The start of our Goan adventure could have been smoother. The plan was straight forward, a train from Aurangabad to Mumbai and then a flight from Mumbai to Goa, simple right? We hopped on the train at 6am and with all seemingly going to plan, we booked flights for 3.30pm that afternoon. We brought train seats in the cheapest section you can reserve and there was some interesting behaviour from other passengers; one guy spent the entire journey hawking spit out the window; one asking us (quite scathingly) why we were in the cheap seats before promptly ignoring us and my personal favourite... the guy who was sitting next to Ben. He had a complete disregard for personal space, poor Ben had feet and knees resting on his leg and was used as a pillow for at least an hour... safe to say he was not amused, but he did have some fun with it.
Everything was going smoothly. Then for no apparent reason the train stopped and there it sat for 45 minutes. Wonderful. We hadn't allowed that much lee-way for things to go wrong, so this time was spent frantically looking for the best stations we could disembark at so we could still make the flight. We soon realised that we had no other option but to stay on the train till the end. When we eventually pulled up to the station in Mumbai, we were at the door and ready... practically jumping out of the train and running to find a taxi to the Airport.
We grabbed the first taxi we could find not bothering to haggle as long as he was quick. He promised it would take no longer than 30 minutes and we were delighted. The Mumbai traffic then reared it's ugly head and 40 minutes was the new promise, the idea of 30 minutes was laughable and he would never promise that! To give him his dues he was a master of weaving in and out of traffic, spinning round corners like Baby Driver and fitting into tiny gaps between cars that only the night bus in Harry Potter could achieve... that is of course, only when the car was moving. I'm not normally a fan of the "seat of your pants" Indian driving style but as we were late he couldn't drive fast enough.
We arrived at the airport, rushed through check-in and security panic mode still flaring and got to the gate... with one hour to spare... AND saw that it was delayed. All that stress for nothing. Relieved and slightly hungry we wandered off to find some food.
The rest of the trip was uneventful and we landed at Goa's only airport in Dabolim. It's situated right in the middle of Goa's coastline with the main city separating Goa into north and south. When trying to get to our accommodation, we were shocked at how much the cab fare was quoted. After some haggling we brought it down by half but it was the beginning of a trend... private transport in Goa is expensive and only increases as the season gets into swing.
We arrived at Majorda, a beautiful sleepy village in the north of south Goa where in the off season there was only one restaurant open. We stayed in a lovely Portuguese style guesthouse, which had a welcoming host that excelled at breakfasts. Goa so far was an amazing contrast to the rest of India we had visited, with it's mix of tropical jungles and beautiful white beaches. The style of life seemed slowed down, with locals chatting in the streets and people taking their cows for walks along the beach.
The beach was a 5 minute walk down jungle lined road, so we spent most of our time there. It was great to relax and not feel like you had a hundred sights to visit, the sense of urgency had gone. It was also great spending time with the beach dogs who seemed to have a preference for laying on towels (whether you were occupying them at the time or not). We found the local bread bakery - despite it being located (hidden) round the back of someones house. We brought small delicious rolls, fresh from the oven which we enjoyed while watching the waves. At night when the tide was out, thousands of hermit crabs covered the beach being slowly washed about by the surf. Despite only sharing the huge beach with a few others we still managed to get Indian holiday makers approach us to take photos... and even try and sneakily take them when we declined!
With not much else to do we walked along the shore, coming across more beach towns getting ready for the season to start. Just south of Majorda is Betalbatim, the beach is narrow and filled with fishing boats. We saw locals on post-monsoon cleaning duty, raking up all the rubbish and clearing away debris. It felt very deserted and we couldn't see any restaurants or hotels open yet so we continued along to Colva.
Colva beach was slightly more commercial. From the main beach entrance there was a road leading to the town, with a few little restaurants open along it. We could see it would be a lot busier during the season when the shopping stalls, restaurant and hotels would open up! The beach was slightly bigger than Betalbatim, with the palm trees providing shady areas to sit. We didn't actually get any photos of Colva as we were much too concerned with grabbing some grub!
Majorda was so peaceful and it was beautiful with it's mix of tropical landscapes and Portuguese architecture, but it was a little too dead. We ran away from the manic cities of northern India into what felt like a ghost town. We knew that south Goa would be quiet as the season hadn't yet started, however we didn't understand how quiet it would be and we didn't realise that wasn't what we were looking for. The other beaches we had visited, whilst lovely, didn't seem exactly perfect either. We looked online to see where would have a livelier vibe; finding our answer, we packed up our things, hopped in a taxi and headed north.
