12.31.09
Posted in Astro, Landscape, People, Travel at 11:59 pm by Warren Williams
After spending a week around the beautiful island of Jua, enjoying the villages of Santo Estevam and Marcela on the mainland, we decided it was time to venture back to the beachside apartment for New Years celebrations. Stocking up on food supplies from the Mapusa market, Angus and I were preparing ourselves for the final few days in Goa! Time sure has flown.
Mutton ready for the chop
Mapusa Market Seller – All to keen for a photo
Final sunset of 2009, from Calangute, Goa, India
Angus farewelling 2009
Once in a blue moon… two full months within one calendar month
On the strike of midnight, Calangute beach and all the adjoining beaches (Candolim, Sinquerim and Baga), brightly lit up with thousands of fireworks and bonfires to welcome in the Year of 2010. Making this an even more special New Years, a partial lunar eclispe occurred only a few minutes later.
Lunar Eclipse of 2009 / 2010
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12.29.09
Posted in Animals, Birds, Landscape, Nature, Travel at 3:30 pm by Warren Williams
Returning back to Marcela the following morning, Raju was keen on showing more of the bush in the neighbouring areas, including his own property and yet more fruit! 🙂 It was a great walk, seeing a beautiful, peaceful view of India, as we encountered many various animals and workers in the field.
Bananas on Raju’s property
The sad face of a local dog with mange
Massive King Cobra nest
One of the many tropical birds
Yep, another
Cameleon
Rich Paddy Field
Wilderness adventures, reminiscent of “Stand by Me”
Water buffalo
Another stunning Kingfisher
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12.28.09
Posted in Animals, Birds, Landscape, Travel at 9:00 pm by Warren Williams
Located between Old Goa and the road to Santo Estevam, Marcela is a small town where Angus’s grandmother has lived for many years. Her property has its own spring water well, and many fruit trees, which Raju was kind enough to get some coconuts down for the fresh milk.
Angus scooping the coconut out
Fresh spring water from the well
Raju with a crab from a water hole nearby
10 points for what this is?
View from atop water tank in Marcela bush
More rice fields from atop the water tank
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12.27.09
Posted in Landscape, People, Travel at 10:00 pm by Warren Williams
After Christmas celebrations, we planned a trip to the beauty of Colva and Palolem beaches. Unfortunately the sun wasn’t shining as strongly as before, and both beaches were very crowded. After waiting around in the evening until sunset, it simply didn’t come! Driving the 4×4 home after dark was certainly a new experience too – driving for almost two hours from the furthest reaches of Goa.
Colva Parasailing
The highlight of the day, was seeing Angus’ nephew, Matthew, experience the sea and sand.
Raju (friend of family from Marcela, Goa) & Matthew
Sun disappearing amongst the clouds
Beach shacks Palolem
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12.25.09
Posted in General, People at 9:21 pm by Warren Williams
After our beach excursions, Angus and I headed back to his family home in Santo Estevam (St Stephen’s) to experience Christmas. We attended a Christmas service in the Basilica of Bom Jesus, Old Goa, whilst witnessing the village of Santo Estevam transforming with celebrations, lights and many nativity scenes.
Neighbours
Friendly family in the village
Boxing Day was spent chilled in the village, and eating several feasts 😉
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12.23.09
Posted in People, Transportation, Travel at 2:44 pm by Warren Williams
After hearing about the weekly flea market in Anjuna, we decided to head along on another hot Wednesday. Riding our favourite mode of transport, Rickshaw, we skimmed past the traffic and arrived in the massive field filled with hundreds of market stalls. Knowing there would be large crowds, I left the camera bag back at the apartment, only taking the Canon 1DIII and 85L lens for dreamy shots.
Rickshaw Driver
Rickshaw Horn – great importance 😉
Escaping the market jam, ventured onto the beach for a restaurant
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12.22.09
Posted in Animals, Landscape, Travel at 8:25 pm by Warren Williams
Ventured further north to the rocky red coastline of Vagator Beach, before settling down in the evening at Little Vagator Beach. Despite clouding over during most of the afternoon, the sunset shone through amazingly red, complementing the rockface.
Yet more cows, near Little Vagator
Very slippery rocks, where I almost had an underwater experience!
Warren & Angus after sunset at Vagator Beach
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12.20.09
Posted in Animals, Landscape, Transportation, Travel at 10:00 pm by Warren Williams
White sands stretch 7km southward from Baga, through Calangute, Candolim and finally Sinquerim. Nestled in the southern end of coastline between Candolim and Sinquerim lies the Merchant Vessel, the River Princess. After running aground ten years ago, it has caused environmental issues, such as rusted shards of steel on the beach. It does however make an interesting photo subject!
