goa

well the 2nd class sleeper car is as good as 1st, so if your trying to save some money, that's the way to go. our train left at 11 pm and takes 12 hours. this time we were smart and when we arrived back in mumbai, we went right to the forigner reservation window and bought our tickets to goa that very day. (we saw our muslim pal who touted us to indore trying to trap other idiots like us-including us again, he did not even remember us! guess all whities look alike to them) we then checked into our old pal bentley's, retrieved our luggage (btw-if you trave in india, it's good to have mumbai as a base so you can leave your stuff and travel all over the place with only a backpack-it only costs 10rps per bag per day, for us, a total of 120rps(2.50us dollars))
we went to our favorite restaurant in bombay for mangalorian seafood-apoorva. mangalore is on the west coast of india-several kilometers to the east in a straight line is mysore-several kilometers in a straight line is chennai on the east coast, in case you are at all interested in indian geography. we ate the most exquisite sarsoo i have ever had in my life, and i never really liked it before because it's really bitter-it's the broccoli rabe. anyhow, the balanced it with plenty of sag (india spinach, which is sweet instead of american bitter), and garlic and spices. we also skipped the monster tiger prawns tandoori this time cause they cost 500rps for 3 and we went ape s... with 2 orders, one for desert the first time we ate there. can't eat like that all the time in india if you want to spend any time here. than the beautiful kerala rice came, which is about 4 times the size of your average rice, like puffed up, very filling, and sentimental cause i spent 2 months in kerala last year and am going for 2 more. they brought us the famous coconut sauce to pour over it, yummm. and one paratha. my appetite is getting smaller, but i still look fat.

than off to pick up a few errands at the store, nothing interesting there, back to the room to arrange the packages, sending tons of unnecessary stuff home. *note*if you are ever planning a trip to india, bring 3 shirts or 3 salwars, one light pant, and necessaries like glasses and sunscreen. i know you will hear this over and over again, but restrain yourself heavily when packing for india. seriously.

train was on time, did not have to share the private room with anyone till halfway into the trip, a quiet businessfellow from some tiny town, than a belgian woman who'd been to india 8 times, first time driving her own car from brussels!!via turkey. studying iyengar in the north of goa. see-we all keep coming back. i'll come back till i croak. than some government officials who wanted to talk politics, both indian and US, with us. we have no problem expressing our utter embarassment of george w. some indians like him, some hate him. probably more hate him. but to my surprise, lots of people liked the bjp better than the congress party. go figure.

so landing in goa is so strange, cause it does not have the feel of india whatsoever. i'm kind of depressed about that. just beach, nothing but crap to buy on the beach, way way way too many ecstacy headed westerners and hippies, and that relentless horrifying rave music. i wanted to be close to purple valley yoga center to take a few classes cause i had taken this time off yoga in order to try to let my serious peraformis muscle tear heal, if it ever even will. i may be stuck doing primary series for the rest of my life. and you know what? i don't care. soon i'll be doing vipassana and will realize it's all about the stilling of the mind anyhow.

so j and i sampled the fenni, which harvests in may, so most of it is not made of cashew, but of coconut. our first was cashew and tasted like arak (a clear very strong liquor pretty much like everclear- made in indonesia), but like arak, you have to add a little soda water and lots of limes, than it's wonderful. there was the wednesday market down the beach and we preceded down to purchase some goods-man, i am getting SO good at haggelling-i'm not sure WHAT is happenning to my personality. so much is coming out i did not even know existed. unfortunately jeff, with his too much fenni, stumbled down into a ditch while looking at yet another musical instrument and scraped up his face, arms and torso real good. the locals gave him a chair, i cleaned him up with anticeptic wipes (he does not understand that if you cut yourself here in india sometimes it does not heal-i know this first hand.)stubborn. i walked him back to the beach and we watched the sunset and got some food in us-delicious garlic prawns and baby tiger fish, which they also have in kerala.

not very interesting blog, but hey-i'm in south goa and it isn't much different than boring old kovalam. we plan to rent a scooter and travel through the rest of this tiny rhode island sized state and i'm sure i'll have more to say about it. if you like beautiful white sand beach, it's amazing. but i've already been to south beach, the yucatan, bali, eastern australia, so i'd still rather see the caves. guess i'll just have to wait till february-anyone want to come with me?

bindifry