A Beach Paradise During Monsoon Season

This past weekend I took a trip to Goa with Daniela. Originally a Portugese colony, Goa is now the smallest state in India, and is known for its beaches. Daniela wanted to visit Goa while here, and I had many people tell me that Goa is a must see while in India. So, I packed up my overnight bag and boarded a plane headed for Goa.

We stayed at this wonderful little hotel called Sonesta Inns. There was NO ONE there. With the exception of an Indian family and what looked like a couple on their honeymoon, the hotel was empty. Upon arrival at our hotel around 7 pm we checked in and tried to figure out where we were going to eat. I was given a huge list of great restaurants in Goa by a friend of mine, so we figured we would scour over that. As it turns out, monsoon season is their off season (imagine that) and every place we called was closed.

Upon dropping us off at the hotel after dinner, the cabbie suggested we go to a spice plantation the following day, seeing as we had not found any touristy stuff to do, we happily agreed and made our way to our rooms. The next morning we had breakfast and hopped in the cab headed out for a little sight seeing. First on the list was a very old church, if I remember correctly it is the Church of St. Francis.

If you were wondering, the thing above the two cherubs heads is the body of St. Francis... he died in 1552. I can only imagine how bad that thing would stink if it was opened. Sorry... I digress

And I also must say this was the most burtal crucifix I have ever seen. 

After the church we made our way to a hindu temple that was beautiful, but overall not that exciting. 

Once we walked though the temple we jumped back in the cab and made our way to the spice plantation. Initially I had no idea what we were in for, I figured it was just going to be a big spice market with a couple of trees here and there... I was quite wrong. This plantation was 150 acres and had spices growing in every corner of all sorts of different plants. The tour was surprisingly impressive, we walked around two acres of the property and the guide explained the purpose and importance a whole bunch of different spices have to the Indian people. When the tour ended, they had some ritual of pouring water down your back signifying that you were "cleansed" or something like that. It was quite uncomfortable and I do not care to do it again.

After that we had a lunch buffet provided by the spice plantation. It was really really really good. They also gave us an opportunity to try fenny (it reminded me of the Slovakian plum brandy I got sick on many times). 

Daniela and I decided to play it safe with the food that night, so we found a nice Italian place and had a nice meal before calling it a night. The day we were meant to leave, we decided to go for a walk around the area, only to find liters of petrol being sold out of old water bottles and makeshift pharmacies were lining the street. We retreated back to the hotel and made a break for the beach.

As you can see, it was quite dreary. Alas, we were in a vacation destination and walking on the beach, so we kept our complaints to ourselves. Overall, Goa was a great trip, with the exception of the copious number of mosquito bites I now have, I am glad that Daniela asked me to join here.

Next up: Mari arrives on Saturday evening and we make our way to Agra and Jaipur. Be prepared for a couple posts on her visit. 

Day Trip to Delhi

Last Sunday I was invited to Delhi by Daniela (the other intern). She is working at the Lodhi campus in Delhi and she thought I would enjoy coming to Delhi and do a little sight seeing. Obviously I was excited, so I caught a cab to Delhi (a 45 minute drive). Believe it or not, it only cost me about $6 for the cab.

Any ways, back to the important stuff. Daniela had booked this day long trip for us. It was on this air conditioned bus that was meant to go to all these different forts and temples and other Delhi tourist staples. On paper, it was going to be a fantastic day of sight seeing with plenty of pictures. In all honesty it began that way. We made our way to the first location, the Laxmi Narayan Temple. It was stunningly beautiful. There was gold plating everywhere, statues, white marble, and red sand stone. It was a sight to behold. Sadly I was only able to take pictures outside since no cameras, cell phones, or shoes were allowed inside. So this is the best I can do to show you the beauty of this place.

After this beautiful building is when things went south. As it turned out, Sunday was the hottest day in Delhi in the past couple weeks. We saw peeks of over 112 degrees and there was plenty of wind to blow the sand and dust that covers every surface in this country. Alas, we continued on. The next location was the Qutub Minar. Built at the end of the 12th century, it stands 238 feet tall and is surrounded by ruins. Again, it was a great place to visit and witness (even though they charge non-indian customers 5x as much as natives). At this point in time Daniela was not feeling well and had to sit down. It turned out that she was very very dehydrated. I then had to RUN out of this "park" area to a street vendor to get cold, sealed, bottled water. I return sweating worse than a fat kid trying to save his team from being eliminated in dodgeball. Thankfully Daniela felt better after a liter of water (as did I) and we caught up with the tour group.

Upon getting back on the bus I realized something... this bus was not airconditioned. They had vents above all the seats, but it was just blowing out air that was slightly cooler than steam. I proceeded to hold my water bottle to my neck in the hopes of bringing my internal temperature below boiling. I was mildly successful as we continued the bus tour. We drove past the Indian Parlament House and most of the Embassies. I would have gotten a picture of the US embassy, but I was unable to because our tour guide was speaking some sort of Hindi/English gibberish though a muffled microphone.

The next location was my favorite. It is called the Bahai Temple, or more commonly known as, "The Lotus Temple". Again, it was staggeringly beautiful. It was constructed in the late 80s and is made from a whole bunch of white marble slabs. It is a temple meant for all religions, and is more of a place for silent prayer. You have to walk to it barefoot, and as you can imagine in 112 degree weather, the ground was scalding hot. Once we got up the stairs and entered the temple, I realized that when you go in, it is almost completely silent. Close to 200 people inside this thing and all you can hear is people's feet shuffling around. Truly unreal.

After the Lotus Temple, we went to another location that was not on the schedule. It was a really cool place, with a cool story. The guy who built it had 200 wives and countless kids. He built it as a place for he and his family to be buried. Well after he died, one of his sons was supposed to take his position as ruler or something. Well one of them went around and killed all of his brothers! He was a sneaky and conniving a**hole.

The last place Daniela and I visited before we decided we had sweated enough was the place of Gandhi's murder. It was at this old hotel that he always stayed at when he came to Delhi. They had raised concrete where his last footsteps were, and kept his room just as he had it, and had a whole tour going though the grounds. It really was a cool thing to see and listen to the story behind what happened. But at this point in time Daniela and I were so tired that Gandhi himself could have come back from the dead and told us to be better people, and we would have just told him to piss off unless he had cold water and air conditioning. It really was a cool exhibit though, and it had so much information in it. I wish I was not so uncomfortable and the tour guide was not so rushed, because I would have like to read all the posters and documents about the location. But I guess I will have to save it for another day.

After we told our tour guide we were physically unable to continue, we made our way to a local market and indulged in some fine American cuisine... Subway. It was the first non-vegetarian meal I had in the country and it tasted so good. I bought a couple shirts and called it a day in Delhi. Later that night I caught a cab back to my flat and happily crawled into bed under my blasting air conditioner.

Daniela and I plan to finish that tour one day, and when we do, I will be sure to tell you all about it. For now though, that is all.