Sunday, December 31, 2006

Bambolim Beach Resort - Part II

I had a brief post on our stay at Bambolim BeachResort back in November. I wrote at the time, "The place hovers between elegant and shabby" and always felt guilty about using the word shabby. It isn't shabby. But it is the difference between the antiseptically cleanliness of American style hotels and the more relaxed Indian style of doing things. Everything isn't perfect. On the other hand, the staff were incredibly friendly and we learned a lot about India and Indian life when we talked to them.



The view from our room. The Arabian Sea is that grey area in the background.




I also promised some pictures of the Resort. The first three and the last picture in the post Goa Pictures are from right around the hotel. But here are some more.



The pool.










This is the Banyan Restaurant, anchored by this enormous tree. The main part is under the thatched roof behind the tree.






In the distance you can see a point. The Resort is there behind the trees. This beach was basically sand and shells, no rocks. The water was calm. I would have preferred some surf, but the beaches we saw with surf were extremely crowded and having the beach here to ourselves was great.






Again, you can see a point in the distance. Here we are on the beach on the other side of the point in the previous picture. Again, a quiet picturesque beach. The shells in the Goa Pictures link (link above) were from here.







There was another restaurant, totally out in the open overlooking the rocky beach in the previous picture.








Raiendra was one of the waiters we became friendly with. He's from the North. His family has a farm - goats, cows, water buffalo. He has been working on a plan for his life. He worked in Nepal for a number of years. His wife is going to nursing school, while he is here earning money. When she's done, he'll go back to school.





And while I said this resort was not as antiseptic as the typical American style hotels, there was someone spraying pesticide regularly. While this keeps the rooms pretty much free of ants and other insects for now, I can't help but think about a) the insects developing immunity to the spray over time and b) all this pesticide washing down into the beach just below where he's spraying.

Note: See also Goa Pictures

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