30/01/2012

This morning we both felt a bit fragile and therefore stayed in bed until 8:30, then had a shower and relaxed a bit before heading down to the bakery for yet another breakfast there. While there we ended up speaking to a German tourist who strongly recommended that we visit the Andaman Islands, a collection of around 600 islands 1.400km east off the Indian main land (1.000km off coast of Thailand). He showed us some excellent pictures, presumably from Havelock island, which is the most popular of the islands for visitors, with a picturesque scenery of palm trees, white sand beaches and calm turquoise waters - a scenery not unlike what I have previously experienced on the Perenthian island off the cost of Malaysia.
Ironically we have occasionally discussed what we would do when we get up to Puducherry and Chennai on the east cost as neither of us are particularly interested in seeing things on the East coast past this point - and all the way up to Colcatta. The Andaman islands easily solves this conundrum as you can fly directly from Chennia to Port Blair and from Port Blair directly to Colcatta - problem solved - now we just need to do a bit of research and book ;-) Flights are a bit pricey (relative) at €100 per person per leg but with what lies ahead I don't think we have a choice really...
Afterwards we walked on the beach for a while and then returned to our hut where we relaxed on the veranda - a newspaper guy happened to come across us at the hut and Claire was therefore distracted by a local Indian (in English) newspaper while I was playing with my laptop - bliss at 28c... ;-)
Afterwards I ended up reading for a while while Claire had a snooze. When we got up we went down to the beach and I caught yet another beach volley session there - but I didn't do as well as yesterday as I was still feeling somewhat fragile ;-)
We then ended up eating a curry-in-a-hurry in Omkar as we wanted to get back and watch the final installment of Harry Potter on the laptop - which was great. That J.K. Rawlings sure has a vivid imagination - no wonder she's a mega-multi-millionaire ;-)
We went to sleep after an episode of Family Guy - it was quiet... ZZZZzzzzz...

28/01/2012

Yes! Last night was really quiet as we are in a hut behind the beach facing ones and so can hear the sea less. Also there were no parties or late party goers returning that we heard - we had a nice 10-11 hour snooze - nice!
We woke up at around 7:30 when the crows and cocks thought it time to wake us up.
But... I was still feeling a bit queasy from the migraine and decided not to push it and therefore didn't go for a run. Instead we went for breakfast and I spent most of the day on the balcony or lying down in bed reading.
We ended up eating in Omkar again where I had pizza, chips and a hot'n sour soup.
Afterwards we watched the 7th installment of Harry Potter, as well as some Family Guy and we finally went to bed relatively early at around 21:30.

29/01/2012

Today turned out to be "action packed" compared to our other days - and all by pure spontinuity.
I went for the usual morning run and then we went for the usual breakfast. Claire had her appointment with the professor ortho-dentist at 10:45. I waited outside and spoke to a couple of Swedish women and a couple of English guys - and we had great craic sharing stories about the Danish booze boats that the Swedish get on to get hammered; one of the guys even professed that he was an alcoholic who had worked in the wine trade but stopped drinking 4 years ago when he spent a week in the hospital because his pancreas was shot to shit and was given the option of death or continuing to live for some considerable time. It was a real social club outside, something the staff couldn't help noticing from the amount of laughing going on ;-)
When Claire got out she told me that they would make and fit a fake tooth for her missing front tooth that was taken out the other day - they will have it ready for Tuesday when she's getting her last filling done. It should last for 1-2 years so that she can get a bridge or an implemant made at a later stage.
Afterwards, we were contemplating what to do today while walking past Madhu after our breakfast and we decided to find out how much a scooter was for the day - R.250,- (€4) - and that was it, we rented a scooter there and then. No need to see drivers licence, ask for point score on said licence, fill out forms or even accept advance payment - too much bureaucrazy indeed - just got up on the scooter and drove off - wahay ;-)
In the meantime we had also been speaking with Nelish about whether we could extend our stay in Om Sai for a final two nights before we leave - when I mentioned that I would give an even better TripAdvisor review if we did he called his boss and promised that he would be around in the evening time to talk to us about it. However, always have a plan B, as they say - so we decided that if we couldn't extend with Om Sai we would splash out on the final two nights (from savings from original accommodation budget) on H2O Agonda, the Taj of Agonda beach. We therefore went to H2O and had a look around - very nice indeed, including hot water and air condition in their huts - but we decided to opt for the "village" part rather than the beach-fronting huts given that the village undoubtedly is quieter and because it's 33% cheaper at R.4.000,- per night. We agreed with reception there (yes, they have an actual reception there ;-) that we would give them an answer by 18:00.
So, back to our scooter trip, we decided to head south to see some of the other beaches we have heard about. First off was Palolem; and it was every bit as busy and had exactly the party-going, vain/strutting and potentially loud clientelle as we had expected - we were very happy not to have booked in there indeed ;-) We spent about 30 minutes there walking around and took a few pictures before heading onwards to Patnam beach. Patnam turned out to be somewhere in between Palolem and Agonda - potential for party atmosphere but undoubtedly quieter; seems like it has a bit of an identity crisis, really.
We decided to head to Sea Land on Patnam for lunch - and that really turned out to be a major letdown. We were served by really unhappy and slouching staff - and we were literally served "crumbs" when we ordered a fish Tempura, consisting of two prawns and a bunch of scallops - and Claire had cheese and jalapenos rolls with Salsa sauce - there were 5 tiny little rolls, not even worthy of a designation of a "starter". We're glad we didn't book accommodation for this beach either - we are obviously spoiled rotten where we are - as we have so far not had a single bad food experience there yet (a few so-so's but filling nonetheless), knock on wood.
As we were about to leave Patnam we spotted a stall that was selling bootleg movies and went for a look. They did have some rather new movies and we ended up buying a few after I vetted them on IMDB ;-) There was a lot of haggling involved and we actually at one stage got up to leave when the stall keeper finally caved in and asked how much we'd really pay. We ended up with nearly 50% discount - so each movie ended up costing around €2.
Afterwards we headed off on our scooter again and decided to head further south on the main road towards Karwar to feel the wind, get the sun and enjoy the scenery - there was very little Sunday traffic on the roads and so it was a perfect day to explore. About an hour further south and nearly 2/3 of the way to Karwar we finally decided to turn around and head back - although we had spotted no coppers we decided not to tempt fate by entering a major town. After all, i have no bike licence ;-)
At around 17:00 we were back and Claire went off for a leg waxing appointment. Nelish's boss Gaurav was around so I had a chat with him and Nelish for about half an hour before they gave up trying to piece a scenario in their books together whereby we could stay in Om Sai.
So I took the scooter (with Nelish on the back as he was going to copy some passports down town) and drove down to H2O Agonda and booked us in for the final two nights here at Agonda beach.
On my return we went to Omkar and ordered a beer - but outside the local hospitality staff were gathering for their nightly beach volley and I decided to join in while Claire was watching from the restaurant.
It was great fun and took nearly an hour before the sun had set to the point where it was hard to see the ball - and they all had to return to work anyway. For a Westerner who hasn't played Volley ball for some considerable time I didn't do too badly, actually - well, at least I wasn't boo'ed off the field ;-)
We then had dinner in Omkar and ended up talking to a male couple (yes, as in couple), one from Derbyshire and the other from Frankfurt. We ended up talking to them about Europe, life and India for about 2.5 hours while eating and having a few beverages in the form of Kingfisher and Tuborg. It was a great night and it finished at around 22:00 when it was lights-out time in both the restaurant and outside Om Sai - and we simply scampered off to bed by then.

