hi shirley v thanks for that my last report was very rushed there was a queue for the computer at our house and i forgot to mention the scenery from the train was worth the first train journey , we did it twice cos our daughter came with us this year but we will be flying down next time cos once is enough really its very time consuming so we will go through mumbai but get an internal flight down ,
by the way i have put a few photos on , they are in upload i will try to put a link asap anita

Hi Anita, liked the photos. Looking forward to reading more of your report as well

Great report. Sound like a real adventure! Something i'd love to do

Great report Anita, sounds like that train journey really was an experience and a half Definately don't like the sound of the roaches either I don't think I would be able to get them out of my mind even during the day, after all they are still there, just in the cracks and crevices

Looking forward to your next installment

lovely pics anita, must try leopolds when we go to Mumbai, always like to try out any famous travellers institutions when I go away, can't wait for next bit, love shirleyv

hi all just a quick round up of arrival in agonda and then its just every day living which gets a bit boring so here goes

we left the railway station in Margao with our friend / landlord it was approx 10pm and very dark as we drove from margao to Agonda in the dark what was totally unexpected was the damage done to the roads by the monsoon great pot holes and parts of the roads washed away we had no idea it did so much damage ,

we arrived after 11.30pm at our flat opposite st Anns church up the steps above daisy's beauty parlour the whole of Agonda must have been in bed it was soo quiet we sneeked in quietly and our landlord said he had , had the plumber out to the water tank in the loft and if we had a leek in the night then the problem was not solved and we should turn the water off and to let him know and off he went , we were shattered by this time but decided to open the duty free have a little drink and unwind anyway a few drinks and a little unwinding later we collapsed into bed , at about 2.00am water poured through the ceiling in the bathroom and at one side our bedroom i woke up and attempted to wake john who was very disorientated ,he jumped out of bed and got tangled in the sheet shouting its your fault what have you touched ?
when he came to his senses we remembered the advice off the landlord and we went to turn off the water , the stop tap was outside on the street so we ventured down stairs outside to attempt to turn the tap off it was quite sureal stood in the middle of Agonda in the middle of the night wrapped in sheets fiddling with a bunch of keys trying to turn off a stop tap .
on our first morning the sun rose over the coconut trees and it was bliss we couldnt wait to walk down to Madus beach shack for breakfast and see sheker and all the staff , we strolled through the village it is a lovely place to live and we felt very happy to be there , family's on either side of the main street which is no more than a dirt track were waking up to go about their daily buisness and waved and shouted good morning even though they did'nt know us
we got to madus and realised it was'nt built yet but this was'nt a problem we still got coffee and toast and just sat and watched the dolphins , while we chatted to the lads who were building the shack
this became a regular occurrance we ate at madus even though it wasnt finished along with other early tourists and they just built the shack around us ,

we met lots of nice people and watched the progress of the shack and beach huts being built which was a great experience , there wasnt much else open as it was early in the season other places we ate at were Tigers and Dersy's which are both great places to eat .
there are also a few shops in Agonda you can get everything you need while staying there and there are lots of rooms to rent or beach huts its a beautiful beach location and if you want anything a bit livelier Palolim is just down the road 20 mins by tuk tuk we went into Palolim at least one night a week for a meal out and were spoilt for choice there are so many places , mexican chinese , indian , goan and vegetarian

unfortunatly the water problem at the flat continued and we had to keep turning the water off madhu offerred us showers at his place but it wasnt comfortable so after approx 6 blissfull weeks we decided to move to more familiar territory and returned to Cavelosim we arranged a goods carrier type tuk tuk to move all our belongings and asked for two people to help lift etc. in true Goan style one truck and 4 people arrived and 2 disappeared into the local bar we loaded everything on to the tuk tuk beverly hillbillys style and set off

if this is getting to boring let me know or i will continue to let you know about our arrival in Cavelosim anita

if this is getting to boring let me know or i will continue to let you know about our arrival in Cavelosim

Anita, we're waiting

come on Anita

Come on Anita, you've had an hour to do next part of report

i have posted a few more photos of agonda and palolim they are in upload the one of the cow relates to a night we spent in palolim and we were sat in a restaurant waiting to order when the cow strolled in off the street a waiter just told us casually that the cow came in every evening for a naan bread and sure enough they made him one he ate it and strolled out again , great only in goa

Fantastic reading "what have you touched" that so made me laugh that would have been me .
Reading about coffee, toast and dolphin's brought a lump to my throat I closed my eyes and I was there. Fantastic reading can't wait till the next instalment

Your report is fantastic Anita ~ I knew you'd left Agonda after a few weeks but where did you stay in Cavelossim? Next chapter pleeeeeease !!!

