“My Version of The Very Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”
Goa, India
By: Jacob Molnar
We embarked on our first family adventure since living in
India. It was a 4 day weekend for the
girls and a 3 day weekend for me due to May Day, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Workers'_Day,
so we decided as a family that this
would be our first trip. It is very hot
here in India so the beach sounded like the place to go…..Goa here come the
Molnar's!!!!!
We planned our adventure and one thing that the girls were
very keen on going was a place Karen found on-line called “Jungle Book”, http://goaecotourism.com . Jungle books biggest attractions are the
elephant adventures. The girls wanted to
ride and get splashed by them, so our trip really centered around this.
We left Bangalore very early in the morning. We had to get the girls up by 3 and out the
door by 4 for a 6:20 AM flight. Tough,
but we managed. We got to Goa very early
as it was only an hour long flight. Upon
arrival, our real adventure began.
Those that travel with me know that I have a history of
unfortunate traveling events. Lets, just
say that this was no different. It all
begins with the cab ride from the airport to the hotel. We stayed in a place called Calangute. It is about 45 Km from the airport. We paid for an air conditioned car, and we
were chauffeured in a very little Tata.
I love little cars, so this is not me complaining about the smallness,
but when you are 6’2’ and can not put your knees straight – we have
problems. Let me talk about the
driver. He had this nervous twitch about
him, almost as if he went too long between his last “hit”……and he drove like a
bat out of hell. I am not sure if my
knees have yet recovered from this drive.
The first thing you notice about Goa is the greenness of the
state. It is in stark contrast to the
urban jungle of Bangalore. There are
hills and hills of green trees and beautiful views of the ocean. All of the roads are paved two lane
highways. It is very up and down and
curvy roads, our driver decided it was his day to make the curvy roads his
personal playground. He was weaving in
and out of traffic…..playing chicken with the trucks coming directly at
him. All while trying to control his
twitchiness. Remember….the car is as big
as my bathtub and to get up the hills he had to turn off the AC. My knees are just banging the
dashboard….somehow, the girls feel asleep (thank the Lord). When we arrived to the hotel, I thought I
might fall out of the car and cry “Land, solid Land”…..I gently got out of the
car and looked at the hotel. My first
though was, wait this does not look like the pictures on-line. It should tell you how happy I was to get out
of the car – that I did not notice the hotel upon arrival.
In the spirit of adventure, I thought, I am hear for the
beach, not the hotel, and proceeded through the doors. The lobby was nicely air conditioned, which
is a good thing because it is 107 degrees here in Goa. We checked in and found that our room was not
to be ready for a couple of hours as we arrived so early. No worries, we went to breakfast then came
back and planned out our excurisons. We
called a tour guide and he arranged for our “Jungle Book” adventure, and we
discovered there is a waterfall right next to “Jungle Book” so we planned for
that as well.
I think it might have been the loudness of my kids, but soon
after planning our adventure, we were told our room was ready. J In the spirit of honesty, we knew this hotel
was a 4 star hotel (I am the first to admit I am a snob with hotels - I have traveled in India before and I know you always go with a 5 star hotel), however,
this had two rooms, one with a pull out sofa….we thought great, this would fit
us all. The first thing was the
overwhelming heat. It was so hot in that
room. I turned to the bell boy and said
where is the A/C???? He said it was in
the bedroom. We turned it on and hoped
for the best.
I have a great friend who always posts on facebook her
misadventures with hotels. Jody Nelson,
I think this one rivals anything you got.
Not only was the room hotter then hades, it had a view of an abandoned
house, that looked like there was so much mold the EPA would have to come in
with a hazmat suit. That little voice
in my head kept saying, we are here for the beach…..where is the darn AC…..beach/beach/beach…..queue
me entering bath room and it is so hot, I thought there is no way I can use the
potty in here……beach/beach/beach/beach….on that note, kids lets get dressed
and head to the beach. On the way down
we ask the hotel lobby to fix the AC in our room (they did this by closing all
the doors in the tiny bedroom making the other larger living room unusable due to the heat – needless to say we all snuggled in this little tiny bedroom….BTW…the
bathroom never got cool).
