Goa fish market

Well - that was an intersting night!

Our train left Mumbai last night at 11.00pm - the overnight train to Goa, scheduled to take about 12-13 hours. The cabins are interesting . . . . . 6 beds to a section, 2 lower, 2 mid and 2 higher. Each section can be 'closed' by way of a curtain seperating it from the walkway and the 2 beds opposite. Our allocated seats/beds included 1 that was away from the rest and, as I didn't really want to take an upper berth, I volunteered to take this one. Each bed is provided with 2 sheets, a pillow and a blanket (the carriages are air conditioned) adn I shared my sleeping space with a pregnant mum, her son and husband, 2 younger lads and an older man.

Surprisingly, I slept better than I thought I would. Not brilliant by any imagination, but when my alarm went off (I'd forgotten to switch if off) I was surprised to find it was 6.30. Morning ablutions were kept to a minimum - Indian toilets aren't the best anyway, but Indian train toilets . . . that's a whole new world!

Things have changed down here. Firslty, it feels more like a series of interlinked rural villages than a city of over a million people. maybe we'll see a different side tomorrow. The landscape is rice-dominated and very green and lush. There's an absence of a lot of the urban mayhem we've witnessed up to here though the roads remain crazy . . . .

Before we were taken to our hotel we were shown round Goa's largest fish market. Fish and coconut are the staple ingredients for several local dishes, not surprising given the volume of both that are readily available here. The fish market however, didn't seem as big as I'd expected.

On to the hotel - a lovely spacious place with lots of things that make for a good holiday feel - pool, restauarants, bars, massages - even yoga classes. The shower was exra-specially good after last night's train experience!

This is the beginning of the wind-down for what has been a great trip. To help wind dowon I joined a couple who were heading to the beach in the afternoon though all we found was a beach full of (what appeared to be) a Bollywood film set! A nap before dinner in the evening and now I'm looking forward to a long and peaceful rest tonight . . . . . . G'night :)