Update- Goa, India

Hello everyone,

India has brought whirlwind of emotions! It's taken us a a while to get used to the third world living once again. Hand washing, smelly toilets and constant tooting cars/bikes.

As it is the Monsoon season here, it's very quiet in regards to Western tourists. There are alot of Indian tourists who like to visit at this time of the year so we are pretty much the only white people here.

After our first couple of days at Majorda beach, we headed for Panjim, the capital of Goa. We learned quickly that this was a mistake. Chaotic, dirty, loud and smelly. It did have some interesting aspects to its city though. There is a large Portugese influence as Portugal ruled Goa until it was liberated from the Portugese in 1961.

We found it incredibly difficult to find any access to internet. Very little places/restaurants in India provide wifi and our accommodation also didn't have it. We found it hard then to plan the next journey and didn't particularly like being out of contact from the news, family and friends. We spent a long time trying to get a sim card which involves having a local reference who has to say they know you, as well as provide different documents etc. The good news is that the sim card is now active.

Next, we moved up the coast to Candolim where we met my good friend Sophie and her colleague who are here for work (they are based in Delhi so they flew to see us!) Our guest house again didn't have wifi. It was difficult to find, off the main road and we had to wind through muddy trails to find it (not accessible by car). We faced one of my biggest fears upon arrival..about six snarling dogs barking at us and 'beware of the dogs' signs around the area. Safe to say I thought we were going to be killed. We did make it into our guest house which was a three floored concrete house with no other guests and the owner didn't live at the property. I found it very challenging to face my fears leaving and re-entering the house for the next couple of days. The owner of the guest house did reassure me that the dogs around the area are 'all bark and no bite' and luckily Sophie was staying at a lovely resort with a swimming pool which helped us relax!

We have now moved up the road to Calungute which is a much better vibe. We caught the local bus for 10 rupees (20c) and lugged our bags around determined to find accommodation that felt safe and clean. Thank goodness we found Vailankanni Holiday Homes. A lovely lady owns this guest house and for the same price as the last place we have a clean bedroom with sky tv, wifi, a balcany and a fridge. There are also other guests staying here. We feel very luck to have found it!

We will bunk up here for the week and research where we want to go next. We are thinking of moving away from the coast as many places are closed and we think that there may be some desitnations that are better seen at this time of the year compared to this area. The peak season for Goa is Novermber onwards.

Tracked down some good coffee!