I had a surprisingly good sleep on the train all things considered. I still felt tired when I woke up but fortunately I'll have five days lying in the sun to get over that. The Subway sandwiches we had saved from the previous day were a little on the soggy side and the slogan on the wrapping ("Eat Fresh") could also be taken as advice or perhaps a serving suggestion if you like. Somehow, overnight, the train was running an hour late but it didn't matter too much. We read until the train arrived at Madgaon station and then we found a taxi to take us the 40km or so to Palolem. The journey was uneventful and we eventually arrived at the Oceanic Hotel. It looked more like a European colonial villa than a hotel in India but that could be the Portuguese influences in Goa at work. Regardless of what it looked like though, we knew pretty quickly that we'd found a great place to relax for a few days. Although it's hot here, there's plenty of shade, a pool and some beaches not too far away. Apart from the noises that the wildlife makes and the occasional car going past, the only sound we can here is the ocean crashing on to the beach a few hundred metres away.

We spent our first afternoon relaxing by the pool, Claire spent some of that helping the owners' four year old grand-daughter chase frogs out of the pool. In the evening we tried the excellent hotel restaurant. I was tempted to see what their Indian cooking was like but opted instead for a prawn based starter and a rather tasty lasagne to follow. Our English hosts keep the fridge full of beer and even have Archer's. By 8pm Claire and I were both very sleepy.

We started the following day as we meant to go on. We got up, we had breakfast (bacon, eggs and mushrooms) and we sat by the pool. We will wander to the beach eventually and I'm sure a trip into the growing village of Palolem is in order too but I suspect we'll be very lazy whatever we do.