In the advertisement for the hotel, it stated the beach was
across the way and just down the road….yeah – that was like a 1/2 mile, with road
construction, it is 107 degrees and we are all sweating through our
cloths…..but after many twists and turns and grumbling about how lost we are….and
thoughts of what the hell have I gotten myself into….I hate that little devil on my shoulder…..FINALLY, THE BEACH!!!!!!
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The glorious beach!!!!
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The girls getting their first taste of the Indian Ocean!!!
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The beach was exactly what I hoped for…..comfy lounge
chairs, the roaring sound of the surf, beach/tiki huts and bars, and nothing
but the ocean in front of you. Praise
Jesus!!!! God is good!!!! I am going to make it through the weekend!!!!
We spent the afternoon at the beach and we loved every
minute of it. The only downside here is
that the Indian Ocean claimed my prescription sunglasses. My thought was, well that sucks, but it was
about time for a new pair as this was the old prescription. Coming back to the hotel was another
adventure, but we stumbled upon a Baskin Robbins on the way so God was good
again. We all thought room service sounded
good……so we ordered/ate…..then off to bed because we have to wake up early in
the AM for our next adventure.
We begin our trek the next day at 8:00 AM. We had about a 2 hour drive through the curvy
roads – on the way we got to see many beautiful sites. Temples and churches, the Indian Ocean in all
its splendor, beautiful homes and neighborhoods. We passed by a church where a Pope is buried
called The Basilica of Born Jesus, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_of_Bom_Jesus. The Popes name is Francis Xavier, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Xavier,
We made plans to stop on the way home.
We finally arrived to our destination and was ushered to the
waterfall check-in counter. We were then whisked into a jeep with 6 people (no
AC) and was told there is about a 45 minute drive – and it will be bumpy. That little voice in my head said – “REALLY
JACOB!!!!!” I calmed myself down
and said silently, I am game – let’s do this.
When he said bumpy he was not kidding – the shocks on this jeep have to
go out every month. It took 45 minutes
to go between 10-15 Km…..but we made it.
A little sweaty, a little whipflashed, a little bruised, but we made it
(remember my knees are still in recovery mode).
We were told that there will be about a 10-15 minute walk to
the waterfalls – yeah – misread the brochure on this one because it was like the
mountain hike from hell. As many of you
know – Olivia is my oldest daughter and has CP.
Her biggest challenge in life is her little legs…..praise Jesus we told
her to wear her braces because of the “10-15 minute” hike was up and down steep
hills, over boulders that I had trouble with and then lastly, a balancing act
on individual slippery and wet rocks to get to the waterfall. Remember folks it is 100 + degrees and I am
carrying a towel, several life vests, all while trying to maneuver the terrain
myself – and then helping Olivia through it all. She never complained – she took one step at a
time and made it through. Her Mother and
I thought “what the hell were we thinking!!!!!”
We all got our life jackets on and jumped in the waterfall and the
refreshing water was just what we needed to cool us down and remind us why we
did this. God is good – because all of
our tension left us and we had a ½ hour of blissful floating. When it was time to come out – we were a bit
worried about maneuvering back to the Jeep – but it was just fine. Karen always says Olivia is the Jock of the
CP world – and now I know why. Miss Di - you would be so proud.
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Daddy and Olivia trying to getting it down....I know there is a waterfall somewhere.
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Our mountainous hike
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Some cute monkey's along the way.
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| Almost to the waterfall - this is a pit stop along the way. |
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| We are almost there!!! |
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| Finally- the waterfall!!!! Worth the effort!!!! |
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| Cool refreshing water!!! Happy family!!! |
The 45 minute drive back was not so bad – all of us were in
better moods – and we were SO excited to see the Elephants. We arrived at Jungle Book and there were immediately shuffled off to our
ride on the elephant. Her name was
Cardinal – and she was big and beautiful.
