Back to Goa (Part 2)

This time in Goa we went south and the beach was beautiful - nice soft sand, clean, long, warm water, great waves and not crowded at all. The days were spent lounging on the beach, playing in the waves and eating at our favorite little beach shack: Cafe Zumbrai, just next door to the hotel.

We stayed at the Taj Exotica which I would not recommend. Overall the service was poor - we heard the word "No" far too much - and the food was overpriced and unappetizing. There were some good points such as housekeeping, the Goan restaurant and staff, and the breakfasts. Generally at these "expensive" hotels you are paying extra for service and facitllities - this time, unfortunately, it didn't pay off.

I was really surprised because I had such a good experience last month at the Taj Holiday Village where customer service was outstanding, food was excellent and reasonably priced. Ahh, how I longed for "Towel Ganesha..."

So we just had our breakfast at the hotel and then off to the beach for the day. Lunch and dinner we gladly walked the hundred meters down the beach to Cafe Zumbrai where we ate fresh fish, all the Goan specialties, pasta, cheap beer and cocktails too!

All in all (despite the hotel), we had a great family vacation with lots of sun, sand, surf and good food.

Back to Goa

We went to Goa for springbreak. Whereas my last trip to Goa was all about cooking, this one was all about the beach, the waves, and a day walking about Margao. The kids weren't too thrilled to give up half a day at the beach to walk around this busy little town. But what the heck, a little Goan architecture and street life never hurt anyone.

I just loved this stretch of the road with that fabulous old building in the background.

Wow, look at the dried chilies!

"Dream World The Ultimate Shop" -  I wonder if she went there...

India Wins World Cup!

Wickets, overs, bowlers, strikers, outs. Sachin, Dhoni, Gambhir, Singh.

Hey, a month ago none of this meant anything to me but living in India how can one not get swept up in cricket-mania! And at 8 hrs a game it's not hard to figure it all out after a couple games - well, not everything but I can pretty much figure it out.

India should be proud, and they are I tell you. Last nights game started well for Sri Lanka who ended up with 274 runs after batting first. India got two outs within the first 30 balls and Indian fans looked a little depressed. But they came back slowly and surely and in the end when they only needed one run to win - they got a sixer - a beautiful ball hit into the crowd to win it all.

Congrats India - glad to be here to watch it and great to be on the winning side!

Blogging

I only thought a handful of people were reading my blog. If I look at my profile page I see the number of profile views which I thought was the same as blog views. It's at about 2300, over 19 months. That's why I thought not many people read my blog - just a few loyal family members and friends.

But when Mariannick (of Chez Mariannick) told me they get people coming in every week because of my blog and I met someone at yoga for the first time who asked if I was the same Nancy who has the blog...I started to wonder. I finally found the "stats" button (is it new?) and it turns out I have over 16,000 hits in the last nine months. The most popular posts are:

Bangalore Restaurant Guide
Nrityagram Dance Village
Christmas Decorations
A Day at Soukya Holistic Health Centre
Bryan Adams Concert in Bangalore
Ganesh Festival - The Life Cycle of a Ganesh Statue
Andamen Islands (Part 3) - Snorkeling
Andamen Islands (Part 4) - The Other Side of the Island
Dandiya
Books Set in India

And who is looking at the blog? Well, I can't tell exactly but by country India is way ahead, then U.S., Canada, U.K., Germany, Thailand, Malaysia, Australia, Netherlands, Finland, Ireland.

And here I just thought I was writing it for myself and a few curious family members and friends...

Holi: The Funnest Day of the Year

What do you get when you mix coloured paint and water? FUN!