Tom's India Excursion

The bus for Goa left a 8pm from Mumbai and found myself chatting to three very entertaining english folk, George, her husband and stewie, kept me company throughout.

4 hours in and disaster, the bus breaks down and we're told that we need a volvo mechanic to fix it. We hold out 4 hours for the replacement by discussing random stuff and playing cards. Once the new bus has arrived i slept like a log until the outskirts of Goa where our new bus suffered a flat tire. We reach northern Goa around 4pm (20 hrs in total!!)and i take the first stop as the smell of sweat is getting to much. My clever move proved false as i realised after some lengthy discussion with the locals, involving mostly nods and hand signals, that i am in fact 10 miles north of Panaji the captial.

After some confusion i meet up with the family Paul (a friend from uni) had set us up with. The family were more than welcoming, as i entered their living room the father stood up and offered me his chair and the mother fussed other me like i was her own while the children looted my bag. To my surprise one of the daugthers, Janet, spoke perfect english and after showing me up stairs offered to walk me into town. I chatted to Janet as if we had none each other for years and i think she enjoyed the english practice. She left me in the centre of town at the stunning Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Concecption (thats Mary to you and me).

My first impressions is that Goan's lead a pretty sweet life, Panaji itself has a general chilled out vibe. A mixture of Portuguese and British influence can been seen, heared and tasted in the architecture, language and restaurants