Days 325-335: Goa, Mumbai, and Delhi (again)
This entry wraps up our visit to India as well as the first half of our travels.
We left the Hindu and Muslim areas of India and headed to the former Portugese colony and terrific beach zone of Goa. Tons of churches and small Christian shrines everywhere.
Hoping for some quiet relaxation, we headed for the less popular Goan beaches near Colva and Sernabatim. Turns out high season was lasting extra long this year and we ended up in our most expensive room in all of India. But with lounge chairs right on the beach, it was worth it! Just what we needed after one and a half months of Indian hustle-and-bustle. We ate breakfast while watching dolphins swim in the Arabian sea. Got burnt to a crisp during Crimsonfest 2006 (this was supposed to be Bronzefest 2006). And sipped the local cashew firewater (feni – best mixed with citrus-flavored sodas) while eating layered coconut cake called bebinca. Nice!
A fishing boat on the coast of the Arabian Sea. The whole town gets together to drag these boats in and out of the water.
The beach we stayed at was quite relaxing for India. There were only a handful of hawkers, beggars, and young theives interupting sunbathing at any given time. We almost got into a fight with some guys who kept trying to touch women’s heads (including Kelly’s), but later found out they were “ear cleaners” who use various impliments to get the wax out.
Is that Carmen Miranda on the beach? Colorfully-dressed fruit vendors roam the beaches peddling pineapples to the peckish.
The little town of Anjuna explodes for the Wednesday market. Every conceivable handicraft is available including spaceship lamp shades, Conan the Barbarian style leather-wear, elephant motif anklets, and old-style diving helmet clocks. Lots of Tibetans sell jewellery here but are incredibly tough negotiators; the only folks that don’t buckle under the we’ll-think-about-it-and-walk-away-technique.
Colorful cloth lampshades for sale at the lively Anjuna market.
Getting a henna tattoo is a mandatory activity when visiting Goa.
A starfish in need of better camouflage.
Goa at night. Hadn’t seen the stars in a while.
We knew coming into Mumbai that there is a serious shortage of budget accomodation. After a long search, we ended up at the best-value budget place in town: the Salvation Army hostel. Still our second highest priced hotel in India (right behind Goa).
There are loads of neat buildings in Mumbai including this library.
A bright blue synagogue crammed between buildings to serve Mumbai’s tiny Jewish population.
We took a walk around the court buildings and they appeared to be very British affairs. All they needed were wigs. Here’s a game of cricket on the green outside the High Court.
We visited a bar in Mumbai to see Bollywood stars and listen to Hindi-pop, but instead got tourists and The Police from the ’80s. Mumbai was our favorite city in India as it was easy to walk around and low hassle. That being said, when we left town we did have to jump on a moving train to beat the cartfulls of baggage some families were waiting to load on board. Good thing we did since they ended up in our compartment. Learned a neat trick on the train for quieting crying babies: play them cell phone ring tones.
The Victoria train terminus is a fantastic building. They kicked us out before we could take pictures of the equally impressive interior. (Who knew the train station actually housed government offices?)
Headed back to Delhi for our flight home but got there a few days early to take advantage of the fantastic shopping at the state-run emporiums (emporia?). They’re like Cost Plus but cheap. We bought so much stuff that we had to get another bag just to schlep it all home.
Kelly taking a breather from shopping at one of the coffee chains in Delhi.
Managed to hit one last sight in Delhi: the Baha’i “lotus” temple. The graceful building is built with curved, white marble blocks and it is tough to figure out what is holding the petals up. The place has almost no ornamentation; quite a contrast to the one in Wilmette, Illinois. It was also the quietest and cleanest place in all of India. We hope they open a hotel chain.
The Lotus temple springs from the earth south of New Delhi. Well worth the long rickshaw ride. This picture just doesn’t do it justice.
We’re not really sure why anyone would want to get their ears cleaned in India since ear wax build-up would probably help deaden the cacophony.
We caught a late night flight back to the states and got to Newark after about 15 hours in the air. We knew we had been gone a while when the immigration officer did a triple take between Marcus and his passport and asked, “Is this really you?”
Tags: India
Kelly & Marcus
March 9th, 2006 at 7:59 am
SO good to have had you home for a bit – can’t wait to see the Intermission blog when you get it finished.
Hope the flight to Turkey goes well today…
Hugs xoxox