Meeting odd people on the road

You really sometimes meet odd people.

Couple of nights ago I was on the common balcony checking my emails when a man came and started talking to me.

Hey, I’m Peter, what’s your name ?
Angelo
Nice to meet you Angelo !
Nice to meet you too !

Middle aged man from Poland, with some exentric demeanors. He was friendly tho and we started to tchat.

The man has been traveling for 15 years, mostly in India.

I love this country and when I travel elsewhere I always eventually end here.

Didn’t really understand how he was sustaining himself. I understood that he works online as a contractor, but I couldn’t tell much more.

We spoke 15 minutes and then he left to join in friend who arrived early in the morning and was leaving the following day for Mumbai.

A coupe of hours later, at 11pm, and while I was still on my notebook working he came back.

Now he was clearly drunk and at first I thought that he was proposing me to smoke some pot. Told him that I didn’t smoke. He insisted and at some point he became quite annoying. Then I realized the reason why he was so insistant : he wasn’t proposing me to smoke some pot, he was asking me if I had some with me so that HE could smoke ! Since he was drunk he just couldn’t leave me alone and I thought that I would never get rid of the guy.

Actually I was right, I didn’t !

He stayed there and talked and talked and talked, he just couldn’t stop. Thanks god at some point he told me that he had to join his friend who was alone in the room so I told myself that my nightmare was over. I was wrong. At that exact moment his friend showed up and since he saw us talking he sat there on the ground and join the party. Now I didn’t have one but two drunk polish guys not wanting to leave me alone !

They were drinking constantly, when one bottle of alcohol was over they would just open another one.

The more they drank the more they got in their own delirium and you know how it is when you’re with drunk people whereas you’re plain sober : it is boring as ****.

I still kept on behaving nicely but seriously I just wanted them to leave. We discussed maybe until 1am and at this moment I was really tired. Tried a couple of times to tell that that I was gonna get back in my room to sleep but they were constantly talking, switching from one topic to another, so my nightware would never end.

I don’t know how I did it but eventually I told them that I would go to sleep.

They asked my email so that we keep in touch and we shared them. Then the polish friend told me that he wanted me to come with him to Mumbai in the morning. These guys really got me under their skin, it was quite cute actually.

I told them that I had already paid for a couple of nights in this guesthouse and that in any case I had planned to go in the south. Sadly they nodded but took me in their arms when we parted ways. Wow, nice love there !

I got back in my room totally exhausted by this 3 hours tchat.

But I was happy because both those dudes were nice. Drunk indeed, but nice.

Inspite of what you could think reading this article, I enjoyed meeting them because meeting new people from various cultures and life style is what make a world trip interesting and when I remember of this moment in the future it will be a nice souvenir.

The friend who wanted me to join them to go to Mumbai is working in Copenhagen (Danemark) and he enjoyed my company so much that he proposed me to come to Danemark so that he could not only be a guide of the city but also offer me a job. Haha, I really love those guys !

When I woke up few hours later they had gone. I wish them the best, and who knows, maybe our paths will meet again, in Danemark or anywhere else !

CABO DE RAMA AND BIKE ACCIDENT

I wanted to see something different from beaches and coconut trees, so I rent a bike and decided to go to Cabo de Rama fort. A former portuguese fort with a nice view of the Arabian sea (at least according to what some people told me).

It didn't take me a long time to get there from Palolem. Maybe half an hour.

I arrived there and the place was exactly as I thought it would be.

Here are some pictures :







And I made two really short live videos :






Honestly, I left with regret. I would have stay all my life there, watching the beautiful landscapes. Coming from a city where everything is grey, this place was a delight for all my senses.

On my way back I decided to go to Kola beach. I wish I had decided of something else. The road was very bumpy and with lots of steep slopes.

I had already notices on my way to Cabo de Rama that the bike's breaks were not working well, so driving on those rocky and slopy roads was a big mistake.

And obviously what was meant to happen did happen. I fell down from the bike couple of times. I seriously thought that I would never be able to leave this place alive. Eventually I got back to the main road but with a bad mood and some wounds.

I put an antibiotic cream on them and decided not to think about this accident anymore.

Unfortunaly, 3 days later the wounds were still there and were quite sensitive. When I touched them it really hurt. I knew that there was something wrong and found out that my wounds were stating to get infected.

