We go to Stringfellos Shack (past the Health Centre), next to the Tidal Wave Beach Shack.

That's the one we always use - Big Colin still there?

I agree with what Steve (Sam the Boat Man) says, because the sunbeds at our hotel were virtually full every day, we went to Candolim beach several times during our 24day stay. I wasnt aware that Claudinas, Monicos and Bobbys paid for security to keep the hawkers away, but it does help. It can be a little annoying when you are trying to chill and you are constantly being mithered but then sometimes the children are so cute that you have some real fun banter with them. I find "cheaper than Asda" so infuriating, but if you use the local lingo "makka nakka" ( dont want) they stop mithering you straight away!! The security guys do move the hawkers on if they think they are mithering you, and as I stated in a previous thread, Simon who works at Claudinas shack was great during our stay, putting our towels down and would always bring you drinks from the shack, charged 50rs a day for the bed (what a bargain).
Coco beach dont allow hawkers on, and if you go to the quieter beaches (Ashwen, Mojim or Keri ) they are little or no sellers. Things would have to get alot worse before it would stop me from going back, next year will be our 7th visit.

hi goanne just read your post and you have named a beach called Keri .......can you tell me where it is please

Irish Colleen - I will send you a PM

Querim beach is north of Arambul. If you go to temple beach in Querim then there are only 2 or 3 shacks and no sellers. The beach is a long one with very few people so you can always find your own space but you may have to lie on your towell as there are not many beds.B

spent 2 weeks chillin at Bobbys shack no problem with sellers at all the only hastle was a young calf that i had fed the day before gently waking me from my slumber for its now daily treat cant believe people say they wont return i miss it so much

ive been 4 times and already booked for this xmas/newyear.the last time ,last year i was there i noticed it was getting abit crowded but ive still booked as stated earlier.i plan on going next march for my birthday,but i intend trying up in morjim,where a friend of mine has been going the last ten years and he says its a lot better than the main tourist areas,ie..candolim, baga etc.nowhere near as hectic. just have to persuade my wife to stay at a campsite lol,although high quality,not just a plain old tent.

I was in Goa for the 5th time in Jan/Feb for a month. I won't be back. Candolim/Baga/Calangute has had it if they don't reduce the number of beach shacks, hawkers, restaurants. It's only a matter of time before they spoil Morjim and further North. The damage has been done. I didn't think I would see the day that bars had to cater to tourists by providing entertainers playing Neil Diamond/Dr Hook covers and also big screen sports bars.... sad.

I love Goa and sometimes get upset by what I've seen over the years but that's globalisation for you. That small strip between Candolim and Baga is overdeveloped and if something isn't done soon it's going to go even further downhill. The Goans know this but the government is so corrupt and want more money all the time and wont put as much back in to stop over-development.

Anyway, what's done will take a lot of undoing.

India is a big place. The government know there is money to be made from tourism. Do a bit of research and find somewhere new, I'm sure an alternative is out there. Maharahtra will be developing for tourism soon and it's just up the coast.

I am with you Big Neil I have loved Goa over the years but they are making the same mistake as many european countries with karoke, big screen TV, and what did it for me besides those beach sellers and hawkers was when we got to the airport we were asked three times for money once by the man taking our cases off us at the check in and putting it on the scales then went to have our passport stamped 20 times and asked by them for money then along to the last security check asked for money are they all corrupt we refused them all, but then in departure lounge a group of yobs who were really drunk passing round a bottle of whisky shouting and disturbing many of the passengers I think because it is cheap towards other long haul destinations it is now attracting the wrong sort of people. I am off to South Africa next year.

Did you know