Goa, India

I will forever have eternal gratitude for Jason's hard work in accumulating all these hotel points. We're currently fortunate enough to stay at the Marriot, which is located in Myramar, Goa. We spent the majority of the morning/afternoon feasting, sleeping and web surfing but finally managed to organize a mini jaunt outside the compounds to tour the neighboring area. I'm hesitant to say this, but, man, this place is a dump not pretty. Similar to many parts of 3rd world asia, there seems to have been no care put into urban planning/sanitation/pollution control. Heaps of garbage, plant debris, various other crap fill the gutters and, what seems like, every nook and cranny along clay roads. We took our walk at dusk and the beach was far from idyllic. Its monsoon season- hazy lighting from heavy clouds combined with red clay dust and thick smog and the suffocating humidity give feeling, like something out of a zombie horror film.

Nonetheless, tomorrow will be more promising: we'll venture into Old Goa and remnants of Portuguese establishment among other tourist sites.