Now Alan! You know you can write a good report! Lets have the next part please!

alan its great reading, looking forward to the next instalment! We are staying at the phoenix park in november as well

Hey Alan that's good report mate.

Keep them coming.

McGroogle

AL38 - loving your report - we're off to Candolim in December - reports will be very spase now the seasons over so I can't wait for the next installment, thanks shirleyV

Forgot some of the first day in fact the very first bit, I was a bit worried about not having any rupees to pay the taxi so I asked Sergio our driver if he would stop at an ATM so that I could pay him, don't worry he said pay me later
I then booked him for 1 o'clock to take us to Mango house as we had a case full of children's cloths plus 2 lb of sausages for Rob that were starting to thaw, I would have loved to nick a few of them back about half way through the holiday but I expect Rob had scoffed the lot by then but all in a good cause :lol:, had followed Rob's post's with interest so I was even more impressed with all that had been achieved (Rob, spoke to Pauline last night and she will never forget Christmas) Loved the naughty room, I want one, I'm sorry but those who don't know about the naughty room will have to see it for them selves as it would spoil the surprise, my lips are sealed :wink:.

I'm sure that is about the end of the first day so from now on it gets a bit random, its so hard lazing in the sun, drinking beers, sight seeing, shopping, and eating all that fantastic food as one wonderful day blends into another but I will press on regardless.
So one day we we did our customary south turn and after a longish walk looking round the next corner for interesting things we came across a huge Banyan tree, one of many I might add but this one was home to a man who had not seen a bath for at least 20 years he had a thick black beard that he constantly fiddled with some of you must have seen him walking down the middle of the road in candolim, but as you will learn he had other uses for that hand, some days later we were heading north after a few lazy hrs on the beach and walking towards us was black beard aaar
as he closed with us he held out his hand I took one look at it and I wouldn't touch it with yours let alone mine so I veered to the left Annie was a little bit slow and she found out what else he did with that hand as he grabbed her bottom WELL I never thought a librarian would know words like that (perhaps its all those books) sorry but I just fell about it brought tears to my eyes, when I could see again I saw a pretty young Indian girl about 20ish with a smile on her face walking down a small track to the road, I saw him coming and ran she said, so all you ladies out there you know what to do RUN.

More random thoughts later

Alan

Now to the markets, went to Anjuna twice thoroughly enjoyed both visits the first time was more of a recce than a buying trip, if you can survive the first stretch to the T junction you will be OK for the rest of it there is a little haven of peace about half way from there to the beach in the form of a bar on the left hand side if I didn't know better I would have said that the lady behind the counter was a Londoner perfect English and a great sense of humor, as we walked in she was flapping her blouse about so I said hot no she said wet, this morning a bird s*** on me and I had to wash it off I said that's supposed to be lucky, her husband popped his head out and said I told her that, she replied not for me it wasn't , we spent about twenty minutes in there with a nice cool drink preparing ourselves for the crowd out side.
Haggled our way right through the market then spent all my time on the way back trying to remember which stall had stopped calling me back when I had reached rock bottom price what that price was and what was I buying, if you see what I mean?.
Called in the haven of peace again on the way back and joined in a debate about haggling, ( like you do) one girl said that after a few minutes she would shake her head and start to walk away and the price went down her partner who was still at the stall then put in a lower price and got it, this seems to work quite well.
One of them sort of pulled one on me I had got a good price for three things he said OK but you buy me a beer done I said, I had refused to up the price for the things by even 20 rupees (that was hagerling and fun) but I didn't mind the 40 for his beer, they are to sharp for me
Had a run in with the ear cleaner I felt some thing at my ear and brushed it thinking it was a fly this guy who was at least 6ft 2in if he was a inch started to walk towards me then the penny dropped I put my hand up and said no go away and off he went, one of the stall holders said ear cleaner bad man.
One little tip before going to the markets get a taxi to the fixed price shops in Baga look at the prices and if you beat them at the market you will have done alright.
The other thing is the beggers, very sad and will tug your heart strings some give some don't the choice is always yours.
Have fun at the markets don't let it get you down and you will walk away having had a very enjoyable day.

Alan

Still some more to come

Glasses

Suits

Diamond's

Trips

HTers can learn so much about Goa from the great reports we get here.
Keep it going!

Before I went to Goa I didn't know the questions to ask because there was so much good info on the forum, my report wont be earth shaking but I hope that by mentioning all the silly little things it may help and reassure the first timers like me that you can and will have a fantastic time in Goa , go out and meet the local people most of them are just like us.

