Mark's World Tour 2007-08

Monday 17th December

After spending some time on the beach, I got out of the intense heat of the midday sun and had some lunch in the same place that I had been the night before to watch the football. It had a good, relaxing atmosphere, and I got chatting to a few more people that afternoon. I also got my first lesson in the game of backgammon, one which would appear to be a very popular past-time amongst the traveling community. Think I will have to try and pick it up, it looks like a cool game.

I passed up the chance to go to a yoga class in favour of a kickabout on the beach with some of the guys I had met the night before. It would seem, much to my disappointment, that I am not as fit as I thought I was. And beach football would appear to be much more arduous and physically taxing than the brief trek that I did up the mountains in Manali just four weeks previously (and after which I had been so impressed by my apparent fitness). After 20 minutes playing in the energy-sapping sand, and against a few Indians who were clearly fitter than the rest of the group, I felt like collapsing. Fortunately, I don’t think I disgraced myself, but was happy when a few of the guys decided to call the game to a halt after about half an hour. Once the game was over, I jumped in the sea to cool off and the feeling was wonderful!

Later in the evening, I met up once more with the guys (a group of people from England, Israel, Colombia and Holland), and had some more tasty fish and chips on the seafront. Most of the people in the group were moving on the next day, which was a pity as they were nice folk. However, on the way back to the hut, I met yet more people – English and Scottish – who invited me to join them for a late-night coffee. It would have been rude to refuse their kind offer, and I ended up spending a very funny hour in the company of these strangers who told me of their experiences of life in Agonda. Although it’s a small place, there is enough going on to provide a source for sufficient gossip. And there are also enough friendly people about to ensure that you never go long without having a chat to someone, so you never feel completely alone.