Stacy Does India

Goa was definitely one of my favorite places in India. I felt like I was in an entirely different country because the architecture was so unique. Goa was settled by the Portuguese, and only in the last 40 years or so became an Indian state. The Spanish tiled roofs, colorful buildings, and churches everywhere definitely make Goa stand out.

Our weekend was great. On Friday, Karen and I rented a scooter ($5 for the entire day) and rode around all over North Goa. We estimated that I drove over 65 kilometers that day -- I even drove on REAL roads, like, BUSY REAL roads! I even passed a few people that were going too slow! Super proud of myself, and my foreign country driving skills!


Saturday we went to Anjuna beach and spent the day enjoying the sun and the water! The people watching in Goa was so much fun -- a great mix of locals and foreigners! Saturday night we went to a HUGE bazaar (the biggest I've seen in India). Tons of locals, and hippies, were selling all sorts of stuff. We ate dinner there, then headed to Club Cubana, this really cool nightclub on top of a hill. We had a few drinks, then headed back to our hotel.

Sunday, I slept in a bit. I spent the morning walking around Panjim, taking pictures. I met up with Anna and Katrin for lunch, then, it was time to go to the airport. Here are a few of my favorite pics from this weekend. For the entire album, click here.

Surprise, surprise! I can watch American Idol here. Tuesday's episode is on Wednesday night for me, and Wednesday's episode is on Thursday night. Woohoo!

You'll never believe what I did this weekend while at the cricket match on Saturday, just after taking a picture of Charise and Christina...I DROPPED MY DIGITAL CAMERA! Had I been standing in the grass, there probably wouldn't have been any damage, but I was standing on the hard ground. The zoom lens on my camera is slightly bent, and now every picture I take is blurry. Rather than totally freak out, I took a few deep breaths and tried to reassure myself that it could be fixed.

I took it to a camera shop today that specializes in Canon equipment. The nice man at the counter said it would take 12 days, and cost 500Rs (approx $11 - such a deal!). ***CORRECTION: It's going to cost a bit more than that! Oh well. *** I filled out the necessary paperwork, and handed over my camera. Cross your fingers for me! I hope it can be repaired!

In the mean time, I will use my video camera to shoot stills. So, don't worry you shouldn't miss out on any of my travels! Whew!

This weekend nearly all of the expats were in town (a rare occurrence)! On Friday night we all went out to dinner at the Novotel, then to Ahala for drinks and dancing. They played hip hop for approximately 20 minutes, then it was all techno, all the time. We had fun regardless!


On Saturday, a bunch of us headed out to watch the Google Cricket team play. It was a lot of fun. The match lasted about 3 hours. I enjoyed spending an afternoon in the sun, with my friends, and a couple of beers!


I don't imagine spending many more weekends in Hyderabad while I am here. There are too little weekends left, and too many places I want to visit! For more pics of this weekend, click here.

So, I arrived back in Hyderabad at around 1am on Sunday morning. I spent most of Sunday hanging out at home, catching up on my work email, and watching Oprah DVDs (Thanks, Sarah!). Monday was my first day back at work in what has seemed like an eternity (a little over 2 weeks). It is great to be back in the office; back to being busy.

I have a weird feeling now, though...like I'm in the homestretch (which is good and bad, I guess). I can see my time here coming to an end very quickly and there is so much that I want to do at work, and so many places I still want to visit. Rather than jump right back on an airplane this coming weekend, I've decided to stay in Hyderabad, get some work done, and plan out the remainder of my time here. I'd love to see Mt. Everest in Nepal, I can't go home until I've been to Thailand, I've heard the Maldives are incredible, and I still want to see Kerala, in southern India. Not sure if I'll make to all of those places, but I'll certainly try.

All of that aside, being home for the holidays was a big tease! I am super excited to move back to Palo Alto in March! I miss my friends and my cute little town!

I hope you all enjoyed your Christmas and New Year's celebrations. Happy 2007.