A Memoir of Goa, India 2009-2010

Okay. I'm posting this post in order to prove that I will not break my promises. Also, I am partly teaching myself a lesson that I should not make promises about writing certain blog posts because then I have to find the time to write those long blog posts. Anyways, the fact is that I am majorly late on posting this post but now that I alas have a decent amount of time on my hands in which I may be able to create such a post, I have decided to get it over with and not have it forever hanging on my shoulders.
Hehe. Sorry. Just kidding :D I actually fully owe this post to "Bo Peep" (you know who you are ;D) Speaking of which...
Shout Out: To Bo Peep for constantly pestering my to write an account of my India trip even though I'm a pathetic 4 and a half months late (I know) Anyways, this post wouldn't have been created without you.
Anyways, I will quit with all the drama. Let me get straight to it. An account of my India trip. Right. Let me travel deep back into the shelves of my memory and search for those wonderful days in December and January that made a great vacation. Right. Okay, mhmmm...Disclaimer: Although I am writing this, you must understand that my memory of the trip is anything but fresh as it would have been a few months ago, as it has been a while. Now, right onto it.

December 2009-January 2010
Goa, India
A Tribute to the Holiday Season
"And I finally realized, that it is not just me is it? Everyone loves that wonderful feeling you have inside when the stress of the world is gone and you feel as if you're effortlessly enjoying life. Some call it relaxation. I call it vacation."

Okay, for you're own good I'm not going to give you an account of the plane ride that lasts forever. Why? Because I assume that you are the type of person who dreads reading AP Reading book or another other form of long text. mhmmm. Except for anything interesting. So, in short the plane ride wasnt that interesting except for a few things. Let me elaborate:
Have you ever taking a domestic flight somewhere on vacation thats literally hardly a few miles away? Well, taking an international flight is a whole new feeling. Trust me. It is probably safe to say that you've been somewhere international as well. China perhaps. Or India like me! Or Russia or Italy or France or Canada or some significant place that I haven't forgotten but that I've not had enough time to mention here. (Ask me later and I'll tell you). Anyways you get this whole different feeling as I was saying. New culture! New food! New clothing! New languages! Or just the plain fact that you are able to talk about a whole foreign place that you visited after coming back home to your friends and make them feel amazed and jealous (just kidding!!! Tip: do not try that at home kids.) Anyways, I just realized that I have used the word "Anyways" a whole bunch of times in the paragraph, but as I tend the randomly change the subject oh so randomly...well...
Okay, so just in case you don't know this, the Sea Tac Airport is pretty cool. Well, Chinese food is not very good at the Sea Tac Airport, but carrying on....Well, it's not the most wonderful airport (I will explain why later because some foreign airports are just oh-so better.) but it's always is amusing to see people's faces as they step into the airport from Haiwaii, dressed in leis and Haiwaiian shirts and see that it's raining. Because they're in Seattllllle!
Okay, sorry. I just realized that the actual events in the Seattle airport itself weren't that interesting. Therefore I must fast forward t o the plane. Yup. The Plane.

Well, I must say that it was a big plane indeed. And having a touch screen entertainment center screen on the back of every seat is indeed wonderful, so for your delightment I will include a list of ALL the movies/music that I listened to/watched during the entire trip(s):
Harry Potter 6 (haha it was sort of funny because I really really wanted to see this one, it wasnt the very best though...very emotional :D)
Julie and Julia!!! (hehe I loved this one...btw, I tend to like movie involving food ex: Ratatouille)
Bandslam (If you are not a Disney fanatic you probably do not know what this is. Disclaimer: I. Am. Not. A. Disney. Fanatic. I just watched it because everything else except for Korean shows were rated PG13 or higher and seemed too lovey-dovey/violent. I estimate that only 0.05556% of you readers enjoy Disney and therefore I have concluded that I should probably include a brief description: a social outcast, a new kid who never seems to fit in his new schools, and a once super-popular girl trying to change her ways meet together and develop different relationships for each other. However, in the end, it is all a matter of winning the ultimate best acheivement for high school musicians: winning Bandslam.
Up! Wow. This is one of the most amazing movies (animated or live-action) movies I have ever watched. It has breath-taking emotions and beautiful music as well as a touching, suspenseful, interesting plot. Without any form of bad words or bad ideas, this movie deserved a five star no doubt. If you haven't seen it, watch it!!! And if you don't believe it, I think that it won a Grammy(s) this year (2010) and was nominated for many. By the way, Dorothy Jiang, if you are reading this I suppose that it wouldn't be fair to go without mentioning the ah-mazing...Russell! ;)

