Thanks to my Nepalese acquaintance, I am on my way to Goa today. Woohoo! I found the coolest 300 year old restored hotel where I'll be staying. I'll day trip it to the beach and the markets. I cannot wait.

My hotel helped me set up the ticket. They called Jet Airways, turned me over to them, and I booked in a flash. Memories of Rahul saying there would be no seats on the airplanes left this time of year flashed through my brain. Oh well, schmuck. I made haste down to the Jet Air office in Colaba because they insisted I pick up my ticket there. I blame jetlag for the fact that I went to the Air India office first, doih! I got to the airline 5 minutes before they closed. The clerk tried to get me the under thirty discount, but the machine wouldn't take it. I was flattered that he tried. Sweet guy, I'm thinking family :)

Right next door the Golden Gate restaurant beckoned me. I thought, why not? I went in and decided on the buffet. When I got up to the buffet and they lifted the lids, everything was dark on top and congealed over. I took a dab of this and a dab of that, most of it was swill. The salads on the other hand were delish, fresh, crisp, tastey. Loves it! The Dal - an Indian staple food made of lentils and almost looks like a soup - was great too, so I stuffed myself on Dal and salad. The table clothes were dirty, the staff huddled in a corner and seemed more confused than intent on service. So far it is the worst restaurant I've eaten at here. Win some, lose some. I did find it humorous when I walked out the door when the waiter asked if I was the socker player Beckham. I had a Manchester United soccer shirt on with Beckham on the back. I'm telling you that shirt starts more conversations around the world.

Right around the corner I set to shopping with my belly fool and water logged. Most of the stuff on the street didn't appeal to me. It was hard to ignore the beggars, old ladies bone thin laying on the sidewalk, little boys of 4 to 6 running in groups of four or five would surround me and say "hello, sir. What's your name?" I just want to take them all home and give them a life. However here, I'd give all my money away if I did more than give a few coins.

I ended up in a shop that had antiques and saris among other fine merchandise. The owner was cashmiri and very sweet. I fell in love with three items there. A bright green heavy silk sari that I want to get for Francine - my team mate at work - a gold threaded hand embroidered throw for the top of my bed with huge elephants, birds, camels... And finally my box fetish came into play when they brought out this huge bronze treasure chest that they claim is 90 years old and hand detailed with the designs. If I had been her more than a couple of days I'd have felt more comfortable buying, but I didn't. I'll go back.

I crossed the street to where the shops crowd the sidewalks as well as the stores. The area is called the Colaba causeway and yesterday it was packed with European and American tourists. That didn't stop the vendors from pulling me this way and that. At one point I had a guy pulling each arm in different directions and little girl pulling on my shirt. Oddly enough I kind of enjoyed the chaos. It wasn't like Africa where their desperation makes them a little scarey.

The little girl was really cute and incredibly outspoken. A couple of vendors raised their hand to her to scare her away. She stood her ground and told them where to go. I totally admired that. She used the same line as all the other street kids, "Sir, what's your name? Where are you from? You look like a movie start." I'm sure a sucker for flattery. She followed me along for a while. I asked her if she wanted money, she said no. She wanted me to buy a bag of rice for her family. Something about that clicked with me. She tried to protect me from the religious guy that wanted to tie orange, yellow and red yarn around my arm and put paint on my head as a blessing. I kept telling the guy to stop that I didn't want his blessing, but he cornered me and tied it on. The little girl kept trying to help me push him away. I liked her even more. Then the religo dude followed us for three blocks demanding a donation of 50 rupees. That so wasn't going to happen. The little girl untied the 10 knots he'd put in to try to keep me from pulling the yarn off. Her older sister who appeared our of nowhere took the string back to the guy.

I stopped at a little stand where a guys sold cool crystal like rocks. I was there almost an hour and ended up buying several to adorn my house. Cool guy, kinda cute and a good bargainer. Another Kashmiri guy sat behind me and kept offering to exchange money for me. I'm glad to know there is a black market for that. You get much better rates. I didn't have anything but rupees on me, so that didn't happen.

Finally I walked the little girl to the store. She picked up a huge bag of rice and a big can of similac for her baby sister. I shelled out $13.00 for it. It felt good. She and her sister thanked me profusely. The shop keeper told me I was crazy, maybe so, but it felt right.

I'm heading back to the hotel now, I'm late for my taxi.

Later....from Goa....