I have been and gone from Goa, all be it reluctantly after spending 3 weeks of my trip there. We spent the last day waiting for our evening train to Kerala in the bar/hotel were we had been staying. A place called Starco's which is sort of the hub of activty in Anjuna and was a fantastic place to stumble upon by accident. The people we met there were all really sound and with everyone gathered for one of the guys bithdays on the last day there was a big party. The drinks came and went and we got closer and closer to missing the train and staying there for another month. This probably would have been a regretful decision in many ways but we were just so comfortable there and when we realised our room was gone our decison was made.
I am glad of this now as i sit in beautiful Kerala awaiting a trip on the backwaters in a houseboat for the next two days (expensive but hopefully worth it). Anyway, I have fallen abit behind in the journal but while I did nothing in Goa... I was BUSY doing nothing and enjoying it as well. Even just a month of travelling and visiting the train station every two days starts to tire you out.
The philsophy in Goa was that of 'no hurry, no worries' and this was definately my kind of place. Everyone was happy to relax, leave you in peace (taxi drivers excluded) and the time flew by. The budget went out the window a bit with fresh seafood and cold beer on offer but was definatately worth it. We also had scooter to bolt around on for a couple of weeks and see the rest of Goa (arambol looked particularly good place to stay abit further up the coast). We quickly learned that transport in goa is essential as everywhere is quite spread out.
This year was noticably quiter in the whole of Goa according to everyone and it took right upon until newyears eve for the place to begin to jump. This was not a problem for us who were still happy to go to the bars and the occasional club but for those looking at Goa as a kind of more tropical Ibiza you are in the wrong place. Some places were constantly dead and you definately had to look hard for a party each night. At New Year this all changed and everywhere was mobbed with most (including myself) headng to a party at hilltop!. This involbed the usual newyear banter and everyone in good spirits and this followed on into the next day (as always).
As for the rest of the highlights, I would say the saturday night baazar at Ingos which had every type of food you could think of freshly made as well as music, fire dancers and similar, drink and of course shops (if thats what your interested in). The Anjuna market was also decent but of less interest to me personally. It was also great to have Jess's mum and sister out for 10 days over xmas, they got right in to the spirit of doing very little and having a relaxing holoday.
I will definately look back upon Goa as the sort of place I could live forever! Just trying to work out how I could earn the means to do this is the tricky part.
