We decided to rent a scooter yesterday which ended up being a great choice. We finally had the freedom of going wherever we wanted (well, at least along the 10 miles coast of Northern Goa). We had tried to rent a scooter the day before to go to Panaji, but the man who rented them told us we would have to get an international license to go into the cities. On the touristy beaches you see Westerners driving scooters more than you see Indians! According to the man they were all illegally riding them, but the police either didn't care or weren't around (we weren't quite sure which one).
Anyways we rented the scooter and made our way 7 miles south to an old Portuguese fort called Fort Aguada. The fort was really cool with a moat surrounding it and it overlooked the mouth of the Mondavi River where the Arabian Sea met the river. It was very beautiful, but of course we forgot the camera and have no pictures.
We do however have some pictures of the "river cruise" we took on the Mondavi. Brian and I expected to go on a booze cruise on the river and look at the sights while listening to a live band. The Indian version of this is a little different. When we got to the top level of the boat there were hundreds of chairs lined up facing a stage with a deejay blasting some heavy bass music.Surprisingly, the entire boat filled up with Indian families, couples and teens. We were the only white tourists on the boat. As the boat left the dock we were introduced to some traditional Goan folk dances which were a little better than the deejay. After a few minutes of the folk dancing the deejay returned and invited all the children to come on the stage. He then blasted a popular Bollywood song and all the kids began to dance and sing in unison. It was very cute. Clearly they had all memorized the dance from a movie. After the children he invited up couples to dance to some cheesy "reggae" cruise music and then invited anyone and everyone to come dance. At this point every single male on the boat went onto the stage and had a massive dance party with zero females. As I said before men are very close here. We also realized there was a separate disco area down on the first floor where ladies were free and men had to pay 50 rupees or the equivalent of a dollar. Did I mention the boat ride was only one hour? It was entertaining, at most, but we felt like we wasted an hour of our time. Luckily, it was only 3 dollars.
Anyways we rented the scooter and made our way 7 miles south to an old Portuguese fort called Fort Aguada. The fort was really cool with a moat surrounding it and it overlooked the mouth of the Mondavi River where the Arabian Sea met the river. It was very beautiful, but of course we forgot the camera and have no pictures.
We do however have some pictures of the "river cruise" we took on the Mondavi. Brian and I expected to go on a booze cruise on the river and look at the sights while listening to a live band. The Indian version of this is a little different. When we got to the top level of the boat there were hundreds of chairs lined up facing a stage with a deejay blasting some heavy bass music.Surprisingly, the entire boat filled up with Indian families, couples and teens. We were the only white tourists on the boat. As the boat left the dock we were introduced to some traditional Goan folk dances which were a little better than the deejay. After a few minutes of the folk dancing the deejay returned and invited all the children to come on the stage. He then blasted a popular Bollywood song and all the kids began to dance and sing in unison. It was very cute. Clearly they had all memorized the dance from a movie. After the children he invited up couples to dance to some cheesy "reggae" cruise music and then invited anyone and everyone to come dance. At this point every single male on the boat went onto the stage and had a massive dance party with zero females. As I said before men are very close here. We also realized there was a separate disco area down on the first floor where ladies were free and men had to pay 50 rupees or the equivalent of a dollar. Did I mention the boat ride was only one hour? It was entertaining, at most, but we felt like we wasted an hour of our time. Luckily, it was only 3 dollars.
Cat and Brian,
ReplyDeleteI suggest you take more cruises so you become real Indian "swingers!"
Bruce