Just chilling with our Bollywood friends

So our time travelling around the north of India had come to an end and we were both extremely excited to be flying down south to Goa for some much needed beach and chill out time (I know – a mini holiday from travelling, aren’t we lucky!!). However, no one could have predicted the somewhat strange events that arose from our first few days in beautiful Goa.

It all started when we were sat on the plane and Butty got chatting to the guy sat next to her. He told us his name was Kamall and although he lives in Delhi with his family, he is frequently in Goa as he is developing some (very, very nice) apartments in Goa. After offering us a whole list of places he would recommend we visit, we realised we were heading to pretty much the same place when we landed so we agreed to share a taxi.

To cut a long story short, we were meant to drop Kamall off first, then head to our hostel nearby. It was about 11pm by the time we reached Kamall’s destination, where his girlfriend (not known about by his wife!) and friend were waiting to take him to a party. We quickly jumped out the car to say our goodbyes, before being completely peer pressured into going along to the party. At this point we still had our huge backpacks, hadn’t slept properly for about 24 hours, and both had our running trainers and jeans on to maximise packing space for the flight. With it being Halloween, we had light-up, pumpkin glasses and other accessories thrown on us before heading off with our new pals to the party.

Not really knowing what to expect, we were quite shocked when we turned up and realised we were at the house of a big time Bollywood film actress, to celebrate her husband’s birthday!! The house was incredible, and we instantly felt super underdressed!! There was a free bar, staff all over the place, and lots of very rich people. By about 3am in the morning, we were sat round eating cake and smoked salmon, drinking very expensive vodka, and getting a first-hand experience of how the other half live.

As it was too late to check in to our hostel, we ended up staying with Kamall and his girlfriend as they had a spare room in their apartment. We woke up to the maid making us a traditional Indian breakfast and tried to get our bearings of where on earth we were! We spent the next 2 days hanging out with Kamall and Chand, who literally wined and dined us in all the fanciest places. We got to look round their property that is being developed and have bagged ourselves a stay in the top suite for free once it is all finished next year – result!

Anyway, a few days later and it was back to backpacking reality as we made our way to Calangute, where we finally checked into a hostel. We spent a few days swimming in the sea, soaking up the sun, getting some much overdue exercise in. We were staying in a dorm which literally consisted of us and about 6 middle-aged local men which was a little strange to say the least. I was in the shower and a guy in the room asked Butty if she liked wine, to which she replied “no, but Katie does!”. So when I came back into the room, the guy asked me if I would like a glass. I said I was ok as I was about to go to bed, but he said he was going to buy a bottle anyway, and hoped I would join him for one glass. When he returned, he poured himself the smallest glass, and then proceeded to hand me the entire remainder of the bottle…. Of which I drank about 2 swigs to be polite and handed it back. He looked very disappointed we weren’t about to become besties and get drunk on red wine, but did tell me to keep the wine as he doesn’t actually drink. As I said, all very strange… so we took the wine, and made a speedy exit the next day to a new, female-only dorm.

Tearing ourselves away from the stunning beaches for a day, we took a local, and very busy, bus into Old Goa and Panaji and explored some of the famous Portuguese remains. It was a culturally enriching day and we witnessed some fascinating and somewhat elaborate buildings and churches. We also visited the Basilica of Bom Jesus, a UNESCO World Heritage sight, where the remains of St. Francis Xavier's body is kept. It was very busy with Indian visitors as his body is said to have tremendous healing powers, and once every 10 years they open up his tomb and reveal the body!! Quite glad we weren’t there for that bit, to be honest. 

And that pretty much sums up our time in North Goa … sun, sea, good food and random adventures. We were both talking the other day about how the sea cures just about everything, and how good the coast is for the soul. We left feeling refreshed and revived, and ready to face yet another night bus to explore the historical remains of Hampi. Watch this space to hear about our final adventures in India before we make the move over to Sri Lanka J