Yesterday I arrived in Goa. I think I was too exhausted to get ‘India Shock’ but true to what everyone tells you, the roads were crazy, and… well, pretty much everything was crazy. 

It felt a lot like Sri Lanka, but coloured in, with crazy neon colours.

My hotel was a lovely upgrade to the one in Sri Lanka, albeit a little quiet, but I didn’t mind, I needed some sleep. 

Cash Crisis

India is going through a bit of a cash crisis at the moment. They have discontinued some currency and all banks and ATMs are struggling to cope with the demand for the new currency. So much so, that I barely could draw enough out at the airport to pay the driver.

Luckily once at my hotel I found a lucky ATM with no queues… goes without saying I rinsed it. I should have enough cash to see me through NYE. Most other cash points have hour long queues and have a withdrawal limit of £20 or so.

Cows

There seems to be cows everywhere in Goa. On the beach, on the roads, outside restaurants eating rubbish.

Earwax Scam

Today on the way to Baga Beach, I had an Indian guy come up to me telling me I had wax in my ear. Being a cotton bud addict I didn’t believe this to be true at all but I humoured the fella. He proceeded to prod around in my ear with a little stick and pulled out (fake) wax. 

He then told me I owed him 500 rupees. I nearly gave it him before an authoritive bloke (police maybe? Or security guard…) came and told me not to. 

Selfies

I got asked by around 10 different groups of lads for a picture with them on Baga beach. It seemed I couldn’t walk 5 minutes without getting asked for a pic. Felt like a rockstar.

New Years Eve… Mambos at Baga

I had one mission today, to find somewhere for NYE tonight. I finally settled on Mambos on Baga Beach.

Happy New Years!

Takeaways

Find a quiet part of town for a cash point if you just so happen to be in a cash crisis country

If your confident about you ear wax situation don’t let anyone prod around and try and charge you for it’