Goa and Mumbai, India

The rest of our time in India was split between two locations, Goa and Mumbai. Though our experiences in these areas were different in both company and atmosphere, both are summed up in this blog. We’ll start with Goa, where my parents flew in with us after our time in Delhi.

Goa is a state in India located on the west side of the country. Home to 80 miles of coastland, it has become a popular tourist destination for foreigners and natives alike. Though our time in Delhi was filled with crowds and seemingly omnipresent scammers, Goa was quite the opposite. We were still often approached to buy things, but the need to constantly be on watch decreased right alongside our stress level. We happened to end up in India right at the peak of rainy season, which meant that though we ended up having no chance to soak in the sun on the beach, we did nearly have the whole sandy shore to ourselves. Though there is one tourist beach in Goa that stays pretty busy even in low season, we choose to stay in a quieter area called Benaulim. We spent our days walking on the cloud covered beach, exploring the nearby area, and devouring inexpensive fresh seafood at the nearby restaurants. We also ended up watching the entire first season of “Lost in Space” on Netflix. If you haven’t heard, it’s pretty awesome.

During our stay in Benaulim we rented an apartment that had an unexpected and unintentional bonus – a dog. Without feeding or giving her any attention at first, this fierce and friendly canine befriended us immediately, sleeping outside our door at night, walking with us everywhere we went, waiting patiently anytime she wasn’t allowed inside an establishment, and scaring other dogs away when she considered them a threat. By the third day of our adventures with her, we decided it would probably be nice of her to start sharing some of our scraps with her. We found ourselves lumping chicken bones and shrimp tails in napkins to carry out, always happy to see her excitement as she got a whiff of what was in the bundles in hand. Though, as an original cat lover, I’ve come around to liking dogs more gradually over the years, both of my parents are still pretty extreme cat people. It was a pretty great moment to hear my Dad contemplating how strange and nice it was to have had dog adopt us and end his thoughts with – “That’s my favorite dog I’ve never owned!” By the end of my parents time with us, my mom had named the dog “Angel” and we had all gotten used to morning greetings and evening goodbyes.

“Angel” with us on the stormy beach.

Wading in – mid-calf was about as far out as we could go. On the beach, red flags were displayed as a warning. The giant storms roll in without warning all through the rainy season, creating some pretty turbulent waters. Standing on the shore you could see the rip tides with a heavy undertow alongside some pretty enormous waves. Even without the warning flags it was clear these are not swimming waters.

Walking on the beach

The colors on the beach are different, but so beautiful in the rainy season!

One day while walking along we noticed a huge bull coming towards us on the beach. It was unbelievable how big this guy was – he had four guys walking with him down the shoreline. We later learned this he is one of the bulls they use for bull fighting in this area. Apparently, every Sunday they hold bull fights in which a winner is declared when one bull runs another bull out of a particular area. Walking down the street you pass several of these enormous fellows tied up – some bulls, some water buffaloes. We were informed that the owners walk them everyday at a particular time down the beach. We must have been on the beach at the right time this particular day.

He was so big!

Check out this handsome guy on those golden sands :). The sands turned a particularly pretty color in the right light. This picture and the one above are on the same beach!

One of our big “tourist” days we hired a taxi and set off towards a spice farm. India is well known for it’s spices and teas and we happened to be staying in as area near a spice “tree” farm called Tanshikar’s Organic Working Spice Farm. This particular spice farm has been run by the same family for generations and specializes in spices that grow on trees. We can’t recommend them enough. Friendly and knowledgeable, they have all 5 star reviews on trip advisor for a reason. For a small fee (7ish dollars) they offer an informative tour and an included lunch buffet. I was certain that since it’s low season we would end up having a simple meal made instead of the buffet, but even for just the four of us, they pulled out all the stops. We had a lovely day and were able to purchase their spices at the end for very reasonable prices.

Ripening vanilla beans on the vine.

