India – Stepping Out For A Bit

South Goa > Beach huts, sunsets, and a daily dose of Kingfisher

February 14, 2019February 14, 2019Posted in IndiaTagged beach, goa, holiday, India, travelLeave a comment

Benaulim

Our first port of call in South Goa was Benaulim. Upon touching down, we met with our guesthouse host Anthony and after chatting for a while, found out he used to live in Oxford and work in the M&S in town, small world! The accommodation was on the expensive side but worth it, set in a beautiful old Portuguese era house with a sweeping balcony to soak up the afternoon sun with a cup of tea in hand.

Benaulim beach was beautiful, wide expanses of sand for as far as the eye could see. For dinner on the first night we ended up in a restaurant that quickly filled up entirely with British retirees who were in for the weekly pub quiz, very unexpected.

On our second evening things took a turn for the worse when Ruairidh woke up in the night with our first dose of sickness for the trip. We ended up having to extend our stay so he could stay in bed. The less said about that the better!

So after two days not moving beyond the balcony, we were more than ready to head on to our next destination. Ruairidh’s condition, or as he put it, “fear of crapping myself”, forced us to get an expensive cab rather than the bus down to the next beach but we definitely appreciated the comfy, air conditioned ride down the windy roads to Patnem.

Patnem

Patnem is a very small seaside village just south of the better known, Palolem. Patnem is about half the size of it’s neighbour, with about a tenth of the people, making for a quieter, more relaxing stay, but with the more lively Palolem only a short walk away for evening entertainment.

In line with it’s other Goan counterparts, Patnem beach is curved into a cove, rocks jutting out at either end, and lined by beach huts and palm trees. A quick clamber over some rocks at the southern end of the beach reveals Rajbagh Beach, which was pretty much deserted. We sunbathed there for a whole afternoon and saw about five people the whole day. A massive relief after the comparatively rammed coastline of North Goa.

We originally booked a three night stay but we were loving it so much, we ended up staying for eight nights in our beach hut, hosted by Ravi from Regina Residency. While here, we took a fishing boat trip down a backwater river, punted along by our guide Bradley who tossed meat in the air for Eagles, Kites and other colourful birds to swoop in and catch. While sailing blissfully through the mangrove we also spotted our first monkey of the trip.

Enjoying our backwaters fishing boat trip

From Patnem we managed to fit in our excursions to Dudsaghar Falls and Atreya Spice Farm, which you can read more about in our upcoming post.

Food highlights of our time in Patnem include breakfast smoothies and paneer paratha from roadside restaurant, Little Ganesh. Israeli inspired tapas and breakfast muesli fruit bowls at Jaali Cafe. Masala scrambled eggs and spicy chai at Little World Cafe in Palolem. And massive portion sizes at Temple Restaurant, which were initially unwelcome with Ruairidh still feeling the effects of illness, but great when you want a giant curry a few days later with an appetite fully in tact!

Ruairidh keen to tuck into our feast at Jaali Cafe, calamari first!

One other noteworthy moment from our time in Patnem saw us trying to rent a moped to explore the local area. Neither of us had ridden one before, but it looked straightforward enough, we’d literally seen children riding them so couldn’t be too hard. Right?!

When we told the guy we lacked a bit of experience riding a scooter, he failed to offer any advice as to how one would go about it, so when Ruairidh jumped on and enthusiastically gave it some gas, he almost carved a hole into the wall in front of him. Rightly so after that failed performance, the guy refused to let us rent the bike, and we left, pretty embarrassed. We did save ourselves the hire cost for the day, so, silver linings and all that!

Katie saying her goodbyes to Patnem beach on our last morning 👋🏻

Agonda

We had become very comfortable in Patnem but Katie made the executive decision that we should explore a new area with our final few days in Goa, so we jumped in a tuk tuk and headed twenty minutes up the coastline to Agonda Beach.

Having enjoyed our beach hut in Patnem, we booked a similar looking place in Agonda. We clearly have a certain taste as upon arrival, the chap who met us told us they were sister businesses!

Agonda beach was beautiful and it’s probably a toss-up between here and Patnem for best beach. Agonda is a slightly bigger town with a greater variety of restaurants, but still with a sparsely populated beach. The sunsets here were dreamy and we enjoyed them every night, on the beach, with beers in hand.

As our last beach destination for a while, it was sad to leave this incredibly picturesque area of the world. We planned for the first three or four weeks of our trip to be super chilled, more holiday-like, than travelling, and South Goa definitely ticked those boxes.

North Goa > The first taste of India’s beautiful beaches

February 11, 2019February 11, 2019Posted in India2 Comments

Most of our trip is quite unplanned but as our first few weeks were to be spent on Goan beaches, we did a bit of research to find the ones that would suit us best. We settled on Arambol as our first spot. The old seaside town had become a hippie’s paradise with vegan cafes, bohemian shops and evening drum circles.

Arambol

Arriving after our long train journey from Mumbai, we were met with busy shops and streets, full of mopeds and people – not exactly what we were expecting following our research! Our accommodation, Cactus Guesthouse, was right in the midst of the action and after a stroll along the beach we settled on dinner at This Is It, where live music was playing and the Goan fish curry was just perfect. We cheersed our Kingfishers – this place had already started to grow on us.

