Remember me?............trip report

vegasone

2006-02-12 08:32:19

Remember me.....

I am the one who has been here 8 times in 5 years, I come here to relax and tan my white skin on the beach every day.

Remember me...

I don't want to buy your ankle chains and beads for 300 rupees and you can ask me every day, I don't want and I don't want to buy to wish you luck.I want to know why you are wearing so much gold yet you claim to be poor.

Remember me...

When I come out of the sea I don't want you selling me your sarongs for 200 rupees, I don't want 2 for the price of one and you telling me they are cheaper than Asda is so last year now.

Remember me....

When I am relaxing on my sunbed, I do not have thoughts of purchasing an emergency light, nor do I want a wooden snake for 200 rupees when I can should I feel the urge, purchase one in Calangute for 35 rupees. OH and by the way I don't want to hear you playing the theme from Titanic on your expensive wooden recorder.

Remember me...

I am the one that sunbathes and listens to my i-pod, don't tap me on my foot, wake me up and beg me for money, you don't need it, you only come to Goa in the tourist season, beg then return back to your very nice homes leaving the children you 'hired' with the people that run your 'business'.

Remember me........

While I am on my tanning trip, relaxing, I am the one who doesn't want to see you walk a tight rope or pull your self through a small hoop, so please don't bang your silver tray in my face for money.The first time I came I gave you a few coins and you threw them back at me.

Remember me.....

If I want a taxi I can ask for one, and I also know how much a taxi from Candolim to Baga is and it's not 250 rupees.

Remember me.....

I am the one who can wheel my case from the baggage reclaim to my taxi on my own, and when I leave, your porter service for 200 rupees is something I do not need.

Remember me....

Because there are 100's like me, I am not rich and I do not come to Goa to be ripped off and woken up when I am relaxing in the sun. I watch some of you ripping of the 'good new white english' that arrive on the beach daily. If you don't remember me then we will all one day stop coming to Goa and you will have no money.

Remember me......

As old as you are I do not want to buy your fruit, a pineapple in UK is 89p and when you want to charge me 60 rupees for a 3 day old one and slice it up using a dirty old knife, no thank you I say. I bought from you 5 years ago on my first trip, after the first day when I bought from you you asked me and pestered me for the next 13 days of my stay to by fruit, at times waking me up from my sleep.

Remember me.....

Because besides all that I did have a nice holiday, my hotel Phoenix Park was again fantastic and yes I will stay there again. The weather was fantastic, the food and the nice pendant I bought from Guru is very nice thank you

I love Goa, it's changing, I feel like a walking Bank at times and get sick of watching the fake friendships some people draw up on the beach with the locals, they just want your money. I at least know who my friends are in Goa and wish people would stop them selves when on the beach.If I could change Goa, the sellars on the beach would go, I have had enough of them now, they don't bother me as much as I first came but now the young girls who trek up and down bothering people to buy their tut is immense, they are loud and I have seen their true colours.The 'taxi' taxi' every 10 paces is just silly now and to a point where I just ignore them, they need to stop that.The beach cleaners...well done for cleaning the beach I thought until I found out they get paid 15 rupees for every 100 plastic bottles they pick up, and it's a shame they can't go and clean up the rest of the rubbish thats chucked on the path back to your hotel

Disclaimer; This is just my opinion on my trip, I am not saying everyone should think like me or agree with me, it's just my thoughts. It won't stop me going just yet, however I am seeing Goa change and it's not for the better.

Edited by vegasone 2006-02-12 18:00:04

Fiona

2006-02-12 09:26:20

One thing Goa has done for you Vegasone- you've turned into quite a writer! Very eloquently put and I bet many people can relate to your experiences. (OT- sounds like my experiences in Rio by the way!)

ssharonuk

2006-02-12 09:50:21

I agree
The taxi taxi taxi every step of the way down the road to and from candolin got to me that much Appart to and from the airport i used either the tut tuts or the bus and found it very pleasing waving at the the taxi drivers who every day hassled us so much on our holiday
on the other hand most of the beach sellers are friendly and the woman that gave me a 45 min massage for 300rps was wonderfull it was just the taxi drivers that got to me well not me my husband
sharon

mrfrostie

2006-02-12 10:53:11

GREAT write up! and with just 4 weeks and 6 days before I make my first journey to Goa all ths makes me slightly nervous ! (I hate being ripped off!!)
could somebody create a full list of what we should be paying for such essentials this season
-taxis,sunbeds,beer,excursions,etc we are staying in Candolim so advice on budget from there would be good! :wink:

edit
have brought this thread back up for you
Fiona ht mod

Taffy45

2006-02-12 13:32:33

How I chuckled when I read your view. I agree with you and have had many a conversation with beach sellars that they should be happy to sell one of something and not try to push people to buy 3 or 4. In comparison to other states of India goan folk live very well with satelite tv etc, and Goa is a very affluent state but this could all change if people stop going because they are fed up of the hassle and the rising prices