Have you seen anything like this? We smelled and tasted the red part and couldn’t figure it out. Our guide twisted the fruit to open it, and upon seeing what was in the middle, we were confused. I didn’t know anything grew like this! The fruit itself is unfamiliar to us and is somewhat less useful, but that strange red wrapping you see in the middle is mace and the seed underneath it is nutmeg. Who knew? They said the fruit itself is pretty sour, but this particular spice farm soaks it in sugar and candies it. We had a sample and it’s pretty tasty like that!

Cinnamon tree! Our guide explained how real cinnamon should have a sweetness to it. He broke a piece of the bark off and let us try it – perhaps it’s because I’m prone to buying cinnamon at the dollar store, but man – I have never tasted cinnamon so sweet (It was especially strange to realize this when I consciously remembered that I was chewing on tree bark!) I might have to start purchasing the more expensive cinnamon when we return 😂. I make some cinnamon scones that have gained fame in the last several places I’ve lived and I can only imagine how much more delicious they would taste with this stuff!

Peppercorn vine. Green, black, and white peppercorn all come from the same vine, its just picked at different stages. Our guide told us that red peppercorn isn’t true peppercorn, though I don’t remember what he said it is.

Turmeric plants. Turmeric comes from the roots.

We saw several other plants as well, but the pictures didn’t turn out as well (it started raining mid day!) We got to sample cardamom straight from the plant, though, and it was so fresh tasting!

After looking at plants our guide took us to a bubbling pond right next to the property. Gases have been being released from the bottom of this pond for years causing bubbles to constantly come to the top. I was particularly surprised at how clear the water was!

Wading through a waterway to reach the pond.

My parents in front of the bubbling pond

On the way back our taxi driver stopped to let a snap a picture of a particularly bright rice field

That green glowed so bright against the grey sky! All the little white dots are people working in the field.

We had plenty of delicious food in Goa, but in spite of being rather ordinary (i.e. mostly things we can get at home) and not the greatest pictures, the following are my top three favorites.

Golden fried shrimp. I lost count of how many times I ordered these. Large fresh shrimp deep fried in a batter that contained some unidentified delicious spice. We could eat these right next to the sea for under $5. Mmmm….

Tandoori chicken. This was spicy and came with the green cilantro/mint dipping sauce I mentioned in my last blog. The chicken tasted different everywhere we ordered it, but it was always smokey, delicious, cheap, and able to feed several of us for around $5!

Finally, I feel somewhat ridiculous for posting this – but after being sick in Delhi, I had trouble wanting to eat a lot of Indian dishes after that. When we arrived in Goa, all I wanted were mashed potatoes, and those are pretty hard to find in most places away from home (and when you do find them, they aren’t as good…). Unbelievably, there ended up being a restaurant at the end of the driveway of our hotel with a gourmet chef who made creamy mashed potatoes that came with many of the items on the menu (as well as a stack of perfectly sautéed veggies). Below is the Chicken Cordon Blu with a nice cheese sauce on top. At around $6 a person, we all ordered this several times 😂.

Deep fried deliciousness with ham and more cheese inside. It felt like home, though to be fair, Kirk and I have had significantly more fried chicken on this trip than we ever ate in the same time period back home 😆.

Other favorite dishes I don’t have pictures of are Shahi paneer (paneer=cheese), xacuti chicken, and hyderabadi veggies. The first two, the shahi and xacuti, were both different types of red curries that were better than anything I’ve had at home. Fresh and delicious, I’m unsure what made the shahi so tasty, but one aspect of deliciousness in the xacuti was coconut milk. The last dish, hyderabadi veggies, was similar to the palak paneer I wrote about in the last blog (spinach sauce with spices) but much spicier (which Kirk and I love!). Definitely try these if you get a chance!

