Happy Holi!

We would have liked to take more action shots but fearing for our cameras safety we decided to play it safe. Enjoy.

Started out so nice

bikeby coloring

everyone wanted to wish Saara a happy holi

I think purple is a great color on me.

Looking cool

Put color on the wrongful guyana and look what happened

They all jumped in the sea after.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

37 kms Palolem to Karwar, Karnataka

Today we got up super early to catch the coolest hours of the day to cycle from Palolem to Karwar in the state of Karnataka. We left from our hotel in Goa at 6.30am. The weather was really nice and cool and the sun had just started to rise. Our first stop was the ATM in Canacona just 2 kilometers away because there are no ATM's in Palolem. We had 10 rupees and some change left so we were cutting it pretty close. 

Cotiago wildlife sanctuary. Went there two years ago but this time just passing by.

We were cycling at an all right speed. It was fairly flat. There was just some bigger hills but also nice downhills. I enjoyed cycling so early in the morning when it was not so hot. There are little signs on the side of the road of how many kilometers to the next town so I once timed our speed and it took 20 minutes to go 5 kilometers. I was able to look at the time so frequently because my Canadian Lulu Lemon t-shirt has a pocket on the side that fits my phone perfectly. Great design! :)

We crossed the border from Goa to Karnataka at 9 am that's two and a half hours after we left Palolem. This is the main highway no 17 or something going along the western coast of India. There was very little traffic as you can see so Mum doesn't need to worry! Plus we have helmets... 

Jason with our luggage in hotel reception

We got to Karwar town center at 10.15 am. We looked for a hotel for a while. Some of them were pretty gross so kept on looking until we found this nice and clean hotel for 500 rupees. The room we have now is probably the nicest one we have had so far on our trip in India. 

Had some lunch in a local restaurant. We ordered South Indian thali and chapati. 

Karwar town is actually quite a bit smaller and quieter than I thought. I was expecting a loud Indian city but it's not so bad. We walked around the market, a great chance to get some pictures...

Spices for all the curries. Masala, korma, cinnamon.... The bright yellow and red powders at the front are for the holy marks on their foreheads.

Color powder is sold everywhere! 

Tomorrow morning there is the big Hindu festival Holi. People throw color on each other. Based on what we have talked to people it is going to be crazyyy..can't wait!  Today I'm wearing a white shirt so a shopkeeper told me to rather wear black tomorrow cause white will not be white after tomorrow.. We also bought like 20 of these bags of color powder because Jason gets easily overly excited.

Because of this Holi festival there are a lot of strange looking figures walking around town. This guy was making some bird noises and just five minutes ago a group of skeleton masked guys with drums walked by the internet place we're in. One of them was wearing the Scream movies mask. All the shops are closing as well cause tomorrow is a holiday and the town seems very quiet (to be in India).

Looking forward to tomorrow and seeing all the color being thrown at people. We are a bit unsure what to do with the cycling because by the time the Holi festivities are over it will be afternoon and very hot for cycling.

Palolem

 In the evening when we arrived to Palolem after cycling uphill in the heat we went for a swim and then to good old Cuba restaurant. We used to go there all the time when we last visited Palolem in May 2010.

First morning in Palolem Beach we saw a massive dead rat on the sand. Gross! Jason is demonstrating the size of it here. Lucky we didn't see any live rats and our room was solid and rat free.

Palolem is a very relaxing place. Every day was basically the same. Just getting breakfast and sometime even got to read the paper as well.  Then just laying in the sun under the burlap shade reading and swimming every once in a while. Pretty nice. 

I read these three books while in Goa. Jason read the ones that are in English. His Finnish is getting a little bit better but he can't obviously read a book in Finnish yet. Maybe one day... :)

Hemingway - To Have and Not

Stephen Fry - The Fry Chronicles

Barbara Demick - Nothing to Envy

The Hemingway book I bought in Finland before I left for Australia, just hadn't had the time to read it before. Stephen Fry's autobiography was quite funny. I found it in our hotel restaurant in Hampi. My dad has a copy at home but I hadn't read it. The most capturing was the book about North Korean people who had defected to South Korea. I thought it was very well written and I just couldn't stop reading it. Like Jason said the book gives a little glimpse on the mindset of the people from North Korea. I'm sure I will think about the book when we go to Seoul in June.

Before sunset we wanted to get a beer somewhere but no cafe was selling any. Goa had their state elections and during the voting day and a couple days after there is a full alcohol ban for all shops and restaurants. The first cafe we tried sold us take away beer anyways so we went to sit on the rocks and drink it in "secret". Apparently there is an alcohol ban to reduce riots between the two main parties. 

Jason bought new sunglasses for 100 rupees. He's happy. 

Bicycles and beaches

We took a sleeper night bus from Hospet to Margao Goa. It was good but we arrived to Margao at 4.20am so we didn't get to sleep for very long.

Deluxe honeymoon bed haha

 With some luck we found a very clean cafe near the bus station where we waited till things started to open up. Well we had a idea of riding a bicycle from Goa to the southern tip of India. We have only done a bit of research online but it looked possible. So first thing in the morning we started searching for bicycles. After lots of searching and pricing out we decided on Indian made 6speed Hercules bicycles. Less to brake and lots of parts available.

Us with the cycle shop owner.

By the time we finished that it was late in the evening and we were exhausted. Spent the night in Margao then in the morning headed off to Colva beach 7kms away. Was great to see the ocean again. When I went down to the beach i saw a great way to do 15ks by riding the beach. Hope we can do it again was a great way to bike. No honking trucks and many restaurants to stop for a cold water. Well our map showed a bridge at the end of the beach but no such luck and we had to back track a bit. On our way to the ferry Saara got a flat and we had to spend the night in a very strange hotel. After checking I had to bike to try and track down a new tube as Saaras had a hole at the base of the valve. After 3 little bike shop houses and almost 20km we were back to having 2 working bikes. With doing only a bit more than 40km i was unusually tired. I was not feeling so hot before but attributed it to long bus rides and no sleep. By the evening it turned into a fever which thankfully passed and we were back on the road in the morning.

Our map well sort of we took a picture of one and used that haha. Need to plan a little better.

Improvised panniers. Rice bags with one side sowed together. It gets many laughs.

Colva beach

 We had two options hilly and sort of scenic or a little less hilly. We opted for the less hilly highway and found it to be very hilly more than our loaded 6speeds could handle. We ended up pushing it up a never ending hill running from shade to shade. After 6 hours 40km later we were finally at Palolem beach. Now time to watch a few sunsets relax swim and plan the rest of our journey south.