Days 11 and 12: Goa

Alright, Goa. We had pretty much talked all the time during the Rickshaw Run so far about finally reaching Goa and about all the things we’d do there. Most important, we were all looking forward to having one day off, just doing nothing and especially not riding the rickshaw from sunrise to dawn. And we should get what we had desired.

But first things first. Day 11 started early. And I mean really early. Like 6 am early. While that might not sound that hard to some it was actually pretty hard to get up that early after usually short nights and long and tiresome days on the road. We even managed to pack our stuff much faster than usually and so we hit the road at about 7.30 am (it was our record in the morning so far). The reason why we wanted to get rolling as early as possible was Goa. We really wanted to reach Goa that day and we actually wanted to be there before nightfall for once. We dreamt about having some proper meal and maybe even meeting some other Rickshaw Run people instead of still driving after dark and eventually never getting there at all.

Nevertheless we decided to do the scenic route first and drove down the coastline. It was a pretty awesome road, mostly empty and packed with good sights of this region's nature. And the road was also in a comparably good state which enabled us to get forward at decent speed (I talk rickshaw speed here though which means about 30 – 40 km/h). All in all, we were pretty lucky the whole day long, making good progress and getting closer to Goa every hour.

In the late afternoon we finally reached our hotel in Anjuna, the „IVY Anjuna“, a decent 3-star hotel. We had decided to stay there for two nights and we wanted a quite better place for at least one time during our trip so we spent quite some Rupies for this spot. But it paid off because the hotel turned out to be really good with a well equipped and reasonably sized room, a modern bathroom with a rain shower, comfy beds and even a swimming pool.

For the evening, we had already contacted other Rickshaw Runners while still being on the road and we had agreed to meet at Curlies, a local beach club and restaurant, in order to have supper and to have some fun together. The place was a really cool spot with an open balcony to the beach and ocean and a proper beach feeling. In the end it turned out that not only a few but a whole lot of other Rickshaw Run teams had made it to Goa and followed the open invitation to meet at Curlies. Maybe about 40 people came together to share experiences from their trips so far while eating fish, meat, curry and other tasty meals and having some beers. We also met the couple whose passports we collected on the run. They thanked us by paying for all our drinks. I think that I don’t have to stress that it was a really lovely evening and that we got to the hotel late – and a bit drunk.

The next day we didn’t have to get up as early as the days before because we had decided to just use the whole day for relaxing. So we got up late and first enjoyed breakfast in the hotel. Then we got back to our room to do whatever floated our boat. Our only mantra was chilling and having a good time. Soon we decided that we should use the hotel’s swimming pool and so we got into that We were not the only Rickshaw Run team that stayed at this hotel and so it happend that we met another team at the pool which again enabled us to have some nice chat and to share experiences.

In the afternoon we were ready to get down to the beach. So we took our rickshaw and drove through Anjuna to get there. We made a quick stop at some local stores and market stands to buy cheap Indian clothes. Although we thought we bargained well we of course got kind of ripped off. But we didn’t care too much because we were quite content with our purchases. Max and me both bought some cool Ali Baba trousers which looked comfy and should work well in hot environments. Max even put on his new trousers for the evening event.

Finally at the beach, we first took a long walk, enjoying the huge waves, the cool water and the oceanic feeling. Of course we also made some awesome photos and videos. While we walked down the beach we got hungry and so we entered one of the restaurants right at the beach, a nice spot called „Lilliput Café“ that offered seats with a beautiful sight on the ocean. So we ate something, had a few drinks and Rob and me even enjoyed a shisha together. It was so relaxing to just sit and watch the waves that we decided to stay there for quite a while before getting back to the hotel.

In the evening we were invited to a party at a private house that was rent via AirBnB by a few other Rickshaw Runners. Of course we went there just to find out that the house was huge and pretty luxurious - and that even more people were there than the night before. It seemed like half of the whole Rickshaw Run teams were spending the evening in Goa that day at this specific spot. It was again an awesome evening with a lot of good talks, cool drinks, party games, a swimming pool and other stuff that usually happens at parties. Sadly the event ended too soon because the owner of the house only permitted partying until 10 pm.

While other teams wanted to continue the party at Curlies we decided to go back to the hotel because we were tired and wanted to get up earlier the next day again. To get to Curlis or into the town again there was either the possibility to walk or to take one of our rickshaws. The only problem with the latter one was that there were a lot more people than rickshaws. The result of this simple observation and the fact that most people were pretty drunk was that all the rickshaws were filled to the max (and above) with people, sitting on the rooftop, hanging out of the back and so on. Some richshaws were stuffed with 10 people that way. It was quite a sight seeing this convoy rolling through Anjuna. Rob initially wanted to go back to the hotel again as well but he ended up at Curlies somehow. I’m curious when we’ll really be ready to hit the road again in the morning. But that’s a story for another day.