My parents final day in India we decided to go for a walk, but on the way out of our apartment/hotel complex we were approached by a man. He handed us “tickets” with serrated edges that we could tear off to see if we’d won anything and told us that if we got in a taxi and went to a certain hotel for a tour, they would provide us with a free lunch. Something about it seemed sincere enough, so, after opening our tickets and seeing that mine said “winner,” we decided to go check it out. As it turns out, it was a timeshare property. They toured us around, presented everything they wanted us to know, served us a delicious free lunch buffet (ice cream and drinks included!), and in the end, took us to a room to receive my gift. Though the man who gave us the tickets originally told us that I probably won something like a T-shirt, unbelievably, it was a real (prized) prize. I won a week long stay, valid for the next year, at any of their timeshare properties in either Thailand or Germany. It’s over $2000 in value. Sure, it’s required that we sit through another hour long presentation while there, but (assuming we can actually make it back to one of those places by then) we won’t mind one bit! It’s pretty believeable!

After my parents left Goa Kirk and I spent an additional 3 days just hanging out. I snapped the following pictures on some of our last walks there.

The rice field we walked by everytime we went into town. There was often a giant water buffalo tied up right next to it.

Our final walk on the beach we came across a small star fish that has washed up on the shore just long enough ago that it was still damp, but no longer alive. We snapped a picture of it, surprised to have come across it at all, only to then come across at least 15 more over the next 20 yards. On the top they were a beautiful blue color and none of them were bigger than 3 inches. I don’t recall ever finding “shell” starfish on a beach (only live ones stuck to rocks in Charleston, SC). It was pretty crazy to come across so many at once!

After our time in Goa was finished, Kirk and I hopped on an overnight train to Mumbai. Of the four overnight trains we’ve taken, this was the first with top bunks that actually had enough room for us to sit up!

In spite of our fears of what we might encounter on the trains (due to warnings about intruders and theft), we ended up sharing a room with two very friendly and kind gentlemen from Mumbai who happened to be safety inspectors. We ended up getting one of our better night’s rest as far as trains go.

We arrived in Mumbai around lunchtime and after trying to hail a cab unsuccessfully several times, we found ourselves too hungry to continue. We stopped at the first place that looked easy (because after a full night’s traveling the last thing you want is to have to search for a restaurant with an English menu), Burger King. I can’t remember the last time I went to a Burger King back home, but we were a little surprised to find that this Burger King had few recognizable options. Because Hinduism is one of the mainstream religions in India, few people eat beef. This popular burger chain had caught onto this, so on the Burger King menu, no beef was to be found. We ended up ordering a mutton burger and a chicken burger, and in spite of it not tasting like home, they were pretty delicious (and huge!).

The place we ended up staying in Mumbai was in a pretty fancy part of town. We found ourselves next to plenty of chain eateries and dessert shops lining a street that connected to a boardwalk that ran alongside the Indian Ocean. During our few days there, we found ourselves wandering down to the boardwalk to see the beach and ocean views this city of nearly 18.5 million people (ninth largest in the world). Even having been in Delhi where large amounts of trash are passed as you walk down the street, the beaches of Mumbai still came as a bit of a surprise.

Our ocean view from the boardwalk, about four blocks from the airbnb in which we were staying. Everytime we passed by there were groups of people digging through the rubble for oysters.

Walking down the ocean front boardwalk, you meet a mangrove along the way. The amount of trash that has floated in and gotten stuck was more than we’ve seen anywhere else in the world so far. Hanging from every low limb, hung up on every root – it’s hard to believe how much trash was to our right, as the path directly in front of us was a new, manicured boardwalk equipped with benches, artwork, and perfectly placed palms. While looking at the picture, don’t ignore the trees in the back – every speck of red, brown, white, yellow, and blue is another piece of rubbish, dangling from the bark covered arms that swept it from the sea.

Another view of the trash along the side – it’s presence seen for what seems like endless kilometers.

