Greetings from Goa, India

Vasco da Gama: After a week in Bangalore I hopped the $29 Indigo Air 12:50 flight #6E-345 for the hour trip west to Goa, the former Portuguese colony on the southwest coast of India. The commercial international airport also serves the Indian Air force, something obvious from all the fighter jets parked on the tarmac, ready to go at a moment's notice. Naturally, photography is forbidden around this and any military installation, so no pictures. 

The four star place I chose for my first three nights (and extended to six) in the city of Vasco da Gama is the $41 HQ Hotel as it is within walking distance of the airport, about 4 kilometers. However, half of the walk is uphill making the midday trek in the hot sun seem much longer and strenuous. Arriving at the hotel sweaty and exhausted, I questioned my stamina for such protracted exertions anymore... something I hate as those walks out of the airports always provide wonderful interactions with the local people and evoke incredulous reactions when I explain what I'm doing.

On the first afternoon and settled in my room, I went out to inspect the bustling shopping area around the hotel. On return I discovered the hotel restaurant offers an evening buffet meal for a little under $11! Naturally, having eaten nothing but a double Snicker candy bar since breakfast, I jumped at the chance to recharge. As luck would have it, this day happened to be one of Goa's special celebrations and the chef had prepared lavish examples of traditional local specialties... kind of like our Thanksgiving feasts with a little of everything grandma cooks added in.

To be sure all diners realized how special this feast must be considered, an excellent Portuguese musical duo, the Mario Serenaders entertained the few guests in the small dining area with their virtuoso guitar and violin music. The pair strolled around the room, stopping at each of the four occupied tables for some individual entertainment followed by congenial social banter. All in all, a magical first evening.

Almost immediately in any social situation one notices the odd head gestures used by Indians to convey meaning. Where a Westerner nods, an Indian bobbles. More pronounced twenty years ago, Western influences have now modified some of that stereotypical behavior so that now one sees the occasional nod to convey "yes" or "O.K.". The unique pronunciation of words in the English language has not changed that much, except among the more highly educated class who have ongoing contact with foreigners. Those with the most harsh accents are completely unintelligible. Part of my inability to understand Indians with the most pronounced accents may be due to my obviously deteriorating hearing acuity.

My "deluxe" room #603 in the HQ is pretty basic: no carpets, two twin beds with lumpy pillows and poor sound management (loud door banging and someone shouting at 5AM). Also, the television operates with a separate tuner and it proved impossible to get any programming beyond the opening infomercial channel; the next day I learned there were serious problems with the TV signals from the cable service and that the hotel is making system changes. All of the wall power receptacles are faulty in the room and twice devices plugged in over night for recharging, instead were discharged! Part of the problem might well be traced to the frequent city power outages with delayed backup power in this hotel.

However, the real deal killer is the poor WiFi and Internet connectivity; very narrow bandwidth insures slow delivery of pages when they do come through and intermittent connections mean access is frequently unavailable at all. When all the noise woke me one morning around 5AM I discovered the Internet time read three hours later than the actual time... very confusing to see a dark sky with the clock showing 8AM!

Complaining about the weak WiFi signal in my room, reception summoned the hotel's IT specialist who explained by phone the infrastructure is being modified by their web host and service providers. Pointing out the weak WiFi signal has nothing to do with the providers, the IT guy jabbered something about being unable to do anything until the following morning... He must work some distance from the actual hotel ... or was taking the "emergency" call from home. So, I work on the postcards offline, a practical strategy for many reasons any way. Intermittent connectivity means email updates do occasionally show up on the Samsung Galaxy smart phone. When the young IT guy showed up the next morning he plugged in a signal repeater which boosted the WiFi signal significantly to provide strong connection, if still slow throughput.

The village nearest the airport I chose for my initial hotel stay in this area claims to be the largest city in Goa, but feels MUCH smaller than the capital city, Panaji some thirty kilometers north. Only a half dozen blocks long by a few wide, it is very near the train station, a mere block from the hotel. Surprisingly, the railroad makes almost no noise detectable inside the hotel. Being so compact, the entire town can be walked easily in under an hour in any direction. The buildings are mostly old and not particularly colonial as I expected for a former Portuguese colony.

On Friday, 29 April and my second full day at the HQ Hotel I returned from a long walk to discover my backpack had been rifled, something obvious from all the tripped tells I regularly set. During that day multiple hotel staff had entered my room during my presence to perform routine maintenance tasks which should have been done between guests. The keycard system indicated staff entry in my absence as well. A careful check of the bag's contents did not reveal anything obvious missing, but... who knows what might have been overlooked?  Anything really valuable goes in the room safe from now on whenever I go out.

