The Miracle of Air Con / 8 Nov 09

Prawns, Baby Kingfish and Lobster presented before cooking at our Goan beachside restaurant

Ferris on the steps of Siolim House

Siolim House living room

Typical Goan village architecture

Cliff on the "throne" in his room!

Today was a day of travel and transition. Left Aurangabad on an 8:35 am flight; transferred in Mumbai for arrival in Goa at 1 pm. As we walked from the plane to the terminal building we were immediately struck, not only by Goa’s lush tropical vegetation, but also by the much higher temperature and humidity level.

We were led to our van by a disinterested local contact named Joachim who, unlike all of our other airport greeters, did not lift a finger to help the driver load the van. This was our first clue that Joachim might not be a good fit for us. The drive to our hotel merely confirmed our suspicions. Joachim began telling us about the four-hour tour included in our package that was to begin at 8:30 tomorrow morning. This tour included several things we knew we didn’t want to do and omitted several things that we did want to do. We told Joachim we’d be willing to pay extra for changes and that these changes were important to us. Joachim was intractable. Our touring could only be from 8:30 to 12:30 and must include the four specified items.

Another factor in planning the next day was our desire to attend an evening performance by a friend of Cliff and Cathy’s – a Bollywood actress named Kashmera Shah – which would take place at the Intercontinental Hotel in south Goa, two hours from our hotel. We wanted to plan an itinerary that would gradually take us from north to south Goa and end by arriving at her hotel by 4pm. Joachim quoted a price for having a driver for the full day but insisted that the morning itinerary remain unchanged. We all looked at each other and knew that more than likely we’d end up canceling the entire morning and developing a new plan that did not include Joachim.

The airport is located near the Goan capital of Panaji, approximately midway down this long and narrow state. Goa is bordered on its western coast by the Arabian Sea. Our hotel, the Siolim House, is a one-hour drive north of the airport.

We spent the drive on narrow two lane roads passing through rice fields and small villages with brightly colored houses. As we traveled north, I had the sense of moving deeper into rural Goa. We passed through one village after another. Large houses with tile roofs surrounded by walls were interspersed with small ones made of mud brick. Even the most beautiful and best maintained houses showed signs of withering under the constant tropical moisture. There were dense groves of palm and coconut trees, pink, white and red bougainvillea, and even prickly pear cactus. I constantly had the feeling we were on an island, particularly as we drove along wide sandy beaches.

Finally the van turned off the larger road and onto an even smaller one. I didn’t seem possible that a hotel could be located anywhere nearby. We pulled off the tiny road and stopped suddenly in a dirt parking lot in front of a three-sided store selling potato chips. Joachim told us to get out. Puzzled, hot and tired we stumbled out and looked around. Across the street was a two storey white house with a plaque by the front gate saying Siolim House. The moment we entered we knew we were in for a treat. Siolim House is a restored 300 year old Portuguese Manor House with tile floors, tropical wood furniture, an open courtyard in the middle, and high beamed ceilings. It was once the residence of the Goan-Portuguese Governor of Macau.

We were led up a beautiful staircase to two large suites with a sitting area in between. There was even a media room with a huge flat screen TV. The only thing Siolim House seemed not to have was air conditioning. We were told to close the windows from 5 to 7 pm to avoid mosquitoes, but since there were no screens in the windows I was a bit skeptical about our ability to open the windows at all in the evenings. Mind you, it had to be in the very high 90s as we sat, sweating and contemplating our situation. At a beautiful hotel (with limited amenities), one hour from a major town and two hours from the Intercontinental, no plan for touring worked out, two full days ahead of us, in sweltering heat and humidity, limited to whatever cooling we were able to get from overhead ceiling fans.

I don’t know if it was the heat or fatigue from a long day of travel, but I opted for a bit of rest under the ceiling fan. When I awoke from my nap, Cliff, Cathy and Ferris came rushing in to tell me that our entire picture had changed. They’d not only discovered that Siolim House has other rooms available with air conditioning (we moved to them post haste) but it also has a driver/tour guide/waiter/jack of all trades named Alex who would be available to take us around Goa the next day and drive us to Kashmera’s performance. This changed everything.

We enjoyed a bottle of our favorite Indian wine, Sula Savignon Blanc, and delicious cashew nuts, courtesy of Alex. He then drove us to a restaurant about 20 minutes from Siolim where we had a wonderful dinner on the beach of lobster, prawns, Baby Kingfish and other local seafood specialties.