India: Goa

Travelling down to Goa we decided to change up our mode of transport and try out the sleeper buses of India. We'd heard pretty good things about them from fellow travellers, and everything seemed promising as we settled into our beds. However the twists, turns and bumps in the road posed a real risk of falling out of the beds and the team of drivers were so loud at the front of the bus it made sleep pretty much impossible. Arriving into Mapusa as three very sleepy wanderers, we were kicked off the bus where we were met with an ambush of taxi drivers offering to take us to our hotel. Even though every inch of us wanted a quick, easy journey to our awaiting beds at the hostel, we decided a local bus would be a a cheaper option so walked just 5 minutes to the bus station. We paid just 15 rupees each for the 45 minute bus journey south to Zostel where we were staying in Candolim. We hopped off the bus and spotted Zostel quite easily as the directions given to us from the website were very easy to follow. We had booked in for just 3 nights - as we checked out we had totalled a massive 21 nights, making us Zostel Goa longest ever guests!

Our first week in Candolim was quite chilled as we basked in the sunshine and enjoyed the warm sea. Most people in the hostel were out partying almost every night, however we decided to give this a miss and explore the wider area of Goa. 

Anjuna Flea Market: Every Wednesday there is a Flea Market in Anjuna which was just 10km away from where we were staying. We priced a taxi thinking it would be a reasonable price and got a massive shock when he wanted to charge us a very English rate for the journey. After stopping and asking a few more taxis it was very clear that the prices in Goa were not like what we had been used to elsewhere in India. So, again we found ourselves packed onto the local bus, which conveniently stops anywhere along the main road. This was much more of a hassle as it meant we had to get one bus back to Mapusa, then change to another bus into Anjuna - anything to save a few pounds! The journey really was worth it, the market was massive selling everything you could ever wish to buy. We bought a few Christmas presents for the family as we were planning to send a surprise parcel home for everyone (you can thank us later :P). Wandering around the market for a few hours we had built up our appetites for dinner. We settled at one of the beach shacks that was playing live music and ordered a mix of pasta and pizza - yummmy! We decided to get a taxi back to our hostel in Candolim as it was getting late as we didn't want the hassle of the bus journey again, I think we paid around 600 rupees for all 3 of us. 

Old Goa: Our next place to explore in Goa was the city of Old Goa which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Once a city inhabited by the Portuguese and used as a port for worldwide trading, it is now mostly abandoned serving mainly as a tourist destination for those wishing to visit the numerous churches. The Basilica of Bom Jesus holds the mortal remains of St Francis Xavier which attracts many visitors. We were lucky enough to time our visit when his body is publicly displayed, which only happens once every 10 years! However, this meant that Old Goa was extremely busy making it very difficult to take in the peace of the churches. We soon gave up and found ourselves in Baskin Robbins for an ice-cream treat. 

Panjim: Yet another local bus, this time down south to Panjim, the capital of Goa state. We strategically planned our visit to Panjim on the release date of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1, as we just couldn't wait another day longer! We visited Panjim numerous times after this, a few times to pop to the post office to mail Christmas presents and a few more trips to the cinema. 

Palolem: We'd heard a lot about Palolem but was always put off by how far away it was on public transport until we realised how cheaply we could hire a car all to ourselves for the entire day! One of the guys who worked at the hostel arranged for a car to be dropped off to us the next morning at 7am ready for us to begin the hour and a half drive to the South. All of us had a turn at driving the beastly Suzuki Swift which took some adjusting to as India isn't known for it's rules and regulations when it comes to the roads (good job we're not nervous drivers!). Once at Palolem, we were immediately greeted with markets and stalls along the seaside which sold unique things we hadn't seen anywhere else yet. Needless to say, it wasn't long before some cheeky purchases were made and some food was consumed. After a good sing along session in the car as we made our way back to Zostel, we all felt really happy that we had made the effort to explore the South of Goa as it was good to see a different part of the state where there was a more relaxed vibe and plenty of friendly faces!

Our second week at Zostel and with the friendship group (from here they will be known as our 'Zostel Family') growing we found ourselves more involved in the parties Goa has to offer. 

