I dont think I knew there was a zoo.
Nice report adele

Hi Dave's wife. When I told hubby that it was only £! for 4 honeybees and 2 cokes he said to book the holiday now!

Shirley

Didn't realise you hadn't booked already.

4 honeybees and 2 cokes for a £1 is a very cheap price. It would be probably a bit more expensive if you go to the "more popular" tourist bars but it is still very cheap. It is very easy for two people to go out for an excellent meal and get considerably worse for wear on drink for £15.00.

Seriously you should stop thinking about it and book, it's not just that it's cheap (it does help) but it's a lovely country, the people are so friendly, (although as you've probably read on some of the other posts you do have to be a bit careful). It's a totally different culture to ours that has to be respected and there is a lot to see. Last March as I had annual leave left at work and my OH had none I went for a week on my own. It is true that I'd been before so knew what to expect but I felt extremely safe and my only regret is that I don't have enough leave left to do the same this year. Oh well (big sigh) soon be Christmas, booked to again for 3 weeks.

I

Hi Adele, it was great meeting you both and enjoying reading your trip report... you were dead brave getting that bike!! but i agree it does open things up doesn't it and cut out taxi costs!!
chilly

Bondla Zoo has been off my "to do" list since we first visited the place in 1999 having seen a "water snake" in a galvanised bucket with NO water and then a scorpion tied to a piece of string (like on a lead) and parading it about for the tourists. I don't know much about animal welfare, but THEY know even less.

it was geat to meet you too chilly, i realy enjoyed the meets everyone was realy friendly we had a great laugh,

adele

thats disgusting Fizz... its hard to believe these sorts of things are still allowed isnt it

hey yes Adele we did didnt we
Chilly

ok heres part 3, sorry for the delay... it snowed

now we have the bike nothing can stop us.. Monday after breakfast we head into panjim,lucky for me i remembered the way as Andrew wasn't to sure, we got to the ferry and left he bike and crossed on the ferry,( or hms titanic as i got told it was known by), we were heading t bombay bazzar to look at a watch that the watch man said he could get for us,sadly it wasn't the one Andrew wanted , but i got myself a very nice rolex, then we made our way back,an stopped of at the palm tree bar for a coke and to watch the world go by,(palmtree is a new bar in calangute upstairs opposite baskin robbins) then we did a bit of browsing around,we had tea at the redonda, which was becoming our usual haunt, Tuesday we had decided to go to the beach, so goan waves was our place, we had been down the night before for a drink an was told by the owner that the shacks either side of him were to be pulled down Tuesday because they were illegal!, we got there and settled down ,it didn't seam long before there was a lot of activity next door, and as i glanced around i noticed that some sunbeds were being removed at the shack where we were, not thinking about that it may happen to goan waves i carried on as normal, ordered a bottle of water, and carried on as usual,about 1 hour later the owner asked us if we would be so kind as to move to a table and chair that he had placed for us just by the covered bit of the shack, saying that the russian people who were on the other sunbeds would not understand and it would only be for an hour, so we did, about 30mins later he turfed them all of the beds and the shack hands scuttled around getting rid of any evidence of sunbeds being there,the Russians were not happy and moved to another shack,after about an hour i said ."right that's it I'm done here come on were going,i paid my bill and left,closely followed by the owner, who asked why we were leaving,(need i explain i said to myself, smiling sweetly at him) i will put the sun beds out for you, so desperate was he that he called two of the helpers over, but Andrew said no, were of see you sometime, and we walked away, but followed by one of the helpers who begged us to go back, needles to say we didn't, and that was our last day at the beach,
i was still miffed Tuesday night, so we went down to candolim to soolyms kitchen that is a place to go, i wont say its cheap because its not, but its very good,we had , fish chips peas,tuna steak,garlic bread, 2 deserts , drinks including a glass of wine came to 1600rps but it was top notch,
Wednesday we stayed by the pool,and made some really good friends.. went to the meet Wednesday evening and met some new people,goan girl and Roy they were fab, taz and mrs taz, and another couple (who for the life in me i cant remember their name, I'm sorry,)
Thursday we did the same, stayed by the pool, in fact we stayed there for the rest of the holiday,apart from going out to eat,
now one place we went to was just to die for, foxes in candolim,just past bending bamboo,go early as it does fill up fast or make a reservation,and i do recommend the king momo steak...it truly is a feast and a half,and if your fed up of chips you can ask for a baked potato or mash,
we liked it so much we went there twice,and on Saturday we had planned to go to redonda for our last meal,
Saturday came and we grabbed our sunbeds by the pool, went of to have breakfast, we sat by the pool with tony n maureen who we had become friends with, and the next thing was our rep waltzing down the stairs saying he had bad news,...
"your delayed for a day" chimed up this scottish man "we found out yesterday, i'm surprised he hasn't told you" the rep stood there grinning, i was to say the least cross, not with the Scottish man but the fact that we saw the rep the evening before and he hadn't told us, but had told the new arrivals, he was now joking and saying that he had to go and would be back that evening to tell us more, me and another girl were too fast for him and stopped him in his tracks,we needed to know more than he had said and why others had found out before the people who had to go back knew, and why was it so funny,
for us it wasn't,not only had i just geared myself up to flying home, and packed most things but we had just enough money to last that day!
anyway after much discussion, it sort of got resolved,to the extent that we managed to get free water from the hotel manager an also get lunch and evening meal free with a bottle of complementary beer.. (another story for another time)
that night we went to redonda and wandered around calangute for a bit,
before meeting up with tony and Maureen at curries,another little hideaway bar/ restaurant that was local and cheap, very good basic food such as aloo gobi, and lentil dhal, it was late when we left,

