On with the journey!

Just when you thought that this blog was well and truly dead...we're back again! The photos and stories from our trip to India stalled at Mysore...the final leg took in a couple of hours in Bangalore (that was enough!), then to the ruins of Hampi and onwards to the Lobo family home in Goa, before flying to and then out of New Delhi towards Istanbul. We'll come back to the Hampi photos in the next blog and cut straight to Goa and our final days in Delhi...so, on with the story...

After another long train journey from Hampi to Margao, we finally got off at the Vasco train station and quickly found a pre-paid taxi to the village of Parra, where my great-grandfather's home still remains. I was so eager about showing Andrew around Goa and the family home, that I could hardly contain my growing excitement. The trip from Vasco to Parra should have taken approximately an hour and I was counting on arriving during daylight. However, just to ensure that our plans were not in my hands at all, we soon discovered that our elderly taxi driver was not only half-blind but that he insisted in driving in fourth gear at an average speed of 30 kilometres an hour. Never has my patience been so sorely tested! However, it was when he decided to enter a roundabout in the opposite direction just so he could get to a fuel station, that we all had merciless thoughts of ditching the poor chap and jumping into the driver's seat ourselves! Nevertheless, we grit our teeth, resigned ourselves to our fate and continued to wind through unknown roads in the hands of a man who really should not have been in charge of a vehicle. As the twilight turned to night, I began to worry that I wouldn't be able to navigate our way to the house, but suddenly, the road I was looking for appeared, and all the familiar landmarks from many childhood holidays to Goa came flooding back. We arrived well after dark and my sister and parents came out to greet us. It was such a delight to be back, five years after my last visit with Astrid. After a light supper, we all fell thankfully into bed and woke to a beautiful morning. The next day, never tiring of the sights and smells of Indian markets, we made our way to Mapusa, the main market area about 10 kilometres from Parra.

Spices for sale at the Mapusa markets

A woman selling her wares at the markets

We only remained in Goa for four days before flying to New Delhi and in that time we managed a couple of trips to Mapusa, a visit to Calangute (a very touristy beachside spot) where my aunt from Geneva was staying for a few weeks and generally just lazed about and relaxed in anticipation of the next stage of our journey.

The view from the front balcony of the Parra house

Relaxing on the balcony at the front of the house

Afternoons were often spent with a book and some snacks gazing out on the view and rocking away slowly!

When we were little, my Dad always used to show us this vision of hell painted on a wall at the local Catholic church in Parra, in the hope that it would inspire good behaviour forevermore!

A plaque at the church in memory of my great-grandparents on my father's side

The back of the house (but also the main entrance)

Andrew testing out the old scooter that my Grandad used to ride well into his 100th year! He took Viv for a spin down the road to drop her off at a bus stand!

Testing his skills at cleaving a coconut!

And enjoying the fruits of his labours!

The dining room

The large central hall with 20 foot high ceilings and four main bedrooms coming off from here

Calangute beach, which suprisingly continues to attract many overseas tourists (they obviously haven't seen Australian beaches) and locals alike

The breaking of the fellowship on 31st December...we won't be all together again until after August when Astrid returns at last!

In New Delhi, we managed to meet up with my Uncle Bernard from Geneva and his sister, Muriel, who were on their way to Goa too. It was lovely to meet Muriel, who is also a Baha'i and works for the Baha'i International Community in Geneva.

Accomodation in the centre of New Delhi is very expensive even for 'hotels' such as this one that we managed to find...complete with a tree growing through the bathroom!

Our hotel was somewhere in here!

On our way back from Haifa and Istanbul, we had one more day in Delhi for some last minute shopping. We passed this sign, shook our heads in wonderment and hurried on! Farewell strange and crazy land!

Leaving India

In just fourteen hours, our great Indian adventure will only be something to look back on with many fond memories of all the bewildering, joyful and fun-filled experiences we have had over the past 4 weeks.

We are in New Delhi right now - icy cold New Delhi - which has sent us scurrying to our suitcases for our socks and jackets. We thought that this weather was bad enough...until we decided to look up the weather forecast for our next destinations - Istanbul and Edirne in Turkey. Forecast night-time temperatures in Istanbul are 5C and Edirne -6C! We are somewhat rueing our decision to visit Turkey in the winter!

Tomorrow we fly out of New Delhi at 1:15pm, though we are quite certain that it will be somewhat later than that due to Delhi's constant problem of fogginess and traffic congestion. We haven't had too much of a chance to explore this bustling city of millions - we arrived slap-bang in the middle of New Year's celebrations on the 31st, and today spent a bit of time at some upmarket shopping places (big mistake) before grounding ourselves again at the mind-blowing markets in Old Delhi. We would have loved more time just to look around and orient ourselves, but alas, our time has run out as we now look frward to the second leg of our journey.

Later on we hope to fill in some more gaps and add some more photos from our wonderful times in Mysore and Goa, but now it's time for bed!

Happy New Year to all of you!

Four Days to Go...

Astrid
Well, with Lorraine doing profiles of the three of us, I thought it was apt that I do a profile on the main author of this blog - Lorraine.

Lorraine's idol

I remember the night that we met very clearly. We were discussing nature documentaries and I excitedly asked her if she'd seen David Attenborough's 'The Private Life of Plants'. When she answered, equally excited, 'Yes - and I loved it', I knew that a beautiful friendship had been born.

Lorraine grew up a few suburbs away from me in Perth, but we didn't meet until we were both at uni. A couple of years later, she went up to the stunning Pilbara region to work whilst I spent a year travelling. At the end of 2001, we met up together in North India, where we travelled around Rajasthan in a hired car with a poor-English speaking, direction-less teenage driver, whom we affectionately (and rather frustratedly) nicknamed "Rami Swami". We then ventured further east to Varanasi and south to Goa. What an amazing time we had together - it will be a very different experience travelling with the boys.

People bathing in ghats, Varanasi

Nowadays, Lorraine is a dedicated school teacher for a number of very cute 5-6 year olds, a keen home-maker and baker of melt-in-your-mouth cakes and treats. And yes, she still loves her nature documentaries...