Lifeguards on duty in Calangute
Fisherman, untangling his nets
Selling fresh fruit on the beach of Calangute
Later in the day, Angus and I decided to hire a taxi from Calangute to the River Princess shipwreck. Frustratingly, taxis aren’t metered in Goa, and they usually offer exhorbitant cash amounts up front. Several times the cost than in Mumbai! After finally negotiating a van driver down to just 200 Rupees ($6), we took the 10min trip further along the beach.
More cows 😛
Stray dogs give the cows some problems, as we witnessed on various beaches
Whilst other cows must be wary of their own kind
Parasailing across Candolim
Jet skis near the stern of the River Princess
River Princess silhouetted
Bow of the River Princess, with the sun setting through the hazy sky
Several exposures with the incoming tide
Jumping fun (shot by Angus)
As twilight set in, I shot a few long exposures with various filters:
No filters
Two graduated ND filters on top (.6 hard and .9 soft)
5 minute exposure
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12.19.09
Posted in Animals, Landscape, People, Travel at 8:30 pm by Warren Williams
The impressively large Fort Aguada was built by the Portuguese in the seventeenth century, with views stretching across the Arabian Sea. It was rather unbearable walking around here, in mid thirties temperature, and humidity soaring into the 90’s! Definitely the hottest day of the trip.
Later in the day as the heat slowly faded, we all ventured up to the northern reaches of Goa, to the popular tourist beach of Arambol. Another surprising experience, with thousands of people around, along with the odd cow walking along the sands – something I hadn’t seen in photos whilst researching Goa.
Sunbathing
Stray dogs
Angus, using one of my spare cameras, capturing the orange hue sunset
Angus and the reflecting sunset
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12.18.09
Posted in Animals, People, Travel at 1:52 pm by Warren Williams
After spending a couple of days around the beautiful Sant Estevam village, Angus and I decided it was time to spend some time in the apartment in Calangute, cooling off from the extreme heat with the neighbouring sea. We stopped in Goa’s largest city – Panjim (also known as Punaji), for a quick wander, coming across the pungeant fish market.
Following the walk, we ventured off to the busy party town of Baga, near Calangute to have some refreshing drinks and a late lunch.
Matthew, and his milky drink
Adorable 🙂
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12.17.09
Posted in Animals, Nature, People, Travel at 9:03 pm by Warren Williams
We took an hours drive to the Bondla Wildlife Sanctuary, only to find it was shut on Thursdays! Just nearby we had noticed the Pascoal Spice Farm – offering a view of the spice plantations and a restaurant set amongst some tropical forest. After a massive meal of chicken, fish curry rice and various drinks, we decided to wander amongst their walkways to burn off the food. Early on the path, we came face to face with this monster of a spider.. the size of a hand, it looked rather intimidating but was in fact quite harmless – something I only found out after shaking nervously a few inches away.
Shooting underneath, I was sure it was about to launch an attack
Angus and his nephew, Matthew
Jua Bridge, to Santo Estevam – the alternative longer route
Friendly villager of Santo Estevam, selling fried potato and samosa
Another villager awaiting her order
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12.16.09
Posted in Architecture, History, Travel at 9:12 pm by Warren Williams
Following the awful bus experience, it was a great relief to finally make it into Goa. Despite the traffic still being rather busy, the air was noticeably clearer, and able to see distant objects, rather than thick haze. After hastily getting off the bus in Mapusa, we were whisked away in the great comfort of an air conditioned 4×4. Angus’s father was kind enough to drive us by the scenic areas, including Calangute showing off the apartment we would be spending some time in, before driving through Old Goa. One of the main features of Old Goa is the Basilica of Bom Jesus, which is over 400 years old, making it one of the oldest in India.
Just beyond Old Goa, along one of the country roads is a small car ferry servic, which took us from the mainland to the island of Jua and the mostly Catholic village of Santo Estevam.
The Gomes residence in Sant Estevam – Great homely large home 🙂
Walking adventure around Santo Estevam
Clearer blue skies, and clean water!
Got Bacon!
Two contrasting crosses
Under the still prevalent Portuguese Laws, the historic homes cannot be destroyed. Only passed through the generations, with more recently over the past century many emigrating overseas leaving the houses to slowly deteriorate and add a great feel.
Old furniture through the walls
Old front door
Shooting from the side door which is sitting ajar – this house was simply amazing!
