Goa (29 Nov - 10 Dec)

The journey from Amritsar is pretty long, but all goes smoothly - apart from the luggage Nazi at checkin in Delhi airport who tries to charge us for overweight baggage. In future we will stick to flying with Kingfisher airline, not miserable in a Ryanair-style way Go Air... We're pleased to arrive at Villa Anjuna after 24hrs on the road and find a Goan curry

We soon decide to extend our week in Goa and miss out going to Hampi as lounging on the beach or by the pool is a real treat after missioning around the rest of India staying two or three nights in each place. Its nice to actually unpack our bags and spread out safe in the knowledge that we wont have to pack up anytime soon.

The further North in Goa, the better the beaches. We hire a scooter so can explore at will. Also the further North, the fewer hassles from people selling their wares on the beach, and also the fewer cows trying to steal your fruit - they also apparently like paper so need to keep an eye on your book too. Morjim is our favourite beach - if only for the name and Mandrem which is the Goan beach that you see in the brochures.

Further South, is the package holiday destinations of Baga and Calangute, which are pretty ugly in a Costa Del Sol kind of way, over developed and lots of hassles and unwanted attention. The development seems to be increasing unchecked, and its a tragedy to see rubbish tipped all over, destroying the coastline. We disappointingly notice a few Indian tourists who leave their empty water bottles on the sand, but then there are so few bins, and no sign of any collection that its easier to understand their lack of education. Baga is also the centre for timeshare selling. We decide to go along to one place when Luce "wins" one of their main prizes (turns out to be a week's stay at the resort) and Jim "wins" one of the runner's up prize (restaurant voucher.) The plan is to go along, listen to their spiel for a bit, and then use their 5* facilities, but their pool is in the shade, so we use the restaurant voucher and head home for sunset. We actually quite enjoyed chatting to Mike the salesman - obviously we've been on our own too much.

Goa also has some fantastic restaurants. The aptly named Sublime, which has beef on the menu (no problem with sacred cows here) and enough beach side places to have curry or fresh fish and watch the sun go down. Beer is also cheaper here than the rest of India, which just adds to the temptation - Paradiso night club is just a stone's throw away from our hotel, but after one serious night out there, Jim still insists on getting a taxi the 100m home. Its easy to make friends in Paradiso - we hang out with Cathy and Jenny who work around the corner from us in London who are a good laugh, and enjoy going for hangover pizza.

All too soon our time in Goa is over but we're off further South, where the sun is definitely still shining to Kochi, and to meet with Meeta & Graham...