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In keeping with our relaxed mood, we had a leisurely ride to our next stop (Panaji the state capital of Goa). It involved 2 buses and 2 tuk-tuks - both the tuk-tuk rides were less than 2Km and cost more that both buses! 3 hours later we had checked into our new hotel - a nice heritage property in the 'Latin quarter' of Panaji where all the houses are in old colonial Portuguese style. The place does not look or feel like India at all.
We spent the afternoon looking round the town. The main church (the town's main sight) was closed due to a wedding. We ended up at a little café looking out over the river estuary watching the floating casinos and ferries.
Next day we had a trip to Mapusa (about 10km away) to see the Friday market. Same tat, but cheaper. The girls enjoyed it and made several 'vital' purchases. We came back to our hotel to dump everything. The next plan was to go to Old Goa - the original capital that had been abandoned about 200 years ago. Ken was feeling unwell and didn't join us. Old Goa was just churches - nothing else remained. The churches were very impressive - about 8 of them in about 3 square miles - it must have been a big city.
Next day we had decided to see a bird sanctuary so we had to be up at 6:00 am to see them in the early morning. This involved a taxi ride and a ferry crossing to reach the place. We made it across the river and the office had one person in it that spoke no English and looked like he had just got up. Eventually someone else turned up who spoke English. He explained that the boat that is normally used to ferry people around the mangrove swamps had broken down. He showed us a decrepit canoe and another decidedly dodgy looking boat. He said the cost of this was 1500 Rps (vs 90 per person in the normal boat). By this time it was almost too late to see much bird life and Fran was feeling decidedly unwell, probably food poisoning! We gave it all away and headed back to the hotel. I decided it was a quiet day as I was the only fit one left (Judi had had a dodgy stomach for days and was on antibiotics). What a sad end!!
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