Palolem beach - sea

Palolem beach - restaurants, bars and huts

Patnam beach - no much of a crowd

Patnam beach - some of the bars & restaurants

Palolem beach - Cafe Del Mar

27/01/2012

This morning it was moving time again - as we are now returning to Om Sai for hopefully the last 6 nights here on Agonda beach - although we're only confirmed for 4 nights. If we don't get the final 2 nights here then we'll probably try out Chattai Beach huts a little bit further north on the beach (or perhaps splash out on 2 nights in H2O) rather than return to Papillon, where they seem to always have room - but as last night showed - noise travels easily between huts. I suppose trying out more places here means that we get a good feel of what places we would stay in in the future.
Anyway I went for a long-ish run this morning of about 50 minutes on the beach, as the water had receded and there was plenty of flat/hard surface to run on. Afterwards I jumped into the sea and experienced some rather lively waves for a cooldown. It's really nice with a dip immediately after a run.
Claire in the meantime got ready for breakfast, packed and then went down to the German Bakery to order while I got ready too. Afterwards she went for her dental appointment for a another filling (one more to go on Tuesday) and I returned back to the hut to pack and got us moved.
Sometime after lunch I started feeling a bit queasy, with a head ache centered just over my left eye brow as if a drill was entering my head and my stomach was starting to feel a bit sick - and my sight was starting to flicker a bit as well. Turns out that I had a relatively light migraine coming so I popped paracetamol and took it easy while Claire went to the beach.
A few hours later I went for a previously booked full body massage, which was really nice as I had 2 women working me at the same time ;-) Unfortunately I did not enjoy it as well as I could have with my migraine lingering in the background but nonetheless they did a good job.
Claire and I returned at the same time to the hut and then went for an early dinner at around 17:30 and I ate like a horse; had soup, chips and pizza - Claire followed by spring roll and Chicken Chow Mein. We then went down to the German Bakery and had some treats for the evening.
Then it was off to bed where we watched the 6th installment of Harry Potter and a family guy before lights-out at 21:00 - we both really needed an uninterrupted sleep.

26/01/2012

After a late rise from a sleep in relative peace, breakfast and a bit of shopping this morning I went and had my second day at the dentist, which turned out to be an hour long session with a total of 5 cavities in 2 teeth to be done. Thankfully she gave me a good deal afterwards. I think I will return here in a year's time and get my bridge/crown (or implant) done. As stated earlier, it's more cost effective to go on holidays and get it done than getting it done in Ireland - and the dentist here is certainly a lot better and nicer than any UK or Irish dentist I have ever visited - the only better dentist I have come across is A.D. Hewett on the Isle of Man.
In the meantime Claire was on a sun lounger and I joined her for an hour while listening to chill out.
Then we went and rented a kiddies board and had about an hour with it in the sea as there was plenty of wind and waves - relatively good fun until I broke the board somewhat on the middle - whoops :-) We also did a bit of Frisbee but it was too windy and in the end we returned to the sun loungers for a bit until Claire started getting red.
We had showers and I decided to return the board and do a few bits and bobs. Thankfully the board had dried and actually turned somewhat rigid again so the local shop never actually noticed its state on return - shame on me :-)
I then went for a hair cut, which also turned into a rather long head and upper body massage with all sorts of scented oil and stuff - the guy even had an electric hand-held massage machine, which had some serious horse power to the point that when he held it to my neck I actually got dizzy from the shaking&vibration of my head ;-) Never mind, hopefully there will be no lasting/chronic effects - the massage was great and relaxing to the point that I think I'll have to book another before we leave... ;)
We then went to D'Raj again where Claire had the Thai Green Curry I had yesterday and I went for a Chicken Kafta with a seriously minty and hot sauce. Thankfully we were the first to arrive as 10 minutes later there was a rush of people. We waited about 45 minutes for food and I can only wonder how long the others were waiting (15-20 other people) - with only one chef in the kitchen. I had a couple of Tuborgs as well before we headed off back to the hut and watched the final hour of the 5th Harry Potter installment - given that Claire fell asleep during it last night.
We then went to sleep but I found it hard to sleep because it was very hot and there was some commotion next door - some guy seemed to have pulled a girl and then went to his friend's hut where they held a mini-party until around 1:30 - I think they eventually got kicked out and I'm not sure his friend is one bit pleased as I suspect he was asked to leave too. At the same time the dogs were barking and howling, demarcating territory - and the guy opposite us has some serious snoring issues; I could actually <b>feel</b> his snoring - not just hear it - poor wife us his, I hope she has a good stick to poke him with ;-)

Despite a number of moves around as well as a couple of minor crappy episodes Claire and I are really settling in here in India and unwinding. Getting the dental work done at a fraction of the price in Ireland and at is a much better dentist that we ever encountered in Ireland is an added bonus!

 

