Goa: Why Not Coconut

The northern part of Arambol beach in Northern Goa

We are not sure if it was the warm weather that we had been so starved for in the last five months or the peace and quiet that is so rare in India but once we arrived in Goa we didn’t want to leave.  Our original plan was to visit the Goan coast for about a week but three weeks later we found it hard to part ways. 

We started on the north end of Goa on a beach called Arambol.  According to our guide book that was printed in 1999 :), Arambol was nothing more than a few bare huts and golden sand.  How things have changed in 12 years.  This beach is as built up as it gets especially on its farthest northern end by the town.   Here shops, hotels and restaurants line the coast line and go inland as far as the eye can see.  House and trance music blare from the cafes and hotel bars throughout the day and you can buy anything that your heart desires.  However, the beach itself is very long (16km) and wide and you can easily find a peaceful place to relax.  For instance, we didn’t even know that the northern end was very busy until a few days into our stay when we were walking to find the “secluded beach” with a fresh water lagoon which is situated on the northern end over the cliffs.  To our dismay the path over the cliff was lined with guesthouses, restaurants and shops which led to a not so secluded smaller beach with a fairly polluted lagoon.

playing for the sun

One thing that stuck out in particular on our arrival in Goa was that almost all of the signs and menus in the town and along the beach were in Russian and English.  There were Russians everywhere!! After talking to the locals we found out that the original influx of German tourists has been replaced by a Russian takeover, though all the ‘German Bakeries’ have stayed behind.  In fact, every single bakery in Goa is called a German Bakery; apparently Germans are the best bakers :).   As expected, along with all the Russian tourists you will find your new age hippies who are busy juggling, hula hooping, doing yoga, dancing, meditating, playing the trumpet to the sun or just walking around naked along the beach. Seriously, people, how do you go to a conservative country where the women bathe fully clothed (as well as some of the men) and think that public nudity is okay.  We watched an Indian man prevent his friend from attacking a man who was walking into the water buck naked (best part, this man was later fondled on the beach by his girlfriend).  Priceless.

our first home in Goa: our hut at Cabo Wabo Restaurant

All in all, Arambol was a really nice place to relax if you just walk further south on the beach.   We found a great quiet hut right on the beach (one of only three huts in the area belonging to a great restaurant) with nothing but palm trees on either side of us and sand and ocean in front of us.  To top it off, free Wi-Fi.  If anyone is ever in Arambol and is looking for well built affordable huts with attached bathrooms close to all the action but far enough away that it’s quiet we would strongly suggest talking to the people at Cabo Wabo Restaurant.  The restaurant, which we will speak to in our food post, was on the top of our list in India … and we have visited quite a few in our travels.   The only reason we left was because the restaurants was throwing it’s first big trance party - so we jumped on the computer and found a yoga retreat on the next beach (Mandrem Beach) only a 10 minute drive away.

the bridge to the yoga retreat

Not sure why they gave Mandrem beach a different name as this was the same beach we had walked to on our fist day and is simply a continuation of Arambol Beach.  Maybe it’s because the cops can get more money this way as we found out that the beach vendors, selling sarongs, fruits, jewellery, drums, ice cream and … ear cleaning services (weird!!), have to pay a separate racket to the police for each section of the beach!!!  Though quieter, the Mandrem portion of the beach is not as nice - the sand is flatter and harder and there is a random river running through the beach.  The Mandrem village on the other hand is 100 times quieter and smaller than Arambol consisting only of half a dozen stores and an internet café.  As far as the yoga retreat goes, while pricey for India standards, it was enjoyable: we had two yoga classes a day, tasty organic food and stayed on beautiful grounds with unique and varied accommodation and great staff!!

Anjuna beach

On the way down the coast we had to make a pit stop in Anjuna to witness its famous Wednesday flea market.  We found the market to be over-rated and surprisingly a large number of the vendors are Westerners selling their crafts.  However, if you need to buy last minute gifts, you can find everything from all over India here.  We were in and out of Anjuna in a day as it's an overcrowded and loud party place with overpriced accommodation for what you get - so you can figure out the vibe. 

