Go, go, go, Goa!

I’m sitting in a Greek restaurant in Goa, India.  I’m drinking 10 year Glen Livet Scotch Whisky and listening to American techno pop music pumped through the speakers. Breezes blow in off the Arabian Sea and I watch the sun set in the West before me.  After I finish my meal, I’ll get back on the Japanese Motorbike that I rode here (probably powered by petrol from Gulf Coast – I feel so worldly!)and hope I can find my back to the hotel in the dark.

I don’t think I’d be very concerned, except I got lost more than a couple of times on my way here.  I definitely circled back past the same intersection more than once.   (I know for sure because it was an intersection where I had stopped and looked at my “map” for a few minutes, so I was fairly sure of the layout and stores at each of the 7 corners at that intersection (don’t ask me how, but one was a triangle…)  and I definitely came through it at least twice from the same direction.

Somehow I made it to this restaurant my cousin told me about. It’s called Thalassa and it’s on Vagator Beach, or near it, or overlooking it, -ish…  I definitely Google mapped it before I left the hotel, but I don’t have service or data on my phone right now, and so I don’t have wi-fi when I’m moving out and about, so no access to the directions.  So I took a screenshot of the map, but even though I stopped to look at it (at crazy corner, for example), it wasn’t so helpful without zoom-ability on all the back roads.  And even though I asked multiple (and I mean MANY) people for directions, most just said straight ….then turn (and there would be like seventeen turns before the turn they meant), which meant I usually way missed it or had already been on seven reroutes or other adventures by then.  Scooter rental day #1 has been an adventure, to be sure.

Luckily, I’ve only been in a couple of scrapes (for India, that’s good) and the bike’s still running (fantastic!) so I have hope for tomorrow. I’m supposed to meet some girls tonight to go to a club.  We’ll see if I make it back in time.  Also, there’s a night market that people apparently go to which only happens one night a week.  I think I passed it, somehow on the way here.  If I pass it on the way home again (a possibility, but not a certainty), I think maybe I’ll stop.  We’ll see what happens.  It’s always an adventure with the motorbike!

This morning, I rented it (via the pool guy from the hotel, btw – Oh, India).  I’d thought, when they told me, that maybe it would be his bike, or that he had the rental business on the side, but he literally walked around the corner and bargained with that guy.  Nice.  But, it’s less than literally less than five bucks a day, plus petrol.  So maybe no need to complain.

It’s a Honda Activa (for my American friends, you can think of a Vespa), a bike without the need to shift gears, and that you don’t have to straddle, so it’s rideable in a skirt. (These are also the type of bike you see in India with an entire family riding on one bike.) Gotta love India.
And driving in India is, aside from the obvious difference of driving on the left rather than the right, very different from the US. Rules in India are still viewed more as guidelines. People use their horns more as notices of intent and as markers of one’s presence. As in, “Beep, Beep! I’m behind you!” “Beep, Beep! I’m about to pass you!” “Beep Beep! I’m about to round this curve, just fyi in case someone is around the corner.” “Beep Beep! I’m heading straight towards you in your lane, but I’m bigger and you have a shoulder you can use, so move over so I can pass this other guy!” The whole mentality is very different. I find it fascinating. And people just put their hand out while moving directly in your way, to tell you to stop, both other drivers and pedestrians. I mean, people will walk directly into traffic (you pretty much have to because in big cities you rarely find a break in traffic) and just put out a hand towards the oncoming car, just motioning for it to stop. And (usually!) it will. Sometimes you have to be a bit quick on your feet and backtrack a little… People on motor bikes do that too as they cut across the road in front of you. Others look at you as though you should be reading their mind and know where they are headed. Sometimes that’s possible, but when there are 50 other minds to read, things become a bit complex…
Having spent most of the day on the bike, I’ve gotten pretty comfortable with it now. Of course, it isn’t too helpful that my rear-view mirror won’t stay in place. I put it where I can see behind me but a few speed breakers later (or rumblers, as several in a row are called), it’s totally drooped down and I can’t see who’s coming up behind me/who’s about to hit me. Now that the sun has gone down and I get to drive home, it’s going to be a whole new world. Maybe I’ll just enjoy another moment or two at this nice, calm restaurant before I go brave the roads again… The techno music has only increased about 30 decibels now that the sun has gone down and people are starting to dance. Still, it’s quieter than the honking!

Okay, let the Activa night-rider adventure begin!