Anonymous

2006-02-12 14:32:47

Well put and I agree 100%. One thing that also annoys me is "hello sunbed" every 20 paces when you are walking on the beach and trying to have a conversation. To me they are as bad as the "taxi taxi" brigade on the streets. B

arltogoa2006

2006-02-12 14:49:43

Great report, I totally agree with you.

Martin_d

2006-02-12 14:51:29

Totally agree.

doz123

2006-02-12 17:23:05

I totally agree with all you have said. We have been to Goa 4 times and the beach sellers are getting worse. I cannot relax on the beach now for constantly being pestered by them, I was once asleep and was tapped on the shoulder, the authorities should do something about this problem.

SteveM

2006-02-12 19:00:42

Every morning I wake up and trundle down stairs with the view of grey skies through the window, and see the leafless trees, and no flowers blooming with colour and as I take my last step on the stairwell I see an abundance of bills, bills and more bills all saying REMEMBER ME...cough up! I do agree with you Vegasone but I would swap all this for a fruit seller to come up to me and haggle a price for some fruit while having a Kingfisher soaking up the sun.

Perhaps you could run up a few thousand leaflets called "Remember Me"! and hand one out everytime you feel you are being ripped off!
Perhaps we all should? :wink:

Fiona

2006-02-12 19:11:40

what a great thread!

jcbrum

2006-02-12 19:51:44

This is one of the reasons i would not stay in north Goa.Where we go (Bogmalo) we dont have any and i mean any beach sellers,no hassle from taxi drivers and no one trying to get us on their sunbeds.

jc

barrie

2006-02-12 20:16:56

We have just come back from 3 weeks in Candolim. When we were on the beach there were two uniformed security guards, they chased off any beach seller they found. One or two did escape the attention of the guards, but not for long.

sydney

2006-02-12 20:18:25

In three weeks four days time I will be returning to Goa for my 7th holiday. For 5 of my holidays I stayed in the north, but also became tired of the hassle. For that reason last year we stayed in the south. Ok, you do not get the numbers of shops or restaurants but the holiday overall was quiet and relatively hassle free.

We are going again to the south and cannot wait.

shirleyV

2006-02-12 21:32:56

Loved your report Vegasone - glad to hear you will still go back though...
Still I've been back now for about 5 weeks and I just cannot wait to return

goingoingoa

2006-02-12 22:25:53

i was going to get a t shirt printed with a list of things on the front and back with lots of the above on it or you could just have cards and everyone who approaches you give them a card and a smile sooner or later if everyone did it they will get the hint :idea:

whoops didnt notice steves leaflet post :shock:

candolimlover

2006-02-13 08:27:58

Do you not think that we have created a lot of what we are complaing about.

Years ago so many made "friends" with these people - living them their towels, buying them presents, bringing t-shirts over with them the next years....buying them watches, mobile phone whatever.

We have raised their expectations and now they expect more and more.

Whilst we are lying in the sun we forget that as we leave our "Friends" behind there is another plane full of new people with their pockets bulging with rupees to spend on tat.

I whole hearteldy agree that there should be something done to police the sellers more but I'be always found a stern NO works everytime.

pedrogooner

2006-02-13 10:16:20

Candolimlover.

Excellent comment and I agree with you, well said. Without wanting to ba an alarmist, but it is relevant, to the discussion, there was a very serious incident against a Brit yesterday at Vagator.

http://oheraldo.in/node/9778

Prettypollycat

2006-02-13 10:34:54

Great report, Vegasone - and pretty accurate too.

One thing we always do is to be very clear in our refusals.
We say (and mean) 'No, thank you'.

For the new visitors to Goa who may be a little apprehensive about being constantly hassled to buy goods, remember this:
Never, never say 'Maybe' or 'Perhaps' or 'Later' - unless of course, you do intend to look or buy later.

The sellers take this as a 'Yes' and they will remember you for the whole of your holiday.

Polly

vegasone

2006-02-13 12:32:55

hence the remember me title

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