Fun Times

I finally met some people to travel with after almost a week alone in Anjuna, Goa. It's funny as I'd just accepted the idea of being myself as meeting people was just not happening. I was about to got to an internet cafe to look at where to go to next when I saw the hippy, long beared thong guy running down the beach past me. I'd been waiting for a good opportunity for so long to get a cheeky picture so I grabbed my chance. It was at that moment that I saw 2 guys amused by thong man too but more so at me taking a picture of thong man. So that's how we got talking and I discovered that the 2 guys (from England) were going to another beach that day with another guy (Norweigan) and 2 girls (American). Within about half an hour of talking to them I decided I was coming as they instantly seemed like my kind of people.

It was great as we had a good guy, girl balance and for the next ten days we travelled together, which is a long time for a group of people that were all travelling seperately originally (apart from the 2 girls). It was so nice because it was just like being on holiday with my friends at home, enjoying the beach, eating nice food, having a few drinks and especially as I'd been socially deprived I was super motor mouth I imagine. The girls let me share a double bed with them the whole time which was a bit of a squeeze but it was so nice as they could have just got a room to themselves so it was amazing to have company and safety! For a few days it was sun, sand and sea in a place called Palolem. We stayed in the cutest little huts in a really chilled guesthouse. We played volleyball a few times, which to start with scared the hell out of me as I have a fear of balls that fly towards my head, but I really got into it after a while and could see why it was so fun as you basically fall over into the sand trying to jump for the ball. I finally got to be free on a motorbike as we hired some to visit a beach near to Palolem, I didn't drive but being on the back was so much fun and the views in Goa are so green which is my favourite colour. Sounds a bit like a dream, it felt like it, I just kept thinking wow! There was one really creepy thing that happened. When I was lying on the beach, fully clothed with one of the guys, a group of India guys asked to take a photo of us. This happens alot so it was not a huge suprise, although generally not on the beach, more at major tourist attractions. We could'nt be bothered with any hassle so we agreed to a photo just so that they would leave us alone. But what I discovered, as they walked away, was that two others had walked around the back of us and were actually taking a picture down my top! I felt violated! No, but I was quite angry, I'll probably be on some guys facebook and not know it. I guess that they find it weird when we take photos of them doing their laundry in the river and selling stuff in their shops and they find it weird to see us on a beach. The thing that got me though was that I was fully clothed. The hazards of being a western female. Sadly I have stopped talking to Indian men that say hello, as respectable men in India don't just shout out to random girls on the street. But its sad as I want to smile at people but you just can't sometimes. Or they say they like me 'character'! We then got my first sleeper bus, yes a bus with beds in it, to a town called Hampi which is a place that has over 3000 temple ruins. As we had the whole back row for the five of us we would all roll to one side of the bus everytime it turned a corner and it was a very bumpy ride, you'd occassionally fly up into the air! The landscape is so peculiar, unlike anything I have ever seen before which made it really interesting. It is consists of loads of massive boulders precariously balanced on top of one another, a river and lots of green fields and banana planations. It is so strange, you feel like a dinosaur is going to emerge from behing one of the huge rocks. We spent a couple of days wondering around the ruins and making silly photos! They are truely amazing, many of them are underwater for the whole of the monsoon season so we were lucky to see them. We got a little boat up the river which was a great way to explore and we had nice refreshments like fresh coconut juice. Yum... plus there was a water reserve that we went swimming in one day as it was so incredibly hot inland and we met many other travellers who were also chilling there. It was great fun trying to squeeze 5 people into the rickshaws rather than paying up for two. I also began to get braver with eating Indian food, I admit it, hands up that I ate a mix of Western(ish!) food and Indian but I felt that my stomach was finally ready to give Indian food another chance. Am I glad I did? YES! The food is so delicious but completely different to English Indian food. The concept of a curry like we have it does not exist. They will only ever have a small portion of curry and rice which is accompanied by lots of small vegetable side dishes and yummy snacks like samosas. In fact my favourite food is the Indian breakfasts which suprised me as I was not good with spice before. The general rule is that the worse the decor of the restaurant, the more authentic and cheaper the food is. The grimier looking the place the better the food is as the tourists don't go there, its purely for Indians.