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Tue 23rd January, 2007
Arrived at Mumbai International, good flight but
a bumpy landing, 6 out of 10 for effort. Our visas seemed
to be in order and we were soon through immigration and even our
checked in bags came out fairly soon. Outside of arrivals
was the usual greeting you find at most Indian airports, a wall
of bodies with small pieces of paper being waved hopefully in
your faces, all having other peoples names written on them.
We've only once ever been met at the airport by someone with a
piece of paper with our names on, must be comforting
sometimes. Having broken through the wall of bodies,
we found out the ATM was back the other side, so through the wall
we went again and attacked the ATM. In a lot of countries
I'd be worried about withdrawing money from an ATM in sight of so
many people, but not so much here, although we were in a
small room the walls were mostly glass, and even if they
couldn't see us, what else would you go into an ATM
for! Loaded with dosh of the rupee form, Rita piled
into what passes for a queue in these parts at the taxi
booking stand, managing to impose her way gradually to the front
and booked us a taxi into the city.
45 minutes later we pulled up outside our
selected hotel, not holding out too much hope of getting a room
as it is a popular choice of the Lonely Planet guidebook, and as
it was 10:30pm we were probably the last to arrive. And we
were right to be pessimistic, they were full. No problems,
found a place nearby that gave us a room for 900 rupees, not
brilliant but ok.
Back to Itinerary
Wed 24th January, 2007
Up fairly early to try and sort out transport to
Goa, the best option being a flight if we could get one for
today. We wanted to get down there as soon as possible so
we could sort out accommodation for Tony and Veronica, who are
arriving in Goa from Manchester tomorrow, but we also wanted to
get out of Mumbai before Republic Day, a public holiday in India
and also a potential trouble day as far as "naxalites"
and other terrorist go. Found a good local cafe for a
masala dosa, then right around the corner there was a flight
booking agency, where we were able to book a Jet Airways flight to Goa
this afternoon, 3000 Re each. The glight was at 2:35pm so
it didn't give us much time to pack and get out to the airport.
Had an expensive pre-flight beer in posh bar in domestic
terminal, 300 Re for a small bottle, its not that expensive in
London! Guess it must be frequented by Bollywood stars as
they jet around the country.
Short flight, only an hour, but they still
managed to serve up a curry. What a great airline. No beer
though. What a crap airline. Arrived at Dabolim (aka
Goa) Airport at 3:30pm. The increased security at the
airport, due to the impending Republic Day, meant that the crowds
just outside the arrivals hall were bigger than usual, but it was
quieter inside as only passengers and staff were allowed
there. Negotiations for a taxi were brief, although because
we didn't know what the going rate was, when offered a taxi for
600 we offered 400 and got it for 450. The best rate should
be around 350 to 400, so we found out after, so we didn't do too
badly.
Got a room at the Lucky Star Hotel in Colva, 550
rupees for an ok room. It is next door to the Longhuinos
hotel, which we thought would be suitable for Tony and Vron, but
after checking into the Lucky Star we went next door only to find
they were fully booked. Doh! Spent a few hours
wandering around Colva, checking out all the half decent places
for availability and suitability, the problem being we weren't
really that sure what would suit them, so we figured we'd better
get something reasonably nice for a couple of days and they could
sort themselves out after that. It was a good job we did,
it turns out that we've arrived on one of the busiest times of
the season and there are hardly any rooms available. We
managed to get a half promise that we could get first refusal on
any room that became available tomorrow morning at the Star Beach
Resort, at least it had a pool and looked ok, even if it didn't
have a bar! Back at the Lucky Star we had an excellent
curry for dinner. Back to Itinerary
Thu 25th January, 2007
Up early and down to the Star Beach to see if
they have any rooms, our luck was in, they had a double but it
was one of their expensive ones. Never mind, Tony's paying,
and they need a room for a couple of nights to get sorted, we'll
take it.
