November 23, 2009 – Day 333 – Anjuna Beach, Goa, India

It was a crummy day that was spent getting from Arambol to Anjuna on the uncomfortable, smelly, crowded but cheap local buses and then another hour and a half walking around Anjuna trying to find cheap lodging that did not have spiders or ants in the bed sheets.

Crabs.... just crabs

We ended up paying Rs. 350 for a nice new and quite clean double room with a nice private bathroom and our own front porch with lawn chairs. We had a look at the beach just about as the sun was setting and it is crowded with young tourists, touts, and sun beds with big umbrellas parked in front of the many beach front restaurants.

Fishing at sunset

On top of this, the beach is not remarkably beautiful and the water is not good for swimming because of all the surprise rocks in the water that will no doubt bite your toes.

Travel Tip:

Food and lodging are a bit overpriced here in Anjuna but we were able to bargain down from Rs 500 for our room since there are not that many tourists in town until later into December when the season really picks up. For dinner, we were unable to find the usual small local (read: cheap!) joint and settled on a sea view (in the dark, so it was more sea sound than anything) restaurant that, while a bit expensive, at least had very large portions. A meal for two that left us bursting at the seams cost us just under Rs. 200. A normal meal usually costs around Rs. 120 for both of us.

Anjuna the town can get very irritating to walk through. Everyone in town seems to be selling drugs on the side as well as the usual hotel/shop/tattoo/whatever else you might want. It is packed with the usual tourist shops selling tapestries, jewelry, t-shirts and hippie clothes, bags, and other miscellaneous goods.