An hour later to keep myself amused I went for a little walk. This time I saw the outdoor open and decided to stand in it. Its such a wonderful experience standing there watching a new country fly by. Paddy fields, old collonial homes, plantations, unusual never before seen trees, oxs pulling ploughs and people. People always dressed in colour. No matter how poor. The train had an unbelievable number of carriages. You could see other passengers with there heads stuck out many other door ways along the length of it. This was one of those moments I will hold dear for many years to come.
By the time I got back to our compartment Ian was awake and Peter was beginning to move a little. Ian gave his cheese sambo a go. He didn't seem to disgusted as he munched it all down fairly quickly. We chatted for a bit and he then went back to sleep for another bit. By 10.30 most of our compartment was awake. We sat around chatting and playing the guitar. Most of us were still totally surprised at the comfort of the journey. Its great when the unexpected happens, especially when its in the form of a 13 an half hour train journey. Another very unexpected thing happened, when we were visited by an Indian mother an daughter they wanted to hear Eoghan playing the guitar. They sat in the compartment with four Irish men and chatted away as friendly as could be. The daughter was studying medicine and spoke mostly while the mother sat there smiling and adding a few comments here and there. Peter was in his element conversing fluidly with the pretty young lady. 20 minutes after they left and ten minutes before we arrived in the station, Aidan arose from his slumber delighted with sleeping the majority of the long journey.
As the train pulled into Madagor we collected our bags and jumped off the train. As we stood on the platform with people all around us, we met three girls from America. They were heading to Paloleum Beach also. We chatted with them as we left the station. I noticed the clock read 12.30 Madagon station is fairly modern and as big as Galway station. There is a Cyber Café, Retaurants, Air-Con waiting room and tourist office. The group of us stood, shaded from the sun, by the large roofed canopy at the front of the station. I called over to the Tourist Office to find out what bus we need to get to Paloleum. I was informed otherwise. A one hour train journey, leaving at 3.10pm would get us to a station beside where we wanted to go. I thanked the lady and left to tell the boys we had a two hour wait ahead of us. We discussed getting a taxi into the local town to pass the time. The usual tourist tax was imposed, so we began to haggle and declined the rather heafty 800rps for a 3km journey. The boys decided to get some lunch and myself and Eoghan thought we might go exploring on foot. The heat, even in the mid-day sun, was fresher or thinner than air in Mumbai. Rickshaws raced up the long drive beeping and swerving as usual. A number stopped to offer us a ride as we strolled down onto the main road. We took a left onto the main road. Piles of bricks lay in a pile on the inside lane. I just realised this very moment, they drive on the same side of road as they do in Ireland. Funny how something doesn't stand out as unusual when you're used to it. Cars, trucks and bike raced by as we strolled along the side of the road. An old man with a Bindi stopped me and asked where I ws from. I told him and he smiled and took my hand, kised it and blessed himself. My first Indian blessing was taken gratefully. As we continued our walk we saw a local shop on the fart side of the road. We walked over to pick up a cold drink. A man at the entrance said, “Welcome, welcome, come in.” We picked up a bottle of Pepsi and I joked about the usual tourist tax. The shop keeper smiled and collected the 100rps. As we walked off sweating, a group of men in the shop stood in the door smiling. The group of houses we came to, some kids were standing around looking at us. As we got closer Eoghan took some balloons out of his pocket and handed them out. At the same time a small taxi van pulled up, beeping, with more kids piled inside. As soon as they saw the curly haired stranger handing out stuff they were all over him. Eoghan standing there with little kids all around him reaching up to grab the remaining colourful treasures the westerner was dealing out. Parents and adults stood back with wide grins at the circus in front of them. We went on our way, leaving the older kids fighting to get the balloons.
The town suburbs are not a million miles off our own Irish towns. Outskirted with scrap yards, welders, small shops and garages, rent-a-cars and some run down houses and 4 storey flats. There is a constant flow of people walking along the roadside. Big wide grins and welcoming hello's everywhere you turn. As we got further down the road, we noticed a Kingfisher sponsored stadium, the national Indian beer, on our left hand-side. We entered the MCC gateway to stop and look at the pitch. The grass seemed lush although sporadic in covering. The large field was surrounded with palm trees and an assortment of shrubbery. We stood there leaning against the wall drinking our cold drink. A voice called “Hello” from a covered practice cricket pitch off to our left. Some locals lay resting under the shade of the corrugated roof. We checked the time and headed back towards the station on the far side of the road. We received an array of smiles and hellos on our return journey from walkers and cyclists passing us by.
