I have now been in Goa for a little more than 24 hours, and already I find myself in the middle of a lot of things. I didn’t get a Bullet this time, but instead I have a lightweight and agile 150-cc Bajaj Pulsar for moving around. A bike is definitely the best choice of transportation here, so if you have the least bit of courage and preferably a license for MB, I suggest you go for it. The traffic isn’t even remotely as bad as in Bangalore, so you should be doing fine.

The open water diver course started today with a bunch of theory lessons followed by a good hour and a half in the pool for practical training. The theoretical part was easy for me, as usual, but surprisingly the practice went brilliantly as well. According to the instructor, I am “a natural” with SCUBA skills. No wonder it felt so easy! I had some concerns about breathing underwater without a mask, but I cleared even that without extra effort. All well for now, more diving practice tomorrow!

Goa seems like a nice place, but there are a couple of catches: first of all, you should have a friend or two with you. Second, be prepared to see a lot of western tourists, and even more locals who want every penny the tourists (yourself included) have. Go see an elephant in the side of the road and the people next to it will surely figure out a way to charge you some money for just looking at it. Walk a hundred meters and you will see half a dozen of taxi drivers offering a ride. These people live out of us.

I’m not saying that Goa is a bad place, [insert entity] forbid! It can be the ultimate mix of relaxing on the beach, having a good time with your loved ones and experiencing something new like SCUBA diving. My views are obscured by the fact that I am here alone, which in turn makes chilling out in the beach rather unattractive. That leaves me with only the third aspect, which I’m going to concentrate on as much as possible. The rest of the time I will be roaming around the area on a bike, eating in different places and consuming alcoholic drinks in various environments.

Speaking of alcoholic drinks, I am currently sipping my test portion of McDowell’s Single Malt, the only non-blended Indian whisky I could get my hands on. I was looking for a bottle of Amrut, but half a dozen liquor shops later gave up and bought a 50-rupee (80 cents orso), less-than-a-centiliter bottle of McDowell’s to see if it’s any good. After half a glass I am pleasantly surprised to say that this stuff is no bad at all: yes, I’ve had better, but I’ve definitely had worse also. Put a reasonable price tag on it in Finland and I’ll be definitely adding this to my home bar.

Tags: diving, drink, holiday, motorbikes, people in india, practical stuff, tourism, transportation, travel