Friday, Feb. 23, 2007
Location: Kumta, Kanataka, India
Will be here until Sunday (Your Saturday)
Deistination: South

10) Palolem Beach > Aversa, Ankola Beach 66.9km
Aversa, Ankola Beach
Feb 21, 2007 – Feb. 22, 2007

11) Aversa, Ankola Beach > Kumta 53.3km
Kumta Feb. 22, 2007 - Feb. 25, 2007

Total bicycle km = 468km

Ankola Beach

Stayed a night on Ankola beach. A beautiful harbor with a very small fishing village. My tent was 200 feet from a school house, so I was visited all day by children, fortunately, there were plenty of fishermen around to keep the children in-line. The villagers helped me pitch my tent, and stayed with me for 8 hours, until 9pm when they had to sleep to prepare for early morning fishing.

Sometimes I want interaction with locals, and sometimes I just want to relax on the beach. I don't always get to choose. Some school children spoke English, but when they weren't around, the other children just sat around my beach towel and stared at me. I thought the children would get tired of this, but they don't bore easily. I was surrounded by children, inches from my towel, for hours. When I went into the water, the kids would get into everything and try to get into my tent. One local fisherman warned me to watch out for mischievous kids, and some locals who have bad habits may steal. When I left, nothing was missing.

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Kumta City

Kumta is 5km from a beautiful beach that nobody uses. Plenty of local shops and a relatively nice hotel on the highway named Sanman Lodge, which has a restaurant and is next to an ATM, so there's always a guard out front. The guard walked over to keep an eye on my stuff when I was on the 2nd floor checking in to the lodge. That's usual, especially when children are around, and children are everywhere. India's population is lower than China, but their children outnumber China's, and their growth rate is staggering. India will outnumber China in another generation.

Little Visitors

Concerning a high-priced hotel up north in Daman, I learned what most seasoned travelers probably already knew. Find out where the kitchen is and get a room far away from it, or you'll be visited by lots of little critters.

My computer is working okay, I didn't fix the problem with my power converter, but my computer didn't need it, so there's no problem. The only electrical equipment that can't handle 220V is my Garmin GPS, but that's not essential.

-Rick

Feb. 19, 2007

Location: Palolem, Canacona, Goa, India

8) Goa > Mabor Beach, Salcete, Goa 46.8km
Feb. 12, 2007 - Feb. 18, 2007

9) Mabor Beach > Palolem Beach 38.1km
Palolem Beach
Feb. 18, 2007 - Feb. 20, 2007

Total bicycle km= 348km

I shouldn't post these "blogs" after a long journey, I'm exhausted and probably sound cranky. I left Mabor Beach, Salcete, Goa, India, and rode south toward Cabo De Rama Fort (Cape Rame) two days later than expected because I was fighting a head cold and wanted a couple days rest. I missed the turn-off toward Cabo De Rama because rode signs are a premium in India. I pushed my bike up a near vertical hill and almost fainted twice during the mid-day heat because I had spent the last two days sleeping and was still fighting a cold. I was at the top of the hill when I found out that I missed the turn-off, and if I had gone back I would just have to go up the same hill the next day, so I kept going toward Palolem.

Only one good resort, the Inter-continental (very expensive), and a lot of coco-huts cramped together looking like a shanti town. Only one nice coco-hut area at the south of Palolem Beach, but hard to reach on bicycle. You either have to cross a tiny bridge that could hardly hold my 185 lbs., then go through a narros passage; or you have to climb a small stairway over rocks, but the seclusion and bungalows are worth it and cheap (700 rupees per night w/shower and toilet)

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Mabor beach had a lot of nice resorts, was a clean, safe town with a few good cafe's. I'm sure nothing elicit ever happened there. Palolem has one extremely expensive resort, any MANY cheap coco-huts packed together. There are a lot of Dutch here, so I'm sure elicit activity is around.

The cove in Palolem in beautiful, and you would know if I'd post a picture, but that's not going to happen. I'm having electrical problems and my computer isn't recharging. The sands are white, the water is blue, and the palm trees surround the cove. I'll be here for the next few days before heading south.

