Hi guys, well we got back late last night from our first trip and it's now 4.30am british time and i am wide awake..guess I am on Goa time still.

We had the most amazing time, wow what a place and what wonderful wonderful people. So glad that I had discovered this forum a few months back as I had a list of restaurants, trips and tips to go with which was a huge help.

Here's our experience..

Stayed at the Nizmar, on first arrival on seeing the room my heart sunk, although large, the room was quite depressing, sockets hanging off the wall, brown tape holding the blades of the fan together (!!!), the air-conditioning was so noisy it was like being on a runway and there was a strange smell in the wardrobe, the tv didn't work, the toilet was heavily stained and all we could hear was My Boy Lollipop blasting out as the evening entertainment kicked off.....to top this off the hubby switched the bathroom light on and got such a big electric shock he was flung against the bathroom door. Basically not the best first impression!! Ever the optimist, the hubby convinced me things would look better in the morning after some sleep and that if I was really not happy we would see if we could move hotels. At that point I was ready for packing up and going home never mind moving hotels!!

Morning came and we headed straight out to explore...we walked to the Beach but went the long way round through the centre of Calangute and stopped half way for some breakfast. Sitting there watching the madness of the traffic, the noise, the smell, the cows, the constant cry of "taxi sir" and "looking is free".....and we were hooked!! What had seem a bit scary before suddenly turned to awe and amazement, the place had a buzz and okay so the hotel wasn't what we thought but my hubby being electrocuted to My Boy Lollipop in the background was actually quite amusing. I kept remembering everyone saying on the forum to give it 24 hours and now I understand why. From them on it was fab!!

We tended to use the Nizmar as a base, we aren't ones for sitting round the hotel pool when there are wonderful beaches and things to see, so didn't spend any time there and didn't actually have any meals or go to any theme nights as basically it wasn't our cup of tea. The hotel did its best to cater for the Brits, and if you like the idea of a Cowboy Night and all of Michael Bolton's hits entertaining you, then fine, but it wasn't for us. However...the staff were amazing, the hotel was very central and the room was large and airy and after a day or two we didn't even notice the faults. One day we came back from a trip out to find an envelope under the door with 500 rupees and a note in it, the room boy had found it under the bed along with one of our passports (oops!), we were really impressed with his honesty and sought him out to thank him.

We did various trips but the best one by far was The Jungle Book. This was the best seventy quid we have ever spent, the amount of stuff they packed in was amazing. We weren't expecting the elephants to actually be in the camp with us, we assumed they would be brought from somewhere else but to sit having your tea with an elephant five feet in front of you is an experience I won't forget. Did the early morning jungle walk which turned out a bit frightening, there were only six of us doing it with the guide and about half an hour in came across three wild bison who weren't happy to see us at all, they charged towards us, we all panicked not really knowing what they were to be honest (it was still dark), I could see black fur and they grunted so it didn't sound good! The next thing the guide and the two lads with him were throwing rocks and shouting and running around like they were possessed. This is obviously the way to handle bison as they retreated immediately, wow what an experience!!
Did yoga, washed the elephants, had a singsong round the campire, went to a spice plantation, had a bullock ride, elephant show and demonstration and ride and lots of lovely food. Also went to a local village and look inside a local house, also went to the local school which only had 15 pupils and one teacher who taught everything, the kids were so adorable, polite and made us all feel very humble. We were quite a small group and were the only ones there so were really lucky. All was fantastic until the second day when two coaches of Russians descended upon us on a day trip. I won't mince my words here but I have to say they are the rudest, most obnoxious, inconsiderate, disrespectful people I have ever come across. The areas that were strictly out of bounds in the reserve (where the elephants were) were clearly marked as dangerous and not to be ventured into (the signs were in English and Russian) and yet they just charged in straight up to the elephants, the guys at the reserve were doing their best to get them to get of danger and they wouldn't have it until they had a picture of them with the elephants, they refused to queue for food and really spoilt the lovely atmosphere in the camp. We were all secretly hoping one of them would fall face down in some elephant dung..and worse!

What else...went to Anjuna Market, the night market, the gala night at the Ford Aguada and went to Panjim on a river boat cruise and for a look around the city. We tended to use daytrippers for the trips as they were reasonably priced, recommended by you guys and well organised, Eddie and Enid who run it really know there stuff and were lovely. We used a taxi driver for everything else, (Nanu and Krishna at the Nizmar), spent a day on Ashwen Beach which was beautiful and then discovered Coco Beach - wow! The first few days we had spent on Calangute Beach which was fine but to be honest we got sick of the constant hassle by the hawkers so were over the moon to discover they don't allow them on Coco Beach, spent lots of time at Blackeys Beach Shack, the guys there are absolutely fantastic and were so welcoming and friendly, they ran dolphin trips from there so did that as well as a beach BBQ one night.

Restaurants wise we went to a different one every night, our favourite was Brittos in Baga, they had the best deserts of all the restaurants, I can highly recomend the Apple and Cinnamon Cheesecake! Really enjoyed Sweet Chilli too, unbelievably cheap for the quality of the food, the Stonehouse was great too. Midas Touch and Roma we enjoyed too. Were disappointed with Fiestas, the staff all seemed utterly miserably and the food was average. The best food we found was at the beach shacks, the hubby had the best curry he claimed he had ever had in his life at Goldeneye Beach Shack on Ashwen Beach (fish curry).

Went to see Rob and Shermina at The Mango House, wow that place is amazing, so much bigger than I had thought it would be, beautifully decorated and with a lovely atmosphere.

One word of warning to the ladies...had a few requests from local lads on Calangute Beach to have a photo of them with me, felt a bit embarassed but since as my hubby was there didn't see any problem. A few days later one them came up with some friends pointing me out which was quite intimidating then showed me his wallet, inside was a picture of me stood there in my bikini with him, I ain't no claudia schiffer and they didn't seem bothered about the fact my hubby saw the picture. Not really sure what the point of this was but it made me very uneasy. Bumped into the same guy in Anjuna market and he was following us around wth another set of friends wanting another picture. Also....got asked by a young indian tourist (girl) for a photo. Can anyone enlighten me??

All in all we loved Goa, the place is amazing and I hope it doesn't change too much. The plan was to go to Goa and then come back and start trying for a baby...Goa was to be the last big holiay for a while....we both said on the plane yesterday we want to go back and are now wondering if we should book for this xmas and do the baby thing next year, the pull to return is so strong!

Oh one more thing, Monarch!! Kept thinking how we had got such a bargain we couldn't complain and that maybe it wouldn't be that bad.......never again will we fly economy class with them again, what a nightmare, talk about packing us in like sardines, my hubby is quite a big bloke and i felt so sorry for him, definitely worth upgrading.

Well the jetlag is now kicking in and I need to sleep
whiskasxx