After leaving Dubai I arrived in Mumbai late in the evening. Spent sometime talking with some other hostel goers and then went to bed. The next day I decided to venture out onto the streets of Mumbai alone to see what I could find out about this place before I had to head to the airport. I wandered the streets, taking in all the traffic and honking, which was expected but still slightly overwhelming. While I got multiple stares from passers by, I did not get as many call outs as I had expected. And it was a welcomed change from constantly hearing "mzungu, mzungu", which was the case in Kenya. I ran into a few break downs of communication while trying to get a sim card for my phone, so I gave up and rushed back to my hostel to get my things together and head to the airport so I could fly down to Goa for a little beach party time.
After a little wait in the Goa airport, I was delighted to see some familiar faces from back home. Marc Deon, Thomas Siebel, Emile Nahachewsky and Brett Campbell all arrived, we got a taxi and headed to the famous Anjuna Beach area to search for a place to stay. We ended up getting two rooms from a hilarious indian lady who was constantly yelling into our rooms asking if we want pineapple, coconut, banana, water, taxi... whatever we wanted she was going to try to get it for us. We spent the night drinking Kingfishers in a restaurant on the beach. Once we got kicked out of there we heard the trans music that Goa is famous for and followed the sound to a packed beach bar and danced the night away until we stumbled home, somehow finding our place and crashing for the night.
The next day was a recovery day which included shopping! We went the the Anjuna Flea market which is a massive market full of women literally pulling you into their shops and getting you to buy their stuff with some persuasive tactics. There were so many beautiful things that I really just couldn't make up my mind on anything and ended up with a pair of alibaba pants and a skirt. After our shopping expedition we all felt good enough to take on Kingfishers again and found a fantastic treehouse bar. "Tantra" Was a three level restaurant with separate cubicles filled with pillows and cushions, complete with security curtains and ladders to get to the beds. Such a fantastic atmosphere, we had some snacks, drinks and wished Thomas a happy birthday!
The next few days were spent relaxing on the beaches, drinking beer and eating LOTS of curry and naan. Best food ever! We even rented scooters and took our chances on the open India roads to explore some other beaches. Of course given Goa's reputation for crazy dance parties there were a few late nights that took on into the mornings ending on the beach drinking chai and eating omelets made from one of the dozen women that sit outside waiting for party goers to leave. Not a bad introduction to India, but I kept thinking... this can't be what India is like, the boys assured me I was right.
My journey so far is one where I have taken risks, stepped outside my comfort zone and learn to do what it is I want to do. So, with a little encouragement from the boys and a visit from the famous Marc Jacobs (Marc Deon) I got a hair cut. Marc beautifully snipped off the right side of my hair down to the scalp so I am now rocking a badass undercut. Marc also put his personal touch on it by taking away my sideburn, thanks Marc...
Leaving Goa and the boys was sad but exciting. It was so nice to reconnect with people who I hadn't seen or heard from in years. India seems to have a strange way of bringing people together and bringing out the unexpected. It was exciting though, because I started to think of all the amazing ways that India is about to unleash her craziness on me. I can just feel like something great is going to happen in the most disguised way, I'm just waiting to see when this will come about.
I've spent the last week with 7 other girls doing some sight seeing in Delhi and Hindi lessons with our host, Dr. Bandhu. There are 5 girls from Australia, one from the states and one from Canada, Prince Albert Saskatchewan to be exact, can you believe it! There is even another girl we met at the airport doing the same program from Moose Jaw, what are the chances! I hadn't met a single person from Sasky yet and already in my program are two others. The old Indian architecture is amazing and beautiful, I love imagining how much work some of these temples took to achieve the beauty that they are even today. Learning Hindi is tough, but I'm hoping to catch on to more of it as time goes on. Today we get to see a Bollywood movie, I'm pumped! And then tomorrow I head to my new home stay and monday start my volunteer placement that is meant to be working with women. I'll keep ya posted as to how it goes!
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