Goa

We made it. From the Bay of Bengal on the east coast of India to the Arabian Sea on the west. The prime real-estate on the west coast is in the tiny state of Goa (smallest state in India). We headed to the very north of Goa to a small town called Arambol where the first thing we did was swim.

Goa gets compared to Thailand and we could see why. The locals are very relaxed and it’s a haven from the frustrations you can face whilst travelling India. The best way to see the sights is on a scooter so we hired one and headed to the Anjuna Market.

This market sells everything. From food to fake football merchandise, hookah pipes, tattoos, drums and spices it’s all here for you to browse and haggle over as you melt in the relentless heat.

Goa has the reputation of being the Indian party capital so we had to go out one night for a look around. Hiring a driver (who slept in the van until we were ready to go home) we headed to Baga and were immediately disappointed. We walked into a meat market where the clientele consisted of drunk Englishmen (no surprise there) and greasy Indian men. Still it was an interesting experience and the beer was cold.

We’d heard you could surf in Goa so we combed the beaches looking for breaks. Whilst at Candolim we chanced upon a state disaster called ‘River Princess’. A beached shipping boat that his since been abandoned for the last 9 years.

Random Fact: In the west men have cool accessories, it could be a watch, sunglasses, or jewelry but everyone usually has something pretty neat. Indian men also have cool accessories but one is far and away more popular than the rest – the moustache! Curious to see exactly how popular the mo is we conducted two random surveys. The first returned the result of 64% of men wear a mo and in the second a whopping 78% of men were seen sporting a mo (note the margin of error is quite wide). In total 99 unwitting Indian men took part.

Highlights:
- Lazing on the beach and soaking up the sun
- Catching up with mates from Rajastan. Normal people are hard to find over here so its great to meet up again!
-Scooters and cruising around

Lessons Learned:
- If you give a young boy a small toy to play with you’re a real sad guy if you ask for it back
- Goa was originally a Portuguese colony and you could be forgiven for thinking that it is now Russian such is the popularity with our friends from the eastern bloc.
- If a policeman catches you without a helmet or with a drivers license that he doesn't think is of international standard, elect to keep your passport and pay "the instant fine" instead of the fine at the court house next week.