Alan

On to glasses but as you are well aware I shall probably digress on the way.
When we mentioned opticians to Sergio he said go to the local one in Mapusa so we booked him for the next day, if you are thinking about glasses book it in the first week this will give you time to sort out any problems it can happen ( you don't have to book the optician just your taxi ).
Parking in Mapusa on a market day is nearly as bad as Cambridge so get a driver that knows the place well, talk about a maze, all those stalls my eyes lit up at the thought of all that wonderful haggling so on the way got a good price on three genuine fake shirts and a pair of sandals for Ann.
Finally arrived at Dangui the opticians and told him what we would like ie vary focal reacterlight & anti glare and did he do eye tests, no we had to go to the Dr, I had visions of a blue police box, but Sergio got us there, (not the box the Dr) one lady was waiting in front of us the waiting room was 4ft by 6ft with a bench to sit on, not as bad as it sounds, Sergio said we should take our shoes off when we went in, well when in Rome and all that, our turn and in we go, the lady DR was very professional asked lots of questions did about four tests on our eyes then had us holding what I can only describe as a orange coach lamp and told us to read the top line and then swapped lenses until we were happy with, it I asked her to up mine a bit as I often work with fibre optics, she then took the frame off and put our own glasses back on all I could see was two faint black lines just shows how bad our eyes had got. All this cost 100 Rs each under £1 50p so if you cant get a free eye test at home have it done at Mapusa.
Three day later back to have our lenses fitted in our own frames if you do the same take a spare pair of glasses its no fun walking round the stalls for 2hrs trying to haggle in Braille. Sight returned and back out to have a good look round, found that there was much less pestering than at Anjuna market, tried the Jack fruit very nice warned not to eat it when drinking alcohol as it will ferment and you will think you are on triples. All the fruit and veg stalls are very colourful and the butchers are a must see.
A guard standing out side a bank with a shot gun was a bit of a surprise I asked Sergio about him he said he wasn't guarding the bank but the woman taking her money in I asked him if the guard minded how many people he killed if he had to use it, its not loaded & he's not allowed to use it he said but don't the robbers know this as well I asked, that drew a sort of blank look, O well we are in Goa.
Back to the glasses they cost about £65 cash each and there is no haggling
:cry:.
Tip of the day, one HTer recommended hand wipes to use after touching things, forgot about them so looked for some at Gatwick none to be found but spotted a tube of antiseptic jell and found it much better to carry around, used it often.

More drivel to come if your not fed up with yet

Alan

Trips and things

We only went on a few trips Old Goa was first with a stop on the way to look at the ruins of an old monastery, it must have been a fantastic place in its hay day.
Old Goa was very interesting I just kept wishing that I could see it as it was three or four hundred years ago, nearly all of you will or have done this trip so I wont dwell on it.
Next stop was the Spice plantation, Tip if you are going too DIY it ask any one you can what their trip was like, I don't know how many plantations there are but I suspect quite a few and some are better than others but your taxi driver will take you to the one he always go's to and gets his free meal it often applies to beaches and the shacks as well, I don't blame them at all But I would rather go to the better places and buy his meal.
The guided tour was great and very informative I never realised how pepper and vanilla was grown or most of the other spices, our guide kept saying Tamam which is the word for good in Arabic so after the tour with the help of Sergio we got a rough translation that it was Sir & mam.
The meal was on a banana leaf not to bad but the popadoms were very salty I just couldn't stop drinking for rest of the day, must have got through about six Lts of water plus a few kings of course
We decided not to do the elephant washing thing, it was the end of the dry season and the water was very low and that stagnant muddy pool did not appeal to us at all (see pics) the elephant doesn't only wash in there even he didn't drink it just sprayed it over every else stayed well out of range

Another trip was to Mandrem beach beautiful fine soft sand that stretched for ever, only a few shacks the main one was was just before you crossed one of several rickety bridges over a small estuary. only one beach seller with his fruit basket, and the fish man who came round with a tray of fish that you could choose from and have cooked for you at the main shack, couldn't say if it is as quiet as this all the time it was the last week of the season and we managed to pick a day when it was blowing a hooly, all that fine sand got every were had to have a few Kings to wash it away.
On the way back to Candolim Sergio took us through the back roads along the coast there were some really nice quiet looking beaches that we will have to explore next time.

Coco beach was next, went there twice, explored the beach, watched the fisherman with their shore nets, and did the Dolphin trip, if its very windy this is the one to go to it is very sheltered and you get a Dolphin trip from any of the shacks.
we had our worst meal there at Bobby's shack, we ordered chicken fried noodles and after well over an hr and asking three times it arrived the noodles had been boiled so long they had gone white and stuck together just like burnt spaghetti and not even fried we refused to eat it, the excuse was that the cook was drunk, don't get this problem at Ganish's shack, to be fair Bobby's is probably OK with out that cook and we cant complain with only one bad meal in two weeks.

That's it for today, there may be some more.

Alan