I have been back in India for a few days now and I have got to say it’s nice to be back here and escape the cold wet weather of the UK, although it wasn’t a straight forward process of getting here, the visa process proved more difficult and it took 2 attempts before it was successful.
It felt a little different this time though as previously I headed straight to the beach and spent the first month there doing very little apart from wandering around exploring the local area and beaches then travelling South to Kerala which made for quite a relaxed introduction to India. This time the first 4 days were spent in the capital of Goa ( Panaji) which although a small city by Indian standards can still feel like an assault on the senses when arriving from a northern hemisphere winter.
Arriving at Dabolim airport at 3 in the morning and at the hotel at 4 all seemed fairly quiet but I was soon reminded of where I was a few hours later when the blinds were opened and blinding sunlight streamed in along with constant sounding of car, truck and scooter horns.
Watching the road below from the balcony I don’t think I will ever cease to be amazed by the Indian traffic, at times it can be difficult to work out which side of the road that they should be driving on and to see whole families of 5 on a scooter with 3 of them on their phones including the driver is incredible. I consider myself a reasonably good driver but don’t think I would risk it here, it’s enough just learning how to cross the road here again ( no traffic lights, stop signs of give ways here.)
Panaji is an amazing city that I missed the last time I was here and it was nice to spend a few days exploring it and learning a little of its history on a walking tour of the Portuguese section and a tour of Old Goa which was the capital before being moved to Panaji in 1843.
My plan at the moment is to spend a month or so in Goa before making my way North possibly to Dharamsala ( currently home to the Dali Lama ), looking at transport options to get there I’m not sure if I what to spend 36 hours on a train, which previously I would of been ok with for the experience but thinking now that that sort of distance is easier done by plane in India but will decide a bit closer to the time. After that the plan is to go into Nepal which is somewhere I’ve always wanted to visit to trek the Annapunna circuit of all goes to plan.
Well that’s the story so far, now hoping to relax a bit down here and spend a but if time on the beach but will update as I go.
Bye for now Take care all
Chris