Another day during our time in Mumbai we decided to wander down to the “tourist” beach in town in an area called Jahu. Jahu is close to where many of the Bollywood movies are filmed (Bollywood = India’s Hollywood, incredibly popular in this part of the world, producing lower quality, but significantly more films a year than Hollywood). We walked several kilometers in search of a place to wander around and put our feet in the water, assuming this beach would be similar to those we had just left behind in Goa – especially being so near to the movie sets (think, Los Angeles). As we rounded the corner to our first glimpses of sand, we soon realized those dreams of a leisurely day at the beach would not be coming true. Before us sat the ocean, the waters rolled far out by the low tide only to reveal enormous expanses of trash laden sand. We watched as groups of boys played barefoot soccer through this patchwork of plastic, men rallied behind their cricket teams using plastic rubbish to mark boundary lines, and children built castles as they dug their tiny fingers into the unknown trash depths below. We were tempted to turn around, but decided instead to take a careful walk over the sands to soak it all in.

Little ones digging in the sand next to the heaviest line of trash.

The masses enjoying the beach. Though this picture is taken from the very back of the beach where the tide has been unable to push the plastics, the front of this shore has just as many pieces of rubbish as the last picture. We saw a few people working to bag some of the plastic, but it seemed an impossible task. New tides reveal more waste daily.

While being immersed in the midst of this much garbage, I found it easy to judge this city – “Why doesn’t someone clean all of this up? Why is there so much trash here? Who throws their trash in the ocean?” – But as quick as my mind wandered to blame, I found it wandering back to self. The more I thought, the more I realized that the truth about trash in the US is that, in comparison, we see very little of it – but that doesn’t mean it’s not there. I’d actually bet that my shopping at the supermarket for double packaged processed foods and vegetables that I inevitably put in little plastic bags probably produces more trash than the average amount of trash produced by a person in these countries we’ve visited (who go to the vegetable and meat markets for their meals). It was easy for me to blame and be frustrated as I carefully treaded along this plastic filled sand, but it also forced me to realize – I don’t actually know where my trash goes. I couldn’t help but wonder if, perhaps in someway, the visualization of the mess we’ve made in this world might be helpful in some way. To my eyes at home, my trash magically disappears – out of sight, out of mind. But I feel certain that if I were to view the stack of trash I’ve proudly placed in a bin instead of in nature during my short 30 years on earth, I’d face more embarrassment than I felt for the people dedicated to maintaining these beaches of Mumbai. My rubbish may disappear from my sight, but for the first time, my brain realized that “dedicated nature” (i.e. landfills) is still nature, and I certainly want to be more intentional about my level of “trashiness” when we return home.

It’s crazy where seeing such large amounts of garbage can lead your mind.

As a final thought on trash, particularly in Mumbai, it’s also worthy of noting that, like many large cities in the US, Mumbai recently banned single use plastic bags. If you go to the grocery store you must either bring or buy a bag to carry your groceries out in. I think that’s certainly a good start!

While deciding what to do during our final day in Mumbai we learned of several different areas with large caves filled with old Buddhist history – some of them dating as far back as 1st century B.C. Realizing that some of them were quite close and would allow us to get some exercise in, we packed up some water and snacks and hopped on the subway system to head to Sanjay Ghandi National Park. Though we originally hoped to rent bikes to reach the Kanheri Caves located 7 km (4 ish miles) inside the park, upon arrival we learned that the bike rental station was closed that day, so we’d have to walk. We ended up waking over ten miles that day, and given the temperatures in India right now, that’s certainly something! Below are some pictures from our time in the national park. Of the 109 caves located inside, we only saw a few.

Walking into the park, large ceramic Jungle Book art hangs on either side of the entrance. Though I found myself confused at the sight of them, Kirk reminded me that the setting for “The Jungle Book” is in India. I had certainly forgotten that, though it’s no surprise that Kirk remembered, as “The Jungle Book” is his favorite childhood cartoon.