Next stop: Benaulim or better called “India’s Florida”, though it wasn’t that bad as we did stay here 8 days :) (thanks to the Belgian crew we were hanging out with).  It is a quiet village where fishing is still the primary source of income - there is fish drying all along the roads and this means cheap fresh fish in all the restaurants (and the king fish lives up to its name as the king of all fish).  Benaulim is a perfect hub for investigating southern Goa - driving down the coast on your ‘hog’ (okay, ours was a scooter) is just amazing - so peaceful and beautiful!! Our accommodation was amazing and cheap and the beach was really long with beautiful sand and as with Arambol, you can find a quiet spot to relax.  We would definitely come back here … who are we kidding, we would do it all over again!!

Beautiful Agonda Beach

Our last stop in Goa was Agonda.  Although developed it is a quiet and chill place to hang out in ... and watch Nole Djokovic win the Australian Open!! Agonda has predominantly Nepali staff and as a matter of fact, out of all the restaurants in Agonda only one is said to have a true Indian chef!  Here, like in Arambol, we had ideal accommodation right on the beach in our AC/DC hut at Fusion which provided some unbelievable sunsets.  To this day (2 months later… yes we are that far behind on our blog :)) we're still dreaming about our hut in Agonda.  Agonda also allowed us to explore some of the more secluded beaches in the south; Cabo de Rama being the highlight.  If it wasn’t for our expiring visa we would probably still be there.

the magnificent Goan countryside

All in all the Goan coast has a little bit for everyone.  This ex-Portuguese enclave is very green and clean, has beautiful palm lined golden beaches with more than reasonably priced accommodation and very tasty fresh food to meet anyone’s budget.  The coastline is only 130km long and is easily navigable by public transit or on a motorcycle (which are very cheap to rent at around $3/day).  If it's partying that you are looking for there is plenty of it in Goa (Anjuna and Arambol being the hot spots).  We learned an interesting thing: to appease the locals who were getting very upset with all the loud music late into the night the party throwers are now providing all party goers with wireless headsets upon entry. There are different channels to listen to (depending on the number of DJ’s spinning) with each channel glowing a different color so that everyone around knows what channel you are on.  Pretty cool we must say.  We highly recommend Goa to anyone looking for some fun in the sun, but beware: you will need more than a few weeks to get your fill…  that is if you choose to leave.

For more pictures of beaches, villages, and A LOT of sunsets click HERE (password: goa2011).

Enjoy!
S&M

A map of Goa and the beaches we visited (red stars)

Mandrem Beach

not unusual to find cows on the beach

Anjuna Wednesday Flea Market

Benaulim Beach

Beautiful Cola Beach

fishing boat on Benaulim / Colva Beach

happy as can be at our hut in Agonda

Pictures Are Back Up!!

It was brought to our attention that the links for the pictures were not working for both the Mumbai and Ellora caves posts.  We put our best people on the job and after hours and hours of hard labour we are happy to announce that the problem has been fixed.  The pictures are there for your viewing pleasure. 

Enjoy!
S&M

Mumbai pictures (password: bollywood).
Ellora Caves pictures (passoword: caves1).

All Roads Lead to Mumbai

view of the Taj Mahal Hotel and India Gate from the harbour

After another 12 hour overnight bus trip in the pimpest bus to this point brought us to Bombay, or as it's now called, Mumbai.  We reached our hotel at around 5 am after a short cab ride and the first thing we did was run towards the shower.  After spending 5 long days in the shit hole we mentioned in our Aurangabad post it sure felt great to take a long warm shower in a clean bathroom.  We chose to stay in Colaba which is known as the tourist hot spot in Mumbai.  This is where you can find all of the fanciest hotels including the famous Taj Mahal Hotel, as well as budget accommodation (or as budget as Mumbai will allow), shops, restaurants and the India gate (a monument sitting on the shores of the Arabian Sea).

view from Flora Fountain roundabout

When we finally emerged from our hotel some 7 or 8 hours later the first thing we noticed was how clean and majestic this part of the city looked with the beautiful facades lining the Colaba Causeway.  The streets are wide and clean (as clean as can be in India) and are filled with merchants on both sides selling anything from figs, knock-off watches to pashminas and dildos (we kid you not).  We spent that first day enjoying the sights and sounds of this city and we have to say that it was love at first sight.  This was a bit of a shock as everyone we talked to (except Elise) had warned us that Mumbai was polluted and hectic and how it was the worst place in all of India and there was no way that they would spend more time there then necessary to get in and on to their next destination.  Because of all these warnings we had planned to spend no more than 2 days in the city but after that first afternoon strolling around we ended up staying 5 full days and if it hadn’t been for the expiring visa and crazy hotel prices we would have stayed longer.

