…. and in Goa. No, this isn’t me bleating about another substandard hotel – it’s more about the smell of feet that has been following me around. Wasn’t sure why, here we are on the coast – everyone in open shoes and clean feet all round as people walk along the beach. It concerned me for a couple of days until the terrible realisation dawned….. No it’s not my feet, just my clothes. Being a backpacker, I decided to send my laundry to the local stall rather than pay the hotel rates (I suppose I could have washed it myself, but frankly that hadn’t occurred to me…). But I now realise the error of my ways and by saving a rupee or two my laundry appears to be impregnated with the smell of someone else’s socks – main duty tomorrow, down to the local shop for a packet of Tide!My hotel, the Terra Paraiso is in Calangute in North Goa. It’s a nice little hotel with a series of four room villas around the pool and just a short walk down the lane to the beach. There are very few Westerners staying here – it seems mainly young couples down from Delhi and Mumbai, with quite a few honeymooners – it’s the wedding season in India now. The lane is lined with small guest houses and the usual stalls selling pashminas, clothes, boxes and wooden elephants – it seems that nothing has moved on in the design stakes here – everything for sale is exactly the same as it was when I was first here which must be nearly twenty years ago. The other times I have been here, I have stayed in South Goa and the beaches here in the North seem a lot busier. But the beach is fun – similar to Hikkaduwa with loads of beds – you just park yourself on one and order your food and drink during the day. It’s also a nice walk along the road, through the town and back along the beach. The town beach is very busy with local Indians and especially at the moment as it’s a holiday around Republic Day. As you move further down it becomes totally Westernised as the beach shacks and beach beds take over. Often the only Indians you see here are the men taking a look at the rather bare Western women – including those who decide to go topless and almost bottomless in their revealing thongs – never a good look but also culturally inappropriate in this reserved society.
