Happy New Year to all! I don’t know where to begin…we arrived in Panjim about a week ago at 5am. Hail a taxi to take me to my hotel and this very likable taxi driver took full advantage of my sleep deprivation and charged me double the fare, I figured this was my welcome mat to Goa.

I stayed at one of the best four star hotels Goa offers and my jet-lag caught up with me so I proceeded to sleep first instead of taking a look around. When I awoke it was night time, and my first night in the city, adjusting to the very casual, laid-back atmosphere of Goa made it possible for me to fall in love with it. I just came from the very conservative Northern parts of India for about 2 months, so experiencing this less restrictive, and more relaxing vibe, made me chill my attitude and go with the flow.

I travelled to Anjuna a found out it’s very much like the clubbing atmosphere of Ibiza. There were mostly Europeans here and they were on a hedonistic rampage of raving it till they drop. Anjuna definitely took a step outside of India, this was not India. It was Christmas Eve and I ended up on Anjuna’s beach, party really and I learned very quickly how to negotiate my way through all the food hawkers and market vendors. They were hard to ignore, with all the yelling at you they do, but I became very numb to it, and that seemed to work.

I headed back to Margao, which is the capital city of South Goa. I decided to check out the beaches by my hotel and the beach is so tropical and beautiful. It was quite compared to Anjuna and much more affordable. I think I’ll find out the prices of renting a bungalow and become a Goa beach bum.

New Years Eve, I spent at the fiesta my hotel threw for all its guests. I was dancing with the Goan trance and Indie pop. When the party started getting to drunken, I walked out to the white sands and clear night sky with a fresh pineapple and coconut milk drink, when I bumped into this big pink (sunburned) bodybuilder. We hit it off right away for some reason, maybe because he doesn’t drink either, or maybe it was his pathetic sunburn. Either way, it made my New Year be a lot better.