Agonda Beach, Goa

Thursday 27th November 2008 (Al)
Awoke this morning to the shocking news in Mumbai. It really spooked us at first to realise we should have been waiting in Victoria Terminus for that 11 pm train when the terrorists walked in and started shooting people. Thank God we changed the ticket. We also spent the night at Leopolds only 2 days earlier. 14 people reported dead at Leopolds. Wonder if that nice waiter was one of them. The Metro cinema was also targeted, but the main damage was being done at the Taj and Oberoi. A taxi was blown up at Vile Parle. We have been in 5 of the 10 locations targeted only 2 days earlier. Crazy.
We headed to Agonda Beach 9km north of Pallolem, to spend the next two nights in a beach hut owned by the same owners as the guesthouse we stayed in in Pallolem. We were the first people in the hut as they has opened that week. Very nice to have a clean place. It is just like a postcard…water, sand, palm trees, hut. We are sharing the beach with about 10 other western tourists. Agonda is a cute little village with old thatch huts and the odd colonial house. Remnants of the Portuguese influence still remain in the churches and school. The kids can all speak English and are budding tourism entrepreneurs, selling dolphin tours one day, fruit stalls the next, and newspapers at inflated prices the day after. They are far from shy and after spending another lazy day on the beach, we enjoy a game of beach cricket with the kids as the sun settles. There’s a few Tendulkars amongst them but no bowlers. They all throw the ball instead of bowling. Great way to end the day….and a world away from the horror in Mumbai.

Friday 28th November 2008 (Wendy)
Got up quite early today to walk along the beach before breakfast. Had a lazy few hours on the beach which exhausted us and we needed an afternoon nap. This is the life!! Walked through the village Wendy called home and sat listening to the singing in the village church. Before we knew it the sun had set and we were eaten alive by the mosquito’s. Brought a couple of beers and chilled on the porch of the hut. Had another late dinner 10.30pm.
Saturday 29th November 2008
Another lazy morning, breakfast on the beach and back to pack. We are heading south today on a local train. Got a rickshaw to Pallolem for one last coffee and some shopping. Allan was interested in buying a hammock style chair for the garden. We negotiated a fair price and headed to the parcel man to post it back to Perth. I will cut a long storey short and lets say it would have been cheaper to buy them in Perth. The post cost nearly 4 times the amount we paid for them!!! A little shocked but no choice as we were leaving at 3pm.
Headed to Cancona station for the local train south to Mangalore. Lots of travellers which made us feel a little more relaxed. Local trains are a free for all. No reservations no air con and they locals normally stare. The journey started really well but we had a few delays and arrived 2 hours later than scheduled. Saturday night in Mangalore is dead. We could not believe how quiet it was. Got a rickshaw to 6 hotels which were all full. Apparently there was a big chess competition on in town. Ended up checking into a more expensive hotel and had dinner again at 11pm.