On Tuesday 10th, we checked out of our Jaipur hotel and the nice staff asked how we were, concerned for Jayna's health after the sickness. Sadly the sickness hadn't gone anywhere, and a taxi, two flights and another taxi ride were not really what Jayna needed to recover. Regardless of health concerns, we had flights and we were determined not to miss them - after all, we were joining Jayna's parents, Pat and Roy, in an all inclusive resort in Candolim, Goa. We couldn't miss that.

The taxi sped us to the airport, where we checked in early and waited . There was the usual searching palaver, and everyone wanted to see our boarding cards and put a stamp on them. We headed through to departures, and Jayna tried not to be sick. It was tough. It was a bumpy flight to Mumbai, which didn't really help. Then we had to go back through security again, finding our own way because the signage was so poor. A security guard asked Jayna if she was okay because she looked so tired, and eventually we wound up waiting in departures again. This time, there was a friendly, happy little band to keep us entertained for a while. It was another turbulent filled flight to reach Goa airport, and thankfully we landed with no major upsets.

We exited Goa airport and joined a long queue for the pre-paid taxis. It didn't take too long for us to reach the front, and we were whisked off in a taxi for the 40 or so kilometres to get to our resort, Whispering Palms in Candolim.

It was dark when we arrived and we checked straight in . After lying down for half an hour, we went to find Jayna's parents, and found them in their hotel room, two doors away from ours. We had a lovely two hour catch up before dinner, at which point Jayna retired for the evening, still not being well enough to eat.

This continued for several days. After six days of diarrhoea, vomiting and constant nausea, we decided to call the doctor. When he came in the afternoon, he confirmed that the medicines Jayna had been taking were correct, but for whatever reason they weren't working. Jayna was given an injection and a prescription for three more types of drugs, to take over the following days. It was a slow recovery, with Jayna not feeling well enough to eat a full meal until Monday 16th.

We had a relaxed rest of the time in Candolim. We fitted in plenty of dips in the pool, and a dip in the sea, which was murky. We had a haircut each, and Ken got his beard trimmed. We bought some souvenirs for family members . Pat and Roy had kindly bought us some new clothes, so we complimented these with a couple of bits we picked up in Candolim. We went and got a scale and polish from a dentist across the road. We watched the Brazilian Formula 1 qualifying and the race (the first we'd seen all year, barring actually being at the Japanese Grand Prix). Ken got new sunglasses, as his old ones were pretty rubbish (the new ones turned out to be pretty rubbish as well). We read some books, and spent a lot of time poolside. We spent plenty of more time dodging the touts, and a lot of time just being. Relaxing was the name of the game.

The resort itself was okay, full of British, Russian and Indian people. The pool was nice but constantly busy with children, making it hard to actually swim in. The food was good quality, but it was always curry at lunch and dinner, with no other choices for mains. The staff, in the main, were good, but we had some experiences of rude staff on reception. The gardens in the grounds were good and extensive . There was a gym that we didn't use. There was a free bar that we did use. We enjoyed the proximity to the beach and nearby shops for helpful stuff, like pharmacists and suncream. Our room was a good size, and the hot shower was awesome. All in all, it was nice, but not exactly five star nice. The days off were well timed to allow recovery, and just not having to think about where our next meal was coming from was definitely refreshing.

We took a couple of day trips in between relaxing; the first to Aguada Fort, and the second to Dudhsagar waterfall. Aguada Fort was a few kilometres south of our resort, so we all piled into a taxi to get there and back again. The Fort was extremely busy, though fairly unremarkable. It extended for a couple of kilometres down the hillside to the water's edge, though only the top part was accessible to tourists. We were bothered by a lot of people asking to take photos with us. Ken and Jayna refused, only to have their photos taken at a distance anyway, and Pat and Roy sometimes said yes . We weren't pick-pocketed or anything like that, so all was well in the end.

The second day trip, to Dudhsagar waterfall, was definitely not worth it. We went with John's Boat Tours (Thomas Cook, the holiday company whose resort we were staying in, had a chap to take Thomas Cook bookings for activities, but he never bothered to come and take our requests for tours. We therefore looked elsewhere) and the idea was to be picked up at 8am, driven for two hours with stops for photo opportunities, transferred onto a jeep for a 45 minute drive to the waterfalls, have an hour at the waterfalls, get lunch, and get a jeep and transport back to Candolim, arriving back at the resort at 4pm. Unfortunately, Roy was not feeling well so didn't join us for the day. When the transport arrived, it was a seat short - despite Roy not being there. So a larger bus came and went around a few hotels, picking up people along the way. Eventually, we had a full bus and were underway. There were no stops for photo opportunities, as promised, barring one where we pulled up at a layby and were able to photograph a mosque from the bus . The driver did tell us stories about Saint Francis Xavier, who died hundreds of years ago, yet whose body has yet to decompose. He goes on display every year in December, drawing hundreds of thousands of people to see him. The driver also told us about the Bollywood film festival, taking place at the time, and pointed out plenty of Portuguese houses, built when the Portuguese were in control of Goa.

We made it to the transfer point, from bus to jeep, and were told to go inside a restaurant and wait for lunch. Lunch came after half an hour, in a little paper bag, and was fine, if a little small (we were used to all inclusive mega sized lunches by this time). We were told that the jeep to the waterfall would be another hour, so kicked back and got to chatting with some other people on the same tour. When our jeep was apparently ready, it was a case of 'hurry up and wait' as we were ushered outside, only to wait for another 10 minutes whilst traffic squeezed past us. The jeep ride was for seven people, and it was the bumpiest ride, ever. We were jolted out of our seats a number of times, even hitting heads on the ceiling of the vehicle. After 45 minutes, we made it to the waterfalls. Nearly. It was actually a five minute walk to the entrance to the waterfalls, and from there it was a ten minute walk to the waterfalls - which took us 15 minutes because we kept stopping to admire the monkeys. We were only given an hour at the waterfalls, which meant that, with the ten minute walk back, we actually only had half an hour there . The waterfall was pretty huge, cascading down the hillside, and we watched a few trains pass by, about half way up the hillside. We hadn't been given life jackets by our jeep guy, despite the fact that they were mandatory. We went for a swim anyway. The water was cold, and we tried to swim into the gush of the waterfall, unsuccessfully, due to the sheer volume of water. It was fun anyway. All too soon, we had to leave and make our way back to find the jeep.

Another bumpy jeep ride later, we were back at the restaurant. The bus guy had convinced half of the people from our bus to go elephant riding and elephant washing. Unfortunately, this meant we had to wait for them to finish their activities. Which took ages. We were left waiting in the restaurant for more than two hours. We eventually made it back the resort, passing through rush hour traffic, in the over air-conditioned bus, 15 minutes shy of 12 hours after we'd left in the morning. Nearly twelve hours, all for 30 minutes of the actual activity of the waterfall . The waterfall was very nice, but it was not worth nearly 12 hours of our time.

We were due to leave Candolim on Friday 20th. As mentioned in the Delhi entry, we'd had to purchase an onward flight ticket from India before we would be allowed on the plane to leave Kathmandu. This onward flight was the cheapest we could find, and left from Kolkata to Bangkok on Friday 27th. Kolkata was on the east side of India, quite some way away, and we weighed up different options for what to do with our remaining time. This included sacking off the flight from Kolkata to Bangkok and leaving sooner, or later, than originally planned. We considered going back north to Rajasthan and seeing the Pink City of Jaipur, as well as going camel trekking in the desert near the border with Pakistan. We considered going to Sri Lanka for a week. We considered going south to Kerala for more beach time. In the end, we wanted as little hassle as possible. Still in rest and recovery mode, we eventually decided to stick around in Candolim for another couple of days, go to south Goa and a place called Palolem for three more days, before flying to Kolkata for a day . Thereby we used the flight we'd purchased, limited our time in dodgy annoying cities, had more rest and relaxation time, and got to hang out with Pat and Roy for a little longer.

Unfortunately, Whispering Palms was full and could not accommodate us for the other two days. We negotiated a rate to continue to use Whispering Palms' facilities, and checked into a hotel, called Serenity, just up the road. The owner, Jayesh, was thoroughly untrustworthy. He tried to change the amount that he wanted to charge us, which we refused. He also wanted us to pay to check in early, despite the fact that the room was empty, so we left our bags in Pat and Roy's room until check in time. Jayesh asked for our passports (fairly standard for India) and then made a big song and dance about returning them to us, only later to ask for them back again. When we returned to the hotel later that evening, Jayesh was not around. When we asked at reception for them the following day, the receptionist didn't have them . Alarm bells were ringing, because why Jayesh would have taken them off the hotel's site was a mystery to us. Eventually, Jayesh did turn up at the hotel and did give us our passports back, though still asked a number of questions about where we were from, what date we arrived in India, and what cities we were born in. In the meantime, we were a bit dissatified with the dribble that was a hot shower, a lack of information from the hotel staff, and the giant cockroach that appeared outside of our room one morning. The hotel also gave us the wrong washing and tried to overcharge us for it. We wouldn't recommend it as a place to stay.

All too soon, it was time for us to leave the comforts of Candolim. After getting over the sickness, we'd had a lovely, relaxing time. It was just what we needed after a busy few months of travelling. A very special thank you to Mum and Dad for the all inclusive treat!

On Sunday 22nd, we checked out of Serenity, enjoyed our final breakfast at Whispering Palms, and said a sad goodbye to Pat and Roy. We climbed in a taxi and headed off to our next destination, Palolem, and waved goodbye to Pat and Roy for another three months.