C'mon guys, one salmonella, one disentry and now a skin infection ? Gimme a break for Christ sake !

Had to go to the closest pharmacy and the guy gave me something to put on my wounds twice a day.

It took 2 days for the infection to vanish and now it's all good. But it really sucked.

Anything can happen when you're world traveling and in case of any issue, it can be scary since you're all by yourself and far away from your home. Anyway, that is part of the game I guess !

your name is awesome your pictures fitfulness and your goals surprising

Thanks for your message. Well, I'm not perfect, I'm trying to do my best. It is not easy everyday.

Bad beat : how am I gonna sleep (11pm) now that I've just seen a cockroach running on my mattress ??

post scriptum : did I tell you that roaches are my phobia ?

post scriptum 2 : I'm not gonna sleep at all tonight. How can I switch off the light and lay down on that mattress now ? It's gonna be a loooonng night

Gl op. I'm afraid of gecko in my apartment.

Geckos are awesome, they eat roaches.

I know they have very good night vision.

Good to hear you're fine OP.

Trust me, you'll have more obstacles in your way of enjoying a developing country. I got bed bugs in Bosnia. Didn't recognize it until I got to Dubrovnik. Spent my entire stay in Dubrovnik, part of my stay in Montenegro and a half day in Spain getting rid of them just to be sure that I didn't bring them into my apartment. Still sends a shiver down my spine to this day when I think about it.

Words of wisdom

lol bed bugs from Bosnia

nice updates OP, I liked the pics and videos

Haha they will come. The journey has been hectic here with very little time.

Thanks again to all of you for reading the blog and commenting, that is very nice of you.

FEW DAYS IN BENAULIM

Then was the time to meet Benaulim in Goa.

What I enjoy during this journey is that I’ve been able to take my time so far. I’ve been 9 days in Bénarès then I switched for 2 weeks in Goa. Not the will to go from places to places every 2 days. Not only it is time and money consuming but it is also draining. Feeling the vibe of a place require more than few days and the more you stay in a place that you enjoy, the more you immerge yourself in it.

So, after spending quite some times in both Agonda and Palolem, I decided to go a bit in the north (but still in south Goa) in Benaulim.

One traveler that I met told me pretty good things about this place so I was curious to see it. Plus, it would allow me to see something different from Palolem. At last, it would make me be closer to the train station which would be a benefit the day I decide to leave Goa.

So one morning I took a cab and we drove from Palolem to Benaulim, which was a good one hour drive. I had not booked any hotel room and intended to investigate once there.

The cab dropped me at the beach and left, leaving me all alone with the duty to find a place to spend the night. Since my wish was to find a bungalow on the beach I started to walk there.

My first impressions of the place were not good, and to be honest at first I didn’t click with the place.

It was just a long stretch of beach with nothing, absolutely nothing around. In Palolem you had a beautiful beach with still some café and restaurant and still without being too touristic. But it gives a pleasant vibe. Where I was now there was absolutely nothing beside a couple of ugly shacks. I really had the feeling to be in some indian version of Bagdad Cafe :








I saw a Café/Restaurant on the beach advertising for some bungalows to rent. I walked there and saw a 30 years old indian woman busy with her smartphone.

Namaste !
Namaste, she replied
Could you please tell me the price for a bungalow ?
1000 Rs
Can I see it ?

She stood up and I followed her in the bungalow. Nothing fancy but right on the beach.





Didn’t book it right away, still wanted to see if I couldn’t find something else at a better price, but eventually I returned and booked it.

Ok, little parenthesis. I’m being picky here. Compared to my former ****ty condo with noisy neighbours, bad environment, bad weather, ugly rats faces everywhere and thugs breaking my balls, this Benaulim beach was just heaven ! So, don’t get me wrong, it was still like paradise to be here and those who are looking for some rest will really enjoy the place. My disappointment was in comparison to where I had been before in both Agonda and Palolem. If I had started my journey in Goa there in Benaulim I would have been delighted.

I spent the day walking on that huge and large beach. During my lunch a couple of British had told me that walking toward the east for 30 minutes would make me be at Colva beach, more dynamic. So I decided to walk there.