Fashion Street

While in Mumbai we experienced the best that the city has to offer (Colaba and the Fort area) and the worst (slums on top of sewer pipes with men, women and children relieving themselves in plain view).  We were extras in a Bollywood film for a day (“Jezz” or “Speed” in English), we ended up taking the local train in rush hour to Santa Cruz (another area of the city), we walked the length of the infamous Fashion Street (the best place in Mumbai to get great knock-offs of everything as well as most of the merchandise that "falls" off the back of a truck) and we ended up catching our first Indian movie in Hindi (Tees Maar Khan).  We will warn you right now that this will indeed be a long post as this city really left a big impression on us.  Rather than talk about the sights of the city we will concentrate more on our experiences and the things we found interesting.  If you want to know what to do and where to go just Google it or buy one of many travel books available on India.  Also you can look at our pictures in the link below that will show you the sights and give you a good idea of what the city is like.  

Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus, formerly Victoria Terminus

They say that New York is a city that never sleeps and if that is the case then Mumbai is the city that has eternal insomnia.  Compared to the rest of India the city seems like a foreign country.  It is the center of the Hindi film industry (Bollywood), finance and the industrial hub of everything from textiles to media.  It is also the home of the richest people in India and you have to look no further than the 27 story "house" being built in Colaba to get an idea of the kind of money we are talking about.  It also has Asia’s lagers slums and powerful underworld dons (make sure you read Shantaram) all played out against a stately Victorian townscape.  The city has the first organized traffic light system that we have seen in India thus far and way less spitting and public urination.  Furthermore we didn’t see a single cow and for a city this large (mostly populated in India) the people are really friendly and speak impressive English.

view from 1st class of train towards 2nd class in the back

We have to tell you about our commuter local train experience.  Well, not so much about the whole experience back from Santa Cruz (we had to drop off a busted Canon camera at their repair center) as it was pretty uneventful and regular with the exception that local trains have no doors and men cram around them regardless of how empty the car is.  It has to do with our approach to the last stop on the line, Churchgate station.  So, the train car was half empty most of the time with men and women coming on and off as they would in any part of the world.  As we approached Churchgate station (which is where the tracks end) we got up and made our way to the door.  There were a few people already standing at the door but as we neared the station, strangely, they went to sit down.  As the train pulled into the station moving at about 20km/hr men with pure panic and bewilderment in their eyes started popping into the cart with reckless abandonment.  They slammed into the poles and the door frame bouncing off like balls in a pin ball machine and pounced onto one of the hundred empty seats.  All we could do was glue ourselves to the walls of the car and watch with fear and confusion.  We were thinking that there was either a fire in the middle of the station or a bomb threat and these men were running for their lives.  To clarify, picture a crammed truck with cattle whose doors have just flung open and all the cattle are simultaneously rushing out into the fenced enclosure, bouncing off the sides and into the holding area.  This is close to what was happening on this train ride.  After 30 seconds of this the train came to a complete stop.  We waited a few more seconds to ensure that everything was OK outside, then stepped off onto a deserted platform.  We looked back into the car and saw the men wheezing from their mad run and we couldn’t help but burst into full out laughter.  This laughter continued all the way home and to this day we can’t help but laugh at the expression on those men’s faces and the determination and panic with which they entered the car.  A true classic Mumbai moment.   We later discovered that the train usually stops at Churchgate for only a minute before heading back in the other direction thereby not giving the people enough time to get on before its departure.

