Goa

  Goa, India
Tuesday, March 28, 2006

So our next stop after tearing ourselves away from the lovely Tibetan people was Goa. Mmmm Goa why? Well we had to satisfy our curiosity. Loads of package tourists visit there every year........we wanted to see why? So we took a bus first to Mangalore (for one night) and then we were up at the crack of dawn for our train journey to Margao, Goa. Our train left at 7 am. We went posh class again with reclining velour seats and A/C. For the equilivant of 12 quid (for the both of us), it was very expensive fare compared to any other train journey we had taken so far in India. Alarm bells should have started ringing really but they didn't until, that is we got off at Margao station!
We had to get from the station to the main bus station. Loads of taxis and rickshaws are there to greet us and everyone else whose main purpose of arriving at Margao is to head for the beeches of Goa.
So welcome to "rip off Goa" we thought, as when we enquired how much a rickshaw was to do a simple 4 km journey, the reply was 90 rupees. "You are joking me aren't you?" was my reply. "No" said the bloke behind his so called "Government Fixed Price Rickshaws" counter. I have to explain here what this should actually mean. Basically it means what it says, the price of any journey is fixed by the Government so you are not "ripped off" by some driver naming an over inflated priced.
Well having been in India for over 2 months and having obtained a very good idea of how much we should be paying, we quickly came to the conclusion that we were being "ripped off" BIG time.
We and the travellers that have done a bit of time in India, are not helped by the so called other people who just pay up without question. I saw tonnes of them doing it. I just wanted to get on my soapbox and shout out loud "stop letting them rip us off. " What are you doing folks? Do us a favour and just ask a local person how much you should be paying? Believe us it's a lot less than your man behind his "Government Rip off Rickshaw" counter.
So we put our backpacks on and headed for the main road. Other rickshaw drivers tried to give us rip off inflated prices and we just quoted from that fantastic British comedy programme 'Goodness Gracious Me' "kiss my chuddies" Chuddies meaning underpants as we found out from our friend Aman in Bangalore.
Once on the main road a taxi driver drove up and named the proper price, which was half of the price from "Mr Government Rip Off." Future travellers take note!

Not a good start to Goa. That was just a taster of things to come. The conductor tried to rip us off on the bus journey too! So we landed at Palolem Beach and found a nice place to stay at you will see in the photo.
  
 We opted for the non-canvas accommodation, which was still a rip off price per night, but then our only other option was to stay in really cheap and nasty shacks with blue plastic tarpaulin roofs, which you see wall to wall along Palolems' sandy beach. We are "flash packers" after all. Our little house (with proper tiled roof) looks out onto a beautiful flower garden and the sea beyond.
We soon were acquainted with our neighbours especially P.J from London who knew Goa very well having visited several times. She was in India for a month this time with a view to doing some voluntary work at a project helping 'street children.' Alas, she was finding hard to muster up the energy to actually transfer to the city where this project was and for fill her mission. We can't really blame her. It was rather nice and chilled where we were staying. However, she did actually make it.....after a few days! Well done P.J.
Meanwhile our days were spent on the beach soaking up the rays without having a load of Indian blokes gawking at you. And catching up on good old great British food as you can imagine its like the south of Spain here with loads of British cafes and restaurants etc.

After 3 days, we moved on up the coast to Benalem. Here we checked into a lovely place called Ochin Guest House situated in the middle a huge plain of paddy fields. Luckily, they were currently dried up and just used for grazing buffalo instead of a perfect breeding ground for a billion mosquitoes.
We had our first ever resident frog in our room that would appear out of the sink overflow each evening. See photo. Over the years, we have shared our room with quite a few creatures but never a frog before.
  
We hired a motor bike for a couple of days. The driving in this area wasn't actually too bad mainly because we were in a relatively quite area with not many cars/buses on the road. We even hired bicycles. Great fun for cycling on the hard sandy beach when the tide had gone out.
Having a motor bike allowed us to venture further a field. We checked out most of the 5* resort options and had tea and cake at a rather posh Holiday Inn. It made a nice change apart from having to share the facilities with a load of 2 week package tourists!! Sounds snobby I know and I am the first to admit that I used to be 'one of those types!'
We passed our days talking to other fellow travellers especially Sam and Andrew who were on the road for a year a bit like ourselves 3-4 years ago. We all exchange stories and off load frustrations of living and travelling in India. Some days things happen that just make you feel you have had just about enough. Then an hour later, someone or something nice will happen just to add to your frustration and confusion of such an incredible country. Why? We have not found the answer yet, but anyone reading this will know just what we are talking about.
  
Our last destination in this state was the "Blackpool of Goa" named Baga. This town and the town next door, Calangute have to be the busiest with regards to package tourists. Having chosen a hotel with its own swimming pool, we were able to escape the millions of sun beds with red sunburnt Brits lined up and down the beach. Our main reason for coming here was to visit the weekend market. Here just about anything and everything is sold. Clothes including rip off brands, trinkets, blankets, silver jewellery, cigarettes the whole nine yards! Full of locals selling and millions of tourists buying, it was a very colourful affair.

Seven days in all in the state of Goa was enough. We satisfied our curiosity and can safely say we will not need to return. With that in mind, we felt the need to continue our beach life so we booked two flights out to the Andaman Islands. However, that is another chapter.............