Later in the evening, Angus and I took a walk up the hill of Jua to see the Statue of Sacred Heart / Shine to Christ the King
Waren & Angus atop the monument
Fort Ruins atop the hill of Jua
The Fort of St Francis Xavier – built in 1668
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12.15.09
Posted in General, People, Transportation, Travel at 8:29 pm by Warren Williams
After finally receiving some more adequate sleep, Angus and I ventured off via taxi to the north of Mumbai, to his family home in Evershine Nagar, Malad West. What a way to experience true Indian traffic firsthand! – The fairly short journey took a whopping two and a half hours, so I managed to admire the surroundings in the scorching street heat and snap a few shots.
Rickshaw driver
Our taxi being filled with CNG – commonplace in Mumbai
Pun of the recent movie “3 idiots” on the back of a rickshaw
Clearly on a road with no traffic
Once we had reached the neighbourhood of Evershine Nagar, Angus and I decided to have a quick wander around the small local streets.
Ripening bananas
Heavily loaded bicycle
Fresh pineapple
Street stall through a large drainage pipe
Friendly dog outside the apartment
Sunset from the 4th floor of the apartment
Right at this moment, we made a hasty getaway to the highway for our bus trip to Goa. Simply put; the WORST trip I have ever done. 7pm until 9am the following morning, as we traversed what seemed like the windiest roads possible on the journey south. Sleeping wasn’t possible amongst the winding roads, and bopping to the ring-a-ting-ting Bollywood movies on offer, with treble echoing around the bus. I strongly recommend anyone to fly down – or even catch a train.
Coca-Cola 3-wheeler truck whilst waiting for our bus
Zooming Rickshaw
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12.14.09
Posted in Landscape, People, Travel at 11:30 pm by Warren Williams
After arriving into Mumbai around 3am, I finally managed to have a couple hours sleep, before setting off for some sights around the incredibly busy city with Angus.
Temporary building supports?
Chemist in Vile Parle
From outside the hotel, near airport in Vile Parle
For lunch, we headed into Bandra by Auto Rickshaw – to meet a fellow photographer friend, Darryl Baptista who kindly offered to drive us around the city to see the main sights across the afternoon and evening. The 8km journey was a great first insight into Indian transportation and traffic – recording a video along the whole route – which only came to 70 rupees (NZ$2). I’ll try and share some videos once the photos are all online!
Church in Bandra
Angus waiting for Darryl in the shade
During our drive into the city, many workers were sleeping off the extreme heat
Driving across the newly completed Rajiv Ghandi Sea Link from Bandra to Worli, cutting commuting from an hour to just seven minutes
The famous Dhobi Ghat – Mahalakshmi, Mumbai
A sea of Blue
Gateway of India – following our quick view of Dhobi Ghat, we visited the large Gateway of India – located on the waterfront of the Apollo Bunder area in South Mumbai. This overlooks the Taj Mahal hotel, which was bombed in November 2008, and is still under refurbishment.
These happy strangers were eager to have their photo taken
Many boats returning from the Elephanta Caves – (City of Caves), which I’ve been told is a great excursion to do if you have the time
Gateway of India Arch
Darryl, Warren & Angus – before being told by a heavily armed policeman, “No Tripod!”
Later in the evening, Darryl Baptista took us along to his current photographic exhibition running in the Soul Fry Casa restaurant. His exhibition, “Bombay Duck to Peking Duck”, was a great display of seascapes from around Goa, Mumbai and afar to Hong Kong. It was great to see his selection of shots, and hear about his committments to travelling and showcasing these special areas.
Darryl Baptista – showcasing his photo exhibition – Bombay Duck to Peking Duck
Thank you Darryl for your tremendous insight and advice to my travels around Goa!
Jandals in the streets of Mumbai in an evening street stall
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12.13.09
Posted in Aviation, General, Travel at 11:59 pm by Warren Williams
With my decision to return downunder permanently, the timing couldn’t have worked out any better, with one of my best friends, Angus, inviting me along for a four week trip to India. Mixing our time up between the busy and chaotic city of Mumbai (Bombay), and to one of India’s finest states of Goa for a very hot winter. Whilst in Goa, our time will also be divided between the Kamat Holiday Home apartments at Calangute Beach, and further inland at the beautiful Santo Estevam village on Jua Island.
As customary on my previous trips, I flew Emirates airline, reserving a window seat to enjoy the views from 35,000 feet in the air.
Emirates 777-300
The Alps
Sunset before arriving into Dubai
Twilight
Check back soon for many updates from India (It’s been a busy few weeks back in NZ)
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