Ok before you criticize my music choice please take notice of the fact that there isn't much selection available. Therefore, unless you would like to have heard that I listened to "Row Row Row Your Boat" and "ABCs!" please refrain from commenting as such: Anonymous: You have horrible music taste. By the way, in case you are wondering, no, there is no way to make your comments anonymous on here, sorry :)
Jordin Sparks...unless you watch American Idol, you probably don't know her
David Archuleta...American Idol again but you might know him
Beyonce :D
Kelly Clarkson
Katy Perry and 3oh3 but honestly I got tired of them after a while.
Carrie Underwood
Korean Nursery Rhymes, well you be honest, I was sort of bored, so I clicked on "kids" on the screen and there I found Korean Nursery rhymes. Then again, let me correct myself, perhaps attempted to listen to this is a better description...the melodies were wonderful, but the words were meaningless as I didn't understand any of them.
Ok.I already wrote a long account of the food on the plane in my other blog and so here I have copied and pasted it:

So after a few hours of listening to Katy Perry, Jordin Sparks, David Archuleta, and a few other artists as well as choosing between the difficult decision of "what would you like to drink?" :), it was time to eat. *shudders* This is possibly the most feared experience of any international traveler- what food will be served on the plane? In case you are planning such an international trip anytime soon, let me un-confirm your fears- airplane food is fine. Not excellent, not "good", I prefer to say "fine". There. I've answered your question.
Yes. Sorry. That wasn't very long. Let me elaborate to confirm you're fears. Here are the interesting things:
-Well, for starters, there were Masala Lays Chips. Well? I know. If you have never been to India you probably have never heard of such a preposperous thing. But they taste good....so....yup :) Only the thing is that because of the air pressure in the plane, you would open up a bag this big: ________ and find out that it was only __ filled with chips. I know :( A dissapointment but an educational experience.
-Then, there were seaweed wrap things that tasted really good (rice cakes I think)
-This grape juice with bubbly things at the bottom. No, it was not bubble tea, but I was informed by my brother and sister that it tasted........errr...okay. Random fact (actually more like opinion if you are picky literature-wise): Bubble tea is just amazing isn't it? [If you are reading this and would like to comment but don't know what to comment on, please comment with your favorite bubble tea flavor. And if you have been bubble tea deprived (just kidding! but you really should try it...) and don't know any flavors of bubble tea, comment with your favorite ice cream flavor. And yes, that was random, but ice cream is good as well, isn't it?]
Instant noodles. (Haha sorry but I can guarantee that 89.9999866% of you know what these are) and yes THEY TASTE GOOD. but are unhealthy for you. (Written in small print so that nutritionally concerned people do not sue me for endorsing such food).
-Indian food.
-Korean food.
Sorry, unfortunately as I am on a very short time limit (not really) I will not be able to specifically define what "Indian and Korean food" exactly is, but ask an Indian or Korean friend and they will tell you. P.S. I can help you on the Indian part, only ask me in person.

Also, well...there were the books which I read. Actually book (not plural), because honestly, although you always tell yourself that you are going to finish dozens and dozens of books on the plane ride, unless they ALL are extremely wonderful books, you usually only finish one book. Because it's just way too distracting on the plane. Well....not at night...but...actually, never mind, thank you, I'm going to stop myself from going on a random tangent again. Unless, you like my random tangents. In which case, you are utterly free to ask me about the tangent I was about to go on.

AHHHHHH!!!! Sorry, I just realized that if I keep up talking so much (or writing) at this rate, I could write a third-grade chapter book on my trip! So, therefore, I am very sorry to say that I must shorten how much I write. But, remember, if you really would like to hear the full story,ask me in person and I'll tell you all of it...i f I have the time that is...because somehow I can talk much faster then I can write
Well then: When we first reached India, it is hard to describe how it was, perhaps I should just add a picture:
Goa, India
See the difference?
Ok, so first stop was my father's house which is honestly very historical, in fact: It was a mint house a long time ago! Imagine that!
Next was my mother's house "Villa Luz" which I probably spelled wrong but I'll get back to you on that ;)
Okay, so truly I don't remember every every single thing in chronological order, but these are the main places that we visited:
Swimming pool! Haha this was in the Mariott and it was great to take a swim in the water...
It was also great because our adorable cousin, our grandparents, and our aunt and uncle were there also and so overall we had a great time at the pool but this was by far the highlight of our adventures.

