I spent 4 nights in Arambol (Harmal) beach, which is the northernmost main beach in Goa, keeping in mind that Goa is about 100km long from north to south, as the crow flies. Plus, if you want to leave by long-distance train or plane, you have to back to/near Margao/Madgaon anyways (originally I wanted to go to northern beaches because I though it would be a little more “on my way” to Mumbai, but no).
Each beach in Goa has its own character; the two I went to were very different, but neither one was picture postcard perfect (supposedly Agonda beach in south Goa comes closest, while still being quiet).
Highlights (or rather points of interest) of my 2 nights in Benaulim beach (technically I might have been in Serabatim beach, which is in between Benaulim and Colva beaches):
Photos: my hotel and resto Coco Huts; barefoot on a shaded beach lounge chair (free); view north from my hotel resto; little crab that digs itself into the sand at edge of surf (even on my hand, it would dig into the little pile of sand and tickle my hand); fishing boat and family on the beach
My (24 hour ride) train arrived at 1:30 (am), over 6 hours late (i.e. 30 hours long). They gave my room away, so I weaseled a cot with fresh sheets in the staff room (they sleep on mats in the lobby) for free (I tipped him this morning), and was able to use the common shower/toilet (for some of the rooms) this morning, since I had been in the same clothes for 48 hours! I got up at 5:30 for boat tour on river, but weather is poor (foggy) so it was a little disappointing. And cold. Well, 19°C with fog/haze and wind and no sun felt mighty cold without a real sweater on! I was told the weather was quite unusual and it had been nice in the morning all week (plus, it didn’t get sunny until mid-afternoon!) I’m leaving Varanasi for Agra in a few hours – a 12 hour night train! Unfortunately this means I will miss the Shiva festival tonight (and tomorrow night), but I didn’t know about that. Tip: don’t schedule just one day in a town if it is important, esp. if you want sunshine for good photos! Too much travel, will cut Jaisalmer out of that itinerary…
Update: I did watch some cremations at Manikarnika Ghat, the main one with continual cremations (24 hours a day, a good dozen at once). More on that when I do the highlights. Inhaling that smoke didn’t help my lungs any (I started coughing again on the long train ride coming here).
The World Heritage listed Ajanta caves (Buddhist) were another tight squeeze on the way to a different train station (Jalgaon) for a 24 hour trip to Varanasi.
These cave temples weren’t as cool as the ones in Ellora, but still interesting. I found the cave paintings disappointing, but without a guide (nor a good flashlight – my headlamp isn’t working anymore!) they were rather faint and I couldn’t usually find the specific painting that the guidebook mentioned in a particular cave.
Tip: if you can only do one, see Ellora.
I sent a package home from Aurangabad, a process which took over an hour, between the auto-rickshaw rides, the boxing/wrapping/stitching/wax-sealing of my things, and going to the post office (which mercifully had a short line and an English speaking clerk).
Note the wax seals (14!) on the finished package.
Over 7kg/16lbs, it cost Rs300/$7.50 to wrap (overly expensive, but no competition here, unlike Mumbai where the general post office was open on Sunday, but not the foreign parcel desk), and Rs3005/$75 for air parcel service (within 2 weeks delivery – I didn’t want to pay half and wait 2 months for ship parcel service).
Some misc photos:
Some misc photos:
I arrived in Aurangabad today, which is hella hot in the daytime, but reasonable in the evening. Very dry landscape.
The reason I’m here is I visited the World Heritage site Ellora Caves today (a must see!), which make the Mamallapuram rock carvings look minor…
More detail later, this internet place is closing soon (I really wanted to get some big highlights done of previous stops 
There are 34 “caves” (some Buddhist, some Hindu, some Jain) carved out of the cliff-side between 7th and 11th Century)
Expensive hotels here. My half-decent budget hotel is Rs900/$22.50 per night (usually I’ve been paying Rs400/$10 most nights).
And I don’t even have my own toilet (though I do have a (bucket) shower in my room). Sigh.
And check out time is noon, so even though I’m here 48 hours (6am to 6am two days later), I’m paying for 3 nights! Well, he did give me a discount (only Rs500/$12.50 for the first “night” from 6am to noon today).
I ended up sleeping a few hours upon checkin because I didn’t sleep well on the train last night, despite following the lead of 3 Indian-Canadians from B.C. and paying for an upgrade to AC2 class (from AC3) via the conductor. Funny, AC2 was waitlisted when I tried to buy the ticket, and now there are at least a dozen empty berths.
Mumbai isn’t as bad as I expected, but I’ve only seen the small Colaba area near my hotel… after a late “brunch” (a South Indian thali) during which I read up and highlit my guidebook, I’m now ready to get out and explore!
On Monday I moved from Benaulim beach to Arambol beach, one of the northern-most beaches in Goa (which is a comparatively small state for India).
The move required an auto-rickshaw, 2 express buses and a local bus (3 ¼ hours total), plus some time in one of the towns to hit an ATM and top-off my Indian mobile.
Hanging out on the beach with new friends, listening to live music in the evenings, etc. Non-busking western saxophonist on the beach for sunset last night!
Much busier here than in Benaulim, way more stores and restos and Internet cafes along the road leading to the beach (the village of Arambol is inland over 1km).
I burned some more photos to DVD to free up 2 full memory sticks and now it looks like my first DVD might be corrupt?! This was on the laptop of my Quebec friend Nicole, who I ran into again here (having first met her on the train from Mysore to Bangalore); now she’s in Rajasthan at an Indian wedding, crossing paths with her daughter who is also travelling in India…
(I bought 3 blank DVDs for Rs100/$2.50)
I’ve had surprising trouble getting on the Internet here – either the connection is down, or hotmail has been down, or power outages, or simply closed (they open late, close early).
Update a few hours later: I’m trying again, but the power was out, though I did get to use one of the computers on their battery back up, but the Internet is painfully slow so more highlights from recent places will have to wait 2-3 more days until Mumbai.
I decided to stay an extra night here, so my next move will be tomorrow back to Madgaon (Margao) to catch an 11-hour night train to Mumbai, where I will be for 2 days.
I did take a second yoga class here, which was great, way better than the first one! The yoga instructor makes all the difference…
