Incredibly India - Palolem, Goa.

Sat on my beach shack balcony with Catherine and our puppy Harriet. The breeze from the Arabian Sea is a refreshing respite from the heat of the midday sun. I have been watching the tandori chef for the past god knows how long. The perfect naan bread seems to take seconds to cook in the charcoal fired oven. Tandori chicken takes 13 minutes. He also cooks pizzas, they take 7 minutes. They look pretty good. I should go order one.

Palolem beach is one mile long. It is by far the best beach in the world (It might not be) I do not really remember the bounty advert but I think it must have looked like this. Islands and palm trees decorate this idyllic place. Most people who visit Palolem rent a beach shack. All along the beach these temporary wooden shacks can be found. Ours is costing 800 rupees (£8) a night. Fully equipped with nothing, these shacks are erected & pulled down as the monsoon season dictates.

Fashion shoot on the beach

This was a very rickety bridge.

Here I have done myself the first real mischief of our trip. Great rock in the middle of the sea. Yeah, I can climb that and jump off, was my very first thought upon seeing it. I swim out to it & begin to climb. Near the top I am stuck unable to find my next footing I lose my grip and slide down the face of the rock and onto some razor blade barnacles. Both feet cut up pretty nasty. I seem to find a new laceration every day. Lesson learnt. For now. That very same day we danced the night away at Neptune Point. Palolem's crappy silent disco. Three channels all pumping out the same sounding dance music. Why have three channels at all?! The night was still a ton of fun with our new best mates Kerry & Steve but probably not the best idea to jump around like an idiot until 5am on my gimpy feet.

These guys were doing Grease dance moves lead by John Travolta in the banana jumpsuit.

The best English meal I had.

The rock above our heads in the middle is the one I fell off.

Cashew nut curry :D

This whiskey cost £1.75 :D

We have met two great couples here. Neve & Pedak (Sorry Peda I couldnt resist) and Steve & Kerry. We have partied pretty hard with these guys & had a blast. One night the coolest puppy rocked up & sat with us all night long. We named her Harriet. The next morning Cat dragged me out of bed and made my limp over the road to Steve & Kerry's shack where I would find them in the bathroom showering Harriet. They had bought her some flea shampoo. It was very cute!

Kerry & Steve

Our first four nights here were spent away from the beach in a luxurious hotel. Well, luxurious for a backpacker. They allowed us to check in at 6am, Complimentary breakfast. swimming pool, air conditioning, huge fan and a fridge. The pool was fun and mainly our own but it was grimey. I got an ear infection damn it. The food was great. The cashew nut curry was amazing. One night while trying to enjoy our meal we had to endure the ramblings of a mad Indian man. He claimed to be an archaeologist. He claimed that the sim card was invented here in India thousands of years ago. We are going into business with him. We are to open a restaurant here in Goa and we will be millionaires. Yeah OK mate.

From Palolem we took the relatively short taxi ride to Cola. It has this beautifully strange looking beach. On one side there is this body of fresh water and on the other the sea. Getting to & from the beach is rough terrain for Sir Limpsalot here, but i fashioned a walking stick from some dead tree & I was off. I looked a lot like Gandhi :)

After floating around in the cool freshwaters I walked into the sea. No one had mentioned that the waves & currents were that strong. I was knocked over. Lost my flip flop. Rolled back over by another wave and then the flip flop hit me in the face. It was really funny. Catherine was trying to get me back on my feet but the sea just kept hitting us. The lifeguards were directly in front of us. They just laughed. Great lifeguards here.

The freshwater is one the left it was so cool. On the right is the sea. The sea was angry that day my friend. Like an old man trying to return soup in a deli - George Castanza

To my left on the beach I have just watched a dog chase a  cow. In front of me there is a man climbing a coconut tree. He is gathering juice to make coconut fenny the local moonshine. How Incredibly India is that?! We have loved this place. The longer we have stayed the better it has got. Tonight is our last night in Palolem. If I do not leave now I do not know if I ever will.