greetings all ,wee-john here
Just back from a lovely 3 weeks in Calangute ,we enjoyed ourselves vey much but boy was it hot ,we spent almost every day on the Calangute / BAGA beach at Angelo's "THE ONLY PLACE " shack (socalled because several years ago it was the only one on that stretch of beach ) because it was too hot to walk about the streets and shops etc which suited me fine .
the exc rate was excellent >101.5 to 1£ so we could get a Kingfisher for about 90 P and a Honey Bee for 70 p ,not bad compared to UK prices .and the food was to die for (not literally ) .roll on 2015 but definitely not in March because of the heat .
regards Wee -John

Glad you had a good holiday John, but I think we would all have appreciated it if you could have brought back at least some of the Goan sunshine.

Hi John
We go out next weekend. Its a great exchange rate although I gather it has just tipped below 100 but we were on about 80 last year so we will notice the difference Last year wasn't too bad as it was quite windy at the beach so we slapped on high factor and stayed in the shade at the hottest points and it was really pleasant.

I'm an old member ( in all senses!) and have really valued HT over the years. Gained much information, given advice and met some great people but I fear that Facebook is now taking the place of HT for Goa visitors.

Goa attracts people who go back every year so there are fewer and fewer people who need to ask questions because they know their way around, know what they like and how things work. Many of the answers to newbie's questions have been answered before and folks get a bit fed up repeating advice. Many posters feel they know each other and in many cases have actually met and become friends.The use of the site therefore becomes more social than informative. I guess it's evolution.

It's a great shame because I really enjoy the site and in the past have done comprehensive reports but if very few people read them, it seems like a wasted effort.

We could do with a few good topics to liven things up!

We could do with a few good topics to liven things up!

As always we would love it if you want to start new topics in any of the forums, it could be on anything you want and not just travel related

If you look at some of the recent threads they have over 100 views so folks are still reading the forum, even though the season is over. It would be so much better if they logged in and took part. Come on folks:)

Greetings .wee-john here .
Just a little comment .much as we love going to calangute ,we find the Goan people so lovely and friendly ,I fail to understand the arrogant and sometimes abusive attitude towards the hotel and restaurant staff by the visiting guests from other parts of India Mumbai and Delhi for example ,is it something to do with the "CASTE" system as even the children seem to have a superior attitude and "please and Thanks "does not appear to be in their vocabulary .\\\\\\\\\\\\\\have any others noticed this .?

I have to admit that I tried hard not to get annoyed at an Indian family who often had lunch at our shack0 Pedros Place. They would order without any eye contact or niceties. There were no thank yous once they got their food. But if you watched the family, they were so nice in any other way. They loved their kids and the older boy treated his parents with a lot of respect. I wonder if we get more upset than those at the receiving end of it?

'Fraid so Wee John.

I don't know whether it's caste (I think some of it definitely is) or just cultural differences. Brits, on the whole tend to be fairly polite and will greet strangers with a smile and "Hello" but that's just not done in some other cultures.

We were talking with some friendly Russian people and we got right down to saying "Brits think you don't laugh enough and seldom smile. You seem serious." They said, "That's what Russians think of the Brits". We had a good laugh about it.

A good Indian friend, a lovely guy, doesn't speak with some Indian guys who live close by - they are manual workers and I suspect (but have never asked) much lower down the social scale.

My last post from September didn't create much of a stir http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/forum/bellos-apartments-hersonissos-t158965.html

Don't give up! We can get members back from facebook and on to here again

I think Facebook has had a massive impact on the forum and of course TA.

I have posted more on TA this season simply because this forum was much quieter.

TA however close many more topics very quickly whereas this forum seems to let them run.

I will try a bit harder as for me it was this Forum that got my OH and me back into returning to Goa after a few years break.

Spent hour after hour on here hoovering up information.

Great members and hardly any arguments.

Papa

chrisweaving wrote:

My last post from September didn't create much of a stir http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/forum/bellos-apartments-hersonissos-t158965.html

Not sure why it would have done Chris, this is the Goa forum and your post was about Greece and posted on the Greece forum.

Yes Chris.

Posting in the right forum can help.

Done it myself after the odd beer or two.

I think Chris was just pointing out in general that all the forums are quiet, his post was in the correct forum and he used that as an example to prove his point

Now I haven't got a clue what we are talking about................ so will gladly shut up

Kiltman HT Mod wrote:

I think Chris was just pointing out in general that all the forums are quiet, his post was in the correct forum and he used that as an example to prove his point :que

That's the way I read it too

Yes, sorry for the confusion. I posted in the Crete forum last September and shared it here after reading this post about how quiet the forums are.

Doh!!!!