25/01/2012

Today was showdown time with Shanti. I suppose we have now experienced both good and bad sides/times of backpacking - in India. I was tired and unhappy after last night - and so was Claire.
I went for a run first in the hope that that was going to calm me down, which it didn't really. So after the run and a shower I first found the 3 Swedish girls that had kept us up half the night and gave out to them - as this was their second time keeping us awake. They seem like nice girls but they're probably in their late teens/early twenties and my take is they picked the wrong (quietest) beach here. They seemed somewhat mortified and embarassed.
I then went straight up to talk to the married couple that act as managers and told them that last night's noise levels were completely unacceptable. They retorted saying that this was to be expected from staying customers and that they wouldn't refuse to sell them drinks - more or less saying that they had a right to party and disturb everyone else - clearly that decision would be purely commercial as their markup on (a lot of) drinks probably is far higher than the markup on rooms, given government lease upfront costs and that of the of huts etc.
I then restated that it was unacceptable, got pretty pissed off and told them that I could continue to have this conversation with them everytime it happened - and then proceeded to state that the alternative would be that they refund the remaining 8 nights and we would find accommodation elsewhere.
Somewhat to my surprise they immediately agreed - however, in hindsight this had become a public forum and that others weren't too happy either - in effect they really wanted us out of their hair as they knew we would be trouble if this continued - we clearly did not belong to their stated claim of customers who would return to their place year after year for that sort of trip or behaviour. Another point to make is that we only ate a couple of times in their restaurant as we're the adventurous types when it comes to food while away - and don't just eat the same place ever night, which many others seemed to do. So value-added business was obviously not optimal for these guys and they were probably reasonably happy to see us go.
Anyway, Claire felt she had to apologise to the girls, which made them even more embarassed and apologetic. Even more so when we met one of the girls as we left Shanti with our stuff - they seemed somewhat shocked that their behaviour resulted in us leaving - although, really, management should have sorted it out and not have encouraged them to continue drinking and make loads of noise until the middle of the night. And this on their last day there in the resort...
The two managers did "offer" for us to stay in the Shanti village, in the south end of the beach, which is a much quieter resort and without parties or even a full fledged restaurant - and we even went to have a look. But they quoted prices that were 3 times higher than what we already paid with no intention to negotiate - so instead we took the cash and went back to Om Sai (my plan B as I had already called Nelish to check availability - of which there was none, but he could get us in next door for a couple of nights before they would have availability - always have a plan B when it's showdown time so that you can call their bluff rather than having to come crawling back! ;-) and got sorted in the Papillion. Despite us not having a great seaview here it at least seems very quiet and it comes a lot cheaper at R.1.000,- per night.
A further bit of background is that I had a dentist appointment at 12:30, which added to the stress of packing literally at 12:00, then running up to the new place, leaving my luggage there and then run back down to the dentist; making it just in time, sweating bit time!
At the dentist I got 3 fillings done - with another 2 to go. Then it was Claire's turn for a final 2 fillings at 13:30. I got the keys to the new place off her and returned to our new home in the Papillion.
Claire returned back about an hour later with a missing tooth. She has had a bad and slightly turned small tooth that has been killing another tooth next to it - and for some time dentists have been telling her that it should be pulled - and so it was today. We had previously had a discussion about it and I said that I would go with what the dentists recommended, even if she will have a slight gap on the left side. She got stitches too to cover up the small hole and was sent back on antibiotics and pain killers - she will have her two fillings done Friday instead.
Afterwards did some unpacking and went for a small walk, then relaxed for another while.
At 18:00 we went to D'Raj for some food - Claire could only eat rice and drink lassis (Indian milkshake type stuff based on Yogurt) but I had a Thai Green chicken curry and some naan bread, followed by a well-deserved beer after a rather stressful day ;-)
We then returned and watch 1.5 hours of the 5th installment of Harry Potter before Claire got too tired and we went to sleep at 21:00, needing to catch up...

24/01/2012

I went for a run this morning and just before entering the shower my phone rang. Turned out the be the Tai Chi instructor callling from his friend's mobile phone - it was a bit confusing as he was trying to explain that the number he was calling from wasn't his and to contact him on his other number - all in pretty broken English ;-) We eventually arranged for a session at 16:00 today.
Afterwards Claire and I went down for a big breakfast feed in the German Bakery as she has an appointment to have 3 cavities filled with the dentist today at 12:30 - and so can't eat or drink anything hot for a few hours afterwards.
I went on the sun lounger again, away from the sun after yesterday's burn, for a wee semi-snooze while she was away.
Afterwards I had a bit to eat before my first Tai Chi class. I went down to the south end of Agonda beach and met up with Balram, the Tai Chi/Yoga teacher (and Karate as welll), at 16:00. We had a chat about his past and he showed me some pictures of his time with his master etc. At 16:30 we started (+ a woman from France) on the beach with the basics - the Power Walk, as well as a bit of Qi Gong to relax at the end. He was a very good teacher and I will probably be returning for some more.
Claire came down to meet me afterwards and we then went to the Ocean View where we shared a fresh King Fish (Ricardo) with some rice, a potato curry and naan bread. It was really nice - we really liked the Ricardo spices that it had been baked with - yum!
We returned to our hut and watched the fourth installment of Harry Potter, followed by an episode of Family Guy. At this point, at around 23:00, we tried to go to sleep but there was a lot of noise from what turned out to be a going-home party in the restaurant of the Shanti. Claire had earlier asked me not to get involved although the noise levels were high and sleep not forthcoming. In the end, well after 0:00, she got out of bed herself, ran out and asked them politely but firmly to bring the noise down (the manager was there as well). It was somewhat respected for a bit but it got a bit loud again later before finally quieting down, probably sometime after 1:30.
Needless to say, we were not happy - as this is the second time Shanti has had a party that has kept us awake.

Btw. we think we figured out while Claire gets so easily sun burned compared to previous sunny trips - we're on Doxycycline and it can significantly increase the photosensitivity of the skin - so she has to take sun in small doses, which of course she finds hard to do - as she wants to be burnt to a crisp before we leave Goa... ;-)

23/01/2012

After my run and a breakfast in the usual location, Claire went off to have her teeth examined and cleaned while I went for a nice snooze on the sun lounger on the veranda.
On her return I went down to the beach and was there for 1.5 hours, which turned out to be too long as I started burning a bit - must stay out of the sun tomorrow.
Claire came down to the beach at 15:30 and I suddenly remembered that I wanted to find out about the Tai Chi drop-in classes that they have at the Rama beach resort - there are tonnes of posters everywhere advertising that fact.
So off we went only to realise after a 20 minute walk that noone had turned up for it. But thankfully we managed to eventually find the Tai Chi & Yoga instructor and I had a brief chat with him - and I parted with his mobile number. About an hour later I texted him to ask him if he could do a lesson tomorrow - but I never got a response.
We went to Omkar for another two curries that we had never had before, had a beer and then went back to the room and watched Chuck and Family Guy before going to sleep. Nothing out of the ordinary... ;-)

22/01/2012

As it is Sunday today we decided to do nothing. I didn't even go out in the sun or have a run. We had breakfast and afterwards I spent a couple of hours consolidating all our pictures from 3 cameras and uploading a few to the blog as well. This kept me going for nearly 3 hours.
Afterwards we read on our veranda and finally went for an early dinner at 18:00 in the Shanti, where we stay. We tried a couple of more curries that we had never had before - again they didn't let us down. I don't think I will ever tire of curries - yes, you'll occasionally want a bit of diversity like... Pizza! But curries kick arse! ;-)
After dinner we went back to the hut and watched the third installment of Harry Potter - and then a bit of Family Guy before going to sleep early.

20/01/2012

I got up early for my morning run only to realise that the tide was in again. Running on loose and wet sand - again - really didn't appeal so after 10 minutes on the beach I took a shortcut to the back-road where I continued to run for another 25 minutes, while the locals were gawking - all probably wondering why I was not on the beach.
Claire had booked a physio appointment for 11:00 due to her back problems - in Magao, a large town about 40km from here. So we went for a quick breakfast before meeting with our friend Vino who drove us there.
Claire went for the appointment while I went scouting for stuff in a rather busy town. I have really gotten into the Indian way of navigating the streets, walking across the road while cars, scooters and pedestrians zip by in what appears to be an attempt on your life!
While walking around I actually managed to find a travel kettle for boiling water with 2 cups and after some haggling I ended up paying around €16 for it. Great! I then went in search for a power adapter and found one of those as well behind the other shop in a small alley.
I then came across a small park in the middle of town and decided to have a look - only to be attacked by some local lunatic who wanted to shake my hand and held onto it with both his hands while wanting to talk about where I was from - he was really in-your-face, while speaking Dutch and English to me, and I only managed to shake him and get my hand back when I had to take a phone call from Claire. I never really figured out what he was trying to tell me - but I think he had lived in the The Netherlands at some point, maybe...?!
I returned and met up with Claire and we did a short walk in town before we came across a general store that had Tata Premium coffee and Nescafe creamer, enabling us to make coffee on-the-fly in our hut - yippie... And it will save us a bundle of money too in the long run ;-) I reckon that we can make a cup of coffee for an average of R6-7,- per cup as opposed to a small cup costing R.40,- in the German bakery.
For the rest of the day we relaxed on the beach and Claire had her eye brows threaded while I had a swim. We returned to the D'Raj restaurant for curries in the evening, which didn't let us down, and afterwards we went back to the hut and watched the second Harry Potter after stocking up on sweets! :-)

