Goa “Goings On” (Someone’s 50th!)

Candolim was a frenzy of activity over the days before and after the Big Birthday! Many friends from the UK timed their holidays to be with us for “the big day” and it’s numerous events and celebrations.

A pre-birthday event was one of Doug’s much loved “island trips”. The party gang took 18 seats of the 26 seater boat. The rest were taken by a charming group of Indian lads who also joined in much of our celebration that day.

We enjoyed the customary visit to one of the offshore islands for some swimming and snorkelling. One of the boat’s crew dived down to retrieve something of interest for us to see. Here’s Margaret (forever to be known now as ‘Margaret darling’) holding a magnificent Sea Urchin.

After the snorkelling we journeyed to Monkey Beach for a lunchtime BBQ. Here’s a break-away group of the main contingent – Darryl (front) with Margaret darling, then Cris (back towards us), John and Louise (standing) and Caroline and Giddy in the centre. A fantastic day enjoyed by all.

On one evening we had a Champagne reception for all the friends who had planned their hols around Doug’s birthday. They had all, very kindly, brought the odd bottle of Champagne with them to boost the stocks – Cris, Giddy, Louise, John, Doug, Margaret darling, Caroline, Darryl, Wayne, Linzi and Bev.

……. and we cannot forget our splendid friends Manju and “Masala Masala”. Masala, who is a childhood friend of Manju, was our driver when we went to Maharashtra to see Manju’s parents and since then has become firmly part of our family. Just as a little aside - we recently arranged a check up for Manju with our dentist (he’d never seen one in all his 23 years) and her verdict:- “he has the finest set of of teeth I have ever seen – I wish I had them!”

The next birthday event was a trip up the Chapora River on a rice boat. Something we’ve done before, of course, but this time we took over all three of the cabins with friends.

Having boarded and settled in we cruised down to the mouth of the river at Turtle Beach to enjoy the sunset.

Something that Captain Rameshaw has always wanted is for some of his guests to swim ashore rather than be transported by dingy. The tidal current is extremely strong but Cris, Wayne and Doug decided to have a go. Ramesh was on hand with the safety boat just in case but all three made it to the beach!

Captain Rameshaw knows us well and was happy to hand over the ship’s wheel to Cris. (Ramesh made sure he always had an eye on things though!)

Here’s our Chapora River trip contingent – Wayne, Louise, Doug,John, Cris, Bev and Linzi. (with James behind the camera!)

Although we recently had a night on a rice boat on the backwaters in Kerela the Chapora River comes up trumps for serenity and beauty every time …….

……. every view is a relaxation ……..

…….. and, although this time, we didn’t see any crocs the views were enough to make the trip, as always, a real pleasure.

Well, the big day at last arrived and Doug reached his half century! – although being on another continent it made it slightly confusing as to the exact moment of the astrological event. We had the birthday party at Mikey’s Place (where we’re now part of the furniture) and Doug, dressed in Indian attire, was welcomed with flowers, garlands and sash. James, Caroline, Doug and Giddy.

Manju, who works at Mikey’s Place when he’s not studying at college, with Cris’ help, did all the arrangements for what was going to be the most splendid of evenings.

About 40 guests arrived for the celebrations. The UK friends couldn’t believe how many Indian friends were there and the Indian friends couldn’t believe how many UK friends were there! We feel privileged indeed for that to be so. Doug, Richard, Adele, Joe, Ste, Anne and Rebecca.

Wayne, Bev and Linzi.

General party view.

Masala masala, Darryl, Margaret darling, Caroline and Giddy.

We were so pleased to have UK friends Brian and Mike (they only live a few miles from us in England but, due to each of us always being somewhere in the world, we only ever get to meet up in Goa! Brian and Mike travelled up from their holiday apartment in South Goa to be with us. (with Louise and John)

The boys from Mapsa market also joined us for the party – Sachin, Manog, Jitesh, Vikas and Akash.

Julroy (back to us), Ray, Bosco, Rita, Julia and Roshan.

