Goa

Today is our last day in Goa - we've spent the past week and a half idly bumming around a few of its gorgeous beaches, each of which has offered up a different type of experience.

We started in the south at Colva, which used to be a small fishing village. Although it's now more touristy, you can still see fisherman pulling their boats out to sea and drying their enormous nets in the nearby fields.

We also saw a new boat being christened on the beach by a priest, who afterwards appeared to crack open a bottle of what looked suspiciously like beer! Colva is quite popular with Indian tourists in particular, it seemed, and every evening there'd be a huge crowd of people (both tourists and locals) who would come to watch the sun set.

After a few days we headed up to Anjuna beach in the north, which was much more lively, wit loads of bars where you can chill out during the day and dance on the beach at night. We were in Anjuna for Holi - the Hindu festival of colours, where people celebrate the beginning of spring by throwing coloured powders at each other. Obviously we weren't going to miss out on the opportunity to join in and by midday we looked like this:

Unfortunately the powders stained our skin a little so we looked a bit like that for a couple of days afterwards too!

A couple of days in Anjuna was more than enough for us - the beach wasn't brilliant and the guys in the room next to us spent most of the night playing thumping music while droning on and on about his 'philosophies' on life. Seriously dude, no one cares.

At Candolim beach we stayed at the Ave Maria hotel which was reasonably priced (R700 per night in total) and was owned by a funny old lady who laughs at anything and everything and cooks amazing homemade food. Our days were spent either walking along the beach or chilling out by the pool, and in the evenings she'd make a delicious dinner. We asked one morning if she could make a pork vindaloo - a Goan specialty - and they went to the market to buy some fresh pork especially for us. It was delicious - definitely one of the best things we've eaten so far.

Finally, at Majorda beach in the south, we stayed at Vivenda dos Palhacos. It's an amazing hotel - there are only a handful of rooms, each with their own unique theme. We stayed in the Madras room, which has an enormous bed (it came up to my waist, i used a stool to climb up onto it!) and an outdoor bathroom with a brilliant shower. The hotel also has a cool chlorine-free pool, surrounding by beach chairs and hammocks. Seriously, if I could afford to stay there for a week, i would! Breakfast and dinner are a communal affair, a great idea that allowed us to get to know the other guests, who were all so friendly - as were Simon and Charlotte, the brother & sister who run the place. Our stay there was courtesy of the wonderful ladies at GDR, as part of my leaving present from work. Thank you again :)

If we could spend more time here, I would've liked to have visited a couple more beaches such as Arambol in the far north and Palolem in the far south. However, after a week and a half i'm a bit 'beached out' and quite keen to move on and do some actual travelling! So, this evening we board an overnight train to Kerala where we'll hopefully be able to cruise along the backwaters and do a bit of sightseeing. And I guess while we're there we should probably check out the Keralan beaches too...