don't know where he got the salmonella, but i've been to goa 7 times!!! never had a problem, and i have a fairly delicate stomach.
i think your more likely to have a problem with the food on the aircraft or the airport than the food in goa.
BOB

mr wicked started being ill the night before we were due to fly home.

the following morning when he woke up, i really don't know how he got to the airport, and did that flight home.

So i know for certain that he got salmonella in goa, not on the plane on the way home. We just don't know where he got it in goa.

i think your more likely to have a problem with the food on the aircraft or the airport than the food in goa.

Well, since i've had campylobacter/salmonella twice in Goa, i would strongly disagree. I can't imagine there's a lot of washing hands going on in the shacks or anywhere in fact. You can get food poisoning anywhere but in Goa it's definately a high risk.

Back to topic.... it's interesting that all the problems at present seem to be concentrated on 'the strip'. Whoever develops tourism inland is on to a winner I think.

I agree with a lot that has been said, especially tomita. I'm glad I've imo seen the best of Goa (since 1999) and have been going upto 4 times a year. I've booked for Dec with a friend that's never been, we are going south mostly, this will possibly be my last time. This year I was ill from a leaking gas bottle in my room, witnessed 2 of my friends have a bucket of dirty water chucked over them in a busy bar (which we always use) for no reason and had my bag snatched! There are some Goan's that are horrified about the changes and the amount of crime (I have heard of a lot this season - bag snatches and rooms broken into) and are decent people, but there's also a lot of outer staters working in Goa, more touristy kind of people and lots of Russians! A lot of people have mentioned Thailand - I've only been once and didn't like it - I would have probably liked it 15 years ago!
I also use Sam's Paradise - have done for years and I too noticed a big difference this year - the prices, the standard of food and the overall feeling (unfortunately).
I do hope the people responsible wake up soon and do something about the changing face of Goa but I think its highly unlikely!

I agree that Goa has changed and there was a different feel this season, but as already stated it has been a poor season and the Goan people who rely on tourism are worried. My friend who runs a beach shack is really angry that the police choose to remove illegal shacks at the end of the season as these people had made there money by then by giving back handers throughout the season. They have had a difficult season this year - licences were issued late for the shacks and the markets (ingo's & mackies), and during March & April some of the beaches were practicly deserted (not that I would complain about that!). Then there was/is all the bad press about Scarletts demise in Anjuna which resulted in shacks having to close earlier.

While we were there it was my sons 11 th birthday we had a lovely day, had some Goan friends over in the afternoon, played volleyball in the pool and a late lunch, took all the boys go karting and had a bit of a party on the beach in the evening. They stopped the kareoke at 11pm but as the place was busy and everyone was having a good time my friend decided to continue the music and stay open. Which they did until the police turned up, they said that everyone must be gone within 10 mins or they would throw everyone in prision (staff & customers) okay it was about 1am but nobody was doing drugs or really really drunk and it was adults as well as kids, I was worried about my friends business and felt guilty because I felt that if it had not been for us they would have closed on time and not had any trouble! This has never been a problem in the past and I think its a shame that things have come to this! Dont get me wrong where not larger louts but sometimes it's nice to let your hair down and have a bit of a party.

I would also like to take this opportunity to apologise to anyone who was there and had to listen to my singing - sorry! I would like to say it wont happen again but it would be a lie.

lassigirl
I also think that they will concentrate on the domestic market. There is huge potential there. Lots of people with lots of money to spend.

I agree Fiona, we have just got back from vagator and it was heaving with Indians, usually at this time of year we are the only ones there but today you couldnt even park up............ coaches galore and 4x4 cars.. most of those i spoke to from Mumbai..

Ten years ago Goa was chiefly a British destination - we may not be perfect but generally we are respectful of other people's cultures. We enjoyed Goan hospitality and prices, and local businesses did well out of us. A win-win.

What's happened more recently is the realisation by people from outside Goa , say from Mumbai and Delhi, and latterly Russians and Israelis that there is serious money to be made from tourism. Couple this with Goa's easy going culture together with a police force that can be bought and you have a recipe for the growth of organised crime.

The criminality and corruption is emerging from the dark recesses of Goan life and becoming ever more evident to the holiday maker. There's a darker feel to the place - drugs have always been there but not as in your face as they are now.

Indigenous Goan people must feel that their beautiful homeland is being raped from the inside. We still meet many lovely people who simply pay the bungs to the authorities and get on with trying to earn a crust. It must be hard for them to see alien people making quick, dirty money and the police feeding off them.

Goa needs some "clean skin" police presence to adopt a zero tolerance stance in all areas of corruption and criminality but you know what?......I can't ever see it happening.

Despite all this, we'll be back next year - there is something special about the place and as long as we still feel it, I guess we'll keep going!!