Thanks for these reports, they are great reading, keep them coming.

hi all i felt really shy about starting this report thanks for the support i will continue to bore you soon with a bit about cavelosim then it will really be just every day life and nothing to report but meanwhile a snippet about an upset stomach episode in palolim

we dacided to set off early to palolim and make a day of it on the beach and then have a meal and a few drinks and go back to agonda fairly late to make the most of paying for tuk tuks each way ( johns middle name is ebeneezer )
anyway we got settled in front of a beach shack which i cant remember the name of , it has pink beach huts and is to your far right as you go on to the beach , its a good one the music food and drink excellent and it has an internet cafe , so we settled down on some sun loungers in for a day chilling etc.. and oh noo i felt a gurgling in my stomach the dreaded delli belly it came on so suddenly and unexpected , i rushed to find the loo but the lady was cleaning them so i returned to my sun lounger frantically searching my bag for immodium but couldnt find any so returned to the loo thinking she must be finished by now aah she was gone but aghh she had locked the loo i had to run to the bar and ask for a key anyway used the loo returned the key but decided i needed to buy some immodium as we were out for the whole day and evening and the o/h had splashed out on tuk tuks
now this is what i need to pass on to anyone stranded in palolim with delli belli you can not buy immodim i searched the shops to no avail , no chemist ( unless anyone knows different ) but i was advised there was an ayudeveric doctor that i could try she is situated on your left as you arrive in palolim down a side street , in desparation i found her and explained my predicament she prescribed some brown powder to take with warm water not cold and hey presto stomach gurgling stopped , and no more problem for the rest of the day
we had a great day relaxing on the beach then had a meal etc it wasnt till the next day i found i had some imodium in my bag after all
found some photos of this day out they are in upload but will prabably move to palolim page sorry dont know how to do a link

Great photo's

Your report is great Anita. Cant wait for the next part

hi madaboutgoa i have pm'd you

Hi Anita ~ got your pms. Next instalment Cavelossim please !!!

move to cavelosim not much to report so added a trip to the north

we moved all our belongings on the back of the tuk tuk , and we followed behind in a friends taxi our friend had a hang over and the tuk tuk driver seemed a bit tipsy but we arrived in one piece and so did our furniture.
it was great to be back on familiar territory and we couldnt wait to get out and meet all our friends it was like arriving on holiday all over again .

over the next week or so we went to mikes place , the get down bar and silver waves shack we couldnt believe how busy the beach had got , there were a lot more sun beds than last year and the sellers had been banned from the beach so they had built little shops on the path down to the beach all very different and very busy after our time in agonda

we were invited on a boat trip by some friends who were arranging a trip on betty's i did'nt know this but if you get a few of you to book you can book their catameran our group came to 16 and we all paid the usual price each it was much more comfortable they had wicker / cane type furniture with cushions there was more room and a carpet on the deck not that we needed that also a guy sang songs and get every one going not that we needed much encouragement most of our party got up and did a song and we all joined in it was a bit like the early auditions for x factor but we were all a bit tipsy the food was great as usual prawns in garlic butter , kingfish steak rice and salad and fruit salad absolutly lovely
we saw the dolphins and lots of bird life it was a great day out well worth the money

after visiting all our friends and catching up we settled into an ex pats sort of life style so we decided to take a trip up to the north
we packed a holdall and got the local bus in to margoa bus station from there we got a ticket for a direct bus to panjim you just queue for a ticket and take a seat when the bus is full it sets off and another one pulls in everyone has a seat no one stands up it was 17 rupees
when we arrived at panjim bus station we found the bus to calangute again it was only a few rupees ,

once there we booked into Alex's guest house opposite Jerry's we loved calangute we strolled down to the beach and found a shack just to the left at the bottom of the steps when we decided to eat we ordered chips egg and beans and bread i know i know but it was one of those days when i craved plain english food , i should have known there were going to be problems when we were asked to repeat our order 2 or 3 times we waited ages then got a bean toasty each then a portion of chips each then the waiter politely asked us if any of us still wanted an egg we said no thankyou and he gave us a knowing sort of smile as if to say i knew you had ordered too much , it reminded us of the time we ordered chips and egg in a beach shack in cavelosim and we got chips fried litterally in beaten egg ahh well it all adds to the goan experience

in the evening we ate at the tibetan restaurant , apparrantly there are two we went to the one further up from jerry's down a side alley on your right , it was a fantastic evening tha ambiance was great the menu different from the usual , we met up with some friends we had first met in agonda which was great we finished off the evening in Alex's bar

all in all our couple of days up north seemed to revolve around food and drink and meeting friends as it does down south , wonderfull

an over all review

agonda - beautiful beach location enough restaurants and rooms to stay
the people are really welcoming very quiet and relaxed

palolim - great if you want a bit more going on same type of restaurants , rooms etc just more of them and more lively music scene for younger people

cavelosim - great beach getting a bit busier now than it was 1 or 2 years ago more sun beds etc.. lots of bars and restaurants not much in the way of entertainment only quiz nights or kareoke

calangute - great beach quite busy , the main street busy compared to places in the south plus more variety of shops

over all loved every where will be visiting the north again this year will probably try anjuna then work our way down to baga calangute candlolim and so on

dislikes - none cant wait to go back anita
will post some photos of boat trip etc..