CALUNGUTE (GOA), INDIA

After a 30-minute trip through some other small towns, the taxi arrived in Calungute. I could see that there were quite a few more people here than in Vagator. I knew of a hotel that I wanted to try, but it turned out to be closed down or impossible to find. I went to my second choice and checked into a pleasant room for about $8 per night that had no A/C or TV this time. It was actually cool enough in the evenings that a ceiling fan was better than a noisy air conditioner anyway so it wasn’t a problem.

It was a 5-minute walk to the beach and I was happy to see people there. Unfortunately though, when I looked closely I realized the people were almost all Indian families. Evidently after the European tourists leave after Easter, Calungute becomes a destination for package tourist from other parts of India. The beach itself is nice enough, but it’s just one long stretch with nothing to look at except for sand and water. There were some jet skis and other sporty things available, but it was mainly just Indian people splashing around in the water between sunbathing breaks.

There were beach shacks similar to those in Vagator, but instead of playing really hip music they played no music at all. Still, I sat down and had a few beers and read my book and had a relaxed afternoon anyway. That evening I went to a restaurant in the town next to Calungute called Baga. It was more happening with a younger crowd there, but still quite dead overall. I realized it was time to arrange transport for my next destination.

The next morning I headed into a travel agency across from my hotel. They said they could book a train ticket for me to Ajmer for a fee of about $5, but this was for two journeys. I would have to go on an all day trip to Mumbai and then take a taxi to another train station for a trip that would go all night and part of the next day to get to Ajmer. They said to come back in a few hours to pick up the tickets.

I walked around for a while and then went back to the travel agency where they told me the trains were sold out for the next week. They said I could possibly buy tickets myself if I went to the train station in the main city in the area. In India they have what are called Tourist Quota tickets that are allotted only for people with foreign passports so tourists can get around if they come to India. I asked how far the station was that I had to go to and they said it could be reached by taxi in about 90 minutes. What?!?! Just to be sure, I went outside and asked an auto rickshaw driver (3-wheeled golf cart-like cab) how much it would cost for a roundtrip. He said it would be about $20. It would take 3 hours going back and forth, but possibly an hour or more inside the station since the train ticketing procedure is slow, clumsy, corrupt and unpleasant. It would take half a day to possibly buy a ticket so I wasn’t anxious to do it.

I went to an Internet place upstairs and searched for flights to Delhi. From there I could take a 6-hour train trip to Ajmer and Pushkar. I found a flight for about $150 to Delhi leaving the next day. It was on a new low cost airline called Air Deccan consisting of one ticket from Goa to Mumbai in the early morning and then another ticket from Mumbai to Delhi after a 7-hour layover in Mumbai. They call themselves a point-to-point airline so I couldn’t buy one ticket all the way and I wondered why. The flight was at 7 a.m. the next morning so I had to leave my hotel at 5 a.m. for the one-hour taxi ride to the airport.

I went back to Baja that night and it was still dead, but kind of fun. I wished I had stayed there instead of Calungute, but it didn’t matter because neither was worth sticking around for. I woke up around 4 a.m. and packed up. The day before I had arranged for an auto rickshaw to take me to the airport and he was waiting for me at 5 a.m., right on time. It took a full hour to get there, even with no traffic that time of the morning. I was considering seeing some sights while I was there like the almost abandoned Portuguese town of Old Goa, but I was really never that interested and Goa is a place to hang out, not sightsee and I had done enough sightseeing for a lifetime in the last few months anyway. It was very interesting to see Goa, but frustrating too since it was so dead at this time.

I got to the airport and checked in. I heard an announcement that my flight was delayed about an hour. I didn’t mind at all since it would be one less hour in Mumbai. The plane finally left almost two hours late since the plane from Mumbai arrived almost that late. I got to the Mumbai airport, but had no desire to do anything other than just read and wait for my flight. I looked for a lounge to rest in, but all there was a somewhat expensive restaurant. There was also a mini hotel right there at the airport and for $5 you can book an A/C room with a TV in it and spend the day there. The private rooms were booked so I got a dorm room, but there was only one other guy in there and 3 empty beds. He was watching Arabic news and relaxing so I just took the bed on the other side of the room and relaxed for a few hours, then went down to have lunch and then to check in for my flight.

I realized why Air Deccan is a point-to-point airline. They say they are not liable for connecting flights that you don’t make, even when they are on Air Deccan itself. Luckily I had 7 hours to play with because the flight to Delhi left about 90 minutes late itself. Air Deccan is disorganized and amateurish, but they are also about $90 cheaper than Air India or Sahara Air so I was happy with my decision anyway. Two hours after we took off I landed at the Delhi International Airport.