Well after hearing that our friends Brendan & Zoey (whom we'd become friends with in Bangalore in 2004) were coming to Goa in early December we decided to book flights and spend the weekend with them despite the fact that we'd already booked for Christmas there.  This meant flying back to Bangalore on the Monday and then back to Goa on the following Friday, well what the hell!  This mid December trip took us again to North Goa and our usual haunt of the Sunset Bar in Anjuna (£6 per night for double ensuite!!).  We visited the 2nd largest waterfalls in India (although being a dry season, not so spectacular) with the coldest water I have ever taken a dip in, not a great idea when recovering from pneumonia just two weeks earlier!  We also went to a fantastic spice farm and learned a lot of interesting facts.  For our second trip at Christmas we were not able to get a room at our Anjuna bar so we decided to go to South Goa for a change and try out some 5 star treatment, first at the Holiday Inn in Cavalossim and then the Intercontinental Grand Hotel at Cancona which was spectacular.  For Christmas Day we simply hired a scooter and went island hopping on the inland ferries of the River Sal and found a great little restaurant called Fishermans Wharf where we tucked in to Christmas dinner without even having to book, brilliant change from the usual trials and tribulations that Christmas brings!

The pictures from the Christmas trip start with the one of Malc looking rather stupid in just boxer shorts!