A single 12 hour journey on the train from Mumbai to Goa was our most adventurous moment in India. We were taken to the train station at Mumbai and as we arrived on the platform where our train departs, we were welcomed with a whiff of nasty stench and a cluster of flies relishing the patch of something they were obviously attracted to. All of us looked at each other with rather worried expressions. As we walked further into the platform and towards the mid carriage of the train to look for our names listed on the entrance of each carriage to find our booked seats, the stench slowly disappeared.
[gallery columns="2" ids="3478,3479"]
We were a little skeptical about the very long journey on the train initially but the locals were very friendly, even shared snacks with us so we eased up. There were men walking along the aisles selling biryani, chai, drinks and all sorts of snacks. As much as I was tempted to get a box of biryani that smelled so good, I stuck to the dry biscuits as I did not want to risk upsetting the tummy on such a long journey. Everyone was sat together facing each other, so we got chatting to the locals who seems happy and intrigued to have met us. The two older men travelling with us were musicians on their way home to Kerala and some were students. We had a pretty good chat until it was time to sleep when everyone started folding the seats out into bunk beds. We were given pillows and blankets to keep warm from the air- conditioning. The entire journey turned out well, except that it got delayed for about two hours and we did not know which our stop was at 4am and in the dark. A few guys were very helpful and volunteered to prompt us. How nice.
The quite beach of Patnem, in South Goa.Finally when we arrived, we had to make another trip on the cab to the south where we have booked our beach hut at Casa Fiesta. The journey was well worth it as we were blessed with sunshine, beach and bliss. And BREAKFAST!!
View from our Casa Fiesta beach hut.
The hut was very spacious, even has an extra separate room with a single bed inside. As the hut is solar powered, the water at night becomes less warm so we were advised to shower earlier if we needed warm water. When I was about to take a shower in the evening, I was greeted by a slimy toad on the shower knob !! Looks like the Toad Prince has been looking out for his princess for a kiss.
** More posts on Goa to follow.
0 comments :
Post a Comment