Days 28,29,30&31- David

The beach we were staying at was nothing you'd find in NZ. The thousands of tourists on the long curved bay lined themselves up on the masses of wooden loungers, trying to get the best angle of the sun for tanning. As soon as the beach ended, open front restaurants began, lined up side by side with their "Coco-Huts" accomodation behind. In the water there were a few bits of rubbish here and there but it could have been a lot worse so I'm glad we're staying at this beach which is supposed to be one of the best for families like us in Goa. The beach had very nice western restaurants and not too many people came up to you and hassle you to come in their shop. I sorta got the feeling that the South is more relaxed and chill than the North. I think that 4 nights here is just what we need after 4 weeks of trains, buses, some really bad hotels, rubbish and hassle. I'm not going to describe every day because it would take to long and every day was pretty similar. So instead I'll just describe one average day in detail.

Dad, Mum and I awoke to the dawn chorus of crows (not so nice) and decided it was time for running/swimming/breakfast. Dad joined me in the water to cool off while mum watched us from over her mug of ginger lemon honey tea. After a satisfying breakfast (they do really good muesli with fresh fruit and curd, which tasted like back home) the sisters arrived and ate their fill. We got into our togs and headed down towards the beach (which is a 10 metre walk) to sunbathe, swim and read. At tenish some of us went down to the book store to exchange books while Mum Megan and I bought little gifts for friends at a cute little shop, also stopping off to buy mango and papaya (which we devoured later in the day). We did nothing except those described activities until lunch, home made chicken burgers and fries for some, fresh fruit salad for others. After lunch we sunbathed, swam and read on the beach, sometimes getting a drink of it got too hot. At around 4 we retired to our rooms and lay down in the hammocks, had a snooze/read and had showers. At sevenish we had mock tails/cocktails by the beach and headed out to a very nice small European restaurant run by a really friendly British guy (they actually had a tiki on the wall which we asked about; a kiwi couple had their wedding reception there 4 years ago so they gave it to him as a gift). We all agree that Ourem 88 (this place) had the best European food we had in India. We even had desert as they did crême brûlée (my favourite) and chocolate foundant which was truly delicious. Then it was time to spread out the mosquito nets in the cute little huts and go to bed.

On day 31 we caught an overnight train to Cochin, Kerala, which actually came in on time and got there early!