Madgaon Council in the City Centre

A small park in the middle of Madgaon

Local rice and chilli fields near Agonda beach

21/01/2012

Today turned out to be somewhat special. After I did a longer run of 50 minutes around the neighborhood I returned to our hut only to be told that dolphins were roaming by the beach - as it turned out there were plenty of them and they appeared to be fishing/feeding, just like a local fisherman who was standing in the water and catching crabs with his net. We watched the dolphins for more than an hour and I tried continuously to take pictures of them - but they did not appear particularly interested in being photogenic as they were otherwise engaged and I only managed to catch the fin - about 100 times - much to my frustration; patience is a virtue when taking pictures ;-)
After our usual breakfast in the German bakery we agreed to go booking our onwards journey to Bangalore, which apperantly was a Pensioner's Paradise right up until the city grew considererably due to the inflow of I.T. businesses and personnel - the Silicon Valley of India.
To our annoyance Shanti doesn't (currently) have Internet despite promises so we ended up going to a cyber cafe. We quickly realised that booking trains to Bangalore from Goa even with two weeks notice is a futile exercise - waiting lists all over; the earliest would be at least a week after our originally scheduled departure date, i.e. the 9th of February.
So instead we started asking around and looking for alternatives - it would seem that air conditioned overnight buses is the done thing. And crucially they're not booked weeks or months in advance. We therefore managed to find a bus for our originally scheduled departure date of the 2nd of February, which departs from Chawdi/Chaudi (a few km down the road) at 22:00 in the evening and is scheduled to arrive 11 hours later (3 hours quicker than train - and we don't have to drive 40km to Madgao either) - so we decided to try this out and booked through MakeMyTrip.com. The same website promised that we could get a nice discount on a hotel stay as well when booking a bus with them so after much searching and discussion while using a combination of TripAdvisor.in, ClearTrip.com and MakeMyTrip.com to look for hotels in Bangalore, we came across an actual B&B called Laika's Boutique Stay, which comes highly rated and won a Traveller's Choice award in 2012 - so we are naturally intrigued... ;-)
After a few hours on the beach we returned to the Cyber Cafe to have a look at the onwards journey from Bangalore - but after reading about Mysore (and the fact that buses leave from Bangalore to Mysore every 5 minutes) and Bandipur National Park we quickly came to the conclusion that we would be better off not booking any onwards journeys - there is more to be seen in Karnataka than we originally thought; before we move on to Kerala, which is actually also on the border of Bandipur National Park.
We ended up eating in Madhu and this time went "all out" with grilled fresh fish (Kingfish and Red Snapper) and chips/rice/vegetables on the side - with starters of Pakora and Munchow soup - as well as a couple of beers. Afterwards we ended up in Sandy Feet for a Tuborg but it turned out to be a mad house of variously intoxicated party goers and we quickly retreated and ended up in Shanti again for a last beer - Claire ended up with an Irish Coffee and was thoroughly impressed with the bartender's grasp of making stuff not on the menu - I suspect she will return there in the very near future ;-)

The fin of a dolphin sticking out of the water

A local fisherman catching crabs

19/01/2012

This morning I went for a run, which ended up with a bonus workout as I helped out a bunch of elderly fisher men & women pulling their boat out of water and up unto the beach, using round pieces of wood underneath. A running girl that I had passed on the way up also stopped and helped out and a few minutes later we were done. Life here is simple - I could seriously get used to it.
Perhaps I should open a Danish bakery & pastry shop here, in direct competition with the German bakery - I like to think that we are better at that sort of stuff than the Germans - and after sampling some of their coconut & chocolate biscuits today it was confirmed - we could definitely do better, they should stick to bread ;-) Coffee on the other hand would be a real challenge to beat - so a short no-prisoners price war would probably be better in order to attract customers ;-)
So anyway, today we moved from Om Sai to Shanti. The hut we are moving to is nearly as nice as the one we moved from but the veranda is actually much better as it is so big that we have both a table and a full-size sun lounger/futon there. Also we have a much better view over the beach as there are no obstacles in front of us other than a lonely tree and some wooden sculptures. At a cost of only R.1.300,- per night (€20,-) that is a pretty good bargain we think.
Our concern about noise levels in the hut from the restaurant next to us were not entirely unfounded - but far from a noisy as we expected, which is great.
After the packing, move and unpacking, as well as saying goodbye to Nelish, I went to the beach while Claire stayed out of the sun (on the veranda - she has taken ownership of the futon) due to a bit of sun burn on her chest and in her face.
Afterwards we skipped the sunset walk and instead opted to stay on the veranda where I was listening to some chillout music and Claire was reading while we watched the sun come down.
We decided to eat in the Shanti restaurant seeing as we now live here. I sampled my first Jhinga Lebabdar ever, which was prawns in an incredibly nice and rich sauce, which was baked with egg white at the sides - hard to explain, but one of the best curries I have ever had. Look up the recipe online, it's well worth a try! We had a bottle of Madera white wine to accompanny the food again (from Nashik) - and by the time we returned to the hut we both well sleepy and only survived a single episode of Family Guy before lights-out at 21:30! ;-)

Our local German Bakery

Some local festival attender with his souped-up bull outside the bakery

Our new hut

Our new home - Shanti - our hut is the one to the far right

18/01/2012

I was being lazy and ever so slightly hungover this morning and opted out of my daily morning run - instead we slept in and didn't get up until around 9:30, which is very left for us - in particular me. But we managed to sleep through usual noise from the crows, cocks, dogs and people in general.
The German Bakery has now become our default hangout for breakfast after my runs. The muesli/fruit/curd/honey combo is my favorite and Claire normally settles for fruit'n porridge with toast on the side. The DeLonghi coffee maker that they still have the box for hanging under the sign also makes a vast difference when compared to the weak instant coffee they serve elsewhere - although it's an expensive luxury, in relative terms, at about €1 per cup. We are contemplating alternatives such as buying a kettle, instant coffee and creamer.
A few days ago I spotted a dentist and made an appointment. Today I went for my appointment, which was cleaning, scaling and a general examination. The dentist was very nice and she had it all done in less than 30 minutes; looked like a good job and didn't really hurt - downside was that she counted 5 cavities that need filling at some point - ouch! Yes, it's about 1 1/2 years ago I went to the dentist last (the best dentist ever, A.D. Hewett on the Isle of Man!), shame on me! Now I can pay for it in pain and local currency!
But at R.900,- per cavity (with plastic fillings - silver fillings would be R.600,- but there's mercury in that stuff and the Danes have stopped using it because of the vapour!) with the prospect of a discount we're probably looking at less than €70,- for the whole lot. In Ireland it would likely have cost €400,- or more. She also told me that my missing tooth would eventually cause those next to it to skew and she recommended either an implant or a crown - something no other dentist has told me. Not one to like having stuff drilled into my cranium I asked her about the crown. Given that I need 3 parts at R.10.000,- each (there's cheaper options but they contain metal that may mis-colour my other teeth), we're talking around R30.000,- - or about €500,-. I am not going to get it done this time - but in Ireland a similar procedure would likely cost €2-3.000,- so the savings of going abroad and getting it done would well pay 2-3 weeks of holidays in Goa with flights - the procedure requires me to be there for 8 days so well within the schedule of an upcoming holiday ;-)
I spoke to Claire and we agreed that she will have her teeth examined and cleaned too at the same dentist - and she can then make an assessment while there as to how good this dentist is. If she gives the OK then I'll get my cavities fixed here.
Afterwards we spent a few hours on the beach while contemplating our upcoming move to Shanti tomorrow.
We went to Omkar for dinner after showering and changing where we had some more fish curry - as always, really yummy food - this is great! ;-)
Afterwards we watched some more episodes of The Big Bang theory on the laptop before going to sleep.