… and a better pic of the two lovely friends who travelled from South Goa just for the evening – Bosco and Julroy.

Eventually it was cake cutting time! and, amid a hail of party poppers, crackers and confetti, Doug was just able to see the cake to cut it!

As is the custom in India, the birthday boy has some cake plastered on his face! Cris (who did the most amazing job as ‘master of ceremonies’), Manju and is amazing teeth (who tries to get in on most pics – but also did an amazing job of arranging things) and Doug (not bad for half a century – the cake’s doing a good job of hiding the cracks!)

Roshan, Masala masala and Manju (again!)

Doug, Roshan, Cris, Bobby, Rebecca, Mohan and James.

Cris, Doug (in a change of clothes!) and Manju (again!)

This was most of what was left after many people needed to get home (some travelling a long way and needing to be at work in the morning). Either side of Doug are Alex and Pundalik – from Kingfisher Beach Shack and either side of Darryl on the right are Patchi and Raj – from Princess Corner Beach Shack. It was great to see these boys as they work so hard during the day and late into the evening and they still had enough energy to come to the party.

We even had a “cow” turn up towards the end of the evening! (It’s actually Manju again – he’ll do anything to get in a pic!)

Flowers from James …….

……. and from many other friends.

It has to be one of the biggest “THANK YOU’S” to everyone who came, brought gifts and added so much just by being there with us to celebrate Doug’s 50th and to Manju and Cris for all their hard work.  The party did not see the last of the celebrations by any means – watch out for the next blog!

Our Week in Kerala

Some things in life do not go quite according to plan and Doug’s barber, Talib’s, attempt to slightly darken Doug’s hair (quite why, will be one of the great unanswered questions!) has been one of them! It turned out to be a perfect colour match to the Queen’s Daimler – burgundy! Anyway, back to travelling ……….

Our recent trip to Kerala started with a scooter ride to Thivim railway station but we went early to catch up with a wonderful family we’ve got to know through Julie (second left) who used to work for P&O. Last time we saw them Julie was expecting Samuel who is now 7 months old. The family had offered to keep our scooter in their garage and take us to the station. Albino (white shirt) was so helpful – he pressure washed the scooter while we had tea with the family and then drove us to catch the train. 

Samuel, at a very advanced 7 months old, stole the show of course!

This is Thivim railway station (well, about 2/3rds of it!). As the trains are nearly half a mile long the platforms have to be that long as well and you need to find the correct position on the platform to stand so that you’re not half a mile away from your carriage!

Thankfully the list you need to consult to find your platform position was correct and we were soon safely aboard for the 16 hour journey to Kerala. Doug was eager, as always, to get his head down!

The train delivered us to Ernakulam Junction and we soon found our very nice hotel which we’d booked for the first two nights. We planned to visit Fort Cochin, Alleppey and the Western Ghats mountain range during our eight day stay. Unknowingly we were to eat with gold plated cutlery later in our journey but Ernakulam offered opportunities to eat at the other end of the scale (off the street!) ………

…….. and the young man, who’s little kitchen was housed under a tarpaulin in a back street – and who never seemed to sleep!, produced some amazing food from his two gas rings. On the left is a plate of the most wonderful deep fried battered bananas.

After our two nights in Ernakulam we got an Uber taxi to take us up to Munnar, a hill station in the Western Ghats. Soon after leaving the coastal plains of Kerala we were into the forests of the mountain range with it’s rich vegetation and waterfalls ………….

…….. and meeting some of the local wild life.

The flowers are abundant in the slightly cooler atmosphere of the mountains. The Brugmansia, which we’ve grown ourselves with some care, grow wild on the slopes …….

…….. and there’s some we can’t name!

Doug was particularly enthralled by the size of the Poinsettia which are a favourite Christmas pot plant in the UK but which grow into large bushes.