As we improved the rather impressive railway station we noticed the Sky Bus railway hanging high in the air. An Indian mono-rail project that looked like it had gone astray as the rusting rails hung, looking very unused overhead. We entered the station and met up with the gang. They had indulged with some unknown foods in the local restaurant. Ian mentioned a green sludge that actually tasted a lot better than it looked. We decided to spend the remainder of our wait in the nice chilled waiting room. I retired to the cyber café to catch up on some unfinished business I had left in Ireland. As placed in a small room with an air-con unit while the locals sat in a separate room. When I joined the others, Eoghan was strumming away on the guitar. The room was large and filled with a collection of westerners, ladies with kids and a few indian men. A TV with a snowy reception hung in the corner displaying some local shows. Ian sat chatting to Laura, one of the american girls. I took a seat in the grubby couch and cooled myself down. Eoghan decided after a few minutes to hand out some more balloons to some of the kids in the room. We blew up one of them and gave it to a kid with colourful rimmed glasses. He seemed very chuffed as he proceeded to rub the inflated balloon making a rather annoying sound. I turned and smiled at the mother and she looked back with laughter her in eyes. The kid continued to rub the balloon thinking it was hilarious. We got a game of balloon volley going with a few surrounding travellers.
Platform 2 was filled with 99% indians and the eight of us. Once again, the goldfish effect, as we trundled down the platform with our backpacks. It is quite strange always being looked at, I can only imagine what it is like if you are famous. They quitely murmur to each other and sometimes there's a few laughs between them. We stood together in a group at the far end of the long platform. Eoghan played away on the guitar and seemed to be gaining the most attention. One rather strange man stood behind us and bit by bit kept creeping more forward. He was inching forward behind the three american girls with his hand out hoping he might brush off them. The lads and the girls noticed so we moved together in a circle and sat down as a group. The train arrived forty minutes late. As the train pulled in crowds of people gathered at the edge of the platform to quickly board. We entered a fairly old but clean carriage with numerous ceiling fans whirling away. We threw our bags above. I grabbed a seat beside the windowless barred window. The train took off at speed a moment later. The journey was pleasant and a great oppurtunity to catch some views of the surrounding countryside flying by. The usual traders went by offering ice creams, chai tea, cheese sambos and cold drinks. We pulled into Canacona one later not knowing where we were going. We asked the guy at the desk and he told us we were only 3km from Paloleum. As we climbed down the stairs a Rickshaw sat waiting. We laughed amongst ourselves with the eight of us laden down with backpacks. Within a minute another one pulled in. We agreed a price and packed the first 5 people in. A moment after they drove off another rickshaw collected the three of us.
Seven minutes later we were unloading our stuff into the sandy street of Paloleum. Eoghan was already checking out some of the local accommodation by the time we arrived. Within ten minutes we found the main resort behind the taxi rank. We sat down to some cold well needed beers. Myself and Eoghan decided to go look for the other resorts that are listed in the Rough Guide to India by walking up the beach towards the end of the peninsula. We had literally arrived on a paradise beach with yellow sands stretching ahead of us. Palm trees blowing in the gentle warm breeze lined the beach front. Old wooden fishing lay pulled up on shore. A handful of people were walking along the beautiful sand as the two walked off to explore the area. We met the three americans girls, Laura, Kristy and Emily walking towards us. They had found all of the other resorts closed up for the season. Myself and Eoghan continued up the beach thinking perhaps other resorts lay on the far side of the head. It was such a pleasure to walk in the warm indian water as we tracked up the long beach. T-shirts off I think we both felt we had found the place we had being looking for to relax. As we got to the end of the beach it started to become obvious to us a lot of stuff was closed up. We noticed what looked like thousands of spiders jumping out of the wet sand and racing towards he shore. Not sure of what they were we kept our distance. The peninsula sits a couple of hundred meters from a tropical island. Waves crashing against the rocks at its base. We climbed over the deserted resort with wrapped toilets standing tall in the barren ground. I still insisted there must be something on the other side, so I continued the climb. Around the corner lays a cliff face of rocks being smashed by the swirling seas. It is some view after leaving Mumbai. Looking back down where we came from was like at a scene from the movie The Beach.
By the time we got back to the others they were well relaxed sitting drinking beers in the shade overlooking this glorious beach. After some discussion and twenty minutes of haggling with the manager we bargained a fantastic nightly deal, paying 600rps for the triple room and 300 rps for two double rooms based on us staying a minimum of five nights. After a couple more beers we went to our rooms and got ourselves settled. All the rooms were ensuite and had large fans. We were chuffed with our little find in this very sweet haven. After a couple hours relaxing, watching satellite TV and applying some mosquitto repellent we headed to dinner in the resort. The food was a fantastic selection of India tasty sauces accompanied by Naan breads. The beers flowed and the mood was great. We chatted for hours. The resort was empty apart from our group. There was plenty of staff available as they hung around serving the roudy Irish group. By 12 o'clock I was ready for bed. I headed back to room. Hung my mosquitto net and lay down with beads of sweat caressing me asleep. I texted my gostoso and fell asleep. I was awoken a moment later. Went back asleep and was awoken again by Eoghan shouting in the window to let him in. He came in and started chatting away to me. One minutes later, after he left, I was asleep.
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