Goa-ing to India for Christmas

The events described in this post took place on or about Dec 25th-31st, 2010 in Goa, located on the NW side of the sub-continent of India.  For those of you viewing this through Facebook 'Notes', the original post is available on www.henrickatlarge.blogspot.com. It will enable you access to photo galleries and other multi-media material which don't transfer into 'Notes'
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After two days in Bombay, I can say that I was fully strung out. That city and its chaotic, frenetic insanity burned through all my mental resources in a matter of two days. At the end of the second day, I was entirely ready to have the vacation part of my vacation.

We started this journey with plans to go to Goa for Christmas and the New Year. However, we had a lot of difficulties securing the necessary transportation from over in Oman. That being said, we were forced by necessity to adopt a 'play it by ear, and see what happens' strategy.

During the two days in Mumbai, we were smart enough to hire a 'tour-guide'/taxi driver to show us the most important Mumbai sights. During this period he also put us in touch with a travel agent who was able to hook us up with an overnight sleeper-train to Goa on Christmas. So in spite of all the alternate plans we were coming up with, Goa was back on the menu. Not only that, but we leeped on it. Funny, how the original plan managed to figure itself out.

We left from Victoria Terminus in the early-ish evening from Mumbai. I was a little skeptical about this whole sleeper-car/overnight train thing. I had only taken this type of transport in the States and through Europe. I was fairly certain that it wouldn't exactly live up to those kinds of expectations.

The train itself wasn't that bad. The ride was really bumpy, the cabin was more cramped than it would have been in Western countries, there was no food, and the facilities were not 'up-to-snuff'. Outside of those little 'inconveniences' it wasn't too bad. We arrived in Goa at 6 in the morning. Got off the train onto the morning station platform, and met our first friend. A friendly little dog we quickly named 'Christmas'. Then, saying a quick but heartfelt goodbye to Christmas, we took a 'pre-pay' taxi to our hotel 'The Riverside Hotel' in Baga beach.

When we got to the hotel about 20 minutes later, the sun had already risen, and daylight broke upon that part of the subcontinent. Within minutes, the world renowned tropical beach hot-spot sprung to life. Where there were voids and absence, now there were tourists bustling toward the beach or going to find somewhere for breakfast. There were a bunch of orange robed monks walking down the street with there pet elephant. I immediately ran to meet them. This was a huge item on my list... Elephants. I met the huge thing, talked to it, got to pet my first elephant and even got to 'tip' it. Turns out the monks and said elephant were working for a local children's charity and were out on the town to drum-up donations. I happily gave a few dollars. They had already made a part of my 'Indian-Dream' come true. After my meeting the large mammalian quadruped and its handlers we quickly checked in, took care of our toiletries and showers and set off toward the town of Baga.

Bagha is a great big beach resort. You know the type. Bars and restaurants line the streets, there back-end lets out a beautiful stretch of beach replete with sun chairs, vendors and the usual resort-town vagrants. Small shops sell nick-nacks and cultural gifts and oddities, and tourist families pack the streets wandering to-and-fro making the street too packed to negotiate by car or motorbike. That, however, doesn't stop them from trying. After walking around a bit, we stopped into a place for some Christmas dinner and a few drinks. To my surprise they had Absinthe! After convincing the bartender that he should give me the bottle, the sugar tray and a lighter we indulged in the time honored tradition of Absynth. After about three hours, we were so drunk from that horrific stuff that we stumbled into the street and shuffled home. We needed two dinners to recover from that outing and quickly went off to bed to recover. We had a packed day of sun and fun in Goa ahead of us the next morning. The 'Green Fairie' had blessed us with a very good night's sleep.

Nothing says Christmas like mangos and elephants....

The events described in this post took place on or about Dec 23-Dec 29th, 2010 in the sub-continent of India.  For those of you viewing this through Facebook 'Notes', the original post is available on www.henrickatlarge.blogspot.com. It will enable you access to photo galleries and other multi-media material which don't transfer into 'Notes'
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So.... It has been a bit since I have posted anything on this blog. One of the down-sides of writing a blog documenting the things you do is having to do stuff to blog about. So, you can infer from this that my life has just been chock-full of the everyday doldrums of life. Unimpressive temporal clutter that was just, well, not worth writing about.

Time dripped steadily, as it does throughout the Fall and into the beginning of the the Arabic Winter-season. The semester came to a close. Due to scheduling problems involving the Sultanate's 40th anniversary we were given a holiday that landed between Christmas and New Years. Sooooo... what to do, where to go.

After juggling a few of the different options around, I decided on India. It's close, relatively cheap and has been on the to-do list since I was a teenager. Ok then, it was decided!

(For those of you who don't know where India is, I have included a map for you below)

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The readers-digest version....

Flew into Mumbai, stayed there for two days in Colaba. Took an overnight train to Goa and spent the next 7 days there....

The first two days were in, as I said Mumbai. Mumbai is an absolute crazy city... I don't think there are proper ways to describe it except to say that it is the most frenetic place I have ever been. India functions by its own organic laws, that are more like general organizational principals of humanity. The glue-and-morter that hold India together are the gossamer threads of humaness. Outside of that it is hard for me to describe it in any other way. If you want to understand it more fully, go there. If you can't visit India, read Shataram. He does an awesome job of distilling and conveying the complex essence of that is the Indian sub-continent.

Above all, India is the most Delicious place I have ever visited. THose of you who know me, know also that I have a 'soft-spot' for Indian food. I eat and try to cook it with some regularity. I had a 'field day' here. Of all the different varieties of Indian cuisine that were available I found that Punjabi food was the biggest hit (my opinion). But there is so much variety and styles of Indian cooking that I have only sampled a small amount of them.

Another thing I really liked about India is the amount of nature that is everywhere. I don't mean the grean-stuff either, I mean animals. There are dogs, cats, birds, and cattle everywhere. Walking through the streets, hanging out on corners, sunning themselves on the asphalt or pavement, lounging on the beach etc. So to have dogs and cows everywhere was a real treat that really brightened up my vacation.
That being said the photo album attached to this post are photos of some of the most popular tourist spots in Mumbai. Included are the Gateway to India, The Taj Mahal Hotel, the gardens overlooking Mumbai, and its glorious bay. So, I hope you like it