Go Goa or Go Away. Review on Goa

What is the deal with Goa? This is a loaded question.

Some of the good stuff is easy. The beaches are the best in India. So a very valid reason to like Goa.

The seafood. Also a good reason. Overpriced but a good reason anyway. The beer is also a reason. I dont drink so most of my trips to Goa is spent ensuring that those accompanying me dont kill each other and mostly dont kill me. But those who drink, tell me that the beer is cheap. The "harder" drinks aren't though I am not sure.

What is unsettling about Goa is how big a tourist trap that place has become recently. Most of it is the glaring difference in treatment to foreigners and to Indians - the last time I checked, Goa was in India. But the proliferation of sign-ages in Russian will leave you in doubt. A closer look at Indians outside whileforeigners drink and play by themselves behind closed doors at the different watering holes will leave you bewildered at what exactly is going on here? There are very obvious rules that are different for Indian and Foreigner and you would have to be blind to miss them.

Slowly but surely the Goans are handing away the state. Such talk has been going around in many news portals recently and I noticed that during my recent trip. It would appear that we, Indians dont learn much by way of history. Theappallingservice is another thing. Even a great tip doesn't bring a change in service or even a hint of a smile. Hmmm... paradise sour?

Another thing - I stayed around the Calangute area which is where most of the commerce happens. Even then there is not a single decent hospital around. And the sheer absence of fuel bunks is strange too. In a state where most people travel in privately owned or rented vehicles, most of the fuel comes from bootleggers selling dubious petrol from mineral water or coke bottles. Speaking about hospitals, the only one open in that area isn't suited to handle emergency cases. Nor is there a single pharmacy open at midnight. I would imagine a hospital is a given in a state where truthfully most people are drunk and jolly at most times. A friend who suffered acidity and visited the sole hospital in Calungute for a Gelusil was offered an injection instead!

There appears to be something rotten in Goa. Read about it here. Experience it for yourself. Read about it elsewhere. Buyer beware. Visitor beware.