We arrived in Candolim - one of the southern most beach towns of north Goa - somewhat poorer and eager to find our ideal spot. Upon seeing the beach and accommodation, we immediately regretted our decision to be so hasty. With the cost of the taxi fresh in our minds we had expected something better. The beach was still covered in rubbish from the monsoon storms and we were informed that it wouldn't be cleaned for another month yet. The roofs of last years beach huts were still dotted along the beaches edge, and with new regulations it wasn't certain if they would ever get put up again, or just be left to rot. The town was busier with more options for food and more clothing stalls open but it didn't have the same charm... the Portuguese architecture was still there if you looked for it but it seemed like the town could be anywhere in the world... it just seemed a bit generic.
We made the most of the extra retail facilities available despite my small issue with shopping stalls (not helped by disliking clothes shopping in general). This area of Goa really played up to the typical stereotypes; vendors shouting for attention and becoming completely unbearable if you show the slightest interest in their wares, trying their best to bully you into buying. In my quest for shorts and to improve my confidence in bartering, we must have visited at least 10 stalls. At the beginning I would walk away at the smallest sign of the vendors "help", but by the end I was bartering despite being knee-deep in clothes that I "must" buy (bedspreads and table cloths mixed in with essential beach items in "my" pile). After my experiences in Delhi, I learned that it's okay to not be pushed into buying something... even if the stall owner is literally grabbing my arm to keep me in the shop. I got better, but I still hate being hassled.
Still on the search for the perfect beach we spent a day wandering along the sea, scoping out each beach town as we went. The first beach we came across was Calungute. The beach was cleaner and had restaurants/bars along the shore. There seemed to be more options for food and drink, with seating and sun-loungers on the beach itself. The area seemed fine, but we found you couldn't walk a few steps along the beach without someone hassling you to go into their restaurant or bar... it was incessant. We only walked through and realised that it wasn't the place for us.
Baga beach was the next, it seemed to have less resto-bars along the beachfront and more drinking bars. These bars had large areas behind that turn into clubs come nighttime. It had a more relaxed vibe, with plenty of people playing in the sea and sunbathing; here we managed to walk along without being hassled too much. The beach itself was clean and the sea seemed fine, but the party vibe just wasn't for us.... even at midday the club tunes were blaring out! After stopping for a quick drink and to soak in the beautiful views we decided to visit just one more beach.
To get to Ajuna wasn't as simple as it's separated from Baga by a small mountain that juts into the sea. We headed inland, walking along roads that meander through jungle and rice paddies. It took us over an hour to get to the village. During the day Ajuna has a chilled hippy vibe but is famous at night for it's trance parties. We liked the area with it's interesting little cafes, considerably fewer shops and how the main village encompassed by jungle. The beach itself was narrow but clean and looked like it would be a nice area to stay once the construction of the beach side restaurants had been completed. It seemed great - despite a vendor crying out "whats wrong with my shop?" as we went to leave - just not quite perfect.
As by this point we'd be walking for 12 km in the blasting 32 degree heat we decided to skip the walk back and grab another taxi - it was again ridiculously expensive but we thought it would be better than getting heat exhaustion! When arriving back at our accommodation we realised we had made the right choice. Along with aching legs and swollen feet, I had gained the mother of all sunburns! Made worse by the top i was wearing... I had intricately patterned tan lines for weeks.
Don't get me wrong, it there wasn't anything wrong with any of these places. In fact, Goa had shown us there was a beach for almost anyone's tastes. In need of peace, quiet and traditional village life? Head to Majorda or Betlabim. Want a quiet town with a little more going on? Colva is the place for you. Sun bathing by day and party by night? Calungute or Baga is the way to go. Jungle life with some trance music mixed in? Ajuna is the best bet! Of course almost everywhere in Goa offers yoga teacher training or drop in yoga classes too. Whats not to like?
I'm not sure when exactly we had turned into Goldilocks but nowhere we had found was just right! At this point I'm not sure we even knew what it was that we were expecting or wanted... we just knew we hadn't yet found it. I feel like we were experiencing a real expectations vs reality moment. Goa so far had been beautiful but we hadn't yet found where we wanted to spend our time... it wasn't quite what it appeared to be in the pictures. Maybe Goa just wasn't for us, or maybe it had been over-hyped as this amazing , perfect paradise and we were looking for somewhere that just didn't exist.
We were willing to give it one more shot, so we picked a destination back in the south. Next up... Agonda, South Goa.
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