Our last day in Arambol was great (espite cruddy weather) . I did some shopping - bought some new clothes (so I could finally ditch some particularly old, ragged ones, india is hell on clothes!). We also had a most glorious dinner in Mouth of Buddha restaurant - I had king prawns (yuuuum) , quickly finished them then watched in amazement as Anna consumed the most enormous red mullet imaginable. The others also had delicious food, and we stayed late, drinking coffee and chatting to the guys on the next table. It rained all the way through dinner (again) so we practically had to wade back to our apartment, pull our sodden clothing off the line (where it had sat about 3 days without drying even the teeniest bit) and set our alarms for an early start the next day.
To get to Palolem we caught a grand total of 5 buses from the very northern-most beach of Arambol to the Palolem in the south (Yes - 5 buses! Personal record, and it was so cheap and easy - grand total waiting time was less than 2 minutes, and the whole days travel cost about 80p - got to love the Indian public transport!). All not peachy in paradise though - we left behind rainy Arambol, only to arrive in Palolem in torrential rain (been raining for 5 days apparently).
Initially had a bit of a rush to find accomodation - all the beach huts have been torn down after not one owner applied for their licences so no beach huts for us("even the man driving the bulldozer couldn't be bribed" the owners say in tones of horror and disbelief, seems it is usual to not apply for licences, but bribe local police instead!) . We've got a couple of cheap, clean rooms a minutes walk from the beach instead - Lisa and Julie even have a TV, what luxury!!
Thankfully the rain cleared up about 10 this morning, so most of my day has been spent turning slowly crimson on the perfect beach. Bliss was interrupted every five minutes by someone trying to sell us coconuts/sarongs/jewellary/massages, and a reeeaally creepy Indian bloke who asked us if we would sleep with him (in more explicit terms), was rejected (most definately and descriptively) but proceeded to stand and stare at us from mere feet away, oblivious to threats of bodily harm/police/large rugby-playing boyfriends. Eventually I borrowed Anna's digital camera and took some close-up pictures of him until he ran away... with me, yelling and still taking pictures, chasing after him (much to amusement of other tourists and people rebuilding huts).
Tonight we are going to an nice cafe to try some Goan dishes, then maybe drinks on the beach. I keep meaning to get up early and jog along the beach - Bourne style - but somehow cannot manage getting out of bed before absolutely necessary! Will try tomorrow. Also have to upload photographs from the girls cameras, I keep meaning to but keep forgetting. Maybe I'll remember later - I'll make sure to include one of the guy being chased down the beach (hehe).
Because I feel I haven't added enough envy-inducing photos lately, here are a few....
a photo of you chasing the guy with a camera would be even funnier!!
ReplyDeleteI think we have the paparazzi in the making here...snapping photos until her ran away eh!
ReplyDeleteGo on Kate - post one of the guy!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid you'll have to wait for the picture! It's on Annas camera and the extension doodah isn't working. Buuut... she said she'd upload them when she get to Germany, so if you can wait a week...
ReplyDeleteKxx