Goa

Goa is a tiny state that was a former colony of Portugal. National Geographic magazine described it's biodiversity as rivalling the Amazon basin. Inland, it's dense lush green rainforest and luminescent paddy fields. On the coast, it's gorgeous tropical beaches and palm trees. And at Palolem, where my uncle stays, it's a heap of Russian and English 20 year olds on two week package holidays.

Let's just say that I've heard people sitting around campfires singing "Hotel California" enough to last a lifetime.

The beach itself is so ridiculously beautiful it would be a cliche to put pictures up of it, also I can't zoom out on my camera enough to get it all in. But here's a photo off the web to give you an idea (except there are a lot more tourist huts and restaurants now):


These were Gosh's instructions on how to find his place once I got to Palolem:

"Go to the north side of the beach. If the tide is high, wait. Cross the water and walk to just before the restaurant in front of the island."

What was I expecting there? I didn't know. This is what I found:






Oh great, and how long am I staying here for?

It's actually been raining for an hour or so every evening, heavy monsoon rain that's come at least a month early. So after the first night of sleeping out in the rain Gosh got me a hut, and we're helping him move back over to the mainland a few weeks early. Here's what the sunset looks like from the road before the rains:


Yes I know there are no pics of Gosh here. The time isn't right. But here's a picture of a cow on holiday: