Old places familiar faces

With all the time I lost last night messing around recovering a few photo’s it was 8pm before we went out and we were both starving as we hardly ate anything at lunchtime, stooping briefly at the beach shack next to the Nanu for a starter each when we walked to Colva to get our bike. As we walked into Majorda past the Fusion we could see no familiar faces in their so we assume that they have either sold it or have it managed out but we will find out before we leave here. We ate in the Pentagon where they have live music and saw a few more familiar faces. We were having breakfast by the pool when Anthony’s mate turned up with the new bike to save us going back to Colva and collect his money. We still ended up going to Colva to our favourite internet café i-way as it sounds like my favourite toy the i-phone. The same girl is still in there from the very first time we came to Goa and it’s the fastest service we have ever used in Goa; it also helps that she knows what she is doing when I have a problem which is frequent this year. We stopped off at Betlebatim to our usual store (the little orange one) to fill up with petrol and Claire has booked her beauty treatment and a massage in Francesca’s beauty parlour for tomorrow opposite. While I was waiting, the shop owner brought this massive green grub over on a leaf and I asked them if they ate them. Judging from their reaction they don’t; a little girl screwed her face up and ran away when I told them that they eat those in Australia.

Internet finished we headed over to Betty’s boat trips near Mobor beach and booked our favourite trip for Saturday and headed to the Leela to try and book in for a couple of nights of luxury. The cheapest rate they would give us was 16,500 rupees a night which is over £200 so we thought about it for a millisecond or two and left. We headed back into Cavolosim to find a place that we stopped in for only one night almost 2 years ago, which was roomy and cheap called Saajan. The lady wanted 700 rupees for a night so we booked Friday to Sunday so that we would be close for our return from Betty’s. Claire had noticed a place next door that she had spotted on the internet and wanted to investigate but we didn’t want to hurt the other ladies feelings so I drove slow, Claire jumped off and I drove around the corner to park so she wouldn’t know. When I got back Claire was talking to a very familiar face called Dilli from Nepal that we met on our very first trip to Goa. We bought him a Rolex genuine copy back from Bangkok and he wrote to thank us upon his return home. He was working in this hotel this season; how about that for a small world. We decided to stay and eat lunch in his place so we could catch up on what has happened to us all in the last 5 years but Dilli had just eaten so only had a drink. We will be seing more of him when we move into Cavalosim on Friday. He is a lovely guy and the only one that I respond to when he sends a text. Dilli’s mother died last year of kidney failure and they have no money for a new kidney. They spent what money they had for dialysis treatment but it soon ran out; this is how most of the world has to live and die. Those of you that followed our first blog might remember him.

We headed back home taking a few pictures on the way stopping at Colva to check out the prices in the Star beach because they have a pool as well and it was only 850 rupees last time we stayed. There used to always be the same ladies in reception there, day and night, one large one small but this time only one man. I asked what had happened to them and he said that the large one will be back to work tomorrow and the small one had left. The prices now are 1050 for a room with balcony facing the pool or 1550 for an aircon flat in the gardens. Well, its gone up a little but the exchange rate is killing us £15 a night for two with a HBO tv, pool and balcony in the sun all day. They do charge extra for a fridge if you are interested. While we were there, we checked out Williams and they are 1200 a night without aircon. I managed to get him down to 1000 a night if we stayed for a week or more. It’s ok there and they have a pool as well but we prefer Star Beach and it’s cheaper anyway. On the up side for Williams is that they have a bar there where all the expats congregate and Star beach are not licensed.

One last stop before we could relax by our pool and that was to check out another place that we had stopped which was great if you had your own transport called The Riverside. You can get to it by driving inland from Majorda towards the main highway to Margao, and it’s just before the river. When we stayed there it was owned by a lovely English couple called Paul and Diane who had spent a fortune on the place, but when we came last time they had sold it to an Indian family but they told us that they were renovating at and it would be open again soon. It certainly didn’t need renovating while we were there but it’s now a health clinic owned by Dr Shagbag so we wont be able to stay there again. Shame, because Steve and Jan liked the sound of it and asked us to check it out, but we are doing our best to find something similar guys.

One last thing before we get ready to go out again is that while I was putting yesterdays blog on this morning, Claire was checking out potential places on the internet and found the website for Palm View where we are staying now and emailed the Indian owners living in England to find out their room prices. Remember, I said that we used to pay about 800 rupees but this year they wanted 1675 and I could only get them down to 1600 a night? Well the owners emailed Claire back and said that the price was 1000 rupees a night. Claire then emailed them back to tell them what they had charged us and said that for that reason we had cut our stay short. Someone’s going to get in trouble; hope it’s not us!