It was so exciting getting all dressed up for a night out - putting make up on for the first time in weeks was a real treat and we all felt like we'd made a great effort (compared to the daily jump out of bed and we're ready routine). We met our group of friends in the common room for some drinks before heading out, which soon escalated to around 14 people playing 'Werewolves' and afterwards, 'Ring of Fire'. With everyone in high spirits we jumped in a few taxis and headed to Club Cubana. We had heard very good things about this place and it definitely didn't disappoint. We had to couple up for entry as they give you a cheaper rate (1000 rupees per couple), which included unlimited drinks throughout the night. Walking into the club it was covered with trees and has a kind of secluded jungle feel. It is split up into numerous sections, one chill out area with large beds, one area with a swimming pool, one large bar area and the main indoor club and VIP section. The club is set high up on a mountain which gives the most spectacular views. We all had such a brilliant time chatting and meeting new people and dancing the night away. We loved it so much we found ourselves in Club Cubana twice more. On a Wednesday they have ladies night, which entitles us lovely ladies to free entry (and free unlimited bar, winner!)

Once Club Cubana got a little same-same we decided to give another place a try. So Monday night we heard about a beach party at The Lilliput Cafe and headed there with who was left of the Zostel family - now a mere 6 people. Entrance cost around 400 rupees, however this didn't include any drinks. We chose a table directly on the beach and were chatting away when we noticed the sea getting closer and closer and bar staff ushering people away and removing tables. It wasn't too long until the sea had completely covered the beach and we were forced inside and straight to the dance floor. The music at The Lilliput Cafe was interesting to say the least - a mix of house, electica and drum and bass. We're usually not fussy about music genre but after a few hours it all got a little too intense so we called it a night. 

Here are a few pictures from our time in Goa - 

Off we go on our bus adventures

Basilica of Bom Jesus

Church in Old Goa

Old Goa

Old Goa

Don't mind if we do..

Palolem shops

Our Car for the day

Candolim Beach

Candolim Beach Shacks

Not a bad place for some 'breaky 

Lets go Partyyyy

Copying Bethans hairstyle

Double bun twins!

Club Cubana

Club Cubana (again)

Lilliput Cafe

Good Night?

Morning Hangover Cure

Thanks for an amazing stay Zostel Goa! Now onto Kerela.. 

India: Mumbai

With our time in India running away from us, we thought we'd better make a start on our Southern adventure. With budget being the main concern for us, we had no other option than to brave a 27 hour train journey from Varanasi to Mumbai, which was a massive 1,634KM, but costing just £6 (god we love you India!). We were really organised and planned for our meals to be delivered directly to us at certain train stations along the way using a company called TravelKhana. This is an amazing website which allows you to enter your travel details from where you view many different menus of local restaurants who will bring you food directly to your seat on the train. So there we were about 8 hours into our train journey and getting close to the train station where we had selected our dinner to be delivered. Bethan with her head hanging out of the window looking for mister food delivery man got a little apprehensive when 10 minutes into the stop we were still missing our meals. Suddenly the train began to pull away from the station and utter devastation set in as we found ourselves with nothing to eat! Luckily we were sharing our cabin with a very helpful Indian man who overheard our conversation and kindly phoned the company to see what was the issue. Apparently they had cancelled our order because we had not provided them with an Indian phone number in which to contact us. He didn't leave us starving though as at the next station he hopped off the train, ran quickly into the food stall there and came back with a thali for each of us, telling us "you are our guest, you cannot go hungry". This was the cutest thing ever! 

So after a pretty good nights sleep and numerous hours of entertaining ourselves on the train we finally arrived into Mumbai! After a 20 minute drive in the worlds coolest taxi we'd arrived at our hostel - Anjali Homestay. We really struggled to find somewhere that was within our budget so went on a recommendation of the previous hostel in Varanasi and booked this place. It's in the suburbs of Mumbai where most of the wealthy residents live, so the area was filled with places to eat and even a direct metro line into the other districts of the city. The owner of the hostel was really friendly, offered us loads of day tours and recommendations of what to do in Mumbai, we even left at the end of our stay with an invitation to his nieces wedding in a few weeks time down in Goa. 

