25.12.2004

Diu

After a month of racing around Rajasthan, we were excited to finally devour a few books on the palm frindged beaches of Diu. I mean, after reading the Lonely Planet's reference to Diu, it sounded like the perfect way to unwind and spend Chrissy. Right?

Completely and utterly WRONG. We arrived in Diu with high expectations, only to be let down and down and down. Diu was no backpacker hangout, nor did it have nice beaches, or reasonably civilised people hanging around the beaches. Diu was a dirty rubbish dump which attracted the packaged-holiday Indian tourists by the hordes, and day trippers by the bus loads. Joy-ride camels and horses would further pollute the dirty beaches with their constant stream of crap, not to mention the audio pollution they brought to the party. Not because they were noisy creatures, but because of the of the owners constant yelling at you (and every one else in the vacinity) to take a joy-ride. "Hello-hello-want-camel-ride-hello-you-where-you
-from-you-want-ride-good-price-hello". Such rides were slightly amusing however. A family of five or six would squeeze onto one small camel, while the father carried on like a six-year old kid from excitement. So excitable was he, I started to contemplate who was the parent and who were the kids.

On a more positive note however, we were jumping at the chance to run along a beach once again - it had been quite a few months. When Jus and I were in the middle of our early morning jog one morning, we were compelled to stop and observe a family playing in the water, close to the shore. The mother, wholly dressed in her sari, was knee deep in the water, frivolously jumping up and down with excitement. Meanwhile the father, dressed in full office attire, was waist deep splashing his hands either side with pure joy. We were curious to know what was going on, but realised that this was just their morning trip to the beach. Hey, I think I'll act the same way when I finally make it back to Manly Beach!

So Christmas was a bit of a let down for me, but at least we spent it on a beach - I've spent 24 of my 25 Christmases on a beach, so why stop now. We ended up spending most of the day hanging around our colourful little Portuguese guest house, indulging in an Aussie Christmas feast - seafood and fresh fruit.

We discovered another beach late on Christmas Day, which wasn't as bad in comparison. There was a real vibe with the local boys playing cricket, fishing trawlers setting out for the night, and nets being hawled onto shore. A beautiful sunset to end a strange day.

So as Justin's already stated, "Come to Diu, there's nothing to see and nothing to do!". I'd highly recommend that this destination be scratched off anyone's future travel plans.