INDIA – Goa – 23rd Jan – 10th Feb 2020

As I write this we are sat on the platform of a little local train station waiting to travel to the main Cochin station where we will be boarding our overnight sleeper train to Goa.

I spotted a train coming and a lady was crossing the tracks in front of it! She had a huge basket of vegetation, the type of which we had been told previously is cattle feed, she didn’t seem in the slightest bit bothered and certainly didn’t rush!

As it pulled into the station I could see people hanging out between the bars of the windows and I thought that maybe they were getting away from the heat of the packed carriages. However, as it ground to a halt the smell coming from inside was as bad as I’ve ever experienced. I can’t think of a word to describe it…. I would imagine it was like the smell coming from The Ark by the time the dove came back with an olive leaf in his beak! 

I just hope they had a herd of cattle in there or at least a delivery of “horse shit” for Biju in Alleppey because if not the smell was coming from the people in what looked like a prison cell on wheels. You will never know how much I wished I had one of those face masks the Chinese and Japanese wear! It felt like a world away from those cities we stayed in with the pristine Bullet trains and hi-tech toilets. 

However, as I sit here in anticipation and what I’m hoping over-night is constipation, and not the opposite, I realise we have only paid the equivalent of 11p for our imminent 90 minute journey, so what do we expect. 

Our train arrived next, and it was only ten minutes late! This man from the ticket office was delighted! He couldn’t wait to get rid of the white female traveller who had kept asking questions for the last 40 minutes!

In my excitement of saying goodbye to the staff from the ticket office I forgot to get ready and get on! I was taking a selfie with them and calling for Glen to join us. When I turned around Glen had all four backpacks on or dangling from him and was also pulling my wheelly backpack, which reminded me to stop chatting and to get on the train!! 

When we’ve met people on our travels and I’ve been chatting away, Glen often says to the them “At some point you will have to just tell Mandy to ‘stop taking’ or she will talk forever!” He is right of course! lol!

So we got on, sat down and we were on our way! 😃 This young boy opposite was selling nuts wrapped in newspaper and didn’t seem surprised when we declined to buy any. He spent the rest of the journey singing, apart from when the train stopped at a station and he rushed off, presumably to try to sell some nuts!

Now surely this man should know better than to wear a cream Longyi on a grubby train!

Never mind about closing the door! 🙄 ……we weren’t going that fast.

The safety conscious crews of the Japanese Bullet Trains would have forty fits if they came here!!! 

We never did find out whether this man was selling or delivering this water or if he had stocked up because he was going on a very long journey.

As time went on it started to smell very fishy! At first it was a nice change from the toxic smoke from the local’s who were obviously setting fire to their rubbish. However, knowing we had to cross about six rivers, canals, backwaters and sea in-lets etc before we reached our station I think it will be annoyingly unpleasant after a while. Oh, I forgot to say, there are no bovine ‘waste product’ aromas on this train I’m pleased to report.

I can’t believe it! I spoke too soon! There is now a bad sewerage smell! It’s pitch black outside so it’s hard to tell where we are….. oh hang on….. and back to the fishy smell. I really need to put my phone down, stop making notes and get my tiger balm out!

Our sleeper train was due to depart Cochin station at 9.30pm and arrive at Madgaon station in Southern Goa at 8.50am. We would then have a choice of an hours taxi journey or a train back down to the station we actually wanted to get off at, which would take 90 minutes then a 20 taxi ride.

The 90 minute journey flew by and we soon arrived into Cochin station and it was buzzing. I would have taken photos but we were carrying all of our bags and trying to find somewhere to eat before we left. We eventually made our way to the correct platform. We double checked with a smartly dressed employee to ensure that the train that was already on the platform was in fact our train. He confirmed that is was but when he looked at our tickets he told us that we were in sleeper compartments next to each other… next to each other!? We thought our tickets would put us in the same compartments, but apparently not! I thought for one minute it might be something to do with the fact they have separate female carriages but it was just the way the ticket system allocated them. Anyway, long story short the lovely smartly dressed employee said to get on and he would sort it out for us. 

It wasn’t long before he came on to the train to confirm that he had moved people to ensure we were together. We thanked him and I asked if I could take his photo and he said he couldn’t wait to tell his wife, bless him.

So, we were in together, phew! We sat waiting to find out who was going to join us for the night. (Each compartment holds four people in two bunk beds) We were delighted when Olivia came around the corner. A lovely English lady who joined us in a cheeky night cap before lights out! Glen was the waiter! Lol!