Well, it was not good. Only populated by Indians, the beach was dirty. I remembered of what this Aussie guys told me one night in Palolem : that Indians tourists ARE the ones who trash the beaches and that indian shopkeepers can’t put ut with them. He was right, the beach there was filled with all kind of trash :





I walked back to where my bungalow was, telling me that coming to Benaulim was a really bad move and that I wished that I had stayed in Palolem or that I had got back in Agonda !

Coming back to my bungalow I met 2 french women traveling together. Actually I was drinking my cold coffee and they were right seated at the table next to me talking in French, so I go into the discussion and started to tchat with them. We spent maybe 20 minutes tchatting. They were kind and it was still nice for me to speak with some people others than Indians.

After my dinner at the beach I came back to my bungalow, seated on the patio, still thinking about how I would spend my days in that place that I didn’t enjoy that much. The two French women arrived.

Hey Angelo, do you enjoy the red wine ?
Sure !
Why don’t you come with us to drink some ?
I’m in !

I followed them and we all seated in their patio outside their bungalow. We spent a good moment together, drinking, laughing, talking until another French woman came out yelling that we were making too much noise talking and that she couldn’t sleep. Typical French aggressive attitude. While I can sympathise with how annoying speaking and laughing loudly until 1am can be a pain in the ass, the way she expressed her feeling was totally inappropriate, and as I told her :

Maybe you should have come and told us nicely that we were making too much noise 1 hour ago instead of waiting that long to now be yelling and screaming.

Anyway, the party was over and I got back in my bungalow. The two French ladies were leaving the following day and I suggested them to go to both Palolem and Agonda, giving them lots of tips about where to eat and sleep there.

I slept quite well but woke up early. Since I’ve left my country I can’t really have good long night. No matter how tired I might be when I go to bed, I still wake up just a few hours later, having very short nights.

I met the two French ladies in the morning while having my breakfast. I was about to leave because paying 1000 Rs for a wooden bungalow on the beach wasn’t was I was ready to pay and I was sure that I could find some better deals. So I packed my thing, payed the manager of the beach shack, wished all the luck to the French girls and then I left.

I walked toward what seemed to me Benaulim downtown. To my surprise I enjoyed the vibe of the place. Contrary to both Agonda and Palolem, the ‘town’ is not parallel to the beach but on the perpendicular which means that the more you get into the town the more you get far from the beach. However I discovered a very charming little beach town, with a very local vibe making it feel like more local than both Agonda or Palolem. In those towns there are of course Indians living there, but for some reasons the feeling to be in a more genuine indian beach town is here in Benaulim.



My view about this place changed drastically and I told myself that I would be happy to stay there for some days.

Lots of signs about rooms to rent so I wasn’t worried and knew that I would find a room at a better price. Long story short I found a nice condo belonging to an indian family, and agreed to rent a room there at the second floor with ensuite bathroom and private balcony. Non AC but a powerful fan, blankets and towels. At first the woman owning the place wanted me to pay 850 Rs but I bargained to 650 Rs after some talks she eventually agreed. Paying 1000 Rs just to be on the beach in a very so so wooden hut was not worth the money and I was happy to be there now in that condo and more centrally located within the town.

This is how I started to spend some days in Benaulim, in the center of the town amongst the Indians. Plus and contrary to Agonda or Palolem you have very few tourists here. The westerners that you meet are not tourists but semi-expat usually coming from UK and spending 6 months a year here. All that gathered really made me enjoy a very local kind of living.

One day and while I was wandering around, I suddenly felt like being Rambo in the Vietnamese fields :



Then, I found myself there and I wondered whether or not I was in Curacao island :




I had to change guest house after the 1st night tho. What happened is that during my first evening in that guest house and while I was working on my notebook in the court yard (oh yeah, just after I booked I was told that there was no internet in the room and that I would have to go in the court yard to have some), the gatekeeper of the place came to me. It was only 10:30pm. He told me that he had to lock the fence of the stairways leading to my room and that I had to go back in my room. This is how I found myself in my room with no wifi, not tired, and nothing to do, at 10:30pm. Impossible to stay there so the following day I told to the guy that I was leaving and explained my reasons.

