I had lectured SWMBO that this was an unplanned and unbudgeted holiday - no splurges, no handbags, jewellery, massages etc. She seemed to understand but I got the feeling her heart wasn't in it. Get me there and we'll negotiate she was clearly thinking.
We obviously ate in shacks and we all know the value they offer but we also discovered Viva Goa - just further down from Bob's Inn (near where we stayed) as you drive into Candolim. Great food and craic at fantastic prices. Cactus was excellent and also inexpensive. Perhaps the best budget night out was two Thali de Luxes and a bottle of water in the Plantain Leaf (180rps) followed by 3 large Honeybees, 3 large vodkas and a bottle of Coke in the rough bar half way down the Calangute Beach road (110 rps). That's £3.40 for both of us to be very well fed and watered all night!
The one culinary splurge we allowed ourselves was one night in After 7 - and worth every penny of the £20 bill. I can't visit Goa and not visit After 7 - fantastic food!
SWMBO's tactics became clearer as the purchase of 5 handbags was described as "an investment". They will make great presents and I was assured I would save money in the long run. I could see the logic of this until the following night when one of them came out with her and seemed to contain most of her stuff. Similar creative accountancy was used in the purchase of 4 sarongs - all "gifts" which she subsequently wore. Spectacles were justified as being "a saving" and a visit for a "scrape and polish" to Mr Patil, the dentist was "essential". I have to admit that at 500 rupees it was excellent.
We did very little else besides read and chill out in shacks, although we did spend a fantastic couple of hours on the balcony at 4am watching an awesome total eclipse of the moon in a cloudless Indian sky....wonderful.
Taxi drivers are beginning to really bug me. The same ride was 70 rps one night and 150 on another. Very disappointingly, drivers I have got to know over the years are joining the free for all and you need to agree a fare in advance. With drivers I know, I hadn't always done this but I learned fast! It's a problem because you don't want to have an argument about 40p or something but it's getting out of hand.
There's lots of activity around the River Princess and word is it will be gone by the end of the month - the date of 15th was mentioned by some, but hey, how many dates have we heard over the years? People say it will go at night because they don't want all the cameras and stuff drawing attention to it.
It seems that along the coastal strip in North Goa you are never more than 200mtrs away from a construction site. The place is changing fast and there are a lot of Delhi and Bombay business people moving in. I'm sure most are nice people - in fact I know some to be exactly that, but there is something in the friendly, playful nature of Goan people that adds greatly to the "Goan experience" and this is becoming less and less evident as the outsiders move in.
Personally I don't think developments like "Lounge Fly" in Baga help. Sure, it's spectacular but it's not what Goa means to me. I'm sure younger folk will say it's progress, and perhaps it is, but I'll have a couple of rupees on it going pear shaped within a couple of years. One of the guys working in a shack was murdered by two holidaying Indian guys whilst we were there and I lost count of the number of people who drowned along the entire Goan coast - the waves were very big the whole fortnight we were there.
Despite everything, or perhaps because of everything, we still love the place and will be back in November - hopefully with a fuller budget. Even with SWMBO's extravagances we did Goa on a budget and still had a great time!!
..thats a great report..thanks for the read.
