… is a Dream
I have seen quite a few beautiful beaches on the oceans of this world. Goa certainly is in the top league. We were allowed two days and two nights in the “Ozran Heights Beach Resort” near the “Small Vagator Beach” to enjoy the “Arabian Ocean”..
We lived in a small retreat with sixteen beautifully equipped “huts” and occupied cottages number 3 and 4. As always in India, the service persons were extremely plentiful, on top of being friendly and attentive. The guests are surprisingly multi-national – there is also a huge Russian segment.
From the hotel, you climb down directly to a wonderful beach, which is a true tourists’ paradise. Sandy beaches with waves, everything looks picturesque, not too many people for comfort, more tending towards the lonesome with diverse bars.
As I reach the beach, the first thing that strikes me is the cows. This is the first time in my life that I see cows on the beach. They remind me of my bike tour in Bombay. In the middle of the city, we saw a well-tended area with 350 cows on it, looking a little like an animal garden. They all live in a foundation that made it its task to prevent cows from being slaughtered. Our guide had told us about 500 million cows in India. And I read somewhere that India is the world’s biggest beef exporter. As often, we witness a totally strange world.
The paradise Goa, too, has its shadowy sides. One of them is the plastic waste. Unfortunately, it also found its way to Goa’s beaches. To be sure, some women run round on the beach carrying huge baskets and collecting the waste, but they only take what can be re-used. Plastic bottles, tin cans and much more are simply ignored. It always pains me to see several metres of plastic or rubber bags. Or other materials lying around. Mind you, it would be quite easy to prevent this littering. Basically, what I itch to do whenever seeing it is: clean it away.
In Goa, we spent the first quiet night since our exodus from Germany. I slept like a God. The only source of sound at night is the sighing of the birds. Once in a while, one of the many dogs will bark.
In Bombay, too, you could see dogs everywhere. They are not at all aggressive in India. Which is very much in contrast to our experiences in the Mediterranean. During our bike tour through Bombay, there was also a dog accompanying us. As long as we were in his own district, we always received friendly greetings from his fellow dogs. However, as soon as we left his own district, he was always subjected to lots of barking. It appears that, in India, humans are not the only species for whom Community is important.
After having spent four nights in Bombay/Mumbai, I am actually now very much aware of how bad the noise at night has been there. This unbelievable level of noise in Bombay also caused hectic inside myself – I slept quite fitfully. In the morning, I felt tense and stress-prone. I doubt that you can ever get used to it and I perfectly understand the people who flee Bombay for two nights during the weekend for quiet.
But we are now in Goa. On the second day, we take three “Scooters” and – after a lengthy visit to the beach including a swim – start out on a tour. First, we drive to Mapuso, where they have market day on Fridays – which is truly impressive. Our way continues to Danaji, the “Old Goa”.
On the big entry road to the village, behind the bridge, a police car is parked (licence number: GA 07 G 0058). Two policemen order us to exit. Currently, they are busy with a Russian couple. I suppose we should just have ignored them and driven on. But since we are obedient citizens, we stop.
Our violations are plenty – driving without a valid driver’s licence, without a helmet and some other things. The two policemen look rather happy, it seems that they have been quite successful so far today. From us, they want 1,900 Rupies. Negotiations with Mr. Shetka (that is the name of one of the policemen) are tough but friendly. We threaten them with leaving the scooter where it is and taking a taxi home. In exchange for the confiscated German driver’s licences, we give up the motorbike keys. The motorbikes are chained. We threaten to leave. It seems that the two policemen are eager to get home. The discussion alternatively tends towards both ways.
🙂 More than an hour later, we can drive on – for 1,000 Rupies (that equals 12 Euros) per scooter. Both parties are content.
Later, we drive the scooters to see a few tourist sites and a very big beach. People of all nations can be seen, apparently all of them feeling quite great. You can easily see: to live in luxury is to live comfortably.
Incidentally, we did not see any big hotel buildings. To me, the tourist places all look rather middle-class. The food tasted quite good wherever we went and – even though we basically always went to first-class places – prices were rather low if compared with Europe.
The second night was just as nice as the first. Again, I slept truly well. This morning, we went for another swim, vacated our room at 11.00 hours and the taxi to take us to the airport arrives at 12.00 hours. We go back to Bombay.
Now we have another noisy night in Bombay ahead of us – before we continue on our travels tomorrow…
RMD
(Translated by EG)
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