We found a rather swish hotel to stay for the two nights in Munnar (which turned out not to have showers but instead, the traditional Indian way of a large bucket of water and a jug!) and they arranged a scooter for us to drive ourselves the 20 miles to Top Station which, at about 7000 feet, is the highest point from the town. If we turned one hairpin bend we turned a thousand during the ride but sadly, we saw no elephants!

We wanted to experience the tea plantations, the mountain scenery and cooler clearer air associated with the Western Ghats and our journey to Top Station certainly delivered. You’d think James was piloting a Harley Davidson rather than 125cc scooter!

For the whole 20 miles the mountain sides were covered in the most carefully tended tea plantations ………

……… and we came across several tea pickers close to the roadside so we could stop and talk and watch them. There are about 5000 pickers in the area around Munnar delivering around 16 tons of leaves each day to the central processing factory (which we visited and had a tour around on our way back down). We were reminded that these are tea trees not bushes and they are 120 years old!

We finally reached Top Station and went to several viewpoints but due to this being the dry season there was a thick heat haze which limited what we saw. The view was better than the pictures show and we could actually see for many miles. Perhaps we could see into the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu but we weren’t sure!

Being able to stop anywhere to enjoy the flora and fauna, lakes and mountains our scooter ride was definitely the right way to do it for us. It was also a public holiday week end and so was very busy but, with so much space, there was generally room for us all.

Returning for our last night in Munnar Doug decided to hunt out some beer. Outside of Goa alcohol is not that readily available and, here in Munnar, this shed was the only place in town where it was for sale!  And there was quite a queue!

From Munnar we took a very comfortable a/c bus ride to Alleppey where again we found a beautiful hotel (that’s where we had gold plated cutlery at breakfast!) for one night. They were extremely helpful and arranged a lovely Kettu Vallam (based on the traditional rice boats) with it’s plaited palm thatched canopy. The boat was just for two people and had a very nice bedroom and shower room, lower dining deck and upper lounge deck. Two staff looked after us and cooked for us and made us feel very welcome.

During the overnight trip we cruised through the lakes and backwaters known as the Kuttanad with endless paddy fields and villages only accessed from the water. For dinner in the evening Doug fancied some fresh water prawns which we had to get from the local fishmonger. Here we are tied up and buying prawns, ice creams and drinking fresh coconut water. 

Here’s James relaxing on the upper deck …….

…….. and lazing around as if he owned the place!

We’re getting a bit better at selfies!

Lunch on the first day was served Keralan style on freshly cut banana leaves …

….. and in the evening Doug wore his Mundu to go for a walk along the water’s edge and was congratulated by a local resident for “having a go”!

The next morning, after a very relaxing and quiet night we headed back towards Alleppey. It was rather like a morning rush hour as there are hundreds of Kettu Vallums on the water. Luckily there is so much space that it’s generally not a problem.

From Alleppey, after a hair-raising journey on a bus without glass in the windows! (which is the norm) we arrived for our last night in Fort Cochin. On a visit by boat from Ernakulam on the first day for a quick look around we spotted this stunning Old Courtyard Hotel and decided it would be nice to spend our last night in Kerala there. Our room was in the far corner at the top of the spiral staircase – very cool and colonial! 

A quick bit of investigation and we found the place where they based the TV personalities for the “Real Marigold Hotel” series. Fort Cochin is very touristy and the shops have been turned over to expensive souvenirs and high class clothing (one even boasted to be “Lionel Blair’s Dressmakers”!) It’s a charming place nonetheless with a lot of colonial architecture to be enjoyed.  

We also just had to do the tourist thing at the Chinese Fishing Nets ……

…….. and pull on the ropes to raise them. We got one small crab which went back when we lowered the net again!

And, talking of crabs, one of Doug’s meals just had to be crab!

Well, after eight days and a 16 hour return train journey (which got us back at 4 o’ clock in the morning – resulting in a bizarre, and rather cold, trip with two English guys, a suit case and two rucksacks on a scooter at that time of day!) we got back “home” to Candolim. It was an amazing few days seeing yet another part of India; meeting some lovely people along the way and seeing some of the most lovely mountain and waterway scenery.