The Jungle Book art

Walking around in the park was certainly a surprise. Though we were surrounded by jungle, a paved road ran all the way through to the caves, and there were even several villages lining the road inside this gated park complex. It was certainly an interesting set up for a national park – perhaps those families lived there prior it it becoming a park?

Kirk walking next through our jungle scenery on the paved road.

At one point in our walk it began to drizzle. We paused to pull out our umbrellas and were pleasantly surprised to see on our right, a large herd of axis (spotted) deer. These were humongous deer and even when Kirk whistled at them, they remained unstartled by our presence. We stood staring at them for some time, watching as they grazed on the green grasses, the males looking particularly majestic as they lifted their head from the ground, fully showing off their enormous racks. A couple of the males even got into a small fight while we watched.

None of our zoomed in pictures turned out well, but here is one of our view from the road.

Due to our walk being longer than originally anticipated, we ran out of snacks. Thankfully there were ladies selling fresh roasted corn on the side of the road throughout the park. After taking it off the fire, they dipped a lime in chili powder and coated the corn with it. The salty chili powder and sour lime we the perfect flavors to have after a long walk.

The delicious corn

Unfortunately, we weren’t the only lovers of this corn. This park in particular is filled with somewhat aggressive monkeys and we watched as these monkeys approached people with corn and took it from them. Some of the humans handed the corn over happily in hopes of a close up photo with the monkeys, but others had the corn stolen from them. We were nearly a victim of this corn snatching, but thankfully, Kirk is fearless and quick thinking. As a monkey approached us, I cowered, clutching my corn tightly, fearful of losing the salty deliciousness while also being aware that I was unwilling to fight a monkey to keep it (they are ruthless!). On the other hand, Kirk, with a closed umbrella in hand, swung towards the monkey just before he was close enough for the umbrella to reach the monkey. As Kirk swung, the umbrella retracted, not fully opening, but revealing its full length – which was apparently just enough to frighten the monkey. He ran away (and so did the next one when the same thing happened again!).

We saw tons of monkeys and lemur- here is a picture of one of the monkeys that was easier to get a picture of.

He eventually was eating corn too.

As we approached the caves, we came to many stairs. This particular set of caves is located on a hill/mountain top, so much of the path to reach them is uphill.

Beginning our walk up the windy stairs. I love those mossy green rocks!

As we reached the top of the stairs we saw the first cave. Though we weren’t allowed inside, I found myself pretty impressed by the outside. When I originally heard the word “cave,” I wasn’t expecting columns.

The first cave we saw.

Right next to the first cave, more followed.

This cave wasn’t the most decorated, but it was certainly large!

The most impressive cave we saw was one we were actually allowed inside.

Check out how large this cave is!

It’s so impressive to see what people were able to do with simple tools and their hands so long ago. The caves weren’t individually labeled with facts, but they are all at least 1000 years old – the oldest being around 2100 years old. The above cave in particular had many carvings in between the front entrance and main entrance to the cave. Some of the carvings are seen below.

The carvings to the right are larger than an averaged sized human. The one in front is enormous and faces a statue of equal size on the other side of the entrance.

The inside of the cave. This was certainly one of the more decorated caves we saw. Many of the caves were simply plain square rooms cut into the mountain. They were likely living quarters.

Walking around the area where the caves are lined side by side. The green moss growing on all the rocks was so pretty!

Kirk standing at the farthest point we reached before turning around.

After visiting the caves we had two additional walks back – one from the park to the subway and another from the subway to where we were staying. Below is a picture of the city that we took during that walk.

In case it’s hard to tell, that’s a goat and a sheep in the middle of a small city amphitheater, surrounded by pigeons :).

In all, our time in Mumbai was certainly an interesting experience. Like Delhi, it wasn’t my favorite place we’ve visited, but it certainly still taught me a lot in terms of culture and reminders of taking care of the world around me. Those are travel experiences for which I can easily be thankful.

After Mumbai we headed onto Istanbul. The next blog begins our time in Europe.