bangles, books, and beaches

the next trip, and one of the last, actually, was a quick trip south before ending up in goa for the roommate's birthday (something that's been in the works since, literally, the moment we got back from goa the first time).

a beautiful site.. and char minar behind

first stop hyderabad to visit a good friend. while i had a lovely time catching up, seeing movies (kahaani! fantastic) and even doing some work, i neglected to do much that was terribly touristy or exciting. i blame this partially on my friend's laziness, but i deserve some of the blame too. i did eat plenty of biryani (although we didn't make it to the famous 'paradise') and i did manage to make it to char minar one day where i spent an inordinate amount of time strolling through bangle shops. and buying a few (dozen) too. i regret not seeing more of hyderabad, i've heard such good things about the palaces and museum. ah well, there's always next time!

bangalore's ngma, worth a visit

bangalore was.. well more of the same, really. not that there's all that much to see in bangalore. i had big plans to check out pottery village and wander through the lalbagh gardens, but well, it just didn't happen. i will say, though, that bangalore was lovely. the weather was perpetually beautiful (as promised) and the shopping was fantastic. between the two recommended bookstores (blossom and bookworm) i spent several hours roaming through stacks and came out with more books than i should have. also, at bookworm they gave me coffee which i thought was a nice touch. the shopping on 100 foot road (where my friend lives) was pretty great too - sales and all kinds of gorgeous anokhi-style clothes and housewares at (a little) under anokhi prices. i also visited the NGMA which has a shady, pleasant campus (although no one knows where it is! bah. but that's a rant for another day) and several promising children's programs, which is exciting to me. they, along with the AF and geothe institut also have pretty regular film screenings and events and there's a decent music scene (more than just metal). these things combined make bangalore a town i think i would enjoy living in. once they actually get the metro finished it will be downright pleasant.

sunny flowers, sandy beaches

and then, on to goa! another night bus (we're getting quite used to these) and we were there. from margao it was another not-unpleasant city bus ride all the way down to palolem. the beach was evidently all but empty as recently as 9 or 10 years ago. now it's developed but without being overly crowded - beach shacks, restaurant/bars, pretty much what you'd expect. after a day our other friends arrived and we were in full-on relaxation mode. the basic pattern was breakfast, sun, jump in sea, read on beach, lunch, sea, read, happy hour, etc. etc. you get the idea. we interspersed our beach time with other activities - shopping, yoga (for some), wandering and taking pictures down along the coast, and even kayaking one day. ambitious, given that the birthday celebrations were the night before. we went all the way out to a nearby island - much easier to get to than to get back from, as it turns out.

colors of agonda

we mixed it up a bit by heading to agonda one day, a lovely very quiet beach just a few kilometers north. (we had gone in hopes of finding hookah, but there was none to be had there either.) the beach seems almost deserted - it is low season, after all. we enjoyed some fantastic calamari, had a few g&ts and jumped in the water one more time before heading back to palolem for their 'silent noise' party. let me explain for you old fogeys reading this. the beach has a noise restriction after 10pm (to protect the sea turtle eggs.. or maybe because the locals just want some quiet) so to get around this one bar has a party every saturday where the music is disseminated through headphones that everyone gets at the door. it was a new experience and i think it's safe to say everyone had a great time.

leaving goa was, as always, a struggle. but i suppose there's a limit to how much you can sit on the beach and do nothing.

just kidding. of course there isn't!