Goa Was a Blast

We arrived in Goa on Saturday morning about 1100 hrs. Our train was an hour late. We found the prepaid taxi cab stand and took a 30 minute cab ride to the “Club Mahindra Resort Goa”. WOW! My friend Koshi really hooked us up. This was a 5 star resort that wasn’t going to cost us a thing except food and drink (at a 25% discount). They brought us a complimentary drink in the lobby while we were checking in, then it was onto golf carts to take us to our rooms. We drove by one swimming pool, a long drive down between the resort buildings, past another pool which was in front of our rooms. Of course, we were not allowed to touch our luggage; it was all carried in for us. Our rooms were huge, kitchenette, bar table, couch, TV, large bathroom. After a hot shower we hit one of the buffets for lunch. All 4 of us pigged out on excellent Indian food. It was about 1530 by now so we went for a walk past the resort to one of the local shops and found some scooters to rent. We got 4 scooters for 2 days for what ended up being Rs. 3,000 or $60US. We originally cut a deal for Rs 2250 but the dude tacked on some more charges when we returned them for a total of Rs 3000.Still a great deal! $7.50 /day can’t be beat! We drove those things everywhere for 2 days. The main tourist beach was about 7 miles away and we made that trek a few times. Driving on the left took a little getting used to but it sank in pretty quick. We only had one “USA moment” during the whole 2 days where James stayed on the right and the oncoming vehicle had to switch to the right to go by him. Crazy foreigner! Actually here it isn’t really a big deal since everyone is all over the road anyways. I think the reason there are a lot fewer accidents is because the speed is a lot less. Our top speed ever was 60 kph or about 35 mph.
At the main tourist beach, we found the same restaurant where Pearl and Mike and I had eaten in 1995. Back then, we had ordered huge “tiger prawn” to eat and all had gone well until mike bit a piece that wasn’t really cooked. That was the end of that meal! We didn’t eat there this time. It was back to the resort and our supper meal was at the outdoor restaurant right on the private beach. It was beautiful! I was wishing my honey was here cuz she would’ve really enjoyed it!
The next day was more biking around, took tons of pictures, the houses in Goa have great colors as you will see in the pictures! Back to the main beach, did a little shopping. We all bought some “Indian” shirts to wear. Ate more food, tried some street vendor food which was excellent! After supper at the resort, Randy and I went out for chai about 2130. We took the bikes and ended up riding around for about an hour before we found a place for chai. There were lots of places open for alcohol but the chai shops were closed. The night drive was awesome. The temp. was down to the low 70’s instead of the high 90’s / low 100’s. Not much traffic, we could have stayed out for hours!
The next day was checkout at 1100. We paid our bill which was Rs 8,000 ($160 US) for all our food and drink for 2 days at the resort for all 4 of us including tip. $40 US each! Crazy! Our train didn’t leave until 1935 so they kept our bags in a corner of the huge lobby and we drove our bikes around until 1600. Then it was back to the resort, taxi back to the station. We got there about 1630. I wanted to be early since we only had 3 confirmed seats, needed to check in 3 hrs before departure to get our 4th seat. We got the seat and it was goodbye to Goa. What a blast!!!
The next train ride is a whole different story………..