Day 13: Goa

Today was a relaxing day at The Leela Goa followed by an amazing New Year's Eve party.

Some of us got up early and played golf.

Don't miss!

Ian was thirsty, so he broke open a coconut.

Nell and Jasmine relaxing on the beach.

Umed: "I'm a monster."
Allison: "I don't care. I'm hungry."

The food wasn't very good at this beachside restaurant, but at least the service was slow.

The Leela spent the day setting up for the New Year's party.

The party was a blast. There were probably a couple hundred people there, and they set up a table for the 14 of us right in front of the stage.

This party had everything: from men without shirts...

...to elephants...

...to fire-balancing tight-rope walkers...

...to puppets...

...to fire-balancing dancers...

...to traditional Indian dancers...

...who seemed to especially like Andrew and Ian.

We started the night off quite tame, as you can see in this picture of Ohad, Jasmine, Sarah, and Ed.

However, things got a little more crazy as soon as Ohad and Umed began playing their flutes.

Ed and Umed then showed off some of their awesome dance moves.

Ian got so hot that he took off his shirt.

And then Ian started a "food-kissing" trend. In this picture, Ian is kissing a fish.

And in this picture, Allison is kissing a tall piece of dessert.

Allison and Ian apparently couldn't get enough, so they decided to start devouring this cake.

Andrew saw what was going on and decided to start devouring Umed's face.

And since that wasn't enough for him, he moved on to a chocolate guitar.

Umed and Joia showing off their dance moves to Ohad.

Lokesh tying up Sarah and Ed.

Allison: "Hey, in 5 minutes it will be 2007!"
Umed: "In Tajikistan, it won't be 2007 for another 35 minutes."
Joia: "In Palo Alto, it won't be 2007 for another 815 minutes. But who cares, let's party!"

Ed taking a picture of his Kodak moment on the big screen.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1..... HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!

Two down, twelve to go...

Day 12: Kali and Goa

We spend the first half of today at the Devbagh Beach Resort, and then we headed back to Goa, where we will be staying for the next three days.

This morning, Dafina, Andrew, Sarah, and Ed woke up on this houseboat before sunrise while the others were still sleeping in their huts on the island.

It wasn't fun to wake up so early, but the sunrise was really beautiful.

We saw a bunch of fishermen in boats scraping sand from the bottom of the river, which they sell for making cement.

Another "cement" boat.

Sarah and Ed on the houseboat.

Here's a picture of part of the Devbagh Resort.

Here's a picture of one of the huts that we stayed in.

Jimmy, Lokesh, Joia, and Nell looking for exotic shells on the beach.

Dafina and Joia in the sun.

Sarah and Dafina found a smiley face in the sand.

What a hunk!

Some of us met some local kids on the beach and played cricket with them. Click here to see a video.

Muscle and lack of muscle together in harmony.

Ian and Jimmy having lunch at Devbagh.

Umed and Ian tried to spin Ed all the way around in this hammock. Ed was confident that the centripetal force would hold him in, but he ended up falling out.

After lunch, we headed back to the boats to leave the island. We probably should have packed more lightly for the day trip to the island, but they were kind enough to help us with our bags.

When we arrived at The Leela Goa, we were greeted with flower necklaces and coconut drinks.

Friends of Mr. Nara are friends of The Leela Goa.

The hotel grounds were beautiful.

Sarah: "Ed, can you please stop taking so many photos?"

Here's a picture of what the bedrooms at The Leela look like according to it's website...

...so it was a nice surprise to find that our rooms had extra paintings and pillows.

At dinner, a magician tried to impress us with his tricks. But he couldn't fool Umed and Jimmy.