so, we are on the way back to goa. a mere ten hours seems like a walk in the park in comparison to our last journey. twenty six hours from kochi to mumbai, not to bad i think to myself, reasoning that i would be asleep most of the time nestled in the complimentary blanket and pillow that came with our seats on the previous train journey. but no. leaping onto the train we discover no blankets, just the bare seat to huddle on. as it was around afternoon, i assumed that they would supply the blankets later. food was plentifull and meals supplied on order. these proved to be fairly turgid watery slurry with rice. the somosas and bajis sold by the shrieking train minions were much nicer. in a pinch im sure one could survive on chai alone what with it being mainly comprised of suger. night arrived and the blankets didn’t. a blasted cold gripped us and we lay shivering most of the night. i managed to work work how to switch of the fans that were coursing the wind chill factor, but some cretins on a nearby bunk couldn’t work out the simple mechanism of closing the windows so we pretty much froze huddling under out thin sheets. in the many hours we had to kill, flo read an intire book and i drained the battery on my gameboy playing for 8 hours strait. after a scinterlating 26 hours or so, i asked a train minion when we would be arriving. “five!” he gestured wildly and cackled at some private joke. as it was around 4.00pm i was pleaseantly surprised, only an hour late was good time on an indian train. come six i asked a different person. “five o’clock” he said. “umm?” i said, looking at my watch. “in the morning” he added as an afterthought. and so the long day wore on. after forty hours on the train it felt like our limbs had atrophied to the point that we had trouble walking. pretty grim all in all.

after that, me finding a hotel that was assentually a collectioin of airless little boxes was a poor tactical decision, and led to flo and i contracting cabin fever.

 we collected lucy and are heading down to goa as i type. it isn’t the first time and i doubt it will be our last. as we have vague plans of comiing here for christmas.

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in palolam again. just as nice as last time but a bit cooler. really like it here. nothing quite like waking up and leaping into the cooling waters.

liv can you send me a card exporter for the palm? the trail i have has nearly run out and i think i need it to put a new one one the palm as nothing has bluetooth here.