We arrived back late on Sunday, I should have written a report earlier but Ive been so busy.

We flew with My-travel on the 23rd December, the flight was lovely couldn't fault it.

Dabolim ~ 2 flights arrived at the same time so we were in a long Queue for immigration that seemed to take an age to get through, but I just saw it as all part of the fun. Baggage reclaim was a laugh, we had no problem with porters there was only 2 or 3 of them but they made no attempt to touch our bags so that was OK.
We were met by a driver from the Hotel who had flowers for me and a bottle of wine for Mr Ellibee, we was quite touched by that.

Journey down to resort!! Well...didn't matter how much I had read on here it didn't prepare me for living the experience, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I darent look at the OH as I thought I was going to cry, all sorts of thoughts were going through my mind. Main one being 'What the F are we doing here, this place is a dump'!! We nearly had a couple of head ons with various vehicles and animals!! I was a nervous wreck by the time we reached Cavelossim.

Arriving at the hotel~ The Haathi Mahal is a superb hotel and after the journey down we were quite surprised at how Posh it was. The room boy took us and bags to our room. The room we were given wasn't very nice and smelt damp, plus it was located at the front over looking the road. We went back to reception and asked if we could change but this they didn't do for 4 days as it was the Xmas period, fair enough. We were then given a lovely room over looking the pool. So the rest of the stay was nice and peaceful, at least I got some sleep.

After changing and showering we ventured out for a walk and was blasted with..'Come look my shop' 'Taxi' ...it was all a bit crazy so we went back to the room. I had to ring my Mum to let her know we were there OK and started crying as soon as I heard her voice '' Oh Mum its horrible here, I don't think I can last 2 weeks''

The next day was Christmas Day and decided to spend it on the beach. We made our way down and found a beach shack, everyone was lovely and friendly, the view was spectacular and the Sun was scorching hot. We had Aloo Gobi, Noodles and Butter Nan for lunch. We decided it wasn't so bad after all. Went back to the Hotel to change for the evening then went to the Riverview restaurant. This place is amazing, as its located directly by the River Sal. We were sitting on the pontoon which goes right over the river, the Tiger Prawns were melt in the mouth gorgeous. We ate here 3 times during our stay.

I had all intentions of writing a daily journal so I had a good report to write, but I'm afraid it didn't materialize as we were having too much fun, so the rest are just bits I remember, after 2/3 days we wasn't sure or bothered what day it was, we had slipped straight in to Goan time..........

Julios boat trip......Amazing amazing day! We boarded his little boat at 10.30am and trundled up the river Sal. We saw some wonderful birds. Kingfishers, Kites and various others. The scenery was breath taking...
We sailed out into the Sea and saw loads of Dolphins/Porpoises, they were everywhere you looked. After looking at them for an age we sailed a bit closer to shore and were given a fishing rod each,and a bottle of Kings. This was the most fun I've ever had with my clothes on!! The OH caught about 6 fish so he was well chuffed, me, I did catch one but it was only about 2 inches big, when I looked I had hooked the poor little critter through the eye, I felt so sorry for it, Rocky~ the boat trip guy~ unhooked it for me and through it back '' Don't worry'' he said ''he wont remember what happened to him in 30 seconds''

After fishing for a while we made our way to Betul beach, its a little secluded cove, like something from a bounty advert. We went ashore and so did the barrel of cold Kings, so we all got a lot tipsy and decided to go for a walk. One of the guys with us realised he had left his shoes on the boat so decided he wouldn't come with us. 2 mins later there Stood Rocky soaking wet from head to foot with Jims shoes in his hand! He had swum out to the boat to get them bless him, no-one had even asked him to. He even swam back for another box of Kings as supplies were low and came back with them floating on a life jacket, we all gave him a round of applause, it was so funny to see. We then went up to this little mud hut where this little guy lived. He was a Toddy Tapper and made Feni right there in a little brewery he had constructed in his hut, it would have been rude not to accept his hospitality so we all tucked in to some hot Feni straight from the Tank. Phewwwww this stuff is potent, enough to make you go boss eyed! We then thanked him and gave him a few Rupees and made our way to the mini waterfall. It was only small but ever so beautiful, and really clear.
After we had all had enough and were feeling a bit peckish Rocky took us back to the Boat for the journey back. ... We arrived back at 4pm or near abouts.. moored up at the back of Julios house, and were served with the most delicious prawns,pomfret noodles and rice, and of course more beers! This whole day out cost 750 rupees and was truly amazing, I thoroughly recommend it, although there are bigger boats to go on Jacks or Betty's being 2, we thought the small boat was more intimate.

We did so much on this Holiday it would take an age to write about but we tried nearly all the Restaurants, had days out to Old Goa and Spice plantations and met some wonderful people along the way.

Would we go back?.........You bet....im in Love with Goa........
We have already looked at prices for Xmas 07 for 3 weeks this time as 2 just isnt enough.

Sorry if this report is higgledy piggledy