Sunday we again stayed by the pool as we were rather stuck we had very little money, and no transport, we got a toasted sandwich for lunch and it was a Indian bazaar buffet in the evening..
from that point things seamed to go wrong... i wrote down what had happened and got the management to sign it , just for the insurance,they also knew and couldn't understand why our rep hadn't told us sooner, then as i was doing this, tony came in asking for his key, oops they had lost it, the lady manageress found it highly amusing,tony on the other hand didn't, thank goodness i had finished doing what i had to, and got him out of there and pushed him gently to the bar , explained to maureen what was up , we met him at the bar where he had calmed down and we had a couple of drinks before saying goodbye,

monday morning.. all packed and ready to go,the staff had put toast and tea on for us, the coach arrived and off we went,at te airport things had changed from last year,we were told that you had to exchange your rupees back into English currency or the equivalent, before you check in, we were on of the last to check in ,and as a result andrew an i couldnt sit together, ah well...
then as we got into the departure lounge we looed at the duty free shops, which wuld take rupees or any other currency that you had.. so you have been warned, you dnt have to change it....
our flight got called and if you have ever been you kow every one goes to the plane together,well this woman sauntered up ans asked at the top of her voice if premier seats had been called,"no this it all passengers on the plane "someone said,"well that is disgusting,im premier class and i should get on befor this lot its what i have paid extra to do," to which the person replied , shut up and sit down you will either have to wait or join the que with us others ! we all giggled,
on the plane we had the captain explaining why we had be delayed and to compensate he was upgrading everyone seatback tv..nice chap..
then after take of i was chatitng to on of the cabin crew and explained what had happened and that as a result my husband and i were sat apart,another member overheard me and sadi he had a solution as another coiple had mover=d to be near family so there was infac tow seats together.. happy a thet i went to get andrew and told him we were moving seats,
we had a fantastic flight home good food and good service from the crew, also waiting for us when we arrived home was a letter from the holiday compamy for our insurance..

hope you hav enjoyed reading this...

adele

Thanks Adele.

Papa

Lovely trip report Adele, thanks.

thanks Adelle, great report, sounds like on the whole it all turned out ok!! i hate being sat apart on the plane!!
chilly

Thanks Adele , great report

Great Adele waiting for more I hate not sitting together we now fly schedule so our seats
are booked
ann

Thanks, been a good read Them people giving the leaflets out to say you need to change your cash are there every year, you take them to the exchange place and get virtually zilch back, it is a swindle of gross proportion and should be stopped. As you said you can buy food in the departure lounge with them at reasonable prices, you just try paying with sterling and see how much it is then. Will try that Foxes place too sounds good

I enjoyed that Adele, it reminded me so much of mine and my OH's last trip to Goa - especially when you talked of getting a moped and you being scared to get on, then realising how much you had been missing! The exact same thing happened to us and we too discovered the beaches up North!!

Thanks

Love to have the courage to take a bike up to a quieter beach.We only ever manage the strip between Candolim and Calangute.

Papa

Papa... honestly, its so much easier on the bike once you get out of CCB stretch, you should go for it, we drove up to Morjim last week and honestly despite going on that bike everyday!! in the chaos of Candolim, calangue,, when we go further North its like a breath of fresh air to me,..... beautiful scenery, less traffic and chaos and a great sense of freedom and pleasure... have a think about it next time maybe its also a wonderful drive to Arambol, lots of lush scenery and excellent road!!
Chilly

Thanks chilly,

How long on the bike from Calangute to one of the quieter beaches.

Papa

Takes me about 25-30 mins to Ashwem but I go through the Vagator and Chapora scenic route.

Looks like we will be needing a map.

Papa