McDonald's delivery vehicle

To finish the post off we have to tell you about our Bollywood experience.  As mentioned above not only did we see a Bollywood movie but we were also paid extras in the upcoming Bollywood version of Speed with none other than Anil Kapoor.  For those of you that are not Indian he is best known as the host of the Millionaire show in the movie Slumdog Millionaire.  We got approached to be extras the day we arrived in Mumbai.  Seeing how we thought that we were going to be gone in a day or so we regretfully declined.  After our third day in the city and with a few more to go we decided to put aside one day and see what the whole Bollywood hoopla was all about.  We got picked up in front of a McDonald's in Colaba first thing in the morning and brought to Mehboob Productions in northern Mumbai.  We first went to ‘costume’ and make-up.  As they were filming an office scene that day we were given suits to wear.  M’s suit was about three inches too short and the tie was from the 1960’s.  His shoes were a size too small, his hair was slicked back and he volunteered to shave off his three month old beard to fit the role better.  Apparently all office workers in the UK wear way too much gel in their hair and are facial hair challenged.  S’s suit also had pant legs that were way too short (even  though they let the hems out for her) and her shoes had stubby heels that were falling apart.  When in Bollywood do as the Indians tell you :)  The movie we were told is an Indian remake of the Hollywood blockbuster Speed (starring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock) with the exception that it takes place on a London train instead of an LA bus.  The director is a famous Indian director by the name of Priyadarshan (who is a really cool guy).  The main actor on  the shoot with us (no, it was not Anil) is also a famous actor who usually plays a father figure in a lot of the Bollywood blockbusters.  Sorry, we can’t remember his name.  The whole experience was amazing.  The cast and staff were great and very friendly.  The main actor (father figure) was hilarious and kept cracking jokes in between takes.  The female in the scene was obsessed with her hair, inserting her hair curlers and touching up her make-up between every take.  They fed us well with a fantastic buffet at lunch and had the chai flowing all day.  We were very lucky that out of the 19 extras they brought only a handful of us (go S&M!) got the chance to spent most of the day in and out of shots and always in the main room of the shoot.  When it was all said and done it was 6pm and the whole day had past, we collected our 500IRP each (around $12CND - cha ching!) and were dropped off at the same spot we were picked up earlier that day.  All in all a must do for any tourist that visits Mumbai.  

off to see Tees Maar Khan!!

Our second Bollywood encounter was at the movies.  We went to see the newest Bollywood blockbuster Tees Maar Khan in Hindi without subtitles.  We bought our tickets and the girl that sold them to us made sure we understood that this was a Hindi movie without subtitles.  I don’t think she believed that we understood her the first time as she repeated it two more times just to be sure.  With tickets in hand we entered what can only be described as a six star movie theatre.  We got our drinks, popcorn and samosa’s that came with the two tickets we purchased and were ushered to our assigned seats.  The seats were leather and reclined to about 45 degrees.  They were so big and there was so much leg room that it felt like being in a first class seat on a transatlantic flight.  The movie itself was great: funny and very well done and we will definitely try to get a copy with subtitles when we get back home.  So to all of our Indian brothers and sisters back home if you have a copy with subtitles please let us know.  The movie was about two and a half hours long with an intermission half way through during which the ushers came to take our orders and returned with our cappuccinos and water.  Like we said, six star service.  One interesting thing that we noticed even during the Jezz shoot was that 25% of the dialogue is in English.  Tees Maar Khan was no different.  We also had an Indian kid who moved to sit next to us to fill us in on the things we missed (it was his sixth time seeing the movie!!).  One thing to mention is that Indian actors are fully rounded as they act, dance and lip sing.  During this movie we also found the origin of the insanely popular Indian song at that time "Sheila Ki Jawani".  We must have heard this song a million times during our travels  from Varanasi to Goa.  This is another must when visiting India by the way.  You absolutely have to go see an Indian flick but try to see a later show as the earlier shows are pretty empty.  Since we were catching a train that same day we didn’t get the chance to see the singing and dancing that we heard the audience usually does in a full theater.  Ah well, there is always next time!

As we mentioned above and as you can probably tell by our descriptions we absolutely loved Mumbai for everything that it has to offer.  It is a great city with great people and fantastic food.

