Palolem

When people tell you India is crazy and overwhelming and you're insane for going, they don't know about palolem. Its in the far south part of Goa. It feels just like koh tao, Thailand. It's relaxed.

We're on a crescent shaped beach, lined with restaurants with 50 cent butter naan, $3 main dishes of tikka masala or tandoori something or Chinese style stir fry or burgers or Italian. For breakfast we had fried eggs, toast, stir fried potatoes with spices and garlic and green pepper, tea. All for less than $4.

JD wants to note that there are beautiful girls everywhere. Unlike north Goa where we were yesterday, there are lots of families from Britain with small children here. North Goa was all Russians. There are a bunch here too though. Blonde. Super tan. Kind of odd hair cuts. What is it with europeans and mullets? I wonder how these people get so tan. It's like they're professional sunbathers the way their skin is so deep brown.

Today we swam out to a rock, lounged on the beach and had a grilled shark on the beach for dinner. JD hadn't stopped talking about it since we discovered BBQ on the beach just after we had already eaten last night. It was sooo yummy. We picked out a small one. They keep all kinds of fish on ice and you choose yours and they grill it with all sorts of spices.

It's been nice to unwind and read and just hang out with minimal tourist onslaught. We bought a few things today. I found the same printed sarongs I bought in Thailand and they are the best things. Worth all of the space they'll take up in my bag.

Fun facts: So far we've eaten about half the snacks (we brought literally 50 granola bars and maybe 30 packages of fruit snacks which are such a life saver when I get cranky with hunger and exhaustion.)

We've used 3/4 of a roll of toilet paper and like 6 or 7 packs of wet wipes. I need to google how you're supposed to use the hose and bucket. Lots of unanswered questions there. And if you've been with me since Taiwan you'll be pleased to hear I was actually kind of happy to see the squat toilet again for the first time. I don't really want to say fond memories? But makes me happy to be back in Asia. (The first time I saw one when I first got to Taiwan, I burst into tears. Weird combo of jet lag and general culture shock I think.)

Beer on the beach and then bed.