Much the same

Not much to report I'm afraid, tis all much the same. Day 9 (?) in Palolem, have managed to get into quite a nice little routine:
11ish wake up
12ish breakfast (current favourite is a massive bowl of curd with banana and honey)
Then a few hours of topping up the tan while having a good old read (book number 3) and intermitent swimming.
Lunch is getting later and later, normally about 4 these days. Long lunch with lots of card playing; Tom and I have got a good Rummie tournament going on at the moment (I'm winning) and we're normally joined by a couple of people that work at the bar, Lavinia and Teju. Although Teju has left now and we haven't seen Lavinia for a couple of days. Anyway.
Another little sun bathe in the much more bearable late afternoon heat, maybe a swim, maybe a read. My tan is pretty lovely at the moment.
We'll then play a few more games of cards, maybe a nice gin and lime soda in the hammock.
Then dins. All the places along the beach pretty much serve the same grub (Indian/Goan/Chinese/Thai/Italian/Tibetan/Continental) (very sketchy spelling in most of the menus) but we've found a couple of favourite places. It's getting to dinner time now my tummy is a-rumbling.
After dinner we'll have a paddle in the sea and then home for a few more games of me beating Tommy at Rummie.
And thats it. The same again tomorrow.
You'd think we'd be getting bored of it by now...Ha, not likely.

Quick pics

Just a quick one - I'm out doing some shopping (bag, anklet 300 rs done) and thought I'd pop in to upload a sneaky couple of pictures. They do not do this place justice, but here's just a little taste of where home is for the next few days...

I think Palolem may be my paradise

This is going to be a much shorter and less rambly post than the other day (apologies for that) We're now in Goa. And I think I may stay here forever.
Arrived on Monday abour midday after a twelve hour train journey. Which I actually really enjoyed (thought it was all going to be a bit of a nightmare). We both got top bunks so slept with our bags under our heads which wasn't totally comfortable but we were both so knackered from trundling around Mumbai all day that we slept pretty well. Then when the sun came up it was lovely to watch the world go by.
So arrived in Madgao train station feeling hot and hungry and ready for the beach. Taxi ride to Palolem was...scary! But they do seem to know what they're doing these crazy drivers. Arrived to a swarm of Indians trying to get us to stay at their huts and trundled up and down the beach for a good half an hour trying to find a cheapy nice one and eventually came across a lovely place on the beach with a little veranda-ish thing, hammock, swinging chair, bathroom, next to the bar. 300 rs a night which is less than a fiver between us. Lovely lovely lovely. I forgot my camera cable again (and haven't taken many photos since we got here) but will upload some soon I promise.
We've just spent the last few days lapping up the sunshine with a Kingfisher to hand. The food here is delicious, lots and lots of fresh fish is brought in daily so we're making the most of it. It's gorgeous.
I can't really describe how amazing and beautiful this place is, it really is a little bit of paradise I think. I want you to all come!
xxx

Mumbai Mumbai, crazy crazy Mumbai

Right then. It's day 4 and my oh my hello India. I can't even really remember what we've done these last few days so will have to check with super-organised journal writer Tom to make sure I get everything down.
First day. Ok well the flight was fine, watched a couple of George Clooney filmies, had a couple of (weeny) bottles of wine and a nice snooze. Well done BA. Also well done BA for not striking til this weekend. Very considerate of you. Ta.
Mental mental taxi ride from the airport to the hotel. I mean mental. Next taxi we get in I'm going to have to do a bit of videoing of the ride becaue I can't even begin to describe it. Horns a-blazing, swerving pedestrians, no such thing as lanes. Mental. But we arrived at our hotel safe and sound. Wowzers what a hotel that was. LUSH. The lovely people at Hotel Residency upgraded us to their new suites and it was literally the best hotel room I think I've ever been in. Mmm mmm mmm.
What next? We headed down to the Gateway of India (I forgot to bring my camera lead so I can't upload the photo. Next time) and saw the Taj hotel. Had a nice little wander round. I feel like a bit of a celeb in these parts, had lots of people whipping out their camera phones to take a picture of my lovely blonde hair. I think Tom thinks I'm imagining it but it defs happened. So wander wander wander round the Gateway, had a nice expensive beer in Leopold's and then found a place to stay for the next couple of nights. Back to our lovely hotel for a beautiful 12 hours sleep.
Geez I really can't remember what happened on day 2. That might've been the day we went to the museum. I think it was. Twas a very nice museum, right by our new hotel. Not as nice as original hotel but for 600 rupees we can't complain. And we get breakfast. Mmm. So museum was nice, what else? Oh yeh went to Chowpatty (sp?) beach, it's where all the richer peeps like to hang out. Very very nice. Had a baluddy good ice cream.
Ok yesterday we went to the markets, lovely walk around saw some dalmatian puppies! And some very sad cats. And lots of fruit, lots of everything really. Then had some more very expensive beer. It's not expensive, same as a Horse and Groom pint I reckon but comparatively it's pricey pricey. Spent about the same amount on beer on Friday night as we did on accomodation. Ha.
Sorry this is all getting a bit then we did this then we did that so I'll leave you with today's goings on: sleeper train to Goa tonigh. Yes! Mumbai's starting to get a tad tiring (hot hot hot) so very much looking forward to some beach fun.
Will update from the beach then. I'm trying not to get too braggy.
Lots of love xxx

Disaster strikes

The SPF Vaseline is nowhere to be found. Disaster.

Visa. Done.

Done! Yes. Large degree of hassle involved in actually getting it but that was mainly my fault for being a retard. Managed to get a restricted areas permit (Tom didn't) but apparently it doesn't matter anyway for where we want to go. And may be able to sort out going to Nepal when we get to Mumbai. So hurrah, successful day all round.
Successful two days really, managed to sort out malaria tablets yesterday (chloroquine and proguanil £18.99 for seven weeks worth. Done) and bank account mares. And flip flops arrived. Yes. So all the important things are done now then...

12 days! (eek)

Visa Hassle Day (which then turned out to be Ellen and Tom's Day of Fun)

Visas are a MASSIVE hassle. Confusing, unclear hassle. Slightly bricking it that we'd left it too late to post everything off and get it back in time we headed up to the Application Centre in Victoria yesterday at stupid o'clock to get it done. And have to go back in a couple of days to collect them. Hassle. (we didn't know that you couldn't get them on the same day, nothing is made clear to you vis a vis Visa hassle) Also hassley is that we need special permits to go to places we really want to go to. Ie Himachal Pradesh and Sikkim (Dharamsala, Shimla and Darjeeling pour example) Which Tom's miserable nit-picking lady told him was unlikely to happen because they're really tight on letting you in to these places without knowing your exact route, address while there, dates etc. Which obviously we don't because we know nothing. Hassle. Also unlikely to happen according to Mrs Cheeryface is being able to go to Nepal and then back into India, apparently you can't re-enter within two months of leaving. Which is not how we understood it. So maybe no Nepal. Massive hassle.
So you see, Indian Visas are a massive hassle.
But, after our little early morning jaunt we then had a whole day of fun (shopping) Having got to the Visa Centre just after 8 (opens at 8.30) we were out and done and dusted by 9. Shop-central. My card took a right old hammering, there'll be no money left for India at this rate.

Now added to my kit list:

• Lovely denim shorts
• Bikini (and a very nice one too. Expensive though)
• Some more scarves (total: 3)
• Some more shorts
• A top (white) (probs a v bad idea)

Still missing from kit list:

• Pretty much everything else of any importance/necessity

13 days to go!