Marriott magic.....

Monday took us to the Marriott hotel in Panjim. A 5 star luxury place overlooking the Mandovi river with views of the dolphins guaranteed (except for our stay). Ren's mum is a member of the Marriott club so we got a free night and lots of discount on food and other things. We made best use of the facilities and both had an aptly named spice bundle massage - this consists of being massaged with hot oil and being whacked around various parts of the body with a bloody hot bundle of spices. We were paying for this?!! After that, all we were good for was a quick snack while watching the fireworks outside (to be explained later, he he) and then 143 games of peanuckle (cards) in the room, with gin of course.

After all our travelling and early starts we were looking forward to a good night's sleep. Renuka did get a good night but it was not to be for me. I discovered Renuka snores loudly when in a deep sleep. I had only one earplug, which was woefully inadequate.

We stayed in the hotel the next day too. I caught a bus into town and shared it with 345 local Indian people on their way to work. Sardines or what. We had a free buffet lunch which took us 3 hours (2 to eat and 1 to squeeze out of the door after it). In the afternoon we both had a simultaneous Indian head massage, at the same time (this phrase to be explained later). This was a fabulous experience and at the end of it we were very relaxed and almost falling asleep. Renuka woke herself up by hitting her head on a shelf as she bent to pick up her purse for the massage.

In the evening we all joined in to cook the evening meal. My job was chief onion chopper and puri fryer. Everyone said they were the best puri's they'd ever eaten. I think they were fibbing somehow. Then it was my turn to get a good night sleep - until the dog next door started howling (marginally quieter than Renuka's snoring) at 3:15am!!!