Benaulim

After spending about 5 nights in Colva, our first stop in Goa, we have moved about 2 miles down the road to a much smaller, less touristy village called Benaulim. Colva turned out to be not much more than a coach-stop for package tourists, allowing them a quick paddle in the beach before they went back to their hotel. We found ourselves strolling 20 minutes up the beach everyday to get to Benaulim anyway, so we though we might as well find accommodation there. We're staying at a place called 'Heaven Goa,' which is a very basic room, comfy beds, much cooler inside than in the hotel in Colva and our little balcony is almost constantly in the sunshine overlooking some palm trees and a couple of paddy fields full of pigs constantly being chased by packs of stray dogs. There seems to be a family of eagley/falcony things next to us which I've had a couple of good photos of, which is all very interesting.
In the next couple of days we're planning on moving a little bit further to the north, where most of the cities in the area are, but then, we could head south down to Palolem beach, which is meant to be extremely idyllic with its palm trees and beach huts. Last night we met the production manager from the Bourne Supremacy who set up all the shots for the film on Palolem beach, and also his Portuguese friend, who'd had a little bit too much Goan culture and liked to talk about the cosmos. With these people we tried a seasonal local spirit made out of fermented cashew nuts which is a bit too nice with some lime in it. They call it either 'Goan Moonshine' or 'Sunshine,' depending on who's drinking it and its only available for about a month every year as it is purely seasonal, so we came at the right time!

Goa

When off the train in Goa, we took two steps out of the station and were spotted straight away by the local taxi drivers. Young people, big bags, need to get somewhere... "TAXI?" For some reason, two taxi drivers came up to us, even though we said we were going to the same place, they said 50 rupees each, so we followed them. Turns out these 'taxis' were just these two blokes old Enfield Bullet motorbikes, slung the massive 60 litre back packs on the front, us on the back, helmets weren't even mentioned, and we shot off down the road to Colva, where we had a hotel booked. Sam wasn't put off by the experience, because as soon as we put our bags in the room, he went off for about 10 minutes, came back and said for about 2 pounds each a day, he'd rented us two mopeds for the next day, one of which he then nearly sent into a parked car after claiming to the rental man he'd driven one before, and showed his UK Driving Licence to prove it. They were pretty easy to get the hang of though and the next day we went exploring, found an amazing little village about 2 miles away from where we are staying called Benaulim, with beach-hut bars, nice sandy beaches and best of all, a pool table! so we've spent the last 2 days down there, probably going to go back this evening. But it's quite quiet here at the moment, the main tourist season being between November and Feb when it is cooler and less humid. The heat being very uncomfortable here, especially at night when it rarely goes below 30 degrees celcius.

Leaving Mumbai

After a good 48 hours, with nothing to eat except half a pizza and a mars bar (due to very dodgy stomach,) I was not really feeling at the top of my game. The lack of sleep was a factor too, only managing two hours at a time, but at 3am we had to get up to be able to catch the train at 5.30am. We didn't have a ticket when we got to the train station, and while I was lying down on the platform trying to get some sleep, getting up every now and then to be sick in a corner, Sam met a couple of lads from Kuwait, one also called Sam, and the other Slim. They were alot more experienced at getting trains in India, and they spoke perfect English and Arabic, so were a great go between with us and the locals. So we got the train with them, turns out the best way for non-locals to catch a train in Mumbai is not get a ticket, but bribe the guard when you're on there. So half an hour and 800 rupees (10 pounds) later we had our route secured all the way to Margoa, where the train terminated. It was everything we expected from an Indian train ride. It was so hot and humid that all the doors and windows on the train were open, whenever we stopped, locals would jump on and run through the train selling food and drink, then quickly jump off again just before the train picked up too much speed when leaving. The advertised 'express route' was only meant to take 8 and a half hours, but express obviously means 'only a little bit quicker than walking' as 11 hours later we arrived at our stop, covered in diesel fumes, as whenever the train went in a tunnel, with all the windows and doors open, the exhaust just filled all the cabins, so by the end of it all, sams white shorts were no longer white, and the smell wasn't too great either.

Mumbai

We arrived at about 1am local time (about 7.30pm back home) and decided to take part in a local tradition called 'scam the tourist.' we were the tourists, we got scammed. the taxi ride to the hotel from the airport took about 20 minutes, cost 2000 rupees (about 25 pounds.) The taxi ride to where we are today (the banking district in mumbai) took nearly an hour and a half, it cost 300 rupees.
The food here is brilliant. We're trying hard to eat authentic, but only in places where it is busy, as that meant it was good food and hopefully not dodgy stomach inducing, but sadly our cautiousness has not paid off as my first two immodium tablets were used this morning, but I am fine now and Sam has had no problems with anything like that. There are cows everywhere here but on the menu, as they're a sacred animal etc etc. which also means no McDonalds! I'm sure we'll live. We did see a Subway though, and a Wimpy, but didn't go in to explore further into the menu variation from the British branches.
We had a massive meal last night, nice and spicy, a couple of pints of beer, and the bill came to a grand total of about 5pounds so we have no budgeting worries for the next month or so, i doubt we can spend 20pounds a day here, it's nearly impossible. I've been in this internet cafe for an hour and it's costed me less than 50p!
Anyway, I'm off now, going to go back to the room, some photos of Mumbai will follow in a little while!