Hi donna, yep we went in for the karaoke sizzler barbie evening on wednesday 12th march.

You must have seen me, I was the talanted young man singing mac the knife in c major diminished
TO RAPTURIOUS APPLAUSE

Mrs said I looked like Don Estelle on a bad BAD day but she too wears them funny rose tinted forum glasses and is therefore unfit to comment
Spent the remainder of evening signing autographs

Taxi

Disregard the above donna,that was oceanic night
Not thinking straight , its 02.40 in the morning.

Squeeze was a good good shack donna , dont think peanu won a single game of pool in the whole 2 weeks, unless he was playing a flanker and letting the customer win

How come the clocks have not gone forward on the forum then, its only showing 01.46

Like your report, its been as great help

friends are coming with for the first time in jan 09 when i tell them the price of a meal with drinks they think i am winding them up so the prices you have quoted are a great help

GM06
Ian

Ok here is the next bit ......

Rather than getting the courtesy bus today we got picked up by our taxi driver so I could go along the Baga Road and drop off two big bags of washing at Vell Wash. We always go there with our washing, its so cheap and means you dont need to go home with any dirty clothes. It works out about 10 rupees per item and thats it washed and ironed.

Popped into the new chemist on Baga Road as well to pick up some Acidiphilos tablets cos I forget to bring any with me Since we arrived been borrowing them from the other two people with us. Anyway, much to my surprise the chemist doesnt sell them, or any equivalent. Took a mental note to log onto HT and check this out cos I remember at one time reading that there was something similar you could obtain in Goa.

Headed off to Baga Beach again, very very hot and humid today. Not the normal amount of beds out at the shack, rumours that the police are coming, and if there are too many beds the police will arrange to have them removed then the shack gets a heavy fine. Sitting in the shack having a diet coke and a lady approached me after noticing my blue wrist band, very nice to meet you Lizspain. Later that day sitting on the sun bed and another lady approached me and it was DonnaB, nice to meet you as well. Ive met loads of HTers so far and not even been in Goa a week. But it was so good to put faces to all the names.

Tonight we decided to pop along to Mackies Market and see our friend Sangita who has a stall there plus we told Del Boy from the Shining Star we would buy some t-shirts from him. Was great seeing Sangita again. As Mackies wasnt opened in November this was the first time we had seen her. Had a wander about the market, bought a drink and a sarong then decided to leave. Very very hot tonight at the market, so I couldnt wait to leave the place!!!

Headed down to Alfresco's in Arpora for something to eat. I knew where the restaurant was but had never been in it before, but as it was recommended in the forum, I thought I would give it a go. Had a couple of drinks, two curries, lasagne and a chicken dish (for 4 people), food was nice not fantastic IMO, but worth a visit. Bill came to about 1100 rupees.

Headed back to hotel for a nightcap and watched everything that was happening at Mackies from our room view.

Next day Sunday 16 March - nothing very exciting just another day at Baga Beach, or so we thought. Got down to the shack and not a lot of beds out AGAIN Boys in shack are saying the police are coming today. They are busy looking along the beach towards Calangute, then waiting on phone calls to say the police are on their way! So we got the hotel bus to the beach at 11am, had breakfast and a chat with the boys, by 12pm we were hoping to get a bed but no more beds getting put out and everyone looking very anxious cos of the imminent visit by the tourist police. We eventually got a bed at 1pm, IMO not very good, but I know its not the shack boys fault either. Eventually we are all sorted, sun tan lotion on, Walkman out, book ready to read and the shack boys come and say they need to take the beds away cos the police are coming. Eventually everyone got removed from their beds until there were only 10 beds in total on the beach that belonged to the Oceanic. All other shacks were doing the exact same thing. So inside the shack we go, it was jam packed with people and no one lying outside in the scorching sun, what a nightmare!!! About 2pm all the fiasco was over and the beds all got put back onto the beach for people to sunbathe. At first I found the whole situation quite funny and it gave me a good laugh, but if this happened every day on my holiday I would go mad. We arrived at the beach just after 11am and no sunbathing until 2pm.
Tonight we went to East Meets West. I like this restaurant, they have entertainment and the setting is lovely. The food is very nice, but certainly not the best in the area. I feel as if they rush you a bit as well. After our meal we headed along to Rabbie Burns Scottish Bar for a few drinks. Pub is jam packed, but its a nice wee bar and the couple who run it are very nice and always make you welcome each time you go back.
Another day over. I am very happy tho cos tomorrow my friends Irishcolleen and Polly50 arrive and I cant wait to see them both again .......

Good idea with your laundry Gemma, is it usually 24 hrs? will probably do that next time, I saw the Rabbie Burns pub because I went down the road there to see the Senhor Angelo hotel where my son is staying for New Year. Enjoying your report , keep it coming , love shirley

Normally at 48 hour turn around Shirley for laundry.
But if you wanted some clothes back quickly and you give it to him in the morning then you can call back the following evening and collect it. He's very good.

sounds good gemma, I want to pack a bit lighter at Xmas , so I can take xmas pressies for our taxi drivers families, some stuff for the candolim boys home and have plenty of weight left to bring an indian carpet home.

keep it coming Gemma We also ate at O Pescador and thought the food was excellent.

