We have just returned from our first visit to Goa which we had been looking forward to for weeks beforehand. Now we have been I can understand why people speak of the 'Goan Experience' as that is what it truly is. We found some things good and some not so good. The best things were the guaranteed blue skies and sunshine which were fantastic. We loved the smells of incense and fresh spices. We also liked the Goan people who were friendly, affectionate and eager to please. We never heard the 'F' word spoken other than once and that was by a british tourist !! We loved the craziness of the scooters and were amazed to see families of three or four all on one scooter. The highlight for us was hiring a motorbike and in the space of the two weeks managing to tour almost every part of Goa. It was good seeing all the churches, the temples, riding through the plantations, over rivers and through villages and, of course, seeing all the different beaches. The incredibly cheap prices of food and drinks were a bonus. We met some really nice people and came away feeling that we had made many new friends.
The things we didn't like so much about Goa were the dirt, the stench of rotting rubbish strewn about streets and on land, the poverty and the awful living conditions that some of the poor people lived in. It was sad to see women and young girls digging roads and carrying heavy loads of stones on their heads whilst the male supervisors shouted at them and to see their babies and little ones playing in the dirt whilst they worked hard all day in the heat. Added to that it was awful seeing the tents that they lived in pitched by the roadside with just a few pots and pans and the piles of wood for cooking. What we really disliked were the professional beggars and the sellers, many of whom weren't even from Goa but who come from Delhi, Kashmir and other surrounding parts of India to cash in on Goa's tourist trade and whose only purpose seemed to be to get as many rupees as possible out of tourists. The sellers shout 'come look at my shop' but when you do they don't let you look they just want to sell you what they want you to buy. I actually would have loved to look at many things but ended up not looking at anything because of their relentless 'you buy this, how many you want, cheap as chips, Asda Price' etc etc. We felt like tourists were just fair game for a big rip-off as many blatantly charged different prices for tourists compared to locals. We did buy a few things but were careful not to pay anything like the starting prices given. All in all the sellers do pretty well compared to the Goans who work long hours for a pittance. The supervisor at our hotel worked from 7.30 in the morning untill 12.00 at night for 7 days a week throughout the season (October to April). For this he received 4500 rupees per month. The other boys working there received less than that. We thought many of the beaches in Goa were nice but they are not the best we have seen. We were a bit disappointed with South Goa as we were expecting it to be far more glamorous than it actually was - in fact we thought Colva, apart from the beach itself, was a bit of a dump. I'm not going to say anymore about the not so good things as it sounds a bit negative and I don't want to do that. However, it has to be said ( and I know there will be shaking of heads and tuts of disbelief here) but for us, on balance, the not so good things slighly outweighed the good and feel it is unlikely that we will be returning in the near future. This is not to say we didn't enjoy it because we did. It was a fantastic experience and one that we would not have missed for anything. Its just that there are lots of other places we would like to see and we did think that for all the messing with visas, injections. anti-malarial medications and the 10 hour flights to get there that it was not worth repeating too often. That said, we can fully understand why so many people love Goa with their heart and soul. We would like to take the opportunity to thank all the contributors to this discussion forum whose tips and postings helped to prepare us well for our trip and I honestly think we packed a lot into those two weeks, far more than we would have if we hadn't been as well prepared. Its a great site so thanks to you all.
Megian.