A lot of people have mentioned Thailand - I've only been once and didn't like it

a country the size of Thailand with god knows how many different resorts, islands etc and you feel happy to make a statement like that

Romas post, for me says all there is to be said on this matter, and I agree with her 100%. I'm afraid that the culture of corruption is not just a Goan trait, but one that permeates all of the sub continent, and as such I can see no end to it. We will be back again for three weeks at the end of November, but if the continued changes we've witnessed these past couple of seasons continue, that may be it, as far as our long time love affair with Goa is concerned, Alan

Well said roma our sentiments exactly
Pat

If this article is to be believed, the awful start to the season has already recovered-
http://www.navhindtimes.com/articles.php?Story_ID=04206
It would seem a few less British visiters dosn't make much difference

The charters he mentioned, coming in to the end of May, are of course the Russian tourists,whose increased number of flights next season are expected to overtake the u.k. numbers, and who dont seem to mind the pre monsoon heat and humidity. I also posted before, that when at Dabolim waiting for a domestic flight, I noticed one of their charter flights leaving, a massive old Jumbo Jet !. Those facts coupled with the explosion of the local tourist numbers, means unfortunatley, that any significant drop in the U.K. numbers next season, wont cause any loss of sleep in high places in the tourism department. Alan

Hi, at the risk of putting the cat amongst the pigeons I am happy that the Goan authotities are at last controling the amount of shacks that are on the beach. I also think that it would be a good idea if they kept an exclusion zone of maybe about 10 metres from the water line where there are no sunbeds. Not everyone wants to lie on a bed for most of the day, indeed some of us like to walk on the beach without any hassle. By having the beds come down to the water line then you have the attendants (Touts ) there as well and you cannot walk 10 yards without having to keep repeatedly saying no thank you. This is one of the hassles that stopped me going to Goa in 2004 and I now go to Thailand , Cambodia, and Laos. I know that everone is differant but for me if they knocked all of the shacks down I would be a happy chappy as it would mean the beaches are less crowded and that would attract me back (being selfish I know but I first went in 1992 and there was only 1 or 2 shacks then ).
Roma I cannot agree with your statement. (Ten years ago Goa was chiefly a British destination - we may not be perfect but generally we are respectful of other people's cultures.)
Indian tourists have been going to Goa far longer than us brits and it was the cheap package tours that started in the middle nineties that saw an explosion of British tourists to Goa.
Also about this time we had the people who do not give a dam about their culture and continued to whip their tops off on the beach (females). You hate the police for knocking down shacks but would you put up with unlicensed bars on our beaches. People think nothing of riding a motorcycle or scooter without insurance or licence but we would report someone in our own neighborhood for doing the same.
I have spoken to Goan people who do not like the way the state is going and would sooner go back to the simple life like they had in the past before the mass influx of tourists but unfortunatley they cannot do this as prices are rising all the time and they have to be on the bandwagon in order to survive. In my view Goa was once a paradise but that has been lost forever, some people call it progress but I call it a crying shame for the people who have had ther lives disrupted so much by tourism and prices and it is a pity that it will never again have the innocence and safety that it was once proud of. Travelingman

Hi Travellingman - don't disagree with much of what you say but 10 years ago, British women very rarely went topless. It's happened over the last 5-6 years. Sure there were other nationalities there, but not many compared to us Brits.

Hi Gramps - thanks for the comment but I have to tell you I'm a "him" not a "her"! "Roma" was meant to be a play on "Roamer" because I like roaming about places but people on here think I'm:

a. a gypsy
b. female
c. an Italian football fan with a propensity to violence
d a pizza chef

I should have stuck with "Roamer!"

Apolgies Roma,I'd agree the "topless" probem only really surfaced in the last few years, before that it did'nt occur, as far as the beach beds go, as a avid beach walker, I would go along with the suggestion to limit them, but the vast bulk of people like to stay reasonably sand free when sunbathing, also many older ones , or others such as my wife, who has had total knee replacement, and the like, find it impossible to get up unaided from lying on the sand. Even with the 10 bed limit, at the more popular smaller shacks, regulars now leave an old towel behind with the shack lads to save them lugging it up and down, and with a 10 bed limit I can see the dreaded bed bagging which infects the Med. resorts raising it's ugly head !! Alan

It would seem a few less British visiters dosn't make much difference

LG

I think you are right by saying this judging by the influx of Indian tourists.

people who do not give a dam about their culture and continued to whip their tops off on the beach (females). You hate the police for knocking down shacks but would you put up with unlicensed bars on our beaches. People think nothing of riding a motorcycle or scooter without insurance or licence but we would report someone in our own neighborhood for doing the same.

Good point.

i agree with some of what travelingman has to say. allthough not quite so drastic. everything in moderation would seem best to me.
10 years ago i went to goa for the first time, varca beach. there were quite a few topless women there then. so no i don't agree that its only started in the last 5 or 6 years.
BOB

I like this article -- http://oheraldo.in/pagedetails.asp?nid=2998&cid=26
Looks like Goa might be loosing the top end of the domestic market, if they continue with the rising prices.

Interesting Lassi .... we are going to Egypt in August, our first time as well so I wonder what we will think .... watch this space