South India: Goa: Siolim House, Part I

Siolim House
Vaddy, Siolim
Bardez, Goa 403 517
91-832-223-2138/ 227-2941
www.siolimhouse.com




Yea, in spite of Goa's reputation, I still wanted to visit. DJKung really was not interested in checking out the likely over-hyped beach scene. To compromise, I picked Siolim house as a respite from all the beach action in Goa.

Siolim House is rather removed from the beaches. The closest beaches are Ashvem and Mandrem, a dusty thirty minutes by car or longer by scooter. I picked this place for some good pampering and r&r. DJKung and I agreed that it was worth it.

Siolim House used to be the home of the governor of Macau, back in Goa's colonial days.

Siolim House.

Reservations are essential, since they only have seven rooms. I booked a room for us for five nights but did not confirm. Luckily, when we arrived, a room was available for three nights. Antoinette, the office manager, was very gracious and deftly directed us to some afternoon tea and cakes while our bags were brought to the room.

Estate teas. These are also available for sale. It was nice trying a different cup each time. I am not sure if the picture adequately shows these clever tea spoons (the two on the left). Basically, there is a hinged clamshell contraption. You open it and scoop up some tea, then close it and cover with hot water. One side of clamshell has perforations for the water.

Sitting room. The detail on the carved wood chairs is just exquisite. DJKung and I really dug the long-armed plantation chairs, which allow you to put your feet up. There are some architecture books that we perused.

I wish I picked this book up. It has great detail on the unique details of Goan houses (e.g., windows, pillars).

Our room, which in hindsight we realized was the smallest one, opened directly to the courtyard and the pool beyond. I am just baffled that neither DJKung or I took any pictures, because we just fell in love with the room. It had these really high ceiling, whitewashed walls and big windows with wooden shutters. The ceiling fan nicely cooled the room down and we did not need any ac. The bed was a tall, romantic, four-postered and curtained affair with crisp white linens. And the bathroom, we swear, was about as big as the room and had white marble everywhere. Very luxurious.

The pool was very nice, too. Most of the time, it was only me and DJKung just splashing around. It felt like we had the whole place to ourselves.

Path to pool. The grounds, though not extensive, were lush. I saw a chico tree (unfortunately, the fruits were not yet ripe), hibiscus, gardenia.

In the mornings, the pigeons like to bathe in the pool, too. It was fun trying to scare them away.

This looks like some bird-of-paradise type plant.

The dining area was also directly across from our room, so it was easy rolling out of bed and showing up for breakfast.

This is the house dog, who we referred to as Fluffy. Unlike the local dogs, Fluffy was much bigger and had a full coat. Not surprisingly, he was always hot and would always try to find a cool spot to lie down.



Our room is to the left. Aren't those fat columns so pretty!

This is the part of the courtyard that leads to the kitchen. That structure in the middle has the remnants of an old well. We saw a lot of old wells on our forays about town.

View of the courtyard from the second floor.

The best adjective I can think of to describe this place is idyllic. We easily settled into this routine:

6am: wake up, listen to the sounds of the village waking up.

7am: get dressed, walk two blocks to the main street and pick up three newspapers.

7:30 am to 9:00 am: breakfast (see Siolim House, Part II). Read newspapers, chat with the jolly French guest.

9:00 am to 10:00 am: pool time.

10:00 am to 2:30 pm: go check out a beach and have lunch outside.

2:30 pm to 5:00 pm: back to Siolim, pool time. Siesta time for Superfatty. Afternoon tea.

5:00 pm to 7:30 pm: get Ayurvedic massage. Shower, get ready for dinner.

7:30 pm to 10:00pm: dinner and drinks outside.

10:00 pm: talk about how tough life can be, with all the decisions we had to make all day (where to eat, what to do, etc). Figure out which beach to check out the next day. Go to sleep.

DJKung and I were really comfortable during our stay here. The staff are all locals, and they took great pains to make sure that everything was to our liking. We've met some interesting people, specially Alex and Mandri, who were always so genuinely attentive. They arranged for a scooter rental for us (do not ask DJKung how it went), and then taxi trips for our beach jaunts, gave excellent tips for dining in the area, set up appointments for the masseuse, and helped us out with our inquiries for transport to our next leg of our trip. The owner, Varun, even gave us tips on hotels, clubs and places to eat in Mumbai!