17/01/2011

I kicked off the day with a run this morning and Claire went off for a walk on the beach. Afterwards we went to the German Bakery for some breakfast and then had a walk around.
We stumbled across a dentist near Agonda beach and I decided to enquire how much an examination, cleaning and scaling would be - turns out it would cost R.500,- (around €7.50) and I booked an appointment for tomorrow.
Afterwards we went for a snooze and then went to the beach for a couple of hours where we read and swam.
We really are settling in to the relaxed life here and just taking it easy - very nice to just switch off and have no worries whatsoever.
Last bad habit to drop is: stop reading the Irish/European/Global news as there's way too much doom&gloom - and unfairness on part of tax payer funded bailouts, the stupidity of the IBRC hunting people with no money or who are too smart for them (from which advisors, solicitors and accountants are creaming millions/billions over the next few years), politician pays/pensions, Croke Park agreements & senior civil servant pays/pensions, second bailouts, mortgages in arrears, tax increases and an endless chain of reductions in rent allowances, health services, public spending etc - it would seem that Ireland and Europe is on the brink of a major setback - measured in decades - of work and progress; and that things are unravelling like a car crash in slow-motion. So, got to stop reading this stuff as the only thing really concerning me at the moment is the Euro-Rupee exchange rate, which has taken a hammering over the last few weeks and so makes our holidays more expensive over time.
We went to Green Land and got ourselves some real pizza with thin crust and made in a proper wood fired oven, accompanied by a bottle of Indian wine (Nashik, north-east of Mumbai) - it was all really yummy and we will certainly be going back there when we feel the need for some Westernized food.
We then went to Madhu and finished off with a couple of cocktails and beers - after which Claire called home via Skype for about an hour.

16/01/2012

This morning I got up for a run at around 8:00 and went for about 40 min. It seriously is hard to run here with the temperature in the early-to-mid twenties to get i already at that time, as well as with the sea air and the sand - I have however learnt a lesson by using my runners as running directly on the sand blistered my toes pretty badly.
After a shower we went to have breakfast in Omkar - not as nice as last night's dinner - so we'll stick with just dinner there. The German Bakery is undoubtedly the best place for breakfast around here! And they got nice chocolate balls and cakes too ;-)
Claire had strained her neck and shoulder so she was pretty incapacitated and so we booked her in for a back massage where she was attended to not by one but by two women - so she really got value for money I think ;-)
Afterwards we went to Chawdi to a cash dispenser to get money out - initially we went down to one of the local exchange places here but when I started calculating their fees and exchange rates in I came to the conclusion that we'd bleed (!!!) 8.2%, which is just insane.
We both have Moneybookers pre-paid credit cards and they charge 1.99% commission and €1.80 (maximum of €250 equivalent) for cash advances so by taking out enough cash we can keep the total cost ratio at below 3% - with the added protection that noone can take out more money than what is on the card (as opposed to credit limits on ordinary credit cards) while still retaining the option of disputing fraudulent transactions.
Anyway, so we went to Chawdi by cab, took out money and then went to the market there to shop for essentials such as shampoo, tooth paste, a blanket for Claire, Bombay mix etc ;-)
Afterwards I just chilled on our veranda and had a short swim while Claire was trying to relax her back in an effort to make it better - to little avail.
We went to Simrose, a nice but pricy place, and had some curries to eat again - Claire had a hot massage booked for 20:30 so we were in a bit of a hurry. But food, staff and setting was nice - so we decided that we'd come back at some point for their open BBQ and a bottle of wine.
When we returned we realised that they must have forgotten Claire's appointment as noone was there - instead we went to sleep at 20:30.

15/01/2012

I woke up at around 4:00 with a queasy stomach - presumably after the food we had. I didn't get sick in but it did keep me awake for a couple of hours before I fell asleep again, only to wake up at around 9:00, still feeling a bit "off" after a toilet visit. So that restaurant last night is definitely struck off the list of future dining options.
Also, Claire got the common cold and is not feeling too well today.
Things took a further turn for the worse because I had topped up the Internet on my Indian SIM card two days ago in a local shop. But the "credit" never arrived on my account. After the local admin guy Nelish took it upon himself to rectify this and tried to talk to the shop keeper but was literally told "f*** off" I decided to take matters into my own hands.
So I went to the shop and had a major argument with the old female shop keeper after trying to reason with her only to have another punter drop in with exactly the same issue - she refused to ring up Vodafone to make amends and in the end she just ignored us both and I got so mad at her that I waved my arms around and said "You can keep the credit, fine - but I will be sure to tell everyone that care to listen that you're a scammer, cheating travellers out of their money!" She waved her arms in return and muttered some probably not-too-kind words as I left and took down the name of her shop on the way. So if you ever make it to Agonda beach: avoid the Jemeca "Vodafone" store at all cost!
I ended up calling Vodafone directly and after 30 minutes on the phone it was sorted - the old woman in the shop had screwed up in some way although I never found out how. Internet credit was applied to the account and I learnt how to check it by dialling "*111#" and then using an intricate menu system ("*141#" will simply give you your talk time balance in Rupees) - there is no Internet equivalent to do so in my Vodafone profile that I have found - so last-century... ;-) Also, I cannot use my credit cards to top up, they fail authorisation as presumably the address that the Vodafone account is registered in (Taj Mahal hotel) is different from my address back in Ireland - dang!
While I was calming myself down again we went to the beach for another couple of hours and had a swim as well - it was particularly hot today and the horizon very clear with little haze compared to the other days so far. Body and mind seriously melting away here... ;-)
We watched the sun go down over the sea, which has become a daily activity - and I took a few more pictures of the sunset. I will publish those at a later stage as I get them filtered.
Afterwards we went to a restaurant next to us by the name of Omkar and they cooked up the best curries (Fish Masala and Seafood Biryani) we have had while here - we will definitely return.
Finally we went back and just chilled out in the room with some Big Bang Theory on the laptop.

