My Time in Goa,The Sin City of India

On the train from Igatpuri to Goa throughout the whole 13 hour journey me and my Australian friend slept for only under an hour. We had so much to talk about after the ashram. It was a big relief for Justine to talk again after 10 days of silence. She talked so much that even her voice changed after a while.

We both got upper berths in our train compartment. When I would look down to the opposite lower berth I noticed that one Indian man was always staring at me. And the worst thing was that I dropped my mobile on his lap accidentally from my berth, and this might as well be interpreted as a sign that I like him. In India such subtle signs as looking at a man even for a few seconds can be interpreted as an affection, so a Western girl has to be very careful about her actions!

I don’t know what happened to me on that journey because later on I dropped my mobile charger almost on the head of one elderly lady sitting below me. Probably the people sitting on lower berths started thinking that I was under some influence or something:)

When a few hours were left till our destination (Goa) we almost accidentally got off at the wrong stop, but the other people on the train told us that it’s still an hour and a half left till our destination. It’s easy to miss your stop on Indian trains because there’s no announcement of the station name when the train halts.

Days in Goa

We got to Goa in the late evening so there were no more trains going to the beach. After discussing what to do we decided to take a cab to the nearest beach from there.

Whilst in the cab I asked the driver about the best beaches and he said there was a really nice beach just nearby. So we changed our destination and went to the beach the driver recommended instead. That cab driver was really nice and he advised about the best place to stay too; he even took his time to sort out the rooms for us.

It started raining really heavily whilst we were filling up the documents for our hotel, but we were both extremely happy because the place looked absolutely amazing – beautiful palm trees everywhere, beach huts with different colored lights and the beach just a minute away from our place of stay. People there looked happy and relaxed and both of us knew in our hearts that we would enjoy our stay in that place.

Our room was great and there was even a swimming pool just a few steps away. We couldn’t wait for the rain to stop and went to explore the beach and the nearby places.

Bicycle trouble

The next day we rented the bicycles and decided to explore the beaches nearby. Whilst exploring the beaches we both had our bike chains fall off, but nice Indian people helped us every time we would experience this trouble.

In England people would just walk past seeing this happen to someone’s bike or they might stop and look for a few seconds and then walk away. But it’s so nice that in India you would always get help if you are in such trouble, even if you don’t ask to be helped.

The first two young guys that helped us got their hands dirty whilst fixing our bikes and they couldn’t even properly wash off the dirt they got from the bike chains. But they were very happy to had helped us and didn’t seem to be concerned that their hands got so dirty.

We were on bikes for hours and ended up exploring many more places than we expected. We even went to the most south beach in Goa – what an amazing place! Here’s the picture of it, it doesn’t even look like real, it looks like a painting! Well of course it’s up to you to judge:) This picture was taken by Justine.

Adventures with Justine

Me and Justine would always find something to laugh about and we could just walk for hours on the beach and do nothing much and still have a lot of fun. We would make up funny stories and completely exaggerate even small incidents of our lives until we wouldn’t stop laughing about how unbelievable our stories got.

One day we went to one restaurant where we met a nice waiter guy. He invited us to the beach party the next day but instead we decided to go to play pool with him, which I really love. Whilst we were playing pool two drunk men came who attempted to steal our bags, but they were so drunk that their intentions were too obvious. Even if they would manage to grab our bags they would be too slow to run away with them, so there was no threat from them whatsoever.

Sadly in some parts of Goa completely drunk people is not a rare sight.

At the end of our game the guy we came with suggested to drop us by bike. We agreed and Justine, whilst he was on the bike, took our picture, and instead of looking at the road ahead at night he managed to strike a pose for our photo:

After knowing that guy for a bit longer we decided not to meet him again, because we understood his intentions. It’s a shame that if Western girls come to Goa the locals think they are only after the alcohol, drugs or short term relationships. Most Goan people, when they would find out that I neither drink nor smoke couldn’t believe it because that’s what most foreigners come to Goa for.

One day we went to the Old Goa place, where in one church there was a body of a saint dead for 500 years but who still had blood in his body. That church had a very interesting energy about it. I saw the saint in the coffin only from afar. The saint’s body used to be put very close to people, but once a tourist wanted to check if the saint was really bleeding and she cut him. The blood started flowing indeed, but because of this now the saint is kept far away from the public. I was really glad to have visited that place and experienced that strange (in a good way though) energy.

