Mouth munching madness

So I’ve hit Goa… have left from the hustle and bustle of Bombay. I had an absolutely brilliant two weeks there. I made a good few Bombayite friends and feel that I tapped into the live of the city for the short time I was there. I met a lot of people there that I had met previously on my travels (Bombay seems to be that kind of place), I also met a Canadian writer who took me along on his journalistic discoveries of the city, and through him I made a lot of local friends… who brought me under the skin of the city.

So I got the train to Goa on Monday night. I broke the cardinal rule of traveling on Indian trains and I didn’t tell the people in my compartment what stop I was getting out at. So… naturally… I missed it. I presumed that I’d be up and adam by ten o’clock but it turns out that I slept so long and well (as it seems I can only do on trains) that I woke up and we had already passed it. I jumped off at the next stop and waited for an hour until I could get a train back.

Now I’m Goa and things are different… Well, for starters, I’m all on my tobler’ again. Not that I handle that (I’m a big boy), but I suppose I have to make an effort to meet people again. My plan is to explore the small state in the next three or four weeks (it’s only 80km long) and I wanted to hire a motorbike to help me in my endeavours.

When I arrived here yesterday, I hadn’t the foggiest what beach to go to. I wanted to go as far north as possible and to rent a motorbike there, so I was advised that Anjuna would be good, which is where I am now. Anjuna is one of the most developed beaches here and is fairly famous for its party scene. When I got here yesterday, I was overwhelmed by the lack of English spoken on the beach… the main languages here appear to be Russian and Hebrew… although there are a few Brits banging around as well.

Last night, after some fine dining and book reading, there wasn’t too much going on, so I figured I’d use the opportunity to get a rare early night. However, it being my first night there, I thought that I would go for a quick walk on the beach first. Five minutes into my walk, I started to hear banging loud trance music from the other end of the beach. My curiosity got the best of me, so I ventured down to find a mob of people thronging a beach side club.

I think that I lacked the serious cocktail of drugs that everyone else appeared to be enjoying and although I had a few drinks, I couldn’t really bring myself to dance very much… after trying to start a conversation with a few Israeli teeth-grinders, I decided to abandon the venture and figured that my early night was still half achievable.

So today, while my Israeli friends were snoozing, I was uber-productive. I got my hair chopped, trimmed my beard, did an hour and a half of serious sunbathing… and rented a motorbike for the day (to see how it was). I went for a cycle and although my Enfield did feel very strong and powerful between my legs (ahem!) I couldn’t really get the knack of the gears and spent most of the time fairly nervous… And that was on quiet back roads. Any time I went to stop, I would cut out and it would take me ten minutes to restart, always belting off with my legs flailing out either side. So I decided (upon the advice of a good friend ;-) to abandon my testosterone driven quest and swapped my Honda for a scooter. Now, although I have no gears, I feel slightly girly… but I don’t care… it’s the safe option. (Ya hear that mum)…

So I’m probably gonna hang around Anjuna for another day or so and will then start my little road trip down south…

Until then… smellyalater…