Going to Goa Part I - Mangalore

Schools and offices were closed to celebrate the Hindu festival of Navaratri on Oct. 11 and 12, so we decided to take a couple extra days to enjoy our first sojourn out of Bangalore and head to Goa. We opted to travel the six days by car, which came with a driver, so we could see the countryside. We soon discovered that the roads are generally in terrible condition. In addition to enormous trucks and buses which crumble the asphalt, we shared the road with people, ox carts and the occasional herd of water buffalo or goats. We learned that the larger vehicle has the right of way, no matter what side of the road you're on. We ended up on the shoulder of the road twice when one truck passed another and couldn't get by quickly enough to get back in its lane by the time it reached us.

Along the way we stopped at our driver’s home just outside of Hassan. Manjunatha’s wife and children (home for the holidays) greeted us with hospitality and curiosity. Manjunatha owns several coconut trees and invited us to drink the sweet water that fills the young coconut. Vendors are found in all the cities with stacks of young coconuts, waiting for buyers to put down their Rs. 6 (about 10 cents) for a chance to quench their thirst. Once Jay pulled out the camera to capture the coconut consumption episode, the children gathered about to have their “snap” taken. Jay filled the memory card of the digital camera and then downloaded the results on the laptop to everyone’s delight. We will send them printed copies of their “snaps.”

It was then back on the road. Our guide book noted that “many visitors only come to Managlore on their way to somewhere else.” In the sixth century, Managlore was major source of pepper. In the 1400’s Managlore was a “frontier town” of the Vijayanagar Empire (more later on the Vijayanagar Empire), which prompted the Portuguese to capture this port town in 1529. For us, Managlore was just a rest stop on our way to somewhere else. We had wonderful hotel accommodations at the Taj Manjarun Hotel, and enjoyed a pool side Chinese dinner buffet with KennyG Christmas music. Dinner was great, the weather wonderful and KennyG never sounded better among the swaying stands of bamboo.