Having been up all-night and watched the sunrise (yesterday's entry) I went for an Indian breakfast with Raj and then went back to my hut for a sleep. It had been a very fun night and I had not done an all nighter like that in ages :)
I did not manage to get much sleep as the guys from the huts management woke me up to ask for a copy of my passport around 9 and then I got talking on the phone. After sleeping again till 11 I then had to get up, showered, packed and check out from my room unless I wanted to pay for another night. I decided to enjoy a last Western Style lunch before I headed back into "real" India and leave Goa. I had a lovely prawn salad and a proper coffee. It was lovely to sit and watch the sea while eating my lunch and read my book. It was about 1.30 by the time I changed into my biking clothes and got on the road. As I was leaving Vagalor I saw Jerry again and stopped to chat with him for ages. It was fun giggling about last night. We had coffee and cake. He wanted me to stay another night I would have loved to have a nap and then go out again tonight but I do really need to head north if I am going to get to Ajanta caves and catch my train from Jalgaon on the 3rd - I have about 1000km to do.
By the time I actually left Vagalor it was about 3.30-4. The ride North was lovely. I remembered the route as I had done it a couple of years earlier on an Indian bike that I had hired. There are lovely little lanes and it is much quieter than further South in Goa. I needed to catch a ferry to cross over into Karnatica. I had to wait about 30 mins for the ferry. Once over the other side I really needed to get a move on to get to a town with a lodge - I was aiming for Malvan.
On the way I saw loads of people working on the side of the road. Construction workers are everywhere in India but these ones in my photos were particularly friendly. They live by the side of the road in make shift plastic tents. There is no child care and the women work as well and so most of the time the children are either held on the backs or fronts of the mothers or if they are over 2ish then they are running around or more often actually working too. This young lad but have been about 4 or 5 and he was moving soil around and helping out. The clothes of these people are usually very different to other Indians. The women tend to wear long skirts rather than saris. I am guessing because it is easier to work in skirts. The fashion reminds me of Gypsies in Europe: very colourful and bright with loads of tangling jewelery.
Unfortunately, the area had no mobile signal and so I could not use GPS and google maps for directions. I asked some locals on the way and they sent me in the wrong direction. The roads were really lovely and passed through little villages. I was back to "proper" India rather than Goa. However, it was hilly and as I had gone the wrong way I did not make very good time. It meant that it was about 6 by the time I arrived in Shiroda. I asked and several locals said that there was a lodge in town. I decided to finish early and not try to get to Malvan as I would be biking in the dark.
I followed the directions for the lodge in town but I must have missed it somewhere along the way as I did not see it by the time I had passed through town. I asked a lad on a motor bike and he indicated to follow him. There were loads of people around and so I did so. I started to get a little nervous when we went off down country roads but I asked other people on the way passed "lodge, lodge" and they pointed in the same direction the motor cyclist was sending me. Rather than taking me to the lodge in town (or to the resorts on the beach that I found out about later) he took me to some lovely little remote beach huts right on the edge of a beautiful sandy beach (Paradise Beach) set in coconut trees. There were many other westerners staying there and it was very cute. I arrived just as the sun was going down. The owner spoke very good English and charged me 200RS for the hut. It was very basic with a swat toilet but it had a shower and electricity. It is how I image parts of Goa would have been before it became so popular. I did not find this place on the net and apparently it is not in the Lonely Planet or other guide books. People just know about it from word of mouth. Perfect I thought.
I was really happy to have found it and just un-packing my stuff when someone knocked on my door. I thought it was the owner returning to ask for id etc but it turned out to be the Indian lad that had directed me to the beach huts. I had already given him a very generous tip for bringing me here (as I was so happy to have found such a fab spot) and so I wondered what he wanted. He indicated that he wanted a kiss and to come into my room. I told him "No!" and where to go at this point. He then decided to grope me and run off extremely quickly. I was not impressed. I had been wearing trousers around this area and had not given any indication what so ever that I was interested in him. It was probably the first time he had touched a woman in his life. The Indians are so sexually repressed as a nation. It is such a shame that the only out let is groping foreigners - the little shit! He was only about 5 foot tall and probably about 20.