14/01/2012

Today we woke up slightly hungover after the couple of cocktails and beers last night. We went to the same place as last night for breakfast - it was nice as you could get proper coffee here too, like in the German bakery.
Unfortunately things took a turn for the worse when we were told by Nelish the admin guy that they were booked out for the two extra weeks we had requested - I suspect it was because we didn't want to pay more for the (family) room than we did this first week, but still wanted to keep it or similar.
So anyway, we therefore had to go on the hunt for a new room and after visiting many beach resorts we finally settled on a room (the only room) with a sea view in the Shanti beach resort. It's not far from the restaurant area but hopefully it won't be a problem. It actually ended up being R.200,- cheaper at R.1.300,- per night than where we currently stay.
After sorting that out we finally relaxed on the beach for a couple of hours before being sunned out and went up on our veranda instead where we were reading.
Life here is blissfully slow and our minds are pretty much gone by now - brains but a mush of their original state - the most important decisions we make are what to eat, where to eat and when to go to the beach. One word springs to mind: Chilled...
We finally went to a restaurant not far from Om Sai - that I forget the name of - for some food and no alcohol tonight - the food was really nice although I did find a couple of small unidentifiable hairs in it (hmmmm). Afterwards we went back to bed and watch some the Big Bang episodes on the laptop before going to bed.

Fisher men having a deserved rest after a long day of catching fish for our Curry tonight

Some colourful huts south of our huts

Another sunset shot, this time from my Nikon D5100

A stampede Goan style - even the cattle is chilled out

13/01/2012

Our first night's sleep in Goa was very nice, apart from the persistent cock waking up his harem from around 5:30 as well as the ravens that started chatting at around the same time. But this was offset by the sound of calm waves from the sea, a real treat.
I went for a run on the beach at around 7:45 for about 30 minutes in the early morning haze, which was nice and refreshing, albeit hot already - cool water definitely a necessicity even for shorter runs ;-)
When I got back and had a shower Claire woke up and we went for a lazy walk down to the German bakery where we had a very nice breakfast - I had Muesli with Curd, Honey and fresh fruit and Claire had a porridge with fresh fruit too. They also turned out to have a proper coffee maker (DeLonghi), so we ended up getting 2 cups there each before we knew it - the best cups of coffee we have had in India by far! Even yesterday's Americanos in the airport yesterday seemed like watered-down weak tea in comparison.
Then we went to the beach (well, it's about a 30 second walk away from our hut ;-) where we had a couple of hours in the sun and in the water after which we retreated to our hut's balcony for a quick snack, a read and Claire for a snooze.
At around 17:00 we went for a walk on the beach to the top and back. The place is nice and quiet with just about the right amount of tourists around; not too busy and not too dead either.
We then went to the Madha resort for dinner; also recommended by our local admin Nelish. We both had Thai curries (different colours), which went down very well with a couple of beers while we were looking at the last embers of sun outside. A Turkish couple and their 2 year old girl arrived and we moved over to a table next to them where we spent the time chatting to them and entertaining the girl, while trying out a few of the cocktails, including: Long Island Iced Tea, Cosmopolitan and the Singapore Sling. The couple and the girl left and we ended up talking to the manager of the establishment for another hour and he offered us free pancakes with chocolate and later a round of Tuborg - very nice!
Afterwards we stumbled back to bed...

12/01/2012

We got up at 5:40 this morning due to our early flight heading for Mumbai - and then Goa. In the airport during security check-in I placed the mobile and laptop in a tray and put it on the belt for a bit of X-raying - however the security woman pushed back my tray (for no obvious reason) and all of it ended up on the floor - I just barely managed to contain my anger at her lax attitude only to have to take everything out of the bag again for a re-scan by another security person.
These guys really love their procedures - and very slow-motion movements. Patience is indeed a virtue...
The flight to Mumbai went without incident and took only 45 minutes.
Because the next flight was nearly 4 hours away we have some coffee and breakfast while waiting - not an impressive array of options but at least they had some derivative of cereal and relatively safe soya milk ;-)
Our Jet Airways flight for Goa left more or less on time, which after talking to fellow travellers apparently is very unusual, for the second time today.
We arrived after only 1 hour of flying and as agreed with the Om Sai beach resort our transport and driver was there waiting for us. It took us 1 1/2 hours to drive the roughly 80km to Agonda beach and when we arrived it was around 16:00.
The sight that awaited us was astonishing; beautiful sand-coloured beaches, beach huts, bars & restaurants etc all relatively thoughtfully and tastefully laid out under palm trees (mostly coconut), many (including our hut) with a sea view. Our first thought was "THIS is what life is all about!" We also saw every aspect of society here, from the meditators & hippies (many probably still from the good ol' 60's) all the way to the young single people looking for some fun and a spliff.
There's certainly a thinly veiled availability here of what some people refer to as "substance" - although neither of us are or will be taking part of that aspect here. The driver certainly hinted as much - with a politician's abilities - obviously happy to supply if the need (or want) arose - but I digress.
We got a sea-side hut with a beach view and it turned out to be a family room because they had run out of the ordinary double rooms with a beach view. It was nicely presented (under palm trees) and the inside was basic but nice and clean; exactly what we need!
We spent a bit of time unpacking and then walking up and down the beach for an hour or so while the sun was setting - a bit overcast but still beautiful. People were friendly and unlike Aurangabad the local stall keepers were nowhere near as aggressive, most of them friendly, cheerful and saying hello.
We ended up eating in a 2-tier restaurant (D'Raj) with a very shaky top section that did make you wonder when you'd end up in the cooking pots below; but that was part of the fun, especially as the top section filled up and things were getting noticably more shaky. But it came recommended by our local manager/admin/handy-man Nelish who oversees Om Sai - and it didn't let us down; the local Goan food that we ordered (when in Rome...) was really nice and fresh. I had a Xacuti Chicken (coconut-based sauce with chillies and poppy seeds) and Claire a Goan fish curry with tuna. They also served bottles of Tuborg at around €0.50 per bottle (R.35,-), which was a refreshing sight for us, and me in particular - I'm afraid that a Tuborg beats a Kingfisher at any occassion, although the latter is OK  ;-)
Afterwards we were both tired after 3 nights of not sleeping a lot nor very well in one of Aurangabad's dirtiest hotels (well, I hope) and we headed off to bed.

Notes:
- I will say one thing: the Indians definitely are not known for recycling - trash is to be found everywhere along roads and on plots of land. Whether it be Mumbai, Aurangabad or even Goa Especially for such a nice and tranquil place like Goa, it really is disconcerting to see mountains of litter everywhere - as well as people dumping it out of their cars, from their scooters or even their huts. You probably get used to it over time (although, I hope not) - but still, someone really needs to incentivise them into recycling before the whole country becomes a persistent layer of plastic bottles, crisp bags and what-have-you. In 50.000 years when archeologists (or even geologists) go digging they will go "oh, they had a rubbish time."

