Goa:

December 6th, 2004 - December 11th, 2004

Hello... This message comes to you from Goa, India - a province on the west coast of the country, somewhere in the middle if you look vertically; or south of Bombay by about 600 km.

Our travels down here were nice - train with an A/C car. There are so many classes of trains one could get very confused. We had to leave at 5:30 am so we left our place in Bombay at 4:30. That was about the only time of day that there was no traffic... despite the chaos we have observed, many people have told us that Bombay has some of the more organized traffic in the country. We'll see as the newspaper said 300 new cars come into the city EACH DAY!

Goa is similar and different to Bombay. Similar in that people are always approaching you, but the motives are different. In Bombay it is pure begging. In Goa they are trying to sell you stuff - most of which you don't need or won't fit in a backpack meant for a 5 month journey! A smile and "No thank you" doesn't work here. They persist. If you say you will come back later, they make you promise that you will. You do get used to it and learn to be a little more forceful in your demeanor.

Our hotel is nice and is a bit away from the touristy area which is nice. They serve traditional Indian meals with the odd western food like omlette in the morning.

Goa is not quite the relaxed hippy paradise that you see on TV or that "your parents" hung out at. It is becoming overrun by Brits (which cheap destination is not!!!). Union jacks and other British memorabilia hang everywhere along the beach and "English Breakfast" and Chinese food are everywhere, of course. It is similar to the south coast of Spain in that regard - airports built to herd in the new crop of tourists each week or so. In fact, people first ask if we are British... just because we are pasty and white! But, proudly we inform them that we are Canadian and they sort of nod and wonder how we got lost in the mix here...

Having arrived yesterday afternoon we took a short walk down the beach. IT is much hotter here than Bombay - maybe 35 degrees versus 28. Thus, we have purchased some Indian style clothing... very light cotton shirts and pants. Most of it is being made by the tailor right now - you just go in and get everything measured and they make it. They tried to sell us suits, but what does one do with a suit in a backpack for 150 days and 6 countries?

Anyway, we took a car to Old Goa today, the former capital city from when the area was under Portuguese rule. There are lots of churches here for that reason and it is a neat contrast to what we have seen so far. We saw the Church of Bom Jesus which is the big attraction and was built in the early 1600's... the tomb of St. Francis Xavier has been exhumed this past month and is still ongoing for viewing - it is the first time in 12 years and likely the last - so there are tons of pilgrims around town and it made for a more festive atmosphere. We wandered the market and bought some local sweets and then came back to our place.

We will remain in Goa until Saturday before a 20-odd-hour train ride down the coast to Southern India where we will explore the backwaters of Kerala state and the town of Cochin (Kochi on some maps)...

Well it is Saturday morning here in Candolim, Goa and we are getting set to move on in our journeys. Our time in Goa has been nice, despite it being a large tourist area.

Things we'll miss include the daily conversations with buskers along the path:

Shop Keeper: "Come see my shop"
Us: "No thanks"
SK: "Tomorrow?"
Us: "Sure"
SK: "Promise?"

Or something along those lines... you hear that conversation about 20 times a day... at first you feel bad but after a while you just begin to ignore it. After talking to many of the local Goans, it appears that many of the people who come here to hawk goods are from other states. They take advantage of the tourist season and make money for 6 months here then return home and earn money for another 6 months. Meanwhile, the local people can only earn money for the half of the year where there are tourists - thus we try to support the local businesses and restaurants.

It's funny, the selling gets ingrained into the children as well. Upon walking to the beach the other day I had a 2-3 year old come up to me with a balloon and say "Ten Rupees?" I just laughed and said no thanks... that's equal to about 25-cents... but even the kids know the standard lines and try and use them on you in the markets... "Good price..." or "Early morning, lucky sale."

It happened to us in at the Anjuna Market on Wednesday which used to be a place for Hippies to trade goods and whatnot back in the 70's but has developed into more of a tourist trap. The people there are quite aggressive and at one point a shopkeeper grabbed Jess by the wrist and tried to pull her into the shop. I tried to pull back with the other arm to get her back but the lady would not let go. Finally I started yelling (a bit in jest) "Let go of my girlfriend... let go of my girlfriend." Finally the lady let go... I ended up with a simple wood bracelet at the market while Jess got a sarong, a couple of silver bracelets and a bag... of course, the best part is bargaining for them... Following the market we took a rickshaw part of the way back to Baga beach and got out and walked back along the beach to our beach which took about 1.25 hours... of course people approached us the whole way back wanting us to pay to use their beach chairs and what not... we kept saying we were walking to Candolim beach (our place) and they thought we were crazy... it was still early in the day so it wasn't that hot...

Back in Candolim, we went to a local tailor and had some "Indian style" clothes made. Mostly light cotton outfits that are loose fitting. The heat here is somewhat oppressive in the mid-30's Celsius. Anyway, we look all Arabian or whatever... I kind of like the style...

As I mentioned, our time here in Goa is over... We have to drive 1 hour south tonight to the train station and board a 17-hour overnight train to the south - we are heading to Kerala State. We are getting off in a town called Allepy and boarding a houseboat that we will stay on for 24 hours (over night) and tour the backwaters of the area. It is one of the more untouched parts of India, but slowly becoming a tourist destination with a new airport in the nearby town of Kochi (Cochin on some maps). After the houseboat we will spend a night in a home stay which is like a bed and breakfast, then a night in Kochi, before flying up north to Rajasthan state where we will spend the next third of our trip. It is likely that we will not have e-mail access until that point which should be Tuesday or Wednesday.

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