Having just caught up on this thread it totally astounds me the number of people (often annually) who constantly groan and moan about Goa as if its the most appalling place ever, yet continue to go there year on year!!!

I absolutely agree with Roma and Split, lassi, squigs and others...of course its not perfect, but its a great climate, its cheap... (how can anyone argue with that ) .... great choice of food and YES glorious beaches etc etc .... Goa has never been particularly clean ..... thats the way it has always been... its always been corrupt ..... so hey like the rest of the world there have been changes .... guess what... thats life.... places and people move on...and its often not for the better.. crime etc ... look at the Uk for starters! were the Goans supposed to stay poor, live behind the times and stand still just to suit us tourists!!!!??? yes, many of us old timers loved the Goa of many years ago ... as we do many other places worldwide that have now changed, but life does not stand still!!!

I don't wear rose coloured glasses - just glasses that filter out some of the negatives! We all know there's a pile of stuff wrong with Goa and if you check my posts you'll see I'm not averse a good whinge myself on occasions. It's just when posters allow the negatives to outweigh the positives and then seem to enjoy wallowing in all that is wrong.

well said Roma ....We love it ... ... are aware of its faults .... and will continue to go .....

It's quite alarming seeing the increase in negative posts about Goa over the last 2 years. There was a time when you rarely saw a negative post or if you did it was flamed by the majority. Changed days indeed.

yes bigneil...changed days, guess what.... its now 2009!! crime abounds the world over.... as does change!

and I agree its fine of course for people to point out the negatives and changes ...we all have a moan at times ....(we're British aren't we!!) but for some on here its repetatively just ALL negs and no positives at all !!! I think thats what irks people... no balance (not necessarily always the actual critisicm)... and it certainly does beg the question why do they continue to go there? its not that we are seeing things with rose coloured glasses, just that we are seeing the positives too, as Roma states!!! ...

Oh and by the way we are very well travelled, have been most places in the world more than once, .... always years ago having Goa as the cheap extra holiday... and what a pain back then not being able to get FRESH milk.... certain meds... and countless other things we now take for granted.... funny how those negs from the 'good ol days' get quickly forgotten!!
Chilly

48 of the additional shacks are to be on the Candolim - Calangute belt, according to today's local daily, Herald ; 'Shack owners split over new policy, threaten stir.'

Split, I find it quite rude of you to instruct me 'you should get out' of Goa, apparently because you don't like my posts. I think that should be my decision.

I have only fairly recently discovered holidaytruths.co.uk though I don't really feel it necessary to justify to you why my posts are recent. The Goa Forum is certainly a very interesting travel advisory resource.

Equally, I could suggest that you're not truthfully '...living there for long term and living the good life....' as you stated, since you admit '....Its to humid for us after March. time to go home.....', but you might take that the wrong way. I hope not.

I have never once declared that I don't like Goa (as you suggest), nor have I 'whinged on about the good old days'; only a fair balance of reportage/ opinion as to what Goa is like now is surely not too much to expect on a website which brands itself Holiday-Truth.com. After all, many many people probably make their first time bookings based on such information. Who owns the website, anyway? Any ideas?

As to why have I never been to a Holiday Truths meet up? I didn't know they existed, but thanks for the info and maybe we'll meet up. I take a great deal of interest in all things Goan/Indian, particularly travel/holiday advice and politics. Though it has to be said that, just because I keep a close eye on the activities of the Shiv Sena/BJP, I would not wish to attend one of their rallies.

Let's all enjoy the sunshine, the idiosyncracies of a Thirld World country pricing itself into a First World inflationary economy, and cheap booze for so long as the Congress Coalition at the Centre hold back on their plans to bring uniform Excise rates on liquour across all 'wet' Indian States i.e upwards, in Goa. , do I already hear a mass exodus from those 'cheap and cheerful' shacks?

http://oheraldo.in/pagedetails.asp?nid=28951&cid=2
Todays Herald.

moksha wrote:

I have never once declared that I don't like Goa (as you suggest), nor have I 'whinged on about the good old days'; only a fair balance of reportage/ opinion as to what Goa is like now is surely not too much to expect on a website which brands itself Holiday-Truth.com. After all, many many people probably make their first time bookings based on such information. Who owns the website, anyway? Any ideas?

Do you mean this website? If so then I can tell you. The idea and design of the website was an original idea (first of it's kind to our knowledge) by Vanlaywan way back. The site is not owned (unlike many many others) by a Tour Operator/Travel Agent and is ran on a voluntary basis by the admin & mod team therefore we are totally independent.

Another excellent post from Moksha, he seems to have a shrewd grasp of the wider politics of the region, no doubt he'll be getting the usual constructive advice to seek pastures new far from Goas shores, and allow the rose tinted glasses faction to get on with the Goan mutual admiration society. For me I trust he will continue to post as his incisive remarks bring fresh light to the forum
Alan

I have looked at all Moksha's posts, and see why they are unhappy with Goa , I feel this is the reason for joining, what they have to say will not affect how I plan or spend my time on holiday.
xx lassi

yes bigneil...changed days, guess what.... its now 2009!! crime abounds the world over.... as does change!