Quickly I found another guest house belonging to another indian family and paid 550 Rs a night in a non AC room with ensuite bathroom, big common balcony, internet in the room, and the freedom to come and go as I see fit without restriction.

Actually, booking a non AC room there was a big mistake. While every non AC room that I had booked so far was cool enough because of the fan on the ceiling, this one was like an oven. It was hotter in the room than outside which was a good 33°C (91F), so I let you imagine the awful night that I spent in this pit of hell. The following day I asked for an AC room..

Days passed and I enjoyed being in Benaulim and for sure I will come back. Agonda, Palolem, Benaulim, three beach towns with some unique lanscapes, feeling and vibes. Impossible to get bored, each one of these has its own flavour.





At the start of my stay in Benaulim every indian shopkeeper would ask me to come and visit his shop (something that didn’t happen that much in Agonda or Palolem). But after a couple of days and understanding that I wouldn’t buy anything they just leaved me alone and I could walk freely without being hassled.

Other thing : I met some of the best meals there ! Food was very good in Agonda, just good in Palolem, and excellent there in Benaulim ! My god, just for that I want to return !

After 5 days I finally decided to leave and actually I’m typing this article from the train which takes me elsewhere for some other adventures. Where am I going ? Secret, I will tell you in some future article !

MOTHER AND FATHER


My mother and father..

The other night while I was having diner in Benaulim, there was that 50 years old tourist eating alone.

Couldn't tell the reason why, but my attention was hit by this woman.

I looked at her and for some reasons she made me think about my mother. Not because of any physical resemblance, but because of her vibes. While looking at her I felt both loneliness and sadness, the same that were familiar to my mother.

This resemblance was so high that at some point I really had the feeling to watch my mother. It made me feel realy sad and I felt an emotion rising inside of me.

Therefore I tried to do my best not to look at her anymore but I couldn't help doing it since she was recalling me my beloved dead mother.

When she paid her bill in silence, stoop up and leftn, I felt even more loneliness and sadness in that woman and I felt like my heart would break.

The following day I was at the beach. For some reasons I started to think about my father. I thought how much I miss him and started to remember of that awful night when I helped him to transition from life to death. I recalled all his facial expressions the more the death was coming for him, and all the emotions that I had been keeping inside came out.

I started to cry like a baby, I just couldn't stop. Then and still crying I talked to my father, and told me how much I love him and miss him.

I realized that both my parents that I loved above everything are now gone and that I have to live the rest of my life without them.

I looked at the sea right in front of me (the pic of this article) and realized that I was free, but orphan.

It's a small risk with shared accommodation.

I'm pretty vigilant about checking beds out before staying at guesthouses or hostels. Stayed in a bunch of them but have only had one bed bug incident.

Hope OP is as well.

Never had bed bugs thanks god !

Is that your kind of thing ?

That trip is already on my bucket list.

Not the road I'm gonna do but if you feel like doing it then shoot !

HOUSES OF GOA

Ahhh the houses of Goa !

I told you in my recent article about spending a few days in Benaulim that it would end the part of this journey dedicated to Goa but atually this article will.

So, as a last article about Goa I ‘d like to write this short article dedicated to them.

They all carry the souvenir of the Portuguese being there, with this colonial style.

I could just walk or ride with my bike for hours, looking at them. Each one seemed to have its own history that I tried to decipher.

Living in a place where houses are of all colours is so refreshing. In Paris, everything is grey, there is no colour. I have this theory that it plays a role on the people's mind. When you're only surrounded by grey colour it is hard to feel joyful. In fact, the people living in Paris aren't.

So, in this article I would like to make a tribute to all those beautiful houses, of various kinds, shapes and styles that I had the pleasure to see while walking in Agonda, Palolem and Benaulim. It was gorgeous and I will really miss them.

So, here we go :



















That’s it, we're done with Goa. Hope that you enjoyed the ride.

What I didn’t know when I left Goa is that I would start running through problems and hassles.

To be continued.

I really like your blog. Well-made combination of personal and local info, of pictures and text.

Thanks a lot Lapka, I'm really enjoying your words since I work hard indeed on this blog and keeping it updated on a regular basis is not an easy task as you might guess.

Thanks again.

HOUSES OF GOA is my favorite post so far. I'm sure you are having the biggest adventure of your life.