Beautiful, laid back goa. Review on Goa

After reading venkats review on goa, I thought I should add something more. venkat has already written where all the places of interest are, so I will write something more from a goans point of view/interest.

i am a goan, but live in bombay. I visit goa once a year.

the goan people are a very friendly laid back people the word for this is ''sussegad''. you wont find any other kind of people like this in india. they actually take a siesta and most shops are closed from 2 to 4 pm.

the best time to go to goa I feel is november to march, as it is nice and cool and you can get the best of food and facilities as the foreigners are there for the locals to bring out the best for you to enjoy.

regarding food, I agree with venkat that there is very little choice for vegetarians in many restaurants, but if you request the manager a little earlier, then you can have what you want. goans are mainly non vegetarians. I eat 3 meals a day which are non veg with only a teaspoon of veggies!! for goan weddings there are all the meats/ fish possible on the buffet with 3-4 dishes of each.

there are a few amazing value for money sea food places I have been to recently. star bar and restaurant opposite a granite factory about 1 km before old goa on the panjim side--this is an open air place overlooking the mandovi river and the fried oysters melt in your mouth! the other fried fish/prawns are very good too. only dont wear white as you get stained purple with some jambul fruit that fall on you from the trees overhead. another place in opposite the maruti showroom just before the panjim bridge on the mapusa side, a nice place to go to in the nights as you overlook the mandovi river and see all the lights and sights of panjim. you can then go across and take a ferry cruise on the river. if you have your girlfriend, its so romantic, she will want to look into your eyes marry you even if you dont have a job!!

all the shacks that come up on the beaches during the season i.e. november to april have good cheap food too--many foreigners who stay in the 5 star hotels eat here!!

in fact I have many foreigner friends who eat / live on about a dollar a day, as 1 dollar is equal to many rupees. they dance all night, sleep till noon, then hit the beach to get a tan, and eat a fruit/ yogurt dish and generally live cheap!! the rooms in the shacks cost 150-to 200 rupees a day, and many of them stay for 3-4 months.

the goan locals value these foreigners very much, as they get their sustenance from them. its only during season time (the rest of the year goa is too hot or too wet) that they can earn money from hiring out rooms, bikes, taxis and setting up restaurants. they dont appreciate the indian tourists too much as they pose, take snaps of the skimpily dressed foreigners and think they are very easy to get into bed--many of them get beaten up/cameras smashed. I have seen this myself. I even saw a huge sardarji getting beaten up. his fault was he lay down besides a sun-tanning lady and was making his friends take pics, and tried to pick her up--she protested and the locals beat him up-so be careful all you horny north indians. (i say north indians becoz I saw mainly these guys at fault-sorry I have no malice towards you-but be careful.)

the beaches are also very nice (arambol is accessible from mapusa, via siolim--venkat??)

there are very secluded beaches like palolem, arambol and most beaches near margao side which are off the beaten track unlike calangute, candolim, baga, anjuna, vagator, miramar which are like chowpatty in bombay--crowded!

in palolem during season, you will think you are in a foreign country with so many foreigners around and very few locals.

arambol is a unique place as it is not easily accessible since you have to cross a ferry at siolim, and transport is minimal. it is a beach on one side and a fresh water lake on the other. many foreigners swim nude there--i did too! I have the pics to prove it!!

during season there are many all night rave/trance parties organized by the locals and foreigners. anjuna is the main place, there is a small dry bottom of the hills kind of place off the beach which they call disco valley. and another called bamboo forest. here they dance all night till daybreak. there was a party in vagator last year that went on for 4 days continuously. one foreigner died--not from drugs that are freely available in goa, but when he fell in the fresh water well!! the crowd at these parties in 95% foreigners. all the bombay starlets/ models are also here and many of them fall down either drunk or blown with the drugs--i wont name them.

as transport in goa is terrible, you can hire a bike for about rs 200-300 a day--it is really worth it, as you will save money --taxis are very costly and you can roam all over goa and see all the scenic spots. car is about rs 800. but please bargain hard! after 8 pm there is no transport-so be careful ,and shops close early.

liquor is very cheap-cheapest in india! also since the goan roads are very wide and smooth with hardly any signals, you tend to speed and drive rashly--many accidents take place -so drive carefully, if on bike be careful of dogs and other small animals which dart across the roads. once on a bike I hit a pigling and it died..after looking out for the owner to pay compensation, and not finding him, we took it home and my aunt cut it up and we ate it.

there is the flea market in anjuna on wednesdays and the whole night saturday market where you can pick up indian ethnic clothes, and eat world cuisine that the foreigners make. you can sit in one place and eat tibetan, isreali, british, swiss etc food! I got my tattoo done here for 50 bucks 14 years back.

i can write a lot more, but I have to get back to work--if anyone wants more information about goa, please let me know--i will be glad to help.