Friday 28th December
It was my last full day in Goa before I got back on the road the following day for the final leg of my Indian adventure. Although I will no doubt be spending a lot more time on beaches over the course of my world tour, I hoped to catch a few more rays on this final day, so slapped on the factor 12 and hit the beach straight after breakfast.
It was truly a lazy day of lazy days, a mixture of reading, swimming, lunching, followed by a snooze on the beach during the cooler part of the day. Some of the waves had been great, allowing for some fantastic body-surfing, while the water of the Arabian Sea is nice and warm, so a lot of fun was had in the sea.
For dinner, we once again made the short trip to the Hotel Mangalore, the same place that we ate earlier in the week (and had been paid a visit by Santa & Friends). It is a normal, no-frills place, with locals eating alongside a handful of tourists. We ordered a mountain of food, and thankfully there were some big appetites that night as we made a very good stab at polishing off a table full of grub: spicy quid (Squid ‘65’ a particular favourite), chicken dopiaza, dal fry, tomato fry, aloo ghobi, prawn masala, crab masala, mushroom masala, three types of rice, raita, chapatti, and a few more dishes that were undoubtedly lost in the mound of food. The food in Goa had been generally excellent, one of the major plus points for the area.
It was a quieter night with fewer people about, so, on returning to Patnem Beach, a few of us went for a drink and a chat along the beachfront. It had been a very enjoyable, chilled out evening, and a good way to finish my time in Goa.