The girls eyes were wide open when the climbed aboard the big girl. Once atop the beast – they walked us through
the Jungle Book facility – and it was pleasant.
No problems at all. If you know
me, you know I have issues with the humane treatment of animals – so I was a
bit skeptical on this occasion – but decided that the girls were dying to do
this – I just need to shut my mouth and go with it. After our trek through the facility – I
thought – not so bad. (I will preface
this by saying that I did not do any research on how the elephants are treated
– I decided ignorance is bliss). We then
were shuffled off to go on a splash with the elephant.
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| Cardinal |
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| How fun is this!!! |
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| Cardinal and I getting up close and personal |
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| Mommy's turn |
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| Now Pazzies turn......Olivia took a pass on this one. |
This portion of the day was met by a thunderous elephant
sound – and I thought – oh my. If you
know my girls – you know they hate loud noises (especially Olivia) so I thought
this is not going to be good. Cardinal
decided to talk to us a bit more – and I just kept trying to convince the girls
all is well. We came all this way – you
are climbing on top of the big girl and getting splashed. Cardinal was led into the water – and
collectively, and by collectively, I mean the girls and I, decided Mommy would
go first. Mommy was led into the water
and somehow climbed onto the big girl and she was talking…..SPLASH…….Cardinal sprayed her good with
water – the girls and I chuckled loudly and Cardinal kept on going – finally
Karen said enough and climbed down. To
get the girls to go – I decided I would go with them each – and we had great
fun. The gentleman helping us – was so
good he helped Olivia up on Cardinals’ back and helped her down. They both got a great laugh out of the
experience.
After – we left for home – and we were all pooped. The visit to see the Pope was not going to
happen as we smelled of lake water/elephant and sweat. We drove right on by the good Pope and went back
to the “Molnar’s version of the Best Marigold Hotel”. J
The next day we slept in.
By sleeping in I mean we slept till 7:00. Mommy was not happy about this – but the good
news was that we stumbled onto the fight between Mayweather and Pacquaio. Mommy woke up in a hurry- and we all sat on
the bed and watched. This made Mommy
happy – and allowed us to relax until our fun filled day of the beach happened.
I think Jesus took pity on us – because somehow we made it
to the beach without getting lost this time and walked straight to our beach
chairs. I immediately ordered a drink
and prepared for a day of relaxation.
Relaxing is not Mommy’s strong suit…..next thing you know Mommy
arranged for her and Olivia to go parasailing.
Paz did not want to do this so her and I played on the beach while
Olivia and Mommy went up in the air. If
you remember, on day one the Indian Ocean took my sunglasses. Well on day three the Indian Ocean claimed my
real glasses. My only thought was, well
crap, now I can’t see two feet in front of me.
It was a blurry day and a half – but I had a great time at the beach. In the words of Paz, 'Some dolphin can see
more clearly now.' J Praise Jesus I have a second pair of glasses
back at home.
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| How life is meant to be lived!!! |
Bruce and Jody Nelson, you would be proud, I ate the food on
the beach……there are several areas in my life that I will admit to being a
snob, most of them occur while traveling – and one of them is definitely
food. I do not like street food,
however, I put my game face on and dove in here. It was not bad – and I will leave it there
for now… J
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| Not a bad place for a meal |
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| It is sprite - not what you all are thinking - However, she loved the chicken. |
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| Could not be more happy. Does you heart good. |
Our adventure came to a close with the girls and us snuggled
on our bed watching TLC’s Ultimate Cake Off (well they watched I more or less
listened as I certainly could not see the TV).
I ended up falling asleep because I had no clue what was going on – and
our trip home was pleasantly uneventful.
Until next time - Jacob
