Goa for beginners

Ben outside La Ben!
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so we made it to the beach unscathed even though the trip didnt start too well as i insisted we get our coach from the local bus stop rather than trek into mumbai again, however the local bus stop was situated in the middle of a shanty town and we were too scared to get out of our taxi as we were attracting a lot of attention!  our taxi driver seemed to think it wouldnt be the best idea either so he drove us around on a tour of bollywood stars homes for an hour!

the coach wasn't too bad, air con way too high as usual and it was freezing but it gave me the opportunity to learn how to pee into a bottle (a skill of which i am very proud!) - didnt get much of a view of the countryside as it was dark most the time and we couldnt sit up to see out the window!

Our room at Camilsuns (top left)
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came straight to Colva which we had read was a quiet beach in the middle of the goa coast with gorgeous beaches.  This is a big fat lie and in fact the beach here is awful, its so badly littered you dont want to take your shoes off.  So we got ourselves a room at La Ben! and set off down the beach in search of a little hut right by the sea.

unfortunately with it being the end of the season most the places are closed and all the beach huts have been boarded up for protection from the impending monsoon!!!!!

Chilling by the beach
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we did find a nice place though with rooms slightly set back and the beach here (Benaulim) is gorgeous, clean and very soft.

It's been very quiet for the past few days but last night a big group of friends having a weekend away from nearby Margoa arrived and livened things up a lot, it was fab as we got free entertainment as they brought a guitarist who played the classics - Hotel California of course, stairway to heaven, a bit of lionel richie!!

so for the moment we're going to stay here and take it easy for a few days reading our books and playing yahtzee bonanzas and talking with Johnny and Goan guy who runs the restaurant and it helping us plan our next move!

xx