Monday 17 March and tonight is our HT meet at Molly Malones.
After yesterdays Fiasco at our shack at Baga Beach we are heading along to Sinquerim beach today for some peace and quiet!!! My friend visits Baywatch shack when she visits Candolim so I am going to try this shack for a wee change. Got a taxi along to the Aldeia Santa Rita hotel and walk the 5 minutes down to Baywatch shack. Stunning views from this shack because you are so high up, along the way right along to Baga Beach and back to the Fort Aguada. Not as many sellers annoying you at this shack and it was quite a peaceful day. Went for a nice walk along the beach and the sea was very rough but nice and cooling on your feet. Whilst sitting at Baywatch having our breakfast I had a phone call from Polly50 to say she'd arrived safely but was at the Oceanic Shack and there were no beds available the police were coming back to the shack again so only a limited number of beds out. I know its not the lads fault in the shack, but this is simply not on. People go on holiday to sunbathe and should be allowed to do this.
We went into Banana Moon for something to eat this evening. Its across the road from Molly Malones so it was very handy. We drove past Mollys on our way to Banana Moon, this was only about 6ish and Molly's was heaving, people standing and sitting outside. A great value meal in Banana Moon, 275 rupees for a 3 course (although I think I only paid 200 rupees last season?) I had yummy chicken pakora and then a nice prawn masala and apple pie and cream, all for 275 rupees - fantastic!
About 8.30pm we headed over to Molly's, but IMO just too busy. We eventually found some of our friends and tried to get a seat altogether but it was too hot and the tables were quite dirty because the bar was so busy. Dont get me wrong there was a great atmosphere, but too jam packed and the music finished about 11pm as well. I met Irishcolleen, Polly50, Shermina, Linb, Sleeps, Lizspain, Irish Noel, Arpora Dave, Mike Richardson and I might have missed a few names (sorry) but we couldnt get spending time together sitting and chatting cos the pub was mobbed. Still had a great night tho and fab to see everyone.

Tuesday 18 March we had a quite day at the Oceanic, plenty of beds today and no police hanging around. So all well today. Headed back to Vell Wash for our nice clean clothes and two enormous bags of washing cost 180 rupees.
Tonight we are going to Sendra's in Calangute for one of their theme nights. It is probably a kind of martial arts theme night, trying to chop people in two very entertaining, he tried to chop off Irishcolleens head and slit my throat I had the most fantastic tandoori chicken at Sendra's - the whole chicken 240 rupees with beautiful keema nan. Irishcolleen and Polly50 also came to Sendras and I think I can say a great night was had by all.

Thanks Gemma, loving this report, must make a note of that restaurant near Molly Malone's sounds great value

Shirley I think you would like Banana Moon, plenty variety of curries plus British/European food as well. Some nights they have a band on as well, so you could make a night of it. Its also in a very central location.

Brilliant report Gemma....was great meeting up with you apart from your gloating over the Celtic Aberdeen result ....looking forward to hearing the rest of it.....can almost taste the Honeybee from here...take care Dave x

Was really nice to meet you and your OH as well Dave. Pity we didnt all get the chance to chat more in Mollys but it was just too busy and hot. But we did all get to meet up again at Lazy Days on the Wednesday so that was quite good.
I promise no gloating about the Aberdeen game or the Rangers game, or the Motherwell game .....

Funny Gemma Your other half seemed more balanced in his views regarding the mighty Teddy Bears completing the quadruple Mind you with the luck the Gers have had this season they will probably go to Portugal get a result and find Madeleine Mc Cann !!!!!
Anyway when are we getting the next installment ????

Dave x

What a carry on regards the sun beds personally I don`t like that end of Baga beach for that reason but as you say people are on holiday and wish to sunbathe then they should have the provisions to do so, me, I`ll find another beach.
Shame molly`s was so busy, would have loved to have met a few of you, I wore my band and had no takers, I did wear my silly big Guiness hat and so did a few others I gave it to Del Boy from Shining star shack in the end.
Good report Gemma and now gutted I didn`t go in the Rabbie Burns pub as it was only about 100 yards from my apartment
P.S. C`mon the Gers

FTV did you get to mollys in the end on st patricks night ........gemma your report is magic it brings it all back to you just think we can do it all again in november ...did you tell me it 228 day to we go again

Got to add a bit to Gemma's report regarding Sendra's on 18th March (I wouldn't remember what date it was!). A great time was had by all of us, so much so that, the following morning my OH asked me where the phone was! I told him he had the phone, no I haven't he said you must have it. Well, as you can guess he had lost it, where we didn't know, as we had called in a bar on our way back to Somy. We decided the best thing to do was to stroll down to Sendra's and ask if they had seen it. To our amazement when we went in and asked, they had the phone. Rovin had found it and found Gemma's number on there and called her to say "I think your friends have left their phone". He then put it behind the bar for us to collect. We were both amazed and grateful at such honesty, (it's the OH's work phone ) we really thought that was the last we had seen of it. Needless to say for the rest of the holiday I was in charge of the phone.

Sorry Polly I forgot to mention the bit about the phone. Rovin is a star isnt he, and so honest.
We got back to the hotel room about 1ish after our night out and he phoned me, I thought it was you cos your name came up and it was very confusing at first hearing Rovin's voice on the other end of the phone. He told me he would look after it until you called in or I saw you and told you the phone was at Sendra's.
FTV its nice in Rabbie Burns Bar, if only i'd known you were only 100 yards up the road we could have met for a drink. I was in the night Rangers won the CIS Cup so we could have had a celebration drink

ARRGGGHHHH!!!! Just typed in another 4 days of my report to try and get it finished quicker and the the computer jammed and went crazy and I lost all my report!!!!
I will need to leave it just now cos I am fed up now!