We opted for a tour of Dharavi, one of the biggest slums in the world. When we decided on a slum tour we thought we'd be wading through a dirty dangerous neighbourhood filled with uneducated, unemployed poor people - oh how wrong we were! Photographs inside Dharavi were banned so unfortunately the only ones we can share are the sneaky few we took before entering. We were met at a nearby train station by a group of others from the hostel and our tour guide. Our tour guide introduced himself and told us his story of how he got his first job within the slum, then saw daily tours passing past his workshop and thought this was something he could be interested in doing. So he worked really hard and watched Hollywood movies as a way to learn English and eventually got himself a tour guide job. First, he took us to the working section of the slum which was filled with approximately 5000 business and 15,000 single room factories specialising in textile, pottery, leather and recycling. We were told how the slum makes over $500million  profit per year! The working conditions of some of the factories were awful, with toxic substances filling the air. Next we were taken to the residential section of the slum which is occupied by an estimated 1 million people, of both Hindi and Muslim religion. As the slum is greatly overpopulated sanitation is a major problem with an estimated one toilet per 1,440 residents. As a result the residents have resorted to creating a toileting area, which is basically a mass of open land in which they do their business. We were told how the slum is not necessarily occupied by poorer people, as many richer people choose to 'hide' in the slum to avoid paying for housing and taxes. We also saw that some of the children living in the slum are educated at the most prestigious private schools with very expensive fees. 

After our very intense tour of the slum we decided to catch a taxi into the Colaba area of the city - first stop, Leopold Cafe for lunch. We were shocked to learn that the cafe was one of the first sites to be targeted during the terror attacks of Mumbai in 2008, where bullet holes are still visible on some of the walls. As the cafe is quite famous, the prices were way out our budget so we went looking for somewhere else and luckily enough, just across the street we found a small restaurant serving delicious Indian food for very cheap indeed! Next stop in Colaba was the Gateway of India which was built to commemorate the landing of King George V and Queen Mary. It is referred to as the Gateway of India as in earlier times this would have been the first structure that visitors arriving by boat would have seen. As luck of timing really does seem to be on our side throughout our trip of India, we just to happened to visit the Gateway during a practice run of the upcoming 'Navy Day' celebrations.

The next morning we got into contact with a couple who we met during our stay in Amritsar, who just so happened to live within walking distance of the hostel we were staying. Nishi and Adith were kind enough to invite us into their home for lunch with their family, which we happily accepted. After the most amazing home cooked meal, Nishi showed us an album which contained everything about her and Adith since they met. It was the cutest thing ever, with hundreds of pictures of their vacations together and birthday surprises they had done for one another. It was lovely to see a couple so happy. After chatting away for numerous hours we soon realised our time in Mumbai was coming to an end, so we hurried off to catch our sleeper bus down to Goa. 

Here are a few pictures from our time in Mumbai:

Our first glimpse of Dharavi slum

Gateway of India

Taj Mahal Hotel

Navy Day Celebrations

I'll take this one :P

Sunset at the Gateway of India

Colaba

Colaba

'Women only' carriage on the Metro

Fun times with Nishi

Here we come Goa! 

Happy Wanderers

♥

India: Varanasi

Next stop on our journey around India was Varanasi, probably one of the most chaotic places we've visited yet. We've been pretty excited to see Varanasi for a loooong time, mainly because of its sanctity within the Hindu religion, something which we've been trying our hardest to embrace and educate ourselves in as we've been going along. Varanasi is the spiritual capital of India and is often referred to as "the holy city of India", "the religious capital of India", "the city of Shiva", and "the city of learning" so you can imagine how important it was for us to visit. Many Hindus believe that death at Varanasi brings salvation - if you are cremated in the city and your ashes thrown into the Ganges, you will attain nirvana. This ends the life/death cycle which is preferable to the majority of Hindus because it means all their sins are forgiven and they can finally rest in peace rather than being reborn as something less preferable than a human, or even a human of a lower cast (if possible) in another life. We'll discuss this in more detail in a while.

We stayed at Stops Hostel during our time in the city. We absolutely loved the hostel and felt so at home there we ended up staying an extra two days! When we arrived we were greeted by bright displays of colour, painted walls, chalk boards, random furniture and a general chilled out vibe. The manager explained to us that a number of tours and activities were planned for each day of the week and that we could do a cooking class, a sunrise river boat tour along the Ganges, an evening boat tour to the burning ghats, a market tour, a temple tour, yoga classes, and much more. They even offered massages for a small donation which was very tempting. We stayed in a 16 bed dorm but we also found out that there was the opportunity to sleep in tents on the roof (the cheapest option available) which you would initially think is a bit silly considering there are beds available in dorm rooms with actual mattresses but it was surprising how many people were checking out of the dorm and into the tents at the earliest opportunity - they were fully booked for the entire duration of our stay! The tents were located on the roof and had a really nice area where you could chill out and socialise. Maybe worth a try if you ever visit! Also on the roof were the communal toilet and shower cubicles, each of which were painted in the theme of a particular film, some of which included Doctor Who, Lord of the Rings, Alice in Wonderland, Wizard of Oz, and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It certainly made for some interesting toilet/shower breaks! The hostel also provided free breakfast - the first hostel we've come across that does so which we obviously loved. Every morning there were endless supplies of cornflakes, boiled eggs, toast with butter and jam, coffee, and chai which allowed us to fill our bellies up for the day.

