Goa, baby

Hey ya people! This time it's Pauliina & Yakov writing together so heeeeere it goes, in English. Back to updating our trip... After Vipassana-course ended we got to know better our coursemates Brigite from Austria and Zach from USA. We all had the same destination, Arambol in Goa, so we decided to travel together. We stuffed ourselves and our bags to the same tuktuk and after 30 min ride to the city of Kolhapur we switched to the local bus. Seven lovely hours ahead of us again!! The bus was already packed when we got there and we squeezed our asses on the backseat. Yakov was showing his McGyver skills by fixing few seats on the way (and getting a lot of respect from the Indian men). If u've never been on a local bus in India the best way to describe it is a rollercoaster (we almost hit our heads on the roof during few jumps).

After arriving to North Goa we stayed chatting for a while and then started looking for a place to crash. We bumped in to Yakov's friend from Suomi who helped us by carrying our bags and finding our first nights' "luxurious hut" in the Art of Giving. The best way to describe the boss is a parody of a guru (he calls himself Celebration Baba). He indeed gave us so much beyond chai, snacks and "luxury hut"(luxury construction site, like we were calling it); a good laugh for many, many days...

U can also find him on fb, yay!

Arambol turned out to be the capital city of hyper hippies and their million billion courses. Few examples of the never ending selection: Ashtanga-, Oceanic-, Kundalini-, Hatha-, Tantra-, Early birds-, Iyengar- and Panda Yoga, Tantra inspirations Juicy workshop, Yoga for health and fitness, Yoga teacher training course, Yoga with Alex, Shiatsu, Reiki, Tibetan acupuncture, eye-reading and astrology, Meditation, Arambol music academy, Tai chi, Divine healing, Holy whore, Hola hoop, Chi kung, Ayurvedic massage intensive workshop, Detox, The art of Love workshop, The art of Giving workshop, Aura - Soma healing massage training, Breath and bodywork trauma release training, Fusion massage, Classical bellydance, Presence theatre workshop, Life satisfaction & empowerment etc.

Guess how many we attended! Naturally... none. We just felt overwhelmed and wanted to leave the place. Anyhow, we spent four nights in a house of an Indian family where we were renting a room with attached "kitchen" and a shared toilet. Somehow in India, until now, all the flats that we experienced seemed to be unfinished. No shelves, broken tables, walls that are painted in a hurry... But the Indian hospitality, kindness and smiles were covering up the missing holes.

The kitchen with no facilities to actually cook

Perfect breakfast: fresh coconuts! <3

Sharing the cocos with all the family

So what to do when ur room is not so appealing? Rent a scooter and explore the most exquisite locations of Northern Goa: Baskin & Robbins (delicious ice cream chain from US), Subway in Baga, Domino's Pizza in Anjuna, The wednesday flea market of Anjuna (the only fleas there will be on the wondering doggies) and the Saturday night market of Arpora.

A gorgeous banyan-tree on the way to Anjuna

Munchies started at Subway...

...Continued at Domino's

Sanna, this one is for ya! ;D Good old memories!

The thirsty driver drinking his official freshner, coconut water

Traffic view

Giant squid wins! At Anjuna

Contrasts of India

U really think this would do any change?

The flea market of Anjuna started in the 70's where hippies were selling their used clothes and second hand stuff. Today it is a tourist trap where u can find the usual crap, just double the price. Arpora's Saturday night market has the benefit of the cooler time of the day and here u can also find westerners selling their unique and handmade creations (that all look the same). Pauliina found a beautiful hand jewelry and Yakov found, surprise surprise, food.

Pauliina's swetty wetty doggy-look (Naura pois ja tuu ite kokeilemaan)

Yakov pretending to be interested that Pauliina could take a pic of this woman covered with jewelrys

After giving up on the scooter we surrendered ourselves to the beach life. Few kilometers from Arambol we found a super relaxing, peaceful and almost deserted beach of Mandrem. Here we spent 10 days until we changed our location to the South, Palolem. In Palolem we spent two weeks in the hot and humid atmosphere. Palolem was really laid-back and so were the people in our beach hut hood.

Yako reading at Mandrem

Cockroach coming for a visit

The western/indian-style toilet, dirrrrtyy...

Family portrait

On the train to Palolem

BBH(F) - Our fave restaraunt in town

Pauliina with her love "Bilu bilu" like the owners called it

Krishna's most important teachings!

After saying goodbye to Goa we had a 700 km ride with train to Mumbai where we'd be hanging out 3 days before flying to Thailand.

Our first connection failed in Balli and we had to catch a packed bus to Margao that we would make it to our 12 hour train to Mumbai. In India anything can indeed happen!

Broken train will not brake our spirit

A sign at the trainstation. It tells a lot.

The Gateway of India, Mumbai and the must have tourist pic

The Taj Mahal hotel on the background, yey

Street view in Mumbai

Even though India is highly polluted, dirty, filthy, stinky and much more, it's also loving, giving and very teaching. U just gotta love it.

Living and traveling there is cheap (in the price but sometimes high for the nerves & health). We were spending around 450 € each in a month. For accomodation we spent average Rs600 (around 9 € for a night) but u can also live a lot cheaper. We just really enjoyed having our own toilet!

C u again India in two months! <3