GOA
Wensday 9th, We got on the 09.50 express train to Margao we were travelling in 2nd class A/C sleeper so this ment we shared a curtained of area with 2 other people and we would all have our own bunk. The trip went pretty smoothly, Clare was suffering from a bit of Dehli belly so frequent trps to the Bathroom were neccessary!!. We had the cabin to ourselves for 50% of the trip and the people that came and went at different stops were friendly and chatty. The food was ok and there was plenty of sweet tea regulary. We also had lots of furry friends to keep us company who could be found regulary scampering across your toes!!. The trip was 2300km and took 36 hours. We arrived in Margao and got a taxi to our Hotel in Colva.

Fridat 11th, The hotel we were staying in was ok but after we went for a walk on the beach and looked at a few other hotels we decided to move. We settled on C.Roque Hotel, This place was great it was right on the beach with a palm tree sun lounger garden. The food was excellent and the staff were very friendly, the rooms were basic but you dont need much when you will spend most of you time outside. Once we settled in here we knew it would be till we had to travel to Cochin to catch our next flight. The beach stretches for miles in both directions as far as the eye can see and the white sands are fringed with palm trees all the way. The water is not clear enough for snorkelling but the temp. of it made up for it, we spent hours swimming and getting battered by the surf. We thought that since fishing was one of the main sources of income in the area that the fish would be cheap in the restuarants, but it was the opposite it was quite expensive. There are plenty of tourist shops in Colva and we found a small second hand book shop were you could swap books for a small fee. As you can gather we were intent on doing very little in Colva except soak up the sun and relax. We were able to organise our onward train ticket to Cochin from a travel agent in Colva town, which saved us the hassel of going into Margao to the train station!. We were missing home a small bit so we had a feast of EGGS, CHIPS AND BEANS and we were sorted again!!!. Paddy's day seemed to pass us by out here but we had a "LEMON TEA" to toast the day!!!!

Friday 18th, We hired cycle bikes and headed south on the beach, we ended up in Mobor were the Sal river meets the sea, along the way we spotted Dolphins in the surf and a water snake that had been brought in by the fisher men in the nets, a german tourist picked it up and carried it to the water as in was too far up the beach and baking in the sun to make it by itself, very brave, i would'nt have touched it!!. When we got back to the hotel we were Knackered we had cycled 20 miles!, our bums were broken and we had over did it in the sun so no more bikes for a while. We chilled out for the rest of the day and rested our BUMS!!.

Saturday 19th, We were checking out of the hotel today at 5pm so we could catch the 7.30pm train to Cochin. We went for our last swim in the Arabian sea and did a bit of last minute shopping in Colva. Over-all our stay here has brillant and we would love to come back back again, its a great place to chill out and relax.