Of course, but as said before, for the size of the place, the change (not for good), pollution and crime is starting to overweigh the positives when no one (Police, Tourist Board, Health Dept??) takes action. And yes I will take my hard earned money and go somewhere else until some positive improvement happens. I thing going to Goa 8 years in a row (most times for a month) shows that I had some love of the state. There are a few areas still worth visiting in Goa but it doesn't make sense to me to travel all that way for so little unspoilt coastline. Things may change?

I will however give advice to anyone on the FEW parts of Goa worth visiting if questions are posted on this forum.

I do have fond memories of some parts of Goa, other areas.... well it's all been said before.

me too lassi earlier today, and i too can see why Moshka appears so bitter about Goa... if i was facing the possibility of losing my house and money (as i gather is the case? apologies if i am wrong, but as the 1st post from Moshka requested signatures of support for this situation i presume this to be the case) i too would be angry.... but i think that possibly this has tainted his/her entire and absolute opinion of the place? is this therefore an unbiased opinion of Goa???
on balance as many of us agree there are still many great things in and about Goa.
Chilly

And yes I will take my hard earned money and go somewhere else until some positive improvement happens.

judging by your many posts similar to the above over the last couple of years i feel you are probably making the right decision bigneil

Hi Glynis HT Admin,

Thanks for the info. Much appreciated.

Same arguments on the same Goa forums....this doesn't happen on all forums. Why..because there is problems in Goa,it has gone downhill. The property fiasco...anybody involved with that is entitled to feel angry and bitter.
Goa still is a great place....for fantastic winter sunshine and it's cheap,for me it ends there. Lets be honest most come to Goa because it's cheap,especially long termers.Probably cheaper than staying in the UK for the winter with lovely sunshine aswell. Which is why most are here. But theres no getting away from the fact that Goa on the whole has changed for the worse....it's a big wide world with other destinations that are just as cheap with the same lovely weather. Better beaches and no or easy to obtain visas.
I've looked around over the last couple of years....returned to Goa and thought to myself what am i doing here!!
British tourism in Goa will decline for a few years yet. So i will be making a move as i think quite a few will.
Goa still has it's good points but they are being outweighed by the bad.

I just wondered how many of the more recent posts are actually relevant to the thread title?
SHACK ALLOTMENT LIKELY TO BE DELAYED.

It seems to have turned into a 'why I still go to Goa' versus 'why I don't go to Goa anymore' debate.

Why doesn't somebody start a ''why I still love Goa' thread, somebody else start a 'why I've fallen out of love with Goa' thread and, depending on which camp you're in, don't bother reading the other thread?

I personally wouldn't bother reading either one, I don't CARE why people don't want to go to Goa anymore and as I'm on my 9th & 10th visit since 1994, I don't need convincing.

I'd just like to read relevant discussions to any thread.

Don't most of us work hard all year to have a bit of sunshine?

Some cheap living?

Meet like minded people?

Have a great time with good food and company?

We don't go with the rose coloured glasses, are well aware of all the bad points but I for one am in agreement with the positive thinkers, thanks to them!

Politics ............... don't we have enough in our own country without getting involved elsewhere

To get back on topic isn't it always the way with the shacks ............. they are never erected on time?

Jan x

I just wondered how many of the more recent posts are actually relevant to the thread title?
SHACK ALLOTMENT LIKELY TO BE DELAYED.

It seems to have turned into a 'why I still go to Goa' versus 'why I don't go to Goa anymore' debate.

Why doesn't somebody start a ''why I still love Goa' thread, somebody else start a 'why I've fallen out of love with Goa' thread and, depending on which camp you're in, don't bother reading the other thread?

I personally wouldn't bother reading either one, I don't CARE why people don't want to go to Goa anymore and as I'm on my 9th & 10th visit since 1994, I don't need convincing.

I'd just like to read relevant discussions to any thread.

Hear Hear.

Papa

I would say that next season the shacks will be up well early intime for the first Russian charter flight.

I spoke today to our friends who are shack owners in Calangute and they said they have put their application form in but wont know anything until 1st November. The good news is there will be 2 sunbeds and a sun brolly ready for us when we arrive next Monday!!

Hadn't given it much of a thought untill now, but the profit margin in shacks must be very good if they are able to provide income for a family for 12 months when they are only open for a max of five-six months.
Or do the shack owners have a seperate job through the closed season?
The ones I have spoken to (not that many) all seem to do nothing the rest of theyear.

Our friends are also fishermen and they work on the boats all year round. The income they make from the shack has enabled them to build themselves a nice house and also a couple of apartments to rent out.

del949. Very few of them do anything when the season in over,they make pretty good money out of the shacks,then of course the majority give the "hard luck" stories whilst you are here so as to be left a nice big tip when you leave.
The shack owners and taxi drivers love the Brits compared to the Russians....the Brit's are a soft touch.
Basically what happens is they work in the shacks for about 5 months,make or get given enough to live on for the off-season,then sit around doing nothing for 6/7 months of the year whilst all the Brit holiday makers go back to work in the UK to earn some money to come back and do it all again!
Thats not meant to be a dig its just the way things happen!

The income they make from the shack has enabled them to build themselves a nice house and also a couple of apartments to rent out.

and a couple of apartments bloody in that case squiggs I would say they must do alright out of us all ..RE tips I hope the tips i leave go to the shack boys and not the man who owns the shack