The medication I have been on for my war wounds have been giving me strange nightmares. That, coupled with searing pain and the oncoming of what felt to be the cursed Delhi belly, gave me an unpleasant nights sleep and it took a while to wake both Sam and I from our slumber.
We headed to the coffee shop for breakfast which was difficult for us both to get down due to the oncoming illness. We inquired about day trips to the Dudhsagar Falls but unfortunately due to the poor weather, trips were not operating. So we decided to spend the day doing a walking tour of Panjim taking in the Fountainhas and the Portuguese heritage.
We walked down to the Goan state library, and as true geographers, we scanned the old maps and weather charts of India. If you’re looking for a modern, air conditioned building in Goa, the library is your place. In contrast the Goan state Museum next door was housed by an old derelict building and it felt instead like entering someone’s old home filled with random junk that they had collected over the years. What struck me about the artefacts was that they looked as if they came from hundreds of years prior but instead were dated within the last 60 years.
We walked through “downtown” Panjim to find the cinema and thought we would treat ourselves to a relax with some popcorn. Bollywood may have been an option but the only [English] movie showing was The Shallows, a modernised Jaws-like movie starring Blake Lively. In all honesty, I probably could have gone on living my life having never seen it or cared to have seen it but for a good two hours, it entertained.
We hailed a rickshaw, surprisingly our first one since coming to India, and headed back to the hostel just in time for the rains to pour down once again. So we chilled in the coffee lounge with our books. And I finally got to use some good internet to update this page!
The night set in an I soon forgot I was in India and could have been anywhere in the world. A German guy started to talk to us to try and improve his English and although it was difficult to understand him he was doing well considering he had only been learning since he arrived in India. Two other guys, a German (Jonathon) and a Dutch (Mike) came to join us with some Old Monk, a fairly pungent rum which is made in India. We got chatting to them and decided to meet them out at the only bar in the city, Cafe Mojos.
We went for dinner at a great place recommended by our hostel and despite the Delhi belly style symptoms we had vaguely been having, we wolfed down a delicious meal.
We headed to Cafe Mojos, an interesting bar designed to look like and Irish bar but with all the waitstaff dresses in lederhosen. On top of that, the music was so loud, you would have thought you were at your local townie disco on a Friday night. But we went upstairs, ordered some beers (ginger ale for me to settle my stomach) and settled in. Not before long two guys (Sameer and Rashid) asked us if we wanted to play table football and we did beating them 3 times in a row.
Mike and Jonathon arrived with Jay (South Korean), Melissa (German), Millie and Brad (Engish) while we’re beating Sameer and Rashid and soon we were being beaten by Mike and Jonathon. We had a good night listening to music and drinking. We even tried Cashew Fenny, a local drink made from fermented cashews. When you drink it, it tastes similar and gives you a similar experience to rice wine. We did not like it.
We left and wandered home playing frisbee in the quiet and eerie streets of Panjim. The contrast between the day and the night was interesting to see and the streets which only a few hours earlier had been filled with bustling people were now empty except for the bats and the Strays.
We settled into bed a little giddy and happy from a good day in Panjim.
CHARLIE WATTS 