Tag: Goa
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Drones, Kingfishers, and Joey Cook’s Ukulele
Goa, India’s diminutive state on the west coast, enjoys a certain reputation as a party destination, full of backpackers and bikinis, in search of yoga or outdoor sports. But it also has its wildlife – especially birds. I wrote about our visit to Goa’s Dr. Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary about a year ago when we…
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Swimathon: Bird’s Eye View
Last week I took part in a “Swimathon” in Goa, on the eastern coast of southern India. Participants were to swim either 2 km, 1 km, or 250 meters in the calm sea. It was a great set of races, and had lots of participation by a local swim club as well as members of…
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Goa is for the Birds – Literally
Just north of Panaji, Goa’s “small but spritely” capital, where the Mapusa and Mandovi Rivers meet, is what appears to be an island – Chorao Island – which has 11,000 inhabitants, and whose western end is a 1.8 square kilometer mangrove forest known as the Dr. Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary. Looking at the map, it…
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Going to Goa: Spotted at the Beach
During our trip to Goa, we took a trip to Palolem Beach, locally considered the most beautiful beach in Goa, and the setting for the opening scenes of the movie The Bourne Supremacy. Luckily we were there before the tourist season, which means there was space to walk along the beach as vendors worked diligently…
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Going to Goa: Rome of the East
When I asked some photographer friends what I should look to photograph in my (then-) upcoming trip to Goa, I was told, “Churches! Goa is the ‘Rome of the East’”. I did some digging around and discovered that in fact “Old Goa” with its many churches is a UNESCO World Heritage site for that very…
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Going to Goa: Sights on the Streets
If you ever find yourself planning a vacation in Goa, it’s pretty easy to hire a local driver to get you around. For foreigners, the temptation is to just rent a car and save money, but hiring a car plus driver is actually pretty inexpensive – plus you get someone who can navigate the traffic…
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Going to Goa: On the Beach
Sharing a few photos from our recent trip to Goa, a former Portuguese colony in west/south India. One of the things tourists love about the beaches here is how clean they are. Whether it’s the currents, the population size or some other reason, we can definitely say there is a huge difference between what we…
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Going to Goa: Sahakari Spice Plantation
One thing you can do when you’re visiting the Indian state of Goa, on the south/western coast, is to stop by a spice plantation. Presumably the spice plantations that dot Goa and other parts of India are remnants of the once-extremely-profitable spice industry which drove Europeans farther and farther across the globe in search of…
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Going to Goa: Shri Mangeshi Temple and Procession
We recently took several days to visit Goa, a small state and former Portuguese colony on the western coast of India. For one of our outings, we hired a local driver, “Seby”, to take us around for the better part of the afternoon, to see some of the local sights. One of the places we…