We heard a lot about Gokarna from people in Hampi. About 60km south of Goa, it's a place with nice beaches to relax on that aren't as touristy as Goa.. And so we decided that this would be out next stop. With most of our friends already gone, we said goodbye to the remaining few at Gopi Guesthouse and set out for the coast.
We saw this little funky fella on the way!
It took us about ten hours to reach Om Beach, and when we got there the sun, as usual, had already gone down. We parked the rickshaw next to a rickshaw taxi rank by the public parking, and made out way down some steps down on the beach.
We'd been really lucky with our bags up until this point, in terms of carrying them. We would just chuck them in the back of the rickshaw and when we arrived somewhere just drop them in the room... And so carting them down the beach was quite an effort! We started the trip with two bags each; we both had large backpacks and then I had a day bag and Ash had a side camera bag. Ten weeks later I was carrying a massive carrier bag containing my Indian clothes, bottles of shampoo etc and anything I was too lazy to pack away properly, and Ash had acquired another backpack from his Mum's which he was using to split his equipment out. All these bags, with a humid evening and a sandy stroll made for a very sweaty journey. The stairs had bought us out at Namaste cafe which was a two story massive wooden place which was both restaurant and guest house. It looked so posh and I had read online that it was one of the most expensive places on the beach. As we were walking by an American guy in his 50s asked us where we were heading, and when we said we weren't sure he told us that everywhere else on the beach is really disgusting with rats, and that we should really consider staying at Namaste. After a small chat, we decided to see how much rooms were... Maybe we could just stay for a night and check out other places the next day. We found out it was 800 rupees which was over our budget, so when they wouldn't barter with us we left and plodded along the beach to see what was available.
Fifteen very warm minutes later we arrived at Nirvana cafe at the other end of the beach, and checked into a double room with shared bathroom for 400 for the first night, before moving to one with a private bathroom and cute little porch for 600 the next day. It was really basic - just a high concrete slab with a mattress and mosquito net on, and a table in the corner. The shared bathroom was surprisingly clean and didn't smell at all, and we really liked the general feel of the place. It was well maintained, looked pretty and it turned out the food in the cafe was really good! Happy days :)
The garden, cheap hut rooms, and our room with interesting mosquito net
Sitting in the restaurant, looking out onto the beach
Our first couple of days at Nirvana were spent on the beach - attempting to tan, swimming in the sea and reading. I also found my real love for lemon nanas, a cold drink made of lemon, mint and sugar (which was amazing at a cafe called Om Shree Ganesh where it was served as a mint green slushy - YAY ICE!). It was a nice place to relax, and really easy to meet people as with most backpacker places.
Fun blackout at Om Shree Ganesh... something that is not uncommon in India
We first met a young couple from Oxfordshire, Sarah and Rene, when we saw the manager running towards their room with two big sticks. Me, being the nosey woman that I am, followed him to see what was happening, and it turns out that they had a massive lizard in their room about a meter long! Ash was soon next to me and we were craning our necks following Rene's pointing trying to see this creature, but it must have already disappeared. We must have spent an hour after that just chatting, and then saw them and spent time with them everyday until they left a week later, which was really nice. Later that day, Ash helped a woman into the cafe after she was in the sea and a massive wave smashed her neck and after sitting with her and her friend for a while, we met their group of friends that then became ours too.
We had a lot of fun with Sarah and Rene, including attempting a bit of fishing!