Weekend at Goa

This is what I'll remember most from my first visit to Goa, the sunset at Baga Beach. Sure the sunburn I got from sitting all day on a beach in mid-January is a more tangible reminder and eventually I'll stop peeling. As an aside, one way to get a really interesting sunburn is to rent jet ski for which you have to wear a life jacket, ride around the Arabian Sea for 15 minutes hitting every wave you can catch, then sit on the beach for 30 minutes before realizing the life jacket probably rubbed your sunscreen off. You emerge with a sunburn that looks like a Picasso painting. But it was a small price to pay for the sunsets and all the sites and fun in between...

Goa is a small Indian state on the Arabian Sea a short 1 hr flight from Bangalore. It has beautiful beaches and great nightlife. It is a favorite vacation spot for Europeans and Indians alike.


The hotel were I stayed was "Luxurious". All you have to do is read their sign to know, it is printed right there. True luxury is defined by offering hot & cold showers. Any 5-star resort has hot showers but how many of them consider the number of people wandering around thinking "I wish I could find some place that has a good cold shower". The Baga Queen has the anwer. Incidently, the area in Goa where I stayed is called Baga Beach But don't just depend on the sign... look at the luxury room. Can you believe that roughly $20/night can buy this much grandeur?

My intrepid traveling companions who also braved the Baga Queen. The Captain's Cabin on the beach was much nicer than the hotel. Probably why we spent about 10 hrs there on Saturday.


The "Cabin Boys" provided great service and were happy to pose for a group photo. I'd like to think they just liked me but I think the fact that I was with 2 attractive, blonde American girls probably had more to do with it...




Here is the beach outside the Captain's Cabin early in the morning.



And a few hours later. It's a popular spot. Note the person getting a beach-side massage. Sue and Leanne also got pedicures. I passed.

I'd never been parasailing before. Pretty cool!

The streets of Baga itself are the usual mix of chaos, colors, dirt and unexpected treasures...


We went to a night market where you could haggle for everything from shirts to daggers to spices and jewerly - even hammocks (I would have considered getting one for my balcony but I didn't think I could fit it in the small carry-on that I had brought with me).



There were also several shows; fire dancers, musicians, and this group. This guy is balancing his whole weight on 3 very pointy spears.


I said the thing I'll remember most are the sunsets so I'll end where I began.