Ok, in order to not spend time aimlessly talking about the food areas that we visited, here are the restaurants that we went to (just a few, not all of them): Oh, and just a note to all you people who know how to spell all these types of foods and resturants and realize that I am practicing making fallacy by fallacy here as a make a futile attempt to spell it, just know that it's not my fault :D
Ritz (haha we went here a lot because we loved the seafood)...anyways this was an amazing Goan restaurant with the classic fish, mussels, crab, etc. Anyways, the most curious thing here was that they had lime soda which had cherries at the very bottom...I have never heard of lime soda with cherries but apparently it tastes good, so yup :)
Florentine's (yummy, this place was pretty good and it had good chicken cafreal (that's a word that I probably spelled wrong)) Also, there was great soup and almost our entire family went to it (16 people!!!)...hehe I think that we had to take up three tables
Thali places ( yeah, we went to a lot of these places and so im not going to list all of them but they were super super good except for I don't particularly like Indian food very much, but anyhow, Indian vanilla ice cream is good :D)
Legacy of Bombay (haha this another one of those places that we loved so we went to it about four times)...anyways, besides the fact that I a) lost my retainer at this restaurant and b) there were air conditioning issues (I mean, who ever heard of a cold place in India???), I really like this place. The falludas were wonderfully wonderful and the dai vadas were great and the masala dosas were good too, so I suppose that occassionally I do like Indian food ;)
well...there was this absolutely amazing Ice Cream place!!! Haha, it was the one part about America that I miss but it had the typical American flavors of ice cream. And of course, I had to have mint chocolate chip.
Well...sorry again, because I honestly don't remember the name of this restaurant either but there was also this restaurant which was Indian Chinese and it was really good. For example, the sweet and sour soup had a tint of India in it...and so did everything else :)
RANDOM FACT: Note that at EVERY single resturant that we went to, we ordered lime soda. I'm fairly certain that we got addicted to it, and now I wish that I had a nice refreshing glass or lime soda with a bendy straw and a cherry in it :D
Longhinos (I spelled this wrong...sorry D:) Anyways, this place was pretty good, only the soup was spoiled so we couldn't eat it, but the biryani was pretty good :)
a place called "Happy Town" or something like that...it was one of the most curious places I've every been. Let me explain. Well, the food wasn't wonderful, I mean, fast food which didn't taste perfect except for ice cream shakes. But, it was themed red, white, yellow, and blue. I mean, literally the primary colors. So even the walls were and chairs and everything, but then you go upstairs and there is a T.V. and couches, and a bunch of computers...it was utterly peculiar
This bakery place next to the Indian Chinese place :) All I can say is that it was good, only now I regret ordering a Chocolate Raspberry truffle instead of a cream filled scone..

Ok, next, places we visited, things that we did:
Beachhhhh! The beaches here are amazing...so many times have I heard "isn't this so much better than the beaches in America?" that I might have to agree...
Saw a super old house with so much of amazing history! There were bullet holes, secret passages, artifacts! Itw as over 500 years old and amazing! There even was the ladies' old dressing chamber, old weapons, and so much more!
Took a cruise through the water in Panjim
Went to a weddingggg!
Went to another weddinggg!
Met so many relatives, it is hard to name all of them, but anyhow, yes, I did see a lot of relatives...
Went to a party!! (with the most adorable dog...Boots :))
went to a tourist shop :)
went to another partyy :)
went to another party thrown especially for us grandchildren :) Went to a lot of other people's houses, parties, and such :)

And then finally at last, it was time to leave the wonderful world of Goa ); and so we packed our bags and were on our way to the airport, where they had tea and we played a fair share of MarioCart. Hmm, I just realized that I probably spent more time describing the plane ride then the actual trip, so let me sum this all up:

My 2009-2010 trip to Goa, India was a amazing and thrilling experience to me as I, now older, was able to view the area in an entirely new perspective. There are no words which can describe how beautiful Goa is indeed, but I do hope that you all will consider taking a trip there to get a view yourself.

-Starfire8