Sent a text messgae to Tony to tell him we'd
booked somewhere and there'd be a taxi waiting outside the
arrivals hall for him I didn't mention I'd be waiting there
too, thought it might be a nice surprise. Set off for the
airport at 4pm in one of the little van s that passes for tourist
transport in these parts. Wasn't sure which flight they
were arriving on, and there were two exits from the arrivals
halls, although Tony had told me the flight arrived at 4:25pm,
there wasn't a flight listed on the rather limited arrivals
information board, and by 5:15pm I was getting a trifle concerned
that I might have missed them and they'd got another taxi.
But then I glimpsed Tony coming out from the arrivals hall, so I
hid behind the crowd and thrust my "Our Kid Tony and Vron"
notice high into the air. It was great to see the surprise
on their faces as he spotted the sign almost immediately, then I
appeared from behind the crowd and started waving.
Back in Colva and at their new hotel, they were
quite pleased with the room, and we cracked open a couple of
beers and a bottle of wine to celebrate their arrival, luckily
they had a fridge in the room.
Some time later....
I dont know where the time has gone, and we don't
seem to have done anything! Tony and Vron love to sunbathe
and generally lounge on the beach by day, and have a nice meal in
the evening. We've spent a couple of daytimes with them,
doing similar, but it's not really us, as many of you already
know. But it has been nice sitting in the shade and
relaxing, and the food has been fairly good. Because of the
number of foreign tourists, there is a wide variety of food
available, European as well as Asian, and even beef and pork on
the menu, a rarity in India. I've spent a fair bit of time
trying to get my laptop online, which should be a straightforward
proposition in India, but never turns out to be. I'm now
online, after buying a new modem, and although its a fairly slow
connection it only cost be 12 rupees a day, unlimited use.
Can't complain about that. Except, of course, it doesn't
always work!
We've also been making plans and arrangements for
our home in Normandy, not easy at times because of the time
difference and not being there. We seem to be stuck
in Goa somehow, we had plans to go on to Mangalore and then
further on, but it's just not happened yet, maybe because
we're getting more engrossed in our plans for home, but I think
it's also because we've run out of steam, after over two years of
being without a home and travelling for most of that time. It
wears you down a bit. and although we've really enjoyed
everywhere we've been, and we're still enjoying our time in Goa,
we think it's about time we went home.
Back to Itinerary
Fri 9th February, 2007
Arrived in Bombay for our last few days in India,
before we go home. We had left a bag at the left luggage
room when we had flown down to Goa, and were a trifle surprised
to find the building had been demolished in the two weeks since
we were last here. So where's our bag then? An hour
of driving around in a taxi on a wild goose chase finally ended
when we located our bag in a dark and dusty upstairs room behind
the Airports Authority canteen. Obvious really, I dont know
why we didn't check there in the first place. The bag was
covered in brown dust, but otherwise seemed intact. The
only bonus was they didn't have the nerve to ask for any money,
it should have been 13 rupees a day. Once in the Colaba
district, downtown, we struggled to find a half decent room for
the first night, one of the problems of arriving late
afternoon. Ended up in a grotty room with no windows and a
dodgy communal toilet at the end of the corridor, 450 rupees a
night. Ah, the joys of cheap travel.
The following morning we moved to the Carlton
Hotel, sounds posher than it looks, but we managed to secure a
nice room with en-suite, and even air-con. Whopping 1250
rupees a night. We figured that if we're going back to
European weather, perhaps we'd better start getting acclimatized,
its going to be 25 degrees cooler!
Time to shop. Having not utilised our joint
46kg checked-in luggage allowance on this trip, we've decided we
might as well stock up on a cheap goodies to take back with
us. The cloth market at Mangalden was a bit disappointing,
we couldn't find the silk we were after and what they had seemed
very expensive, compared with the silk we had bought in Bangalore
last year.. The shiny stainless steel shops caught our
attention, as they always do, and I bought a great griddle sort
of thing, for cooking dosas on. Expect dosas for breakfast when
you come to stay with us in Normandy.
Time is rolling on and we've had a good time in
Bombay, although its a lot more expensive than Goa and other
parts of India. There are some very lively bar/restaurants
down here in the Colaba district, full of locals as well as
tourists. We're sad to be going back early as far as not
staying in India for longer, but on the other hand we're really
excited about getting back home. We've got a lot of work to
do!
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