We stayed in Arambol for 3 nights, the beach stretched for what seemed like miles, our food choices got progressively better and walking along the cliffs, we found a secluded beach backed by the beautiful Sweet Lake – paradise. Our final night was filled with amazing food from Double Dutch (we were learning that the restaurants off the beach were usually better!) and us singing along to an Indian rock band at Cookie Walla.

We left Arambol feeling like we could have stayed longer, and although we’d seen a lot, we’d really just scratched the surface of the place.

Oh, and speaking of scratching the surface. We managed to put our first aid kit to good use on night one of our stay. Ruairidh was being super helpful trying to string up our mosquito net, but in doing so, also managed to shove his hand into a full-power ceiling fan. Massive lump, bruise, lots of blood, but finger still attached to the hand, so guess it could have been worse. And at least the first aid kit wasn’t a wasted purchase!

Anjuna

Our next stop, Anjuna, which has a big reputation, was a surprisingly small beach at high tide, a little underwhelming after staying at Arambol but we found a spot on the south side rocks to relax. Within a day we’d discovered our favourite restaurants, Artjuna took the prize for best breakfast with its fruit, yoghurt and granola, and the German Bakery served up tasty Indian dishes (Malai Kofta was a winner).

Anjuna is well known for its Wednesday Flea Market, which we missed, but also for a few Saturday night markets, which we hit up. At Ingo’s Saturday Night Market there was some decent music and a good mix of stalls featuring tasty food (Momos!), local craftspeople, and the usual touristy wares.

On our penultimate day in Anjuna we walked, a lot. From the Caterpillar Hostel we went to Ozran and Vagator Beaches then onto Chapora Fort which had amazing views of both. It was hot, 32 plus, but we made it. Who needs a moped anyway?

Panjim

After saying goodbyes to Penny, our four legged neighbour, we were on our way to Panjim, Goa’s capital. The Fontainhas, where our hostel was located with its Portuguese architecture and colourful tiles, transported us to the Mediterranean. We climbed the steps to Altinho and perused the art gallery which contained Cafe Bodega, a cute courtyard restaurant, the main reason for our visit. Upon leaving the gallery we were met with a Swedish A Cappella choir singing ABBA’s “Money, money, money’. While the choir was quite the surprise, the song choice was a tad obvious – break away Sweden, we’re sure you have other musical strings to your bow!

Taking our first Indian bus involved much shouting and confusion at first but we got it right first time and set off to Old Goa. It’s packed with impressive churches, well maintained gardens and a nice, slightly unorganised museum.

Just like when you wait ages for a London Bus then two come along at once, we’d waited 28 years for our first hectic Indian bus ride, and then smashed two in one day. So after one final coffee at the Old Quarter Hostel we set off to the bus station to see what the Southern beaches had to offer.

Old Quarter Hostel, also a cracking coffee shop!

Mumbai (Bombay) > Our Gateway To India

January 9, 2019January 21, 2019Posted in IndiaTagged Mumbai2 Comments

And so the adventure begins… Our first stop, India. Like many planned on our trip, it’s a country neither of us have ever been to, so we arrive with huge excitement, anticipation and healthy dose of nerves for what lies ahead.

After receiving advice to not bother with Mumbai or “get out of there straight away”, we decided to stick around for a few days to see what India’s largest city had to offer. We landed at Chhatrapati Shivaji International airport and took a pre-paid cab to Fort where our hostel, Travellers Inn, was located. On route to our accommodation the scale of the city started to dawn on us, taking almost 2 hours to get there from the airport which seemed, from Google maps, to be pretty embedded in the heart of the city.

Admiring the architecture > Rajabai Clock Tower, on the outskirts of Kala Ghoda.

After deciding that one long taxi ride crawling through streets that resemble car parks, was enough for the time being, we set about exploring Mumbai on foot. Before heading out, we took a crash course in Indian road-crossing from a friendly Canadian chap in the hostel common area – walk, don’t run, buses will not stop so get out of their way, if in doubt, follow a local. With his advice fresh in our ears, we headed out to explore.

We packed in a lot over our three day stay, taking in many of the tourist hotspots from The Gateway Of India and The Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, to watching a spot of cricket at the Central Oval Maidan fields.

Our favourite area was the art district Kala Ghoda, the windy streets housed great eateries and shops, it was a sanctuary from the neighbouring busy roads. Kala Ghoda Cafè was the venue for our first “proper coffee” experience, served with banging waffles that will live long in our memories.

Discovering ornaments we never knew we needed > Chor Bazaar.

Chor Bazaar topped the list for best market, a huge flea market filled with anything and everything you could want – if you’re in to repaired electricals and refurbished furniture, this is your place. Mani Bhavan, Gandhi’s Mumbai residence added an educational element to our trip to Chowpatty beach and the view from the surrounding Hanging Gardens was worth the short uphill climb.

Waiting for sunset > Chowpatty Beach, Girgaon, Mumbai.

While we’re both glad we didn’t heed the prevailing advice to skip Mumbai altogether, we were definitely ready to board our early morning train out of there. When the train pulled out of the grand Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus railway station, with the sun rising across the tracks, we could just about hear the beaches of Goa calling our names.