Goa

From Mumbai we took the train down to South Goa. The ride was about 12 hours, and we opted for a day train because it's supposedly one of the most scenic rides in India (although I passed out cold around noon for the rest of the trip, missing the best views). Figuring out the train system has been one of the most stressful things about India. There are 7 different classes of cars, and other than their prices, we couldn't really decipher the differences when we were booking our first seats. We ended up riding in 3AC for this trip, which is the 3rd class from the top and is air conditioned. This means there were 8 people total in our "berth" (which is like a section of a train car you share), six people in the main area, with 2 rows of 3 bunk beds that the seats fold out into at night, and then one set of two seats/bunks on the side. For a long day trip, it was rather pleasant and we made conversation with one of the Indian women traveling to see her friends in Goa. Men walk up and down the aisles, selling chai tea, coffee, samosas and dosas, but we instead ate the lunch that was provided by the Indian Rail (Chinese food, which is as ubiquitous here as it is in New York.) You have to book train seats well in advance or risk being put on the wait list, where you don't find out if you're guaranteed a seat until a few hours before departure. This is a bit frustrating since we wanted to have more leeway in deciding how long to remain in one region before traveling on, yet we found out you can always book multiple tickets on different days and cancel them for just pennies (and a refund) if your waitlisted seat ends up becoming available.

That night when we arrived in Goa, a taxi took us to the town of Benaulim Beach in the south region where we stayed for the next week. When the driver dropped us off on this remote road late at night and just motioned toward a light in the distance as our destination, we felt a little unsure about it, but after a just a couple of minutes walk toward the beach we saw the sign for our place, their nice restaurant, and the warm Arabian Sea. For our first two nights, we slept in palm huts right on the beach (called the Blue Corner, if you want to google it). It's as rustic as it soundsc (but had eletricity, a mosquito net-covered bed and nice slate floor shower). I read that every monsoon season they wash away into the sea and are rebuilt for the next tourist season.

Goa is a popular vacation destination for Europeans, Russians, and north Indians. (In some ways it reminded me of the Florida Keys, except in Goa there are cows, pigs, dogs and chickens running amok). We knew this coming in, but we thought it might be nice to have a softer entry into India where we could get our bearings before moving on (and it was). Although the locals on the beach and main streets are constantly beckoning you to come in and buy their goods, Goa is almost TOO relaxed: beaching, eating fresh fish (Nathan had a pomphret that was freshly caught one day), napping, drinking fresh fruit drinks, so we felt a little bored rather quickly. We decided to move from the remote huts into a much cheaper guesthouse (essentially a furnished room in a house, like in a bed and breakfast-$7.50/night as opposed to $25 at the hut) that was down the road between the beach and the main town. We slept long hours, but every morning around 4am the neighboring rooster would begin crowing this insane version of cock-a-doodle-do, and we'd be up til 6am or so before crashing again til 7:30 or 8. Most days we got up early, ate breakfast (the eggs here are some of the freshest and best I've ever had, and a cold fresh pineapple juice has become standard fare), walked on the beach, swam in the sea, and returned to the restaurant at the Blue Corner for dinner since they had the best food and atmosphere of all the local restaurants. We rented a motorscooter one day, and after Nathan spent a couple of hours driving up and down the main road to get the feel for it, we took a trip out to this old Portugese mansion in a middle-of-nowhere town called Chandor (where we got lost coming to and going from, but had some great serendipitous scenic views along the way). The house was built by two brothers, each lived in one side, and now their descendants (14th and 15th generations) still live there. We were given a tour of both sides of the house-- each has aged differently over time, but both have grand ballrooms full of Chinese porcelain, silk love seats, and crystal chandeliers. The woman who gave us a tour of her family's side must have been 80+ years old, and had lived in the house her whole life. (There's Nathan + scooter + mansion on the left...)

We spent quite a bit of time in the internet cafe, planning our next moves before we left Goa (on Tuesday) for a town 6 hours east (that I will write about tomorrow before we leave). Nathan has been busy working, but I hope he will have some time to write his thoughts on Mumbai and South Goa and fill in some gaps that I've missed.