Mosquitoes flourish here and I see hotel staff spraying both inside and out everyday. It must be working because I've only been bitten a couple times with almost no itching compared to other places around the world. There doesn't seem to be any of the critters in my room, but there are plenty flying around the restaurant dining room and hotel lobby. Staff hunt the insects with one of those badminton racket-like electronic zappers that crackles when an insect makes contact.

For most of my thirty-five years of adventure travel I have used a MLC backpack made by Patagonia. After the last trip my current model needed to be replaced as super glue no longer could be used to close up all the rips. So I bought a convertible carry-on backpack designed by Rick Steves and it is superior to my old Patagonia standby. Wish I'd discovered it earlier.

I am off to Panaji by bus today, so the next missive should come from Goa's capital city.

Peace,

Fred L Bellomy

Vasco da Gama, Goa India: People often ask me about the food I discover in the places visited. This is the plate of food I selected from the luncheon buffet at the HQ Hotel one day. While there were a couple meat dishes, I chose mostly vegetarian selections, some of which were too spicy for my taste. All in all, however a very enjoyable meal.


Vasco da Gama, Goa India: This is an example of the main dishes I enjoyed for breakfast at the HQ Hotel for six mornings. Pancake flat omelets like the example shown here on the right are typically spiced with hot red pepper, but my dining room  servers gladly got the egg chef to omit the fiery spice. Freshly cut fruit is always on the menu!
 

Map of India showing location of GOA about half way down the west coast.

 

Vasco da Gama, Goa India: My very first night in the HQ Hotel the $11 dinner buffet is offering a magnificent selection of traditional dishes to commemorate  Goan Day, the most special annual holiday here. The feast reminds me of Thanksgiving extravaganzas of my youth... featuring dishes only Indians ... and Portuguese would recognize.

 

Vasco da Gama, Goa India: Right next to the HQ Hotel I found these clever aphorisms on the wall of a confections store and couldn't resist capturing a record of the sentiments.

 

Vasco da Gama, Goa India: In the block just east of the HQ Hotel I found the city's two parks; this is a Sunday evening scene in the Children's Park.
 

Vasco da Gama, Goa India: After informing the reception staff of the rifling of my bag in room 604 of the HQ Hotel and several other significant problems, I noted these members of management having a serious discussion.

 

Vasco da Gama, Goa India: Street markets offering fresh produce are found in several places around town.. always surrounded by hoards of motorcycles parked wherever the rider can find an unoccupied strip a couple feet wide... even if it blocks a pedestrian path!

 

Vasco da Gama, Goa India: This meter long broom seems to have been upgraded from the usual bunch of broom stalks seen being used throughout the city. With a carefully taped handle, I found it discarded along one of the side streets.

 

Vasco da Gama, Goa India: Traffic barrier with safety reminders.

 

Vasco da Gama, These strange purple vegetables attracted my attention and provided an excuse to snap this seller's picture.

 

Vasco da Gama, Goa India: This vegetable seller with his son eagerly encouraged me to take a picture, all the while jabbering to his kid. I suspect my presence became an occasion for some sort of lesson. The cute little kid did smile a lot, though that is not evident here.

 

Vasco da Gama, Goa India: This vegetable seller with his son eagerly encouraged me to take a picture, all the while jabbering to his kid. I suspect my presence became the occasion for some sort of lesson. The cute little kid did smile a lot, though that is not evident here.

 

 

Vasco da Gama, Goa India: Railway time table: Vasco-da-Gama station

Vasco da Gama, Goa India: Railway time table: Vasco-da-Gama station

 

Vasco da Gama, Goa India: Railway time table: Vasco-da-Gama station
 

 

End

 

Reference sites:

 

Lonelyplanet guide to Goa, India.

 

Goa travel guide - Wikitravel

 

History of Goa Wikipedia

 

Goa History - YouTube 69min in Tamel

 

Ritu Dalmia tastes cuisine of South Goa 8min

 

Short animated history of Goa 4min

 

inside goa - A Documentary Film 47min

 

Goa - Indian Paradise - A Video Guide 53min

 

World Class - Goa- Luxury Travel  23min

 

LAST HIPPIE STANDING 45min

 

Go Goa - A perfect holiday destination 12min