A dream

One night in Goa I got a dream that I dream of regularly. In the dream I was at a very luxurious party in a beautiful restaurant and I ate many tasty cakes. Other people had only one or two cakes, but I ate as much as I could.

This seems to be very symbolic but I still don’t know for sure what the dream tries to tell me. I think that cakes might symbolise experiences, which would make total sense. So whilst most people experience not that much throughout their lives, I try to have as many experiences as possible.

In the dream I also have this thought that it’s a bit unfair for me to eat all these cakes whilst other people eat only one or two. Like the cakes are available to all, but most people choose to have so little. As though there is an unwritten rule the people would hold in that place only to eat one or two cakes. However that rule didn’t seem to affect me:)

(Another dream I keep having is that I’m almost missing my flight to somewhere. In the dream I buy the ticket at the last minute thinking that I’m going to miss my flight. However I get on the plain just when it’s about to take off. Sometimes I even manage to catch a step or a wing of the plane and that’s how I get on it.)

Goa’s problem

Goa is a very diverse state. It has some really beautiful beaches (especially the most south and north beaches), however some places are really not good. On some beaches you can see many drunk Indian and Western people. Most people are attracted to Goa because of the cheap alcohol and cigarettes. There are also plenty of tatoo parlours and fish and chips shops in some places.

In those places where people come to search for entertainment the energy is really bad and a lot of people are depressed. That’s obvious, because those people who come here for fun search for their happiness outside of themselves and therefore become disillusioned.

Non attachment

I’m a bit surprised that I’m not missing London at all, although I absolutely love London. I thought that I might be missing the wealth, the individuality and the people of London but I don’t miss anything at all, which shows that my non attachment to the worldly things and experiences has become almost total.

I didn’t even find it in any way hard to say goodbye to Justine who left after some days in Goa, although we spent many days together and had a really superb time. When it was her time to go I didn’t feel any kind of attachment at all. I appreciate our time spent together and I’m truly grateful to have met her, but even though I knew I might never see her again in my life I didn’t have any kind of emotion associated with her leaving. You might know that I’m currently writing a book about non attachment in which I will tell you exactly how I learnt to be non attached to anything.

I can’t believe I was never alone in India, not even for a day. My days seem to always be filled with interesting activities and I spend very little time writing blog posts. I also feel that I need to meditate for longer as it gives me total peace and balance. However very soon I will be going to Gokarna where I will spend my days completely on my own, so there will be plenty of time for meditation and working on my website.

Last days in Goa

In Goa one helpful person taught me for a few days how to ride a scooter. It was a really fun experience but he trusted me too much and I drove into a ditch and managed somehow to ruin one of the breaks.

One evening me and a Russian girl (my friend from Goa) decided to ride on her scooter to another town to the best lassi (milkshake-like drink) serving cafe. We left at around 9pm and when we were halfway there it started raining really heavily so we needed to stop and wait for the rain to be over.

We stopped at some bus stop but the rain wouldn’t stop. Instead it kept getting heavier and heavier followed by a thunderstorm and a long powercut. We were in the middle of nowhere, waiting for the rain to stop in a complete darkness.

Finally the rain stopped and the electricity appeared. We resumed our journey and reached our favourite Goa cafe. After having two lassis each we decided to go back, but my friend got lost as it was very dark and the roads were narrow and confusing. Thankfully we saw some people and asked for the directions and they showed us the way back. So our trip to have lassis that was supposed to last for about an hour extended into more than 3 hours. That’s not an unusual happening in India:)

The next town I went to was Gokarna, which was only a few hours away from Goa. I will soon update you about my experiences there!

You might also like:

1. Mumbai: Food Poisoning, Shameless Stealing and a Flying Boat
2. 10 Days of Meditation – The Experience I Will Never Forget – Part Two
3. India Travel Update: Visa Progress, Flight Tickets and How To Get Long Term Visa
4. 10 Days of Meditation – The Experience I Will Never Forget – Part One
5. Days in Delhi: Motorbike Rides, Street Food and a Stalker