We all had a glass of vodka and went to sleep… well they did, but I stayed awake listening to every creak and judder as the train travelled along through the night. Periodically I could hear the baby crying next door and they couldn’t seem to settle him/her and so eventually I found myself naturally singing “I love you lots and lots, yes I do yes I do, yes I love you lots and lots yes I do do do…., like I did to the girls to get them to sleep when they were little.  I was aware of every little noise the train made and anyone down the corridor in either direction. The world (well India) was passing by the windows by my head and I didn’t get to sleep until about 7am just before our cup of tea was delivered to our carriage at 7.30am. Well that is what it felt like anyway. 

We were in 1st class so breakfast arrived. There was a random fusion of Indian and western food and I was surprised to see that it included cornflakes, albeit with hot milk! A little taste of home. 😊 …..I didn’t think it was worth asking if they had cold milk and wheetabix. 

In other news: Seeing as so many people have been asking us….. We nearly went to the city of Wuhan, the origin of the newly-discovered corona virus. However, luckily we decided against it because we would have, for sure, gone to the market they talked about! That is what we always do! 

When we arrived at Madgaon we decided to take a taxi as there was a four and a half hour wait for the next train back down to the stop we needed. 

We got in to a sturdy enough looking car and tried to put our seatbelts on but the driver told us we didn’t need those! Oh didn’t we now!! They were broken! so for the first 20 minutes I hung on the the handle above my head until my hand went numb! The journey through the mountains and jungle (or hills and forest depending who you talk to) it was beautiful but as always, unnerving. 

The driver was a good, careful driver….. when he wasn’t looking at his phone to show us a photo of his Portuguese passport! He said he was moving to the U.K. in a matter of weeks and wondered if we could help him get a driving license there! 🙄 I explained how he would not be able to overtake on blind bends in the UK! Hint hint!

He was very proud of the area we were driving through, pointing out how stunning every “mountain” was while I kept an eye of the road ahead and any drop each side! Glen told me to stop hinting about how I wasn’t a good passenger and didn’t like over taking. I pointed to metal safety strips on posts along the road when there was a steep drop.  (the type that they have down the middle of motorways at home which bounce you back on to the road rather than allow you to drive through on to the other carriageway) That did not reassure me because the posts needed to be in firm ground for the metal strips to be effective and not long after I pointed out a section whereby someone had obviously veered off the road towards them, hitting the metal strips and had unearthed the posts which were now stood end up on the edge of a drop! The driver then told us how wild Elephants and Tigers could be seen crossing the roads here. I’m not sure it was true. I was sort of hoping it wasn’t to be honest. 

So to cut a long story short (and it is long!) we are now settled in our second accommodation in Agonda Beach which is a hut right on the beach. I say hut, it’s more like a garden shed, with all the knot holes and spaces between the slats to allow fresh sea air and tropical insects in. The view is of course what most holiday makers would dream of on a beach holiday but I find it a bit worrying. Being able to hear the crashing waves all night when in bed does not lull me to sleep, it gets me wondering whether I would see the salty sea water seeping under our shed door if I were able to see through the mozzi net over and surrounding our bed. 😳

Sleeping under a mozzie net was good once we killed those that were trapped inside of it! The Gecko noises above my head in the night didn’t bother me as I thought that if one fell down it would hit the net and slide down to the floor.

The second night I could smell fires burning in the early hours… I realised at that point that we were basically sleeping in a tinder pile! I just hoped that any fires would be extinguished by the crashing waves which I now hoped would be seeping under the door at any moment. As the night went on I wondered how easy it would be to climb up one of the palm trees if there was a tsunami and if we should have put the backpacks up off the floor incase any mice came in. I had a busy night wondering!

Feeling the fear and backpacking anyway!! 😬

Having survived the first few nights we would wake up early each morning (still dark outside) to the sound of a pig, I wondered if I looked out whether there would be wildlife gathered around our foot washing bowl, like an oasis in the desert. (on proofing this blog I can now advise that yes that is exactly what happens!) Cows, dogs and birds drink from the dirty water which we have washed our feet in before stepping on to our veranda. I only hope I don’t give them some sort of foot and mouth disease! Or bad breath from my smelly feet!

We looked out of the window one morning to see a herd of cattle slowly ambling along the beach like a group of tourists heading back to their bus at the end of a long day in the sun. We still haven’t seen the pigs by our hut but I have seen them back inland amongst the trees.

There are slim hippy types around here of all ages doing Yoga on the beach and also fit young surfers. In the back lane there are shops selling some lush clothes which they try to sell me as I walk past. There is one lovely pink strappy dress which pulls under the bust and has draw string straps to make the top which I wouldn’t get my nipples in let alone my boobs! However the heavily pregnant Indian lady selling it assured me it would fit! “Come in the shop and see“, I had visions of her trying to force me in to it like the ugly sisters tried to force their feet into Cinderella’s shoes. It’s so frustrating “one size fits all” NO IT DOESN’T!…… I wonder whether Glen will let me put that comment in the blog when he briefly reads through before he publishes it!? 🤔😂

This might be a tourist beach holiday destination but you can see all sorts of interesting people going about their daily business here doing goodness knows what!

