Visited a small island called Diu, which used to be a Portuguese colony, for a lovely long weekend. It was Gandhi’s birthday the past Friday so we all got a day off and my boss let me extend the weekend until Tuesday!
Instead of enduring about 20 hours in the train I took the easy option, a 1 hour flight from Mumbai. Completely safe, mum.
My timing couldn’t have been better, as while I was strolling on virgin beaches, having some coctails in sunset and napping under the shade of a coconut tree in 38 C degrees heat, my friends back in Mumbai were suffering from a freaky post-Monsuun 4-day rain fest.
The airport. They love security here. Really. 4 checks.
I have to recommend Diu to everyone looking for peace, this place is like an undiscovered Goa with its Portuguese past and fisher village feel, not to mention the beaches. Only thing is there are hardly any tourists and its under-developped (not a bad thing at all in my opinion). Best way to explore is with a scooter or pay a rickshaw driver to take you around.
Diu’s in Gujarat, which is a “dry state” i.e. drinking’s pretty much illegal. However, as Diu’s an island and technically its own territory, you can drink there. So there. Ever need a random holiday destination? Go to Diu.
I know this crab doesn't look too impressive but it was actually quite big. I thought it was dead so was practically poking it with my camera until it turned out it was alive! Yes, I screamed when it headed for my toes.
On the last day we went to see some sights. The temple on top of a hill with the flags blowing in the wind aainst the sunset was a pretty memorable moment.
It looked a bit like Ireland for a moment (ignore the shrines) which was a bit funny - I did go half across the globe to escape that place!
Also saw the Fort, constructed by the Portuguese. It was a huge place but climbing up t the top to the lighthouse was not that much fun in the heat.
Turned out as well there's a little "sub-jail" inside the Fort and a Police camp (I don't know what either of them really are). The police guys were just loitering around, some of them wanted to take pictures with me and show their IDs. They told me the jail had "not too bad criminals, no murder". Sigh...
I seem to be a little obsessed with trying to take symmetrical images..
There was a Portuguese-era white-washed church as well, but the insides were by far more interesting. Here we have Jesus - helpfully sign-posted - with some christmas lights.
The most sacred item in the church complemented by a guard: the INFO BOOTH with a touchscreen. It was actually locked.
They had some ancient statues on display. It's kind of cute the local ladies had dressed some of them in these pink robes.
Most locals didn't seem to have cars but they were either riding bikes, scooters, tractors, horses or these really funny looking motorcycle carriages. And for some reason they were all decorated like this.
Day
Night (and no I did not photoshop it)
Awake In India 