Goa

Ive been in Goa for around a week now and its been a very cool experience to say the least. Il start with the train ride down here. Trains in india like everything else transportation wise. Crazy. The station alone in mumbai (which is the second largest train station in the world) was nuts. Especially trying to figure your way to the train at 11 pm after having more than a few beers. I rode class 3 AC (the only available class) and it was pretty reasonable. Most of the other train riders in my compartement were either travellers or upper class indian people (buisness people/nurses) that were from goa but had things to do in mumbai. The train took 11 and a half hours to get to goa were i got off at the furthest north station in the state called Pernem. From pernem myself and a German women i met, got a taxi to Arambol and each found hotels. I stayed in a town 2 k down the road from Arambol called manderem in a beach hut right on the ocean. From there i relaxed, swam and read on a deserted beach for the day. The next day i rented a scooter for 4 bucks (3 days in total) and explored the surrounding area of north goa. The town of Arambol where i hung out in most, was full of restaurants (all with the same food/liqour and all for the same price) as well as the typical stores lining the streets full of sarongs and other touirist shit. Ive also learned that Goa is Israels vacation place, mostly because they cant get into the rest of the far eastern worlds exotic countries because of religious tensions. Who would have guessed. Well the Israelies all look the same (dreads, sarongs and reek of hash) and make up the majority of the tourists in october becuase its there holiday time. All and all a interesting scene. I met a English guy named Desmond and weve hung out together, scootering around and checking out all the untouched/uncrowded beaches in the region along with some cool temples/churches. One thing everyone should know about india is that the beaches are full of cows, stray dogs, and garbage (atleast depending on the town your in). Im sorry to say, but the paradise of one Vagator beach is no more. Its to freaking dirty. Desmond and i were in the mood for a change so we caught the train on tuesday and went 80k south to a beach town called Palolem.
This place is trully fucking beautiful. The beach is extremely clean, its lined with beach huts and bars, the water is great and the scenery is second to none. Its alot more of a tropical region in the south. The people of goa (the indians) are a lot more laid back and freindly than the people in mumbai. There industry is mostly tourism and if your freindly/respectful they are more than willing to go out of there way to help you. Desmond and I met a German man named Stefan on the bus ride here and weve been crashing in a little hotel in town for 300Rs a night(7 bucks) as well as hanging out the whole time. Both Desmond and Stefan are really cool, really laid back guys and have both travelled alot and have definitly helped me out by teaching me some tricks of the road. They both really enjoy beer to, so we have no shortage of things to talk about once we a few in us. Desmond (24) is a chef and is in goa meeting his girlfreind and family in 10 days to travel the south west coast of india. Stefan (29) is a engineer who was a project managaer with Olympus Cameras but quit to travel the world over the next year. Hes more less doing a Gord Neilson. All in all ive been having an awsome time in Goa, and especially in Palolem (which is full of gorgeuos Swedish women). Were all going to change hotels tommorow and get a large beach hut for us to hang out in for the next few days then i think Stefan and i are going to head inland to Hampi.
This post is probably all over the place so i have to apologize because i have recently aquired beach brain.
Il try to post some photos from my trip so far and im sure it will work this time becuase the internet cafe im in actually has computers that work at normal speeds.