Arambol bazaar

The road that follows the coast northward through Goa is about a mile from the beach at Arambol. The mile of road leading down from this main road to the beach at Arambol is a narrow, paved road, with little traffic, except for quite a few scooters. The road is about a mile long, and the last half mile of the road is lined with small vendors stalls, and a few restaurants and fruit stands. The vendors shops are reminiscent of the vendors at the Oregon Country Fair, with colorful clothes and bags, jewelry, tattoo shops, pipes and more. There are no big stores.

Arambol is a good place to find something to eat

There are many bars and restaurants to choose from in Arambol. They serve local food, and selections from around the world, often featuring German bakery delights, Israeli middle eastern food, Italian standards, and wood-fired-oven pizza. And there is always cold beer and liquor. Many of the restaurants are vegetarian, but most have some non-veg items as well. Most places have good coffee, and most places offer a selection of items for desert, including ruch things as mango cheesecake !nd pastries.

Arambol has fish on the menu

The early morning fishing boats come back to the beaches about 9am in the morning and sort out their catch of the day, and tend to their boats, and repair any damage to their nets.

Arambol scooters

There is an unbelievable number of motor scooters in Arambol, mostly being driven by the western visitors. Many places have them for rent, and the roads have few cars and trucks, so it is good place to ride a scooter around. There are also a lot of the old British Royal Enfield motorcycles in town, the largest concentration that I have seen in my travels in India. And as you can imagine, if you have had any experience with British motorcycles, Arambol also has the largest concentration of Royal Enfield mechanics that I have seen as well.

Arambol beach

Arambol has a nice beach which is relatively clean. There are few sun worshipers, but lots of well tanned, and many well tattooed wanderers. Fishermen park their boats on the beach and go out early each morning to bring in the catch of the day which is will become the featured items on the menus of the beach front restaurants. The beach is lined with modest guest houses, restaurants, bars and yoga centers. There are a few surfers, but not much surf.

ResidenSea

I stayed at the ResidenSea, a beach front guest house on the north end of the beach a bit beyond the end of the road which leads down to the beach. The ResidenSea is a complex of bamboo huts. I opted for a deluxe unit with private shower and toilet. At night it is well lit so that one can find their way back from the beach front bars that string out down the beach to the south.

from Gokarna to Arambol

After leaving Gokarna, an out of the way beach Hindu pilgrimage town south of Goa, I headed to Arambol, an out of the way counter culture pilgrimage town on the beach in northern Goa. Goa is a small province in India, in the middle of the west coast, on the Arabian Sea. Goa was an important trading port for the Vijayanagar empire that ruled this part of India in the 1300's from its center in Hampi. Goa has some good natural ports, and Arabian horses were imported through here for the Vijayanagar's cavalry. The Portuguese ruled Goa as a colony from 1510-1961, as an important link in the trading routes for the spice trade. In the 1960's, Goa was one of the counter culture meccas around the world. The businesses built up around the hippies in the 60's gave way to hotels, cheap charter flights from Europe, and package tours, and now the beaches of central Goa are packed with sun worshiping party crowds. The counter culture gradually migrated northward and now is centered in the north Goa beach town of Arambol. Arambol, identified as Harmal on road signs, is a small town with no large hotels, and very little car or taxi traffic. What it does have is a large number of people who want a beach resort without the usual aspects of a beach resort. The visitors are aged hippies, backpackers, dread-locked wanders, and people who want something quieter and different. Many are German, French, Isreali and Russians.

Is David staying here?

When I returned to the Flower Garden after a day of wandering around the neighboring beaches of Gokarna, one of the other Flower Garden guests was sitting at a table drawing in a sketch book, and he looked up when I came in. He said, in broken English, with a strong German accent, that someone came by earlier and asked "Is David staying here?" and described me as having a long white beard and long hair. I told him that I didn't think that anyone knew that I was here, but I was intrigued. He said that he could not recall any details of description. Later that evening, another guest added that the person who enquired about me said that he had met me several years ago, and that he thought that his strange English accent suggested that he might be British, and that the person was going down the beach, asking for me at each cafe/guest house. I did not meet up with this person before I left town, and I am left speculating who it may have been...yet another small world story...

cows on the beach

During my stays in the inland towns of central India, there seemed to be much fewer cows roaming freely on the roads and city streets, but in this Hindu holy town of Gokarna, there are cows as usual in the streets. The cows also wander freely up and down the beach and at times there seemed to be more cows on the beach by the Flower Garden than there were people.

Arabian Sea

The beach runs due north in front of the Flower Garden. The Arabian Sea stretches out to the horizon to the west. The air is clear and clean. The stars at night are very bright and clear. Since I came south to central India, and being away from the industrial centers, there has been little evidence of the smog and haze that seemed to be everywhere in northern India. There were no pirates in sight.

Flower Garden

When I arrived in Gokarna, I was ready to relax and decompress from the sometimes hectic times of tourism and travel, so I opted for a quiet stay by the beach. I found a place about a half mile walk down the beach from where the road ends at the Arabian Sea in Gokarna. The place is a basic beach abode, a small restaurant, and with a few basic rooms to rent. The place is called the Flower Garden. I rented a basic $2 a night grass hut, with shower, shared bath and a bed with a mosquito net. It is about fifty feet from the surf and about 5-10 feet above the high tide line. The food is basic and good, and they have cold beer. It is very quiet and peaceful.

Gokarna - sleepy and peaceful

Gokarna is a sleepy and peaceful town. There is less of a pushy tourist oriented feel than many of the towns that I have stayed in which were major tourist attraction towns. There is little traffic and the pace is slow.

Gokarna by the sea

Gokarna is a Hindu pilgrimage city on the Arabian Sea, on the west coast of India, south of Goa, and south of Mumbai (Bombay which suffered a terrorist bomb blast this morning). Gokarna is a Hindu holy city, not a party city, so it is peaceful and quiet.

Hampi rock carvings #2

Hampi rock carvings #1

In the rocks down by the river, I came across numerous rock carvings that fascinated me. I know nothing about them, whether they are associated with the rest of the Hampi site, or before, or after, but I was drawn to them.

the river at Hampi

The Tungabhadra River flows west-to-east just north of the Hampi Bazaar.