Mark's World Tour 2007-08

Thursday 20th December

I got up earlier than I had done during the rest of my stay in Agonda; 9am is a quite early for a beach bum, or at least the kind of beach bum I have become. I wanted to get to Patnem as soon as possible as I hate to hang around doing nothing. After a last breakfast at the excellent ‘Sami’ restaurant, where I had enjoyed quite a few delicious meals, I set off on the short trip to Patnem. It’s about 10kms further down the coast, and moved from beach to beach in a total of about 45 minutes.

Patnem beach is significantly shorter than that of Agonda, about 1km in length, but also enclosed by rocks jutting out onto the sea. It is a similar set-up to that in Agonda, with restaurants and beach huts lining the beach, although these seem to be much closer together in Patnem. The pace of life is also the same, and the food seems to be of a very high standard. Patnem also seems slightly more expensive, perhaps due to the fact that there is less accommodation there when compared to Agonda. A primary reason is due to prices getting hiked up in the run up to Christmas and New Year.

I managed to get another beach hut in a place called ‘Café Copenhagen’, this time at the slightly more expensive rate of 300Rs, which is reasonable value given some of the prices I was quoted elsewhere on the beach. Not long after I arrived, I took a dip in the sea and relaxed for a while.

I had expected Pete and his brother to get in to Patnem late on the 20th, but wasn’t expecting to see them until the following morning or afternoon, while they got over the long trip from London via Mumbai. But, to my surprise, I spotted the guys settling down to the first beer of the trip in a restaurant just a few places up from where I was staying.

I was very pleased to see Pete again, and particularly in such satisfying surroundings. There was a group of people over from London (friends of Pete’s brother Conor) who had come to Patnem a week ago, and are also staying here until a few days into the New Year. We spent the rest of the evening hanging out and had a good laugh. The one interruption we had was a strong rain shower which finally arrived, after threatening for the whole of the largely overcast day. Trust a Ballycastle man to bring the rain with him to Goa!