As we arrived pretty late in the day, and weren't yet sure of our whereabouts we asked for some advice on where to eat and were told that Kerala Cafe, about a two minute walk away had some pretty good food. We decided to visit and found the cheapest food yet (around 50p for a huge portion!) VERY spicy but delicious all the same. After our great feed we decided an early night was in order as we had booked a sunrise boat tour of the ghats for the next morning - we were not looking forward to our 4.30am alarms!

Before we knew it we were awoken to the dreaded sound of our alarm. Still pitch black outside, freezing cold and still half asleep we followed our guide on a 5 minute walk from the hostel to the Ganges river. Here we were met by the most friendly young man - Babu, who would be our boat rower for the tour. This boat ride was very chilled, taking a slow pace up the river where we admired the local laundrettes hand-washing bags of laundry from the surrounding houses and hotels. We also got to see many local people having their morning bath in the river (even though it was freezing cold outside!), they do this as they believe it washes away their sins. When the sun rose around 6.30am, we could finally see just how many people were at the ghats waiting to wash in the Ganges and start a new day afresh. On our way back towards the hostel Babu kindly stopped at a small stall selling chai - a bargain at only 5p a cup! We were feeling pretty exhausted after our early start, so after taking full advantage of our all you can eat inclusive breakfast at the hostel we decided that some down time was in order so set up in the chill out space in our dorm room to begin planning our next leg of the adventure. This proved to be a very frustrating task indeed, as every route we planned to take brought us more and more dead ends. After hours upon hours of planning, our hard work had worked up our appetites, which was only going to be fulfilled by McDonalds - thank god for google maps pointing us in the right direction!

The next morning we thought we would have a wander around the streets of the city - what a maze this turned out to be! The streets were so windy and narrow it was impossible to navigate our way around. After aimlessly wandering for a few hours and feeling ourselves getting a little overwhelmed we took refuge in Brown Bread Bakery. We had been warned about the many fake copies of this restaurant but a kind local man reassured us this was the original. We were delighted with our amazing pasta dishes and the bread basket that accompanied it was to die for! After months and months of Asian bread (you'll know what we mean if you've been) it was like a dream come true to taste the freshly baked goods.

That evening we were feeling inspired by the city and eager to learn more about the ghats and the significance of Varanasi city within the Hindu religion so we booked another river boat tour through the hostel, however this time we would have a guide, Anil, to explain everything in a lot more detail. As we travelled up the river Anil first explained about the 'burning ghats'. Manikarnika Ghat is the most well known place for Hindu cremation, carrying out around 200 cremations per day, as they believe that cremation here will bring moksha (emancipation, liberation, release). The price of a cremation here is very expensive and the type of cremation depends on a persons caste. The body burns best using sandalwood, which is the most expensive and so can only be afforded by the richest families. If a cheaper wood is used then the body will burn more slowly, or not completely which is undesirable. The ashes are then collected and thrown into the river. Women are completely banned from attending any cremation at the ghats, as it is believed that women bring too much sorrow to the event. Burning of the body is not to be looked at as a sad event; but rather a new beginning.

Next on the tour we stopped at Dashashwamedh Ghat where every evening five priests perform Ganga Aarti (Agni Pooja) which is a dedication made to Lord Shiva, the Ganga River, the Sun, Fire and whole universe. This is a spiritual ritual which takes place along the entire length of the Ganga river. There were hundreds of boats filled with both tourists and pilgrims who come here daily to worship Lord Shiva. We watched as the priests began the ceremony with large flaming lamps and the chanting of mantra and songs. The crowds in the boats followed this by lighting their own lamps on placing them into the water lighting up the whole river. Our heads almost exploding with new information we decided a good dinner was necessary so we left the boat and went on a mission to find something delicious.

Varanasi really was one of the most inspiring places we've visited so far, we hope the pictures capture the beautiful chaos better than our words... 

Planning our next move

Stops Hostel Wall Art

Babu on the Sunrise Boat Tour

And they say India is third world.. :P

5p Chai 

Cheers! 

Evening Aarti Ceremony

Happy Wanderers

♥