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I don’t think I’ve ever said how beautiful the women are in India. The way they gracefully wear a sari with the scarf/covering they casually drape over their head. I’m sure it would just all unravel and slither to the floor if i did it! We are just sat in a restaurant watching the world go by outside and it’s been mostly cows of varing sizes walking by and the odd motorbike but an Indian lady just walked past with a bowl of freshly cut green leafy vegetables on her head. They wear beautiful colourful saris to work, in fields, collecting water, brushing streets, selling vegetables…. they put us to shame.

On the beach here in Agonda the female Indian beach cleaners are in brightly coloured saris but have unnecessary hi-viz vests on top! That is some sort of health and safety that is not necessary whereas there are such important heath and safety issues here that need addressing. 

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This beach is protected because Olive Ridley Sea-Turtles lay there eggs here. They move them to an area with protective nets around them and then release them into the sea once they hatch. Sadly all we have are photos of the buried eggs not any turtles. 

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This huge beetle thing kept landing on a post in front of us during our stay. We didn’t ever manage to find out what it was.

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You don’t see children’s nappies poking out of their slit trousers here, mainly because they don’t seem to wear nappies…. or trousers! We’ve seen naked children, but for a string around their waist, they are carried on their mothers hips. From a distance I assumed the string or thin chain was somehow holding a pad at the front but I was wrong.

‘Aran jan am or Araijan Kayiru is a girdle-like ornament tied around the waist of infants and children. Also called ‘Araijan Kodi’. It is made of gold, silver or thick thread. The primary purpose is to measure the healthy growth of an infant by the increase of the waistline.’

Well that has got to be uncomfortable for the poor children! They should use a height chart like we have in the U.K. lol! and measure the waist once a day or something. 

Anyway I have been reading about how they bring children up in India and how they are in tune with their children’s toilet needs in the same way any mother is in tune with their child’s feeding or sleeping needs. They ‘toilet train’ them from a very young age and it’s better for them and their skin. It’s better for the environment too. There is enough rubbish around and being burnt each day without having the nappies to dispose of here too. Sadly companies from abroad are advertising disposable nappies so this might change. I think we aught to change in the U.K. too but it’s easier outside in a hot country than inside our homes I guess. 

As I think about how some of the locals are living here in Goa and also think back to the ‘Captain’ and his wife proudly living in his little purple house without running water etc…. I think that I should stop moaning about the insects and discomforts here and appreciate the conditions we live in in the UK.

Cooking outside in countryside, no worry about smelling the house out.

Glen has talked about wanting to buy a mobile home and during our walk to the local ‘village’ I found one in our price range.

There are lots of stray dogs on the beach which I’m surprised they don’t do something about for many reasons. Anyway, as I’ve already said they are very friendly and seem to crave attention and a good rub or pat…. I can’t help but think it‘s to itch the flees, although in fairness they don’t seem to have flees, unlike the poor dogs in Alleppey town. 

I watched a crab scurrying up the beach and it tried to hide under this dog! The dog didn’t move, even though it must surely have felt it. Nature living in harmony.

Glen had one of the dogs come and sat right in front of him then another came over and squeezed right in-between the first dog and Glen, and then, like the preverbal bus a third came along. The dogs here seem to crave attention, they knew we didn’t feed them but still came to sit by us not only when we were in the shade.

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I took these photos for you Charlotte. This horse enjoyed rolling in the sand after the saddle was removed following a ride along the shore.

We could put 20 or 30 Cow photos in this blog but will just put one of this handsome chap. The Cows here step inside of restaurants and wait to be fed a nann or roti, someone always buys one to feed to them!

These knife grinders are working for a living and not begging. We were told not to give the beggars money because they could work but they choose to beg instead and they have money to drink in the evening with their husbands and don’t send their children to school. They choose instead for them to go begging with them. Very sad and short sighted. This was told to us by one of the hard working staff in one of our favourite cafes. We see him (and other waiters and chefs) at work first thing in the morning until late in the evening. No wonder they are not happy with the people begging when they are working so hard. 

Couldn’t resist putting a few bird photos in.

We saw amazing sunsets every evening from our hut.

There were two perfect sunsets whereby the sun ‘melted’ into the sea without any clouds to blur the view as it sank below the horizon. We’d never seen that before.

This fishing boat sailed into position beautifully just as the sun disappeared.

So, beach holiday over, off we go again, this time north to Mumbai on another overnight sleeper train.