In the hut next to me there was a Danish couple (Andras and Elise) and their daughter (Fryer). They were actually the only other white people on the same ferry that I took a few hours earlier. They were lovely and invited me into their hut to join them for dinner. We spent a lovely few hours nattering. I told them about the guy groping me and they said they would listen out for anything through the night - which put my mind at rest some what (I also told the owner of the huts and he said he had never seen the guy before and would certainly keep a look out for him). I had a earlyish night because had no sleep last night. Apart from the "incident" it was a lovely day. It did unsettle me and I did not sleep as well as normal. However, at least as I lay awake I could hear the waves crashing on the beach - very relaxing. :-)
I did not manage to get much sleep as the guys from the huts management woke me up to ask for a copy of my passport around 9 and then I got talking on the phone. After sleeping again till 11 I then had to get up, showered, packed and check out from my room unless I wanted to pay for another night. I decided to enjoy a last Western Style lunch before I headed back into "real" India and leave Goa. I had a lovely prawn salad and a proper coffee. It was lovely to sit and watch the sea while eating my lunch and read my book. It was about 1.30 by the time I changed into my biking clothes and got on the road. As I was leaving Vagalor I saw Jerry again and stopped to chat with him for ages. It was fun giggling about last night. We had coffee and cake. He wanted me to stay another night I would have loved to have a nap and then go out again tonight but I do really need to head north if I am going to get to Ajanta caves and catch my train from Jalgaon on the 3rd - I have about 1000km to do.
By the time I actually left Vagalor it was about 3.30-4. The ride North was lovely. I remembered the route as I had done it a couple of years earlier on an Indian bike that I had hired. There are lovely little lanes and it is much quieter than further South in Goa. I needed to catch a ferry to cross over into Karnatica. I had to wait about 30 mins for the ferry. Once over the other side I really needed to get a move on to get to a town with a lodge - I was aiming for Malvan.
On the way I saw loads of people working on the side of the road. Construction workers are everywhere in India but these ones in my photos were particularly friendly. They live by the side of the road in make shift plastic tents. There is no child care and the women work as well and so most of the time the children are either held on the backs or fronts of the mothers or if they are over 2ish then they are running around or more often actually working too. This young lad but have been about 4 or 5 and he was moving soil around and helping out. The clothes of these people are usually very different to other Indians. The women tend to wear long skirts rather than saris. I am guessing because it is easier to work in skirts. The fashion reminds me of Gypsies in Europe: very colourful and bright with loads of tangling jewelery.Unfortunately, the area had no mobile signal and so I could not use GPS and google maps for directions. I asked some locals on the way and they sent me in the wrong direction. The roads were really lovely and passed through little villages. I was back to "proper" India rather than Goa. However, it was hilly and as I had gone the wrong way I did not make very good time. It meant that it was about 6 by the time I arrived in Shiroda. I asked and several locals said that there was a lodge in town. I decided to finish early and not try to get to Malvan as I would be biking in the dark.
I followed the directions for the lodge in town but I must have missed it somewhere along the way as I did not see it by the time I had passed through town. I asked a lad on a motor bike and he indicated to follow him. There were loads of people around and so I did so. I started to get a little nervous when we went off down country roads but I asked other people on the way passed "lodge, lodge" and they pointed in the same direction the motor cyclist was sending me. Rather than taking me to the lodge in town (or to the resorts on the beach that I found out about later) he took me to some lovely little remote beach huts right on the edge of a beautiful sandy beach (Paradise Beach) set in coconut trees. There were many other westerners staying there and it was very cute. I arrived just as the sun was going down. The owner spoke very good English and charged me 200RS for the hut. It was very basic with a swat toilet but it had a shower and electricity. It is how I image parts of Goa would have been before it became so popular. I did not find this place on the net and apparently it is not in the Lonely Planet or other guide books. People just know about it from word of mouth. Perfect I thought.
I was really happy to have found it and just un-packing my stuff when someone knocked on my door. I thought it was the owner returning to ask for id etc but it turned out to be the Indian lad that had directed me to the beach huts. I had already given him a very generous tip for bringing me here (as I was so happy to have found such a fab spot) and so I wondered what he wanted. He indicated that he wanted a kiss and to come into my room. I told him "No!" and where to go at this point. He then decided to grope me and run off extremely quickly. I was not impressed. I had been wearing trousers around this area and had not given any indication what so ever that I was interested in him. It was probably the first time he had touched a woman in his life. The Indians are so sexually repressed as a nation. It is such a shame that the only out let is groping foreigners - the little shit! He was only about 5 foot tall and probably about 20.
In the hut next to me there was a Danish couple (Andras and Elise) and their daughter (Fryer). They were actually the only other white people on the same ferry that I took a few hours earlier. They were lovely and invited me into their hut to join them for dinner. We spent a lovely few hours nattering. I told them about the guy groping me and they said they would listen out for anything through the night - which put my mind at rest some what (I also told the owner of the huts and he said he had never seen the guy before and would certainly keep a look out for him). I had a earlyish night because had no sleep last night. Apart from the "incident" it was a lovely day. It did unsettle me and I did not sleep as well as normal. However, at least as I lay awake I could hear the waves crashing on the beach - very relaxing. :-)
No comments:
Post a Comment