10 DAYS IN GOA

HEADING TO GOA

So after 13 days in Kerala I was heading up to Goa from Kochi.

I’d booked a train that was due to depart at 5:10 am and as I was staying at a hotel literally just over the road from the station I thought that would be no problem.

I was wrong.

I slept through my alarm and woke up at 4:57. And I still hadn’t packed.

13 minutes to pack, dress, check out, get to the train station and figure out where in the station I needed to be!

I made it with seconds to spare.

The train journey up to Goa would take 13 hours and I had booked a sleeper class ticket, so I was able to get some sleep.

I had a top bunk in one of the carriages, which was actually really difficult to climb up onto. There were no steps, so you have to improvise to get up there. Fortunately I managed it ok.

The bunk I was in had almost no head room either; you couldn’t sit up if you wanted to, so it wasn’t the most comfortable of journeys.

After a couple of hours sleep I decided to sit down below; every now and then venturing to the space in between carriages to hang out of the door and look at the scenery, which was pretty ace.

Here’s a few shots from the journey:

ARRIVAL IN GOA – BENAULIM

The train arrived in Margao around 6pm and I’d booked myself a hotel for the night in the nearby beach town of Benaulim.

I was only there for the evening before moving on, so didn’t take any photos here, but it seemed like a nice, relaxed beach town, with a lot of Brits wandering about.

Certainly a very touristy spot.

Onto the first main stop of Goa.

VAGATOR AND ANJUNA BEACH

Heading up to North Goa first I booked a taxi and stopped at Vagator for 3 nights.

Vagator is a busy beach town usually, but when I visited it was still in quiet season, so it was quite nice to be able to walk around without too much going on.

There’s a nice stretch of beach here and the usual shops, cafes and restaurants, but nothing to get too excited about.

North Goa is known for its party scene and especially trance parties. Not really my scene and I was just looking for a chilled out time to end my trip, so visiting during the quiet season was perfect.

Here’s a couple more snaps from Vagator:

There’s another popular beach area nearby – Anjuna. It’s about 30 minutes walk from Vagator, so on one of the days I headed over there to check it out.

I think I preferred this to Vagator overall. There’s some really nice cafes situated overlooking the bay and there’s a big focus on watersports on the beach and some decent bars along the stretch.

Not sure what they sell

Despite the repuatation for this being more of a party area of Goa, I spent three fairly chilled out days here, before heading onto the next stop – Goa’s capital – Panjim.

PANJIM

After three days in the North, I was working my way down to central Goa and to the region’s capital of Panjim.

Panjim isn’t necessarily a spot that I would say is a must-do on a backpacker’s itinerary, unless that is if you’re a gambler!

This place is the Vegas of India.

Except there’s not a strip as such, the casinos are on floating cruise liners out in the ocean!

You get access to the casinos by going to the jetty area belonging to your chosen casino, which operates shuttle boats to and from the casino itself.

One of the casino jetties

I’d heard about the casinos here, so I figured I’d put it on my list of places to visit and thought I’d see if I could check out a poker game.

What I didn’t know though was that one of the ships was hosting the first World Poker Tour of India!

I was keen to get in a game, so I went off to the Deltin Royale – the biggest casino in town.

I had to pay 3,000 Rupees (approx. £35) to gain entry to the casino, but this would be refunded as long as I played in one of the poker games and all food and drink was complimentary when you’re there.

I jumped on the shuttle boat and made my way out to this behemoth of a casino.

I registered for the tournament that was scheduled that night, as part of the Poker tour. It was a 25,000 Rupee buy in (nearly £300) and there ended up being 128 players who entered.

I played a good game and battled it out for 9 hours.

Of the 128 players, 12 got paid and were invited back for the final session the following day. Where did I come?

13th. Grrrrrr.

So frustrating, but it was a really good shout and an awesome experience to not only visit one of the floating casinos, but also to play in this tournament alongside a number of professionals.

One of the players here thought I was a guy named Brandon Cantu, who is a famous American poker player. I’d never heard of him, but googled him and there is a bit of a resemblance.

I left Panjim losing a fair bit of cash, but I’d won plenty in the Sri Lankan casinos, so it evened itself out. You win some, you lose some.

Onto the next and final stop of my trip to Goa – Palolem beach.

PALOLEM BEACH

Another day, another taxi and another beach.

I left Panjim in the morning to head to Palolem, which was about 1.5 hours journey.

I had five days left before I was flying home and initially I thought I would hire a scooter and roam around visiting many areas of South Goa, but I was knackered. 10 months on the road is actually really tiring and all I wanted to do, was sleep, eat, swim and laze about on the beach.

So that’s what I did and this place is the perfect spot for that.

The stretch of beach is around 1.5km long and is a pure sandy beach, which stretches out into the gentle wavy waters. You can walk out into the sea for 100 metres and still be able to stand up.

Such a calming and relaxing place to swim.

Also, it’s a great place to go for a run. A little bit of movie trivia for you – this is where Jason Bourne was staying at the start of the Bourne Supremacy and this is the beach you see him run along in the movie.

There’s loads of beach shacks which you can stay in, which are directly on the beach, such as these colourful ones that can be seen here:

The beachfront is certainly the place to be here. There’s loads of restaurants and bars lining the shore. All with a great relaxed atmosphere. They’re all very similar, but there’s a couple that stand out as being better than others. Great places to hang out, have a few beers, grab a bite and watch the sun set over the ocean.

Here’s a few more general snaps from Palolem Beach:

More cows on the beach

Some local kids. I don’t think she realised that gesture is considered rude. Or did she??

TIME TO GO HOME. FOR NOW AT LEAST

With a heavy heart, I say that this is the end of the trip. For now, anyway.

I’m leaving Goa and flying back to the UK and will certainly be staying there until New Year. Hopefully I’ll pick up the dice again next year, but we’ll see.

Thanks for reading about the journey thus far. Hope you’ve enjoyed it!

Until next time!