Day 18 - Feet in the Sand

16:45
I sleep pretty well, and only wake at 08:30. Vicki, predictably, sleeps better, and only wakes around 11:00. Magical. At some point on this trip, she’ll stop sleeping 10+ hours per night, but it’s a ways off yet…

We head out for a late breakfast to Cow Corner. I want another of those Choris omelettes, and I want Vicki to meet Andrex the dog. Success on both fronts. We also meet 4 cats. None of the cats are ‘big’ over here. Adults weight perhaps 2kg tops. The kittens are particularly scrawny. Our boys at home could comfortably eat any of them as a mid-morning snack. They’re awesomely cute though, and one of the 4 we meet today is a very shouty boy.

Post ‘breakfast’ (it’s nearly 13:00), it’s time for hat shopping and beering - not in that order. We try and get a card advance from the main money changer in Patnem, and are told it’s a no go. We’ve got enough cash to last until tomorrow, but we’ll need to head over to Chaudi in the morning. I have a couple of Bira Blondes at Round Cube while Vicks tucks into an iced coffee. There’s a much stronger breeze on the beach today. The sea close into the beach is MUCH choppier, and a flag down at the waterfront is rippling in the wind. Vicks successfully haggles a hat down from 500 INR (£5) to 300, and is pleased with herself.

Back at our room, I decide it’s probably time for a nap. I read for a while, before drifting into a blissfully deep sleep for a little over an hour. My alarm wakes me with a bit of a jolt, and from a slightly bizarre dream.

Probs time for a quick shower, then over to Palolem for sunset….

23:15
What a fun evening!

We pick up Debbie, who’s having a cocktail at Namaste, and proceed to walk over to Palolem via Colomb Bay. It’s 17:30, and the raw heat of the day has passed. It’s still beautifully warm, but cooling. We get a little lost clambering over the hill between Patnem and Palolem, but not disastrously so.

We emerge onto the very southern tip of Palolem beach as the sun starts its sprint for the horizon. We park at up Art Resort, that I visited on Sunday. Debs and I share a bottle of Chenin Blanc and Vicki is delighted to find an alcohol free Heineken available. We collectively fill our boots.

Darron’s not feeling his very brightest and shiniest, so we crack on with some food without him. A veritable feast arrives - okra masala, palak paneer, a few different chicken kebabs, and lashings of bread fresh from the tandoor. It’s quite the dinner.

Debbie accidentally orders us another bottle of wine to share, and I’m beginning to see where the evening is headed.

Sated, and noticing that time is creeping on, we walk the full length of Palolem Beach (about a mile) to the very North end, to a place that used to be called Dreamcatcher, and which is now called Feather Touch. Walking down Palolem Beach at night is an eye opener. There’s a LOT more neon lighting than there used to be, and many of the businesses look a lot more permanent and fancy than they once did. Many retain their slightly dishevelled charm though.

We hear the party long before we see it. There’s maybe 250 people here - average age I’d say is mid 50s, and it’s properly bouncing. Feel good, happy house music. Bit of a moment when the DJ (Simon Dunmore) drops Prince’s Controversy, one of my (and Vicki’s) all time favourite records. Some of the DJing is a touch agricultural, but it’s a party atmosphere. No-one could give less of a shit.

We meet a random guy called Steve, who originates from Birmingham, but who has lived in Goa for the past 8 years. Amongst various other topics of conversation, he invites me to spend the day with him tomorrow, feeding chicken carcasses to birds of prey - kites, eagles, the occasional osprey. Can’t say I’m not tempted.

Debbie gets chatted up by some American idiot, who decides that her declaration of, “I’ve got a life partner who’s not feeling well,” is an open invitation to have a crack. Wanker.

There’s an after-party on till 03:00 in the middle of Palolem but Vicks and I are both ready for sleeps. We jump in a tuk-tuk back to Patnem, and are headed for bed not long after 23:00…Leia mais