My first Ayurvedic massage

Well, I underwent my first Ayurvedic massage and even now three days later the whole thing is making me smile. I had NOOOOOO idea what I was letting myself in for. The massage involved the use of lots and lots of lovely oil so clothing is best avoided. Anyhooo it was great so now I’m doing the course and Monty is being a great sport and will be my ‘model’ to start with anyway. Kirsi and Eibhlin I know you would love it so I will book you in for sessions when I get back. Vijay Vargees, the teacher, talks lots about ‘the body as a temple’ and so on. I am doing the 6 day course at 8am for 2 hours each day. So far our favourite beach is South Anjuna where the flea market is held on Wednesdays, it is largely deserted on other days so we went for an early morning swim over the weekend. Of course, a couple of interested Indian men were doing a ‘tour’ of the beach came by. Monty clocked them staring at a woman some way away form us. I am not sure just how shocked I am that they decided to hang around and wait for me to come out of the water. I made the cardinal mistake of trying to stare them down - You just can’t do that with your average Indian. The interest, no matter how abhorred I am by it, is almost innocent. On another occasion, I was at a beach shack and a group of young men took up a pitch right beside a pretty girl in a bikini. As if that wasn’t bad enough, out came their video camera! Well, I called the waiter over and Monty had to stop me causing a scene (until at least he’d finished making his own video LOL). Would you believe there are no oranges, grapes and normal apples around? The small bananas are lovely though. Ice cream is available but expensive. As I write, Monty is taking off in search of nice cold tinned fruit. Supermarkets, chemists etc are fixed price but goods from home are understandably expensive. Insect repellent coils are my favourite discovery and I fully intend to use them when I get back. I know I shouldn’t just shop but I love it. Now however, I don’t bring any money with me so it is safe shopping as such. We found a nice beach shack by Tito’s night club owned and run by a young Goan man called Cedric who values the Coventry crowd among his regulars. Tito’s is the main club and is mentioned a lot in the guide books – its even has the road it is on named after it. Most of the shacks (many of which are still being erected) operate this way so I’m sure there are a few Irish and London ones. We have found a Molly Malone’s but even thought they serve Irish stew, the Goan owner hasn’t ever been to the Emerald Isle. I wrote how to say ‘God be with you / Dia duit’ in their ledger so if any of you visit over the next few years and inspect it, you can see that and smile. A lady in an internet shop invited me to celebrate Diwale with her family but I had only spoken to her for two minutes so I declined. She was in her late 40s and enquired of me what we celebrate where I live so I told her about Christmas and we discussed the similarities – the importance of family and food etc. The locals were making plaster giant puppets for the celebrations and one of them hit the overhead electric wires and burned which was a real as there was a significant cash prize for the best one. All this happened while we blow-ins were sleeping but we saw some of the remnants of the celebrations the following morning and there is still a smell of burning in the air two days later. Lots of people light bonfires in their front yard or by the road side, similar to how they do in Adrigole when a wedding convoy is going past. There were “Diwali prices” thrown into the bargaining the next day. The bargaining thing is a real art and battle of wits here and the Goans will almost certainly win. I have been warned that they will put the price of merchandise up to 800% of the value that one might be prepared to pay for it as they anticipate an offer of half that and room to barter, giving them a very nice tidy profit. I am loving the book that Aaron and Dawn has given me to read on my trip; It is called Shantaram and tells the story of a New Zealander who escaped from prison to India where he had all sorts of adventures with the criminal underworld and slum living and Bollywood and all that. I went on the scooter by myself today and it was ok, I didn’t go above 20km/hour but lots of the locals go at that speed so I didn’t stand out as I used to in London. I can’t imagine being in Goa without a scooter. A litre of petrol is about 55Rs and scooter hire is 200 to 300/day. Only about 1 in 50 people in India wear helmets. Hooting in India is a way of saying ‘I’m here’ and goes on a lot, to the point where you hardly notice it. At peak season, the roads will be very congested making any scooter speed and accidents pretty rare. One of my favourite luxuries that I brought with me is the Dior factor 30 sun-cream that I was given as a present. This brings to mind the list of things that every girl should bring on any long trip. A small loofa can be a great help for hand washing clothes, the combination lock has been handy, the head torch has been great for reading when the lights go out and bikinis are great for doubling up as underwear. Anyway, now I know I’m going on a bit so I better do some study for my next lesson tomorrow morning….