Sunset Goan style

The view from our beach hut

Our beach hut at Om Sai

A few fishing boats on Agonda beach

Agonda beach North

Our beach resort Om Sai from the beach side of Agonda beach

Agonda beach South

11/01/2012

Today was a big/long day for us as there loads on the agenda. First off was a 2½ drive to the Ajanta caves starting at 7:00.
We had a quick couple of coffees and an Alloo Paedesche breakfast on the way in a roadside diner called Sao Milan.
When we arrived at the entrance we had to walk through 200m of stalls and scammers trying to sell all sorts of crap; a combination of keeping your head down, walking fast and chanting "No Thanks!" Continuously seemed to do the trick. Problem is that even before getting to that point people will pose as employees that btw. have a shop, and it can be very bewildering as to what's real, it seems like every trick goes in an attempt to make living. Unfortunately this can take away from your experience but don't get angry as it won't solve anything. Ask instead for advice from drivers and others you have or will employ and use your best judgement.
Anyway after a government bus ride to the caves we had a fantastic time, the caves are really amazing and I ended up shooting more than 100 pictures there, many in really good quality with my new camera.
We spent 2 hours there before returning to the car park and driver, then on for a 2 hour drive for the Ellora caves.
The Ellora caves were also impressive but we both agreed that between the two Ajanta was the most impressive because it had both sculptures and paintings.
After Ellora we were both "caved out" and we quickly took at picture of Daulatabad fort and then a few pictures of the Bibi Ka Maqbara (mini-Taj) from the outside on our way back to Aurangabad; we didn't bother going in because we get to see the real thing in the future and because the sun was coming down.
We then returned to the hotel where we relaxed in the room and watched telly - didn't even bother going for something to eat and just had some biscuits and snacks.
We went to sleep early as we had an early flight departure from Aurangabad airport to Mumbai at 7:55.

10/01/2012

After an uneasy night of sleep due to a dirty hotel we were a bit tired but went on our first trip with driver in a Tata Indico (the default means of transport for guide cabs) to the Lonar crater starting at 8:00.
We arrived 3 hours later and decided to walk around the whole crater, which was a 2 ½ hour endeavour. It was very nice but a bit stinky due to its alkaline nature (the meteor crashed into basalt rock) and the amount of algae. There were also some nice ruins and a small Buddhist monastery by the lake of the crater, halfway around the crater.
I got some very good pictures and we had plenty of people taking pictures of us too.
The highlight of the day was definitely when we passed a school and all the kids came running out wanting to shake our hands and practice their English with Hello, Goodbye and "What country are you from?"
We had a great few minutes with them while being the local celebrities and I managed to get a great picture of them.
We then returned to Aurangabad around 17:00 and had a quick shower before we took an auto-rickshaw to the train station and went walking amongst the stalls and shops and did a bit of food shopping for bananas, water, crisps and chocolates, all the essentials :-)
We then went to the Tandoor restaurant that came recommended by the Lonely Planet and also the locals (having learnt our lesson). It was very nice food, Claire had the Rogan Josh and I had the Tandoori chicken Haiyul special and they served 650ml Kingfisher "mild" (5%) with that - nice!
Afterwards we returned to the hotel, watch some telly and had some chocolate before going to bed.

Notes:
- There are so many touts, tour guides and sellers of DVD/picture collections that you really need to be firm with a no thanks as soon as you spot them approaching as they are wasting your time and take away from your experience- but if you are looking for something or are not sure then the real trick/challenge is to find those that are good and not just out to scam you - you really need to use your judgement.

09/01/2012

After failing to realise the strength of Indian beer the night before I woke up with a mother of all hangovers this morning and as a result we got down late for breakfast again, which meant it was hard to get anything substantial to eat before the buffet closed. Claire was grand and cheerful and I designated her the manager of the day as my head/soul simply wasn't for it...
We checked out of the hotel at 11:30 and found a really nice cab driver in the back of the taxi rank due to the one in front not wanting such a short fare. Our driver turned out to be a wealth of information so we got some last-minute oooh'ing and aaah'ing in while he was telling us the history of infrastructure and British rule of some of the sites and buildings we passed on the way to the train station
We arrived at Mumbai CST nearly 2 hours before our train was due to depart and were somewhat scammed by a registered baggage carrier who insisted that his fee for helping us out on/off over 2 hours was R.200. I ended up having to give him R.150 before he left us alone. The journey itself was uneventful but we did see some nice scenery on the way; a lot of mountainous and lush areas all intermixed. When we arrived at Aurangabad train station we were immediately met by a driver who "turned out" to be running a tourist cab service but his fees for 2 days of sightseeing all major sites including Lonar crater, Ajanta caves, Elllora caves etc seemed quite reasonable and we ended up booking him. Hotel Panchavati in Aurangabad was a bit of a disaster, a moderately dirty room with a dysfunctional A/C and a stinky toilet but thankfully at least there was a big fan in the ceiling and the hot water was OK. We ended up having "room service" food as their restaurant was busy, it was 21:30 and we were too tired to go out; food at least was OK too. This hotel is definitely below the standards we will strive for on our future endeavors. This is the second time that the Lonely Planet let us down as it stated that the hotel was much improved

Notes: - Use trip advisor carefully and do not rely on everything that the Lonely Planet says, do your own independent research. - Baggage handlers at train stations are good for quick information but carry your own luggage and you can save yourself a small fortune.

08/01/2012

We got up early this morning as this was our last full day in Mumbai and we wanted to see the Elephanta caves.
While we were buying tickets we were told that because of the smog we'd be best advised to visit in the afternoon due to poor visibility and location of sun.
So we decided instead to go shopping for a bit.
At 12 we boarded a boat for Elephanta island and arrived shortly after 13:00.
The caves were impressive and we got some very good pictures albeit with a lot of Indians too as the island was pretty busy.
At the end Claire was caught up in the usual tourist trap of posing with a couple of locals and having her picture taken. Of course I had to come to the rescue and do damage control to haggle their subsequent R.200 price tag down to R.20 under the threat of deleting picture - so we both learnt a lesson in scams and haggling aggressively :-)
We left around 15:00 and were back at hotel at 16:00 where we relaxed for a while before going for dinner.
After some discussion back and forth we decided to try a new place called Indigo, which was also highly recommended in the Lonely Planet. Unfortunately the guide let us down big time, food was substandard while really expensive. For instance Claire's lamb was so cremated/over-cooked that you couldn't separate the bones. We complained, which is very unusual, and the chef gave us one ice cream. It was also pretty had as it was crystalised from multiple thaws and we simply paid the bill and left.
As this was our last night we ended up in the Taj bar where Claire had  fancy cocktails and I stuck to pairs of Kingfisher draught and Sambuka with nice coffee beans. I failed to realize that Kingfisher is a fair bit stronger than the usual European brew and black stuff, so I was well trollied and merry by the time we left the bars in the hotel around 1:00 :-)
Notes:
- It is worth keeping in mind that the Elephanta caves are closed on Mondays and that a lot of Indians typically make picknicks for family and friends over weekends so the most quiet time to visit is Tue-Fri.

