Goa

To get from Cochin to Goa we took an internal flight. It used to be the case that travel in India involved long bus or train journeys of 24 hours or more to get around the country, but the budget airline revolution has arrived in India and you can pick up an internal flight for as little as £30 - or even less if you're an Indian resident. I was a bit dubious about taking an internal flight but the plane turned out to brand new and there was nothing to worry about. We had a very comfortable flight up to Goa.

We took a taxi from the airport straight to Anjuna which is in the north part of Goa. Anjuna was the place to be in Goa in the late 90's when the rave scene was big here. The government has cracked down on the all night raves here and the party scene isn't what it used to be but apparently it's still the place to head to in Goa for a party and with a full moon due in a couple of days it seemed like a good place to start.

We got ourselves checked into a fairly nice hotel near the beach and then went for a wander along the beach. Our hostel was pretty much at the top north end of the beach and we walked all the way to the south end. There was a funky bar at the far end playing dance music. Above the bar on the cliff tops I saw some paragliders taking off. I took a quick hike up to the top of the cliff and got a few numbers of paragliding instructors in the hope I might take some lessons here. I quickly came back down to the bar and joined Phil for a few beers. As the afternoon went on the place got busier. There were people of many different ages and states of inebriation. I've not seen too many ravers in their sixties before. There was one guy who must have been in his mid-forties who was in a little world of his own, dancing to his own music and running around the beach looking up to the sky with his hands in the air. I'm not sure what he was on but it sure looked like he was having fun. Phil and I joked that he was probably a headmaster of a respectable school back home away on a two week holiday of debauchery in Goa. Unfortunately I wasn't feeling the best - still suffering from a dodgy belly - and despite my best efforts to stay out I had to go back the hostel and lie down missing out on all the fun.

The following day we headed down to the flea market that happens every Wednesday afternoon on Anjuna beach. It's a massive market selling clothing and gifts. I saw a pair of shorts I wanted to buy. The stall owner then told me how truly amazing these pair of shorts were, that they were made in Europe and were probably the greatest pair of shorts ever made. All of this was of course a precursor to him charging me an extortionate price for the shorts. I came in at a much lower price, at which point the stall owner felt the need to remind me just how truly amazing these shorts were. We both of course knew that these were a shabby pair of Indian made shorts that would in all likelihood start to fall apart in about two days time, but I couldn't tell the stall owner this without him feigning great insult and thus dragging out the bargaining process for even longer. My new bargaining strategy is to start at a price I think is fair and then not move on my price. So I did just this. A good tactic then is to walk out of the shop and see what happens. I did this after a few minutes of haggling and he finally relented and gave me my price. I paid about £4 for the shorts but still felt I had paid too much. I put the shorts on in the back of the shop and left wearing them. Two minutes later I put my hand in one of the pockets. My hand went straight through the pocket making a massive hole in it. My two day estimate for when the shorts would start to fall apart had been wildly optimistic.

The following morning myself and Phil were preparing to leave the hostel for the day to hire some scooters and head up the coast. The old lady who owned the hostel told us to pack our stuff up and leave. It turns out she had taken a booking for our room without telling us and now we had to leave as there were no other rooms available. I wasn't very happy about this and voiced my dissatisfaction to her. She told me to pay for the room and leave. I don't think the phrase 'the customer is always right' applies in India. After being unceremoniously ejected from our hotel we went to check out a few other places and found one with a really friendly old Labrador dog that kept trying to get into our room.

Finally much later than planned we managed to hire ourselves a couple of scooters and headed north up the coast. We went first to Mandrem which is one the least developed beaches. To get onto the beach we had to take a rather rickety bamboo bridge over a stream. The beach itself was beautiful but even here there were two or three restaurants on the beach and it didn't feel like it would be long before this becomes as developed as some of the other beaches. We made our way towards Anjuna taking in a couple more beaches on the way. We got back to the hotel and were greeted by the friendly dog. Just then a couple of beggars walked past the hotel. The dog turned nasty and ran over to them and started barking like mad. His owners have obviously taught him to hate beggars. It was pretty funny to see such a placid dog suddenly turn so aggressive and it scared the shit out of the beggars.

Later that evening after some food we wondered down the beach for a drink. It turns out that tonight was the night of the full moon party. We had got our dates wrong and didn't realise it was tonight. We'd missed another party on the beach like the one that occurred the first day we arrived, but after asking around we found there was a party going on in a place called 'The West End'. The place was a little way away and we got in a taxi with two Swiss guys and headed over to check out a Goa full moon party. I'm not sure what I was expecting - maybe thousands of people on a beach with palm trees all going mad. The West End turned out be a club inland playing dance music. It wasn't really what I had in mind. I don't mind listening to dance music in clubs but I'm not really a big fan and have no idea what the difference between techno and trance and such things is. I asked a girl there if she was enjoying the full moon party. She replied that she preferred to listen to forest trance. I didn't how to reply to that so I said nothing. On this evening it was Phil's turn to feel ill and not be up for partying. The full moon party wasn't really what I'd been expecting so I was happy enough to get a taxi with him back to Anjuna. We'd been in the party capital of Goa for four days now and had completed failed to do any partying.

