrival. Things got very aggressive but Patnem stayed strong before taking what can only be a "victory dump" in front of all of them. Middle finger to them all essentially. He seems to be fitting in fine though now.

We were supposed to be seeing dolphins this morning but we didnt get to sleep till 8am. Maybe tomorrow before we leave for Delhi.

In other news

Toms tan is coming on nicely, with natives now believing he is Indian sometimes.

Emily is working hard although her legs do not seem to be complying.