Claire getting Scammed by locals at Elephanta Caves

07/01/2012

OK, we got up late today and much to our disappointment we found that it's a bad idea to be arriving much after 9 for breakfast in the hotel on a weekend as there was hardly any buffet left and the staff was struggling to keep up with the onslaught of guests.
We spent the day relaxing, mostly in the hotel and by the pool for a few hours. It was good to relax away from the usual touristy obligations and have a bit of peace from Mumbai life.
We also got Claire a cheap mobile phone.
We had dinner in the form of Chicken Tikka rolls despite initial Delhi-belly concerns from a very popular food stall on Tullock Road not far from the hotel. We were not let down or otherwise impacted, well worth a try!!!

Notes:
- If you are concerned about Delhi-belly then you may be able to minimize the impact by asking for sauce only without onions, fresh herbs and Chutneys, so just the sauce really, which has been cooking for a while.

On the other side

This is the first posting from the other side. We have had a pretty good trip so far while in Mumbai.

04/01: We arrived in Mumbai at around lunch time with BA. When we arrived in Dublin airport 3 hours early we had our flights moved forward with Aer Lingus by nearly 2 hours due to delay concerns over heavy winds in both Ireland and the UK. We therefore had time to spend in Heathrow before the second leg and therefore had a chance to have a nice dinner in Wagamama and go shopping for books and magazines etc.
Flight was on time and reasonably uneventful other than a rather bumpy ride over the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea.
We arrived in Mumbai at lunch time and took a pre-paid cab to the Taj Mahal Palace hotel. Claire was tired and took a sleep while I decided to go sort out stuff such as a SIM card (with 3G!) from Vodafone in the hotel's business centre and a few other things.
We then dipped out into the Mumbai madness for about 30 minutes, walking the streets surrounding the Taj hotel, which were full of shops and street sellers, beeping cars and lots of people. Having had enough Mumbai culture for a day we retreated to the hotel, ate in and went to bed early.

05/01: We were both tired from lack of sleep on the plane and actually managed to sleep well past our inclusive breakfast - we didn't get up until after 12:00 in the afternoon.
So we decided instead to go down and get a brunch in a nearby Belgian themed Cafe, which turned out to be so good (and reasonably priced) that we decided to return for dinner in the evening!
We then did the tourist walk and saw the High Court, University, Mumbai train station (CST - UNESCO heritage site) and the Oval park, which is used for cricket. We certainly got much more comfortable with the pace of life on the roads and the streets and learned how to deal with touts etc.
After having had dinner in the Belgian Cafe we returned to the hotel and ended up spending a couple of hours trying to find some kind of transport to Matheran (retreat mostly for Indians from the Mumbai madness about 100km east of Mumbai), which we had decided to go and see. This turned out to be tricky as trains are booked well in advance and we didn't find any relevant tour busses - instead I had the idea of booking a cab for it and after multiple fruitless attempts in trying to call cab companies and get quotes I finally found the online booking site GetMeCab.com, which was very straightforward at 23:00 in the evening for a morning-after 8:00 booking - they just required a 10% deposit via credit card online or by call-back.

06/01: I hardly slept at all last night as I was still jetlagged whereas Claire generally has absolutely no issues in that department and we had to get up at 6:30 to shower and have breakfast, which opened at 7:00.
After a bit of texting/calling back and forth with our Indian driver around 8:00 who didn't speak much English (but very nice!) we finally realised that he was parked outside the hotel as we wasn't allowed in ;-) So we walked over and were on our way shortly after. It turned out to be a 2.5 hour journey and not too much traffic - Mumbai is indeed a late riser!
On arrival we managed to get 2 horses at half price by haggling. Claire, being the avid horse rider, was allowed to take off while I was guided along. It was an interesting journey and I got a few good pictures of the area and scenery - but overall we both felt that Matheran probably wasn't worth the amount of time and money that it cost us to get there. Had we managed instead to book trains from Mumbai and get the toy train up (21km journey, as recommeded by guide books) the results would undoubtedly have been different. But Claire at least got some riding time in and we did enjoy it and relax.
We got back at around 16:30 and went for showers (the dust was everywhere!) and then walked around town a bit. After much discussion (risk/cost/benefit calculations for spending 2 final nights in the Taj with Delhi-belly ;-) we finally settled for trying out a true Indian food stall called Bademiay on Tullock Road where we had some gorgeous Chicken Tikka rolls (!!!) as recommended by Lonely Planet - note: our thanks go to the Oz couple that highly recommended the place and that we stay away from "fresh" onions and Chutney due to concerns over handling the food. At the time of writing about 12 hours later none of us exhibit any symptoms, fingers crossed! ;-)
We then returned to the hotel and watched telly before going to sleep.

Thoughts/Points:
- It turned out to be a very good idea to book a good hotel in Mumbai/India with its own leisure facilities for the first few days, which enables you to dip in/out of the Mumbai madness and thereby acclimatise yourself at your own pace & schedule. Mumbai can be somewhat overwhelming to arrive in when you come from a country with a much smaller population density.
- To get a SIM card for your phone you need formal identification in the form of passport and a passport photo. We had the option of getting a SIM card from the Taj hotel's business centre - we just had to hand in passport and photo and then they sorted out all the forms and formalities. We paid R. 305 for the SIM and R.60 for 8 passport photos from a Kodak photo shop just behind the hotel - we were left with R. 187,- in credits after this. We also paid R.375 for 1GB of 3G Internet data - for people with smartphones and/or a laptop and the ability for tethering from the mobile (which is both allowed and possible here) it comes well recommended - performance (latency + speed) is equivalent to what you expect in Ireland and was verified using speedtest.net.
- Make sure you book a pre-paid cab in the airport for the hotel before you leave it - don't be scammed by touts and rigged meters! An A/C cab to the hotel took just over an hour and cost us just R.560.
- Many cash dispensers will allow you to take out only R.10.000 from (pre-paid) credit cards such as Moneybookers (they come very highly recommended btw). However I was able to take our R15.000 at a time in Citi Bank.
- Just like there is a train platform 9 3/4 in Harry Potter the Indians have similar lane divisions on their roads, which coupled with beeping, constant weaving and unsafe speeds makes for a fun and action-packed cab ride of a life time
- When haggling decide on a reasonable price in your mind beforehand and if it fails do not be afraid to walk away (down to the next stall) - you will find that often they will catch up with you and "cave in". For instance they kept insisting that they would charge us R.1.000 per horse/rider in Matheran for a two hour 5 highlights journey. We offered only R.1.000 for two horses/riders in total and when we started walking away and aimed for the next vendor they suddenly "caved in".
- When using cabs for visiting sites and on long journeys be aware that any road & bridge tolls and site taxes and parking have to be paid by you. So make sure you bring plenty of R.10/R.50 notes and some coins for the journey. Around Mumbai a typical toll is R.30,- and there were 3 of them each way (+ Matheran itself) to/from Matheran, as an example.
- A word of advice to white people: You are just as much of a tourist attraction to the Indians as they are to you. Do not be surprised when they ask for a photograph (or simply take one!) with you and their family. This has already happened to us a few times here in Mumbai. We have considered charging for this privilege - after all some Indians will expect payment if you photograph them, especially if you don't ask for their permission first ;-)

Taj Mahal Palace & Tower Hotel where we stayed and the Gateway of India to its right

Center of Mumbai

Elephanta Caves - Three-Headed Shiva