Getting to Goa

Well after my tour of Rajasthan wound up for me on Monday I booked a seat to Goa on one of the numerous budget airlines that are springing up in India. SpiceJet was the airline, a word of warning to all future passengers: Be prepared for at least 1 delay. I was considerably lucky, my flight was only delayed once by one and a half hours, and came in another 15minutes late. Looking up at the departures board most SpiceJet flights seemed to be delayed.

When I finally got out of the airport it was simple enough to avoid the hotel touts and find the Prepaid Taxi Booth, but once I was in the vehicle, the fun began. The cab stunk, and I'm not talking smelly like taxis in Melbourne, I actually think someone died in this car. But I was soon distracted from the smell as soon the driver began "creating". Creating lanes, creating speed limits and creating the ability to see around blind corners.

My first port of call in Panaji, the capital of Goa was a small boat cruise to get a look at the Portuguese inspired city. But this was no ordinary cruise. Run by a very enthusiastic MC guests onboard were asked to get up on stage and dance to Goan songs. When this MC asked the men to come up on stage I thought that he'd be up there by himself, but sure enough about 8 men got up (I was clearly not man enough to join them). Each man had his own style from the "trying to hard with over the top hand movements", "the muscle flex", "interpretive dance", "the running on the spot", "the side set" and everybody's favorite, "the back and forth".

Had a great traditional Goan dinner tonight at a plush place called "Mum's Kitchen", which I highly recommend. Tomorrow I head out to the beach.