Flying at 15,000 feet with AirDeccan (the EasyJet of India) over the coast of Maharashtra. Heather and the girls are sleeping, but I've got the best view - rivers, forests, hills, the seashore and then blue off to the gently curving horizon - somehow much more of a sense of the Earth's curvature than I've ever had at 30,000 feet before. From here, you could get lots of great ideas for trips to what look to be perfect, unexploited beaches ...
When we paid our hotel bill, we couldn't believe we'd been at Patnem for nearly a fortnight - Goan laid-backness certainly grew on us. My sister Sasha asked us to look out for honeymoon possibilities: this area is a definite recommendation. The night before last we walked from Patnem to Pallolem through beautiful Colomb Bay:
We spent the evening in the Big Fish restaurant at Pallolem Beach South End, which was throwing a party with ice sculpture, live music and fireworks to which many now-familiar faces from Patnem came: a nice send-off.
An early morning the next day, for our dolphin trip (see H's post, below) - then packing, a rest, a last swim, some final panicking, and we spent our last evening at the Sea Cafe - the girls playing/hanging out with Tizzie, Jess and Naveen, while Heather and I chatted with Jackie and Jane and started to get to know Eric - good people. We'll have to visit again in a couple of years when Eric and Jackie have set up their eco-friendly paradise on Pallolem Hill ...
So, three more days in India, getting last minute chores done in Mumbai, with hopefully enough spare time to see Chowpatty Beach one evening and maybe even catch a movie (we ought really to see one somewhere in India, surely?).
Later ...
The approach to Mumbai from the air was breathtaking - I could make out the Gateway of India and Chowpatty Beach as we flew past - then we took a long curve round over amazing mountains in northeast Maharashtra, huge and red and brought out beautifully by the early morning sun: one seemed to be sheer on all sides, with a flat expanse of forest on the top...
We'll let you know when we're safely in Kenya -
lots of love
- Mark
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