We had a day off to recover from our lack of partying and then hired motorbikes - well Phil hired a bike and I hired a scooter - and headed south for five days to visit the rest of the beaches in Goa. We spent most the day getting to Palolem. Despite plastering loads of suncream my nose still managed to get extremely burnt. Palolem is fairly well developed but it's also a really beautiful beach and the development hasn't really spoiled it that much. I met up with a German friend of mine Nicky while I was here. I met her four years ago in South America and haven't seen her since. It was good to see her again. The three of us had some food and then wandered down to a bar at the end of the beach. There had been loads of music pumping out of a club not far from where we were earlier but it had stopped. We thought the place had closed for the night but it turns there was a noiseless rave going on. Now a noiseless rave for those of you who don't know is rave where all the music is beamed wirelessly to headphones. You need to get a headset to listen to the music. I've never seen anything like this before. It was a lot of fun. There were two DJ's both playing different sets at the same time. A switch on the headphones allowed you to switch between the two sets. You could switch between the two and work who was listening to which channel by the way they were dancing. The strangest thing you could do though was to take your headphones off. It was very peculiar to see lots of people dancing with no music playing. It was kind of a weird experience because when you have the headphones on you can't really talk to anyone. On the plus side when you stop for a rest and have a chat at the bar you can actually hear what everyone is saying.

We spent another day chilling out in Palolem and then the following day headed up the coast with Nicky to Benaulim. We stopped off at a temple along the way. We got shown round and were given Bindi spots. We took a look at Colva beach but it looked a bit too developed so we headed back down south a couple kilometers to Benaulim and found a very quiet relaxed stretch of beach. Nicky just hung out with us for a few hours then headed back to Palolem. Me and Phil spent a couple of days here relaxing.

Phil decided to teach me how to ride a motorbike while we were here. Phil has told me on a number of occasions of the spectacular accidents he has had on motorbikes in the past so he seemed like the perfect person to teach me. I have with me a book on travel health and it has a section on motorbikes. This is what it has to say: AVOID MOTORBIKES: Accidents on (or off) motorbikes are extremely common in travelers. If you don't ride them at home, don't ride them when you are away. WEAR A HELMET: if you ride a motorbikes, have the right gear. Helmets are essential. Open shoes, bare arms or legs may result in nasty gravel rash. Well I carefully considered this advice then hopped on Phil's bike in sandals, shorts, t-shirt and no helmet. I started off a little slowly at first but soon got the hang of it and really enjoyed riding the bike. I'm quite keen to get my bike license when I return home.

After a couple of days chilling out in Benaulim we took the bikes back to Anjuna. We were we stopped off in Old Goa and were going to have a look around but we were both feeling pretty ill, just for a change, so didn't hang around. We did manage to have a quick wander round for Fort Aguada though. We got back to Anjuna and after looking at lots of places to stay near the beach ended up settling for a place in town. We had a couple of days to kill before Merryl - Phil's girlfriend - and our friend Omar turned up to join us.

We spent the days on the beach. The restaurants along the beach have sunbeds with parasols outside them and you can lie on them and have beer and food brought to you - such a hard life. Whenever you ordered food the cows that wandered the beach would come up and attack. They were pretty easy to fend off, but it was funny to see how scared of them some people were. One cow in particular was a long string of snot trailing from his nose. People weren't too happy when he tried to stick his nose in their food. I also got really ill again and spent a day in bed/on the toilet. I took another course of antibiotics and that seems to have done the trick.

The following afternoon we were waiting for Omar and Merryl to turn up. We were sat in a cafe having a few drinks. They were long overdue so Phil popped off to an internet cafe to see where they. He came back 15 mins later looking none too impressed. Merryl had been delayed but would be with us in an hour or so. Omar meanwhile had been deported in Mumbai. He had turned up without a visa. Nice work Omar!

We spent a few more days in Anjuna once Merryl arrived and revisited a few beaches we had already been to so Merryl could see them. We also popped over to a place called Chapora which is where a lot of hippies hang out. We saw three old guys who were in a bit of state. One the guys with his head bandaged up was clearly the worse for wear. I saw him again a little later attempting to ride a motorbike. It gave me a fairly good idea of how he had managed to injure his head in the first place.

I got into quite a fitness regime whilst in Anjuna and most mornings would do some exercises in my room - push ups, sit ups and that sort of thing - and then go for a run along on the beach. On completion of my run and a quick shower I then went to the same restaurant each morning for a very healthy breakfast of fruit salad with yoghurt and museli. Another old guy used run along the beach every morning. I would normally see him run past while I had my breakfast. He took his run to the next level by doing it in a thong. I wasn't quite ready for that level of commitment in my fitness regime.

On one of our last days in Anjuna it was Merryl's turn to feel ill. She turned up to breakfast looking pretty rough. She didn't feel like eating but did order a coke and proceeded to add sugar to it. Phil looked pretty appalled by this. Not long after drinking the concoction she had to go back to bed and lie down. The same day there was another party going at the bar down the far end of the beach. I was actually feeling well enough to go this time and have a few beers and a party. Unfortunately with Merryl being ill and Phil being an attentive boyfirend and looking after her I had to go on my own. But that didn't stop me having a good old shindig on the beach as the sun went down and the stars came out.

I had been trying to sort out some paragliding lessons whilst in Anjuna but was finding it difficult to track any instructors down or get them to answer their phones. By now Phil and Merryl had left Anjuna to have sometime to themselves and I had had enough of wasting time trying to sort out my paragliding course so I booked myself onto a course in a place called Kamshet near Mumbai. I had no idea what the place would be like or what to expect but decided to go nevertheless. This did mean it would complicate meeting up with Phil and Merryl again but I had already spent too much time in Goa and I was keen to get some paragliding in.