Rick

Wed. 14/02/07
Location: Goa
Staying until Sunday
Next Destination: South of Goa
I'll get a name of a city destination soon.

3) Arnala Beach Resort > Silent Hill Resort, Paighar, India 75.6 km
Silent Hill Resort
Feb. 6, 2007-Feb. 7, 2007

4) Silent Hill Resort > Vapi, India 81.8 km
Vehicle Check Point
Feb. 7, 2007
Police escorted me to Chief's office to have tea, ask me about my travels, discuss India and the California Department of Motor Vehicles.
Vapi
Feb. 7, 2007 - Feb. 8, 2007
Vapi "Jay International" hotel.
bring your own toilet paper. bathroom window stays open to allow misquitos in.

5) Vapi > Daman 14.8km
Daman Feb. 8, 2007 - Feb. 11, 2007
Cidade De Daman
Make sure not to get a room above the restaraunt unless you like cockroaches.

6) Train from Daman to Mumbai

7) Bus from Mumbia to Goa

Total bicycle km=263km

I'm in Goa, India and it's not nearly as sleazy as the BBC made it out to be. Everyone said that I should go to Goa and Kerela for a more tropical experience. The land above Mumbai seemed more like Southern California dry brushland, which isn't what I'm in the mood for, so I took the train from Vapi (Wapi) to Mumbai, and then took a bus from Mumbai to Goa. From Goa, I'll ride my bicycle down to Kerela and either to Sri Lanka, or if I feel like it, I'll go to Singapore and ride up Malaysia. I'm leaning towards Singapore.

From India: Silent Hill Resort, Palghar north of Mumbai

From India: Silent Hill Resort, Palghar north of Mumbai

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The train ride down from Vapi was interesting. I got to see India incognito, watching 5 second snippets of life in villages 10 feet from the train. During my bicycle ride I don't really get to see India, what I see are Indians reacting to me as a catalyst, which isn't what I want.

When I reached Mumbai, my bicycle wasn't in the luggage area, fortunately, I had a taxi driver/helper who took care of most everything for me. Arum was his name, and he seemed to take control of everyone other than managers in the train station. He told me what people expected to get paid for their services, he dealt with the parcel director to get my bike on the next train, and, when the 2nd hotel told me they were booked, he came in and talked the receptionist into giving me a room (they weren't really booked). I get the "we're booked" response a lot in India. After getting my bike, Arun took me to get a bus when we found out that the train to Goa was full.

From India: Arum, my "Man-Friday" in Mumbai

I've seen every resort in Goa, and they are all very nice, much nicer than almost any hotel in the rest of India. Unfortunately, I've seen every resort because they're all booked for Valentine's Week. This meant riding down a road for 7 km and back for each resort/hotel. It took me 5 hours to find a sub-par room, after a 13 hour bus ride with no sleep/food/bathroom. I was glad to take the room and it's not too bad.

People at resorts in Goa sit around the pool, they might as well be in Las Vegas. During Valentine's Day, the street merchants were very aggressive. You have to say no 10 times to each merchant every 10 feet, which made me think twice about going out of the resort, but today is much better, more relaxed merchants. I have yet to see much hard-core begging in India, 3-4 people have politely asked for money. San Francisco has more begging than what I've seen in Mumbai, Goa, and towns north of Mumbai.

I promise pictures some day.

Rick

2) The Resort > Arnala Beach Resort 60.5 km
Total KM=90.o
Arnala Beach Resort
Feb. 2, 2007-Feb. 6, 2007

I'm still in India. I took an unplanned trip to Arnala Beach Resort just for the fun of it and had a blast. I'm currently in Vapi (Wapi) but my diary is on my computer and I'm using the internet cafe's computer, so you'll have to wait for the details. I'm either heading to Daman tomorrow, or to Surat in 2-3 days, I'll decide tomorrow morning. Rick

From India

From India

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