9th November:- A going to Goa.

I returned to New Delhi for one night before heading on to Goa. The journey back was fine. I did get to the airport a little early but its actually quite a nice place. Once back in the domestic terminal of Indria Ghandi international airport paid my 25 rupees for the the shuttle bus into the main terminal and the took the metro express to New Delhi station. I had contemplated taking a autorickshaw to Karol Bagh but didn't and actually the in metro ride wasn't nearly as bad. Wander to the end of the platform is a good tip! Once on Karol Bagh I headed to the Amman hotel, the one I had first stayed at when I arrived in Delhi. Strangely I was able to negotiate a fan room for 1000 including tax. And also would get the same deal when I come back at the end of the month. The room was pretty grim but clean.

I had been dreaming of chicken tikka masala and a beer for several days. A whole week with very little meat was quite hard. I headed to the Market area and plumped for the restaurant I had used before on the road that runs parallel to the Market street. This time they did have naan so one chicken tikka, one naan, one rice and two beers later I was fully replete.

It's never a good idea to go shopping after a drink. With no alcohol for a week it went straight to my head. I needed some new flip-flops, mine had been used pretty much every day for 6 months and were looking decidedly grubby and after wading through the shit in Varanassi must have contained the DNA of hundreds of people! In my alcohol induced mood I think I may have bought some platform flip flops. !

I was in bed quite early although being quite close to reception I could pick up a decent wifi signal so did a bit of emailing and catching up. I sat in a 'comfy' chair by the side of the door and was scared shitless by a scratching sound and then a rat poked it's head under the door. When it saw me it decided to bugger off. Thankfully.

My flight to Goa wasn't toll the afternoon but I checked out of the hotel at around 10:30. Every time I had wandered towards Karol Bagh previously I had been pestered by auto rickshaw drivers all the way to the market. This time I had to actually stop on. Foolishly I asked for a fate to New Delhi Station rather than the Metro Line at New Delhi Station. As we arrived, through an area that look similar to Karol Bagh, I asked which way to the metro and realised my mistake. I'm sure in could have walked through the station but I decided I take the advice of the rickshaw driver and he took me to the next negation on the line and charged me 200 rupees. As usual the airport express was empty, I'm really not sure how it makes money. The fare is only 80 rupees (£1). I don't think many people know about it.

I could check in straight away. Passed through security and the spotted my lighter in my bag. I have to say one thing. On the metro and in the airports the security is second to none. You are not even allowed in unless you have proof you are travelling. There are armed soldiers everywhere too carrying an assortment of automatic weapons. There are even sandbags with a soldier and huge gun at strategic places throughout the airport and transport systems. You do feel quite safe. After giving up my Iighter and a record of my misdemeanour being recorded in the 'naughty book' I preceded to have a KFC meal. They are nothing like the ones in Malaysia, the chicken pieces are dry and small and a bit scraggy. But it filled a hole.

The flight from New Delhi was about 2:15 minutes. I was sitting next to a couple of kids from an Indian family, they were lovely, except the couldn't stop fidgeting for the the whole journey. I got chatting to the young boy. He was 15 but looked much younger. His parents were taking them on a family holiday to Goa. I suspect they were reasonably wealthy by Indian standards. He was full of questions, the usual ' am I married also came up'.
As we landed, it was starting to get dark. I said my goodbyes to my travelling companions and headed to the prepaid taxi as Panjim, the capital of Goa was about 29 km from the airport. I was pleasantly surprised that it was only 800 rupees. Once again I had written down the name of a place from the lonely planet and off we set.

It turned out to be a bit of a drama. The place I had picked was nice but a tad expensive. With hindsight in should have gone for it though. After about an hour of calling at loads of places I finally got one for 1200 a night. It was pretty ropey. I tipped the cab driver 200 rupees as he had been very helpful. Although one of the places he took me to wanted 6,000 a night! The reception guy said he could give me a discount, it would need to be a fucking big discount I thought!

After checking in I went for a walk, bought a couple of T shirts and then went for some food. I planned to stay in Panjim for a couple of nights then head a bit north to the beach area and hopefully get a bit of a tan!



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Location:Panjim, Goa, India.