To see more of our Mumbai excursions click HERE (password: bollywood).

book vendor in the Fort area

seen around many government buildings - here they are guarding the High Court

In India boys will be boys while holding hands

across the road from the Victoria Terminus

Chowpatty seafront boardwalk

Chowpatty Beach - not meant for swimming!!

Five Centuries in the Making - The Ellora Caves

M suffering on our bus ride

After Udaipur we made our way to Aurangabad, the launching point to see India’s famous Ellora and Ajanta caves.  Before we tell you about these masterpieces we have to tell you about our terrible bout of traveler diarrhea (also known as Udaipur Belly taking its name from the famous Delhi Belly or Calcutta kaki’s - Thanks Miki for this gem).   For the faint of heart, please skip to the next paragraph.  The story starts in Udaipur where S’s sickness began. We think the source was cappuccino’s we had (while they used fresh milk to make our coffee, our guess is that there was old milk in the machine) as right after the little cup, S spent the rest of night in the bathroom purging the nastiness from all holes.  Gross we know.  The next day we traveled 24 hours by bus to get to the shit hole of Aurangabad (our view may be tainted by the illness) and during our second bus trip the milk caught up with M -- so he let it all out the bus window and both of us came down with a fever.  To add to our misery the bus broke down for an hour and a half.  Good times.  By the time we reached Aurangabad in the morning, we had eaten a few crackers and bananas and were weak and delirious.  We had not booked a place in advance as we were arriving in the morning and wanted to see a few places before committing.  Normally a good idea but not in our state.  We had the rickshaw driver take us from one shit hole to the next (without the aid of a guidebook - bad idea) before we gave up and just settled down.  While the place may have been nice centuries ago it was a true shit hole - dirty, falling apart and infested with cockroaches.   We pulled out our sleep sheets, ordered water and plain rice and spent the next two days sleeping and sh**ing some nasty stuff.  By day 5 (or 4 for M) we were almost back to 50% of our strength and decided to get out of our hell hole and see the Ellora caves armed with water and plain crackers.
 

Magnificant Hindu Kailasa Temple

Aurangabad is a launching point for visiting the nearby Ellora and Ajanta caves, though the city has its own often overlooked group of Buddhist caves 2km north which were carved out of the hillside around the 6th or 7th century.  The World Heritage listed cave temples, monasteries and chapels of Ellora are about 30km from Aurangabad and were cut out from a 2km long escarpment over 5 centuries by generations of Buddhist, Hindu and Jain monks.  Once you get up close and see the intricate carvings everywhere which were all done by hand, of course, it is easy to see why a majority of the caves took so long to complete! There are a total of 34 caves: 12 Buddhist (600-800AD), 17 Hindu (600-900AD) and 5 Jain (800-1000AD) and their co-existence at one site evidences a prolonged period of religious tolerance which mostly continues to exist throughout most of India (sadly, aside from Kashmir).   The Hindu caves were very ornate and dramatic compared to the simpler and calmer Buddhist caves, with the masterpiece at Ellora being the astonishing massive Kailasa Temple. This temple is in the middle of the 2km stretch and is dedicated to Shiva and is the world’s largest monolithic sculpture cut from rock by 7000 labourers over a 150 year period.   The 30 Buddhist caves of Ajanta, 166km north-east of Aurangabad (better reached from Jalgaon which is only 60km away) date back from around 200 BC to 650 AD, therefore predating those at Ellora.  As Ellora developed and Buddhism gradually declined the Ajanta caves were abandoned.   These caves are also listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization). 

rock stars in the making :)

While we had the intention of visiting all three sets of caves, because of our illness and resulting irritation with the city and nasty hotel, we wanted to get the hell out of there and only ended up visiting only the Ellora caves. We have heard that the Ajanta caves are extraordinary to see and we look forward to visiting them on our next trip to India!   The trip to Ellora will take you the greater part of a day and make sure to bring with you lots of water and your picture perfect smiles because if your experience is like ours you’ll be getting your picture taken with school kids all day long.  We felt like movie stars!  We spent the greater part of an hour at the Kailasa Temple posing with various groups of kids or families (most wanted individual pictures and then group shots).  LOL.  Pretty funny but tiring as you finish one set of photos, are ready to walk away when the next group or family gets their courage up to ask you if you can pose with them. 

We have to give a special thank you for the creators of a wonderful website we found that allowed us to book our bus out of Aurangabad: www.redbus.in.  This website not only allows you to book your own bus rather than going through a travel agent but it also provides you with pictures of the buses and user reviews.  A fantastic tool for those traveling in India!

For more pictures of this amazing place please click HERE (password: caves1).

view of some of the smaller Hindu caves

incredible detail inside one of the Hindu caves

not a stone left un-chiseled - check out the lotus flower on the ceiling!

walking towards the Buddhist caves

from the inside looking out at the serene surroundings

tuk tuk's waiting patiently at some of the farther away caves

one of the more unique carvings

chilling at a temple entrance in one of the caves

another beautiful mural on a cave wall

one of the more ornate Buddhist caves - the ceiling is mind blowing in person

a little burnt out and low energy half-way through the day

Udaipur

Before we begin this LONG OVERDUE post, we would like to apologize for being so many months behind but we have to say, it really isn’t our fault. We don’t want to make any excuses, but … our excuse is that ever since we finally got to hot weather in mid-January, the sun fried our brain and slowed us down! So you see, we couldn’t help it!! That being said, we have taken lots of vitamins and built our strength back and hopefully we are in good enough form to get back on track. J



Lake Pichola and Water Palace in the distance

 As you know from our post on January 1^st, we spent new years in romantic Udaipur sitting on Lake Pichola (a wonderful couple we know got engaged here and the romance is still flowing between them as they now have a beautiful daughter!). We have to admit that we didn’t love the city at first and didn’t feel the romance. While we saw the beauty in the design of the city with its intricately designed Lake Palace on an island in the middle of the lake and the ornate havelis and hotels lining the lake shore, we found the city to be overcrowded with tourists and the streets around the hotels lined with too many stores selling the usual: jewellery, clothes and all the other stuff found all over Rajasthan. However, we decided to give the city a chance and stayed a few extra days and finally understood its allure. We had to remind ourselves that it is only natural for a place always swarmed by tourists to become touristy and that you have to take it for what it is to really appreciate it.



bathers with one of the many boat rides going by

 Udaipur was founded by Maharaja Udai Singh II in 1568 and has the famous Lake Palace that covers the whole of Jagniwas Island (approximately 1.5 hecters*). Built 1754 it was originally the royal summer palace but is now a luxury hotel (visitors are not allowed unless you have lunch or dinner reservations). The royal families divided the rest of their time in Udaipur between the enormous City Palace complex which takes up a large part of the east bank of the river and during the monsoon season at the Monsoon Palace sitting on a distant mountain range overlooking the city. There is another island palace on Jagmandir Island which is flanked by a row of enormous stone elephants. A popular tourist excursion is a boat ride out in lake Pichola around the two islands. We have to say, this is really a worthwhile trip!

Besides the boat trip and just strolling through the many areas of the city, you can also walk along the shore and check out the bathing and dhobi (laundry) ghats. We also stumbled upon the old Muslim quarter and found that all the Muslim women here did not wear the usual hijab or burqa but had a very beautifully embroidered skirt and top with a hood - it reminded us of what little red riding hood wore. We ended up seeing this again in another city in India later on in our travels. Another cool thing about the city is that most of the hotels in the old town on or near the lake are tall with rooftop restaurants or sitting areas with beautiful vistas of the city, lake and surrounding mountains.

Note: For you movie buffs Udaipur was the backdrop for the James Bond flick “Octopussy”. It’s hard to visit this city and not be reminded of this fact as most of the restaurants play this movie nightly.

To see more pictures of our time in Udaipur click HERE (password: palaces).


one of the dhobi (laundry) ghats



another laundry ghat with the Lake Palace in the background



our room at the Lal Ghat Guesthouse



ain't we cute?!? :)



people hanging out and swimming at one of the ghats



women doing the laundry



hardest workers in India: women and donkeys.  Imprssive, carrying a baby and loading bricks!



another woman hard at work ... seeing a trend yet??



a merchant carrying his goods through the streets of Udaipur



donkeys hard at work



ladies and their babies