Soft Landing in India

Well, after 29 hours of subways, airports, planes and taxis, we've made it to paradise.  Thanks to our good judgment and the enthusiastic advice our very good friend Greg Fenske, we arived in Mumbai and immediately fled by plane to Goa where a beachfront shack awaited us.  Not that we could reserve one of course (we're in India now after all).  But our good fortune continues as we met veteran travellor Sue from Britain after our flight to Mumbai and shared the ordeal of going from the International airport to the Domestic airport by way of the "free" shuttle service.  Now the shuttle is free, it just took 2 hours to get on it for a 15 minute drive.  Fortunately, we arrived around midntight and our flight to Goa was leaving at 4:55am.  So we banded together with Sue as she was headed back to our destination of Arambol, having just been there 2 weeks ago and returning to meet friends.  This worked out exceptionally well for us as we were in little shape to navigate pre paid taxis and the raw culture shock of a one hour drive from the airport in Goa to the promise of a beach side hut we had no reservation for.  The one hour drive was intense (you definitely know you're in India when you get on the roads here) but we just focussed on all advice Sue was giving us en route and followed the instructions Greg had generously provided us.  On arriving in Arambol all unfolded according to plan and they'd just opened up the huts Greg had recommended the day before so we picked one right on the beach with it's own bathroom that wasn't too close to the chaos of town but a very easy 5 minute walk to it.  Again we sent up prayers to our paton saint Greg Fenske for delivering us to this promised land.  Our hut also came with friendly neighbours from Colorado who are travelling with their 2 daughters (aged ~2&4).  They've been in India for a while and on hearing where we'd come from proclaimed "What a great soft landing in India".  Apparently, everywhere else is far more intense, chaotic and confronting.  Uh huh.
So here we are in Arambol, a Northern beach of Goa (Goa's a state in Indai that was once a Portugese colony), where we blend in seemlessly with all the other tourists that the locals are determined to separate money from.  The upside of this is that Arambol is set up to cater to all our Western needs and after 2 months of being on the fringe of Japanese society, this place is idyllic and right now I'm hard pressed to think of why we'd leave!
I wrote this post while sitting on the deck of our beach hut, listening to the sound of surf, watching the cows roam down the beach while I quietly sweated through the heat of the day in the shade with the salt of the ocean on my skin from my morning swim in the warm ocean and powdery sand on the soles of my feet.  Our only goal since arriving has been to do as little as possible until we adjust to the climate and the 4 hour time difference.  We haven't spent more than $5 Cdn on a meal with beer and we're eating like kings.
Last night we managed to build up enough energy to make to "Magic Park", and danced with some expat hippies after a scrumptous vegetarian buffet. 
If you were kind enough to donate to the travel fund of our wedding, you can rest assured it is being very well spent!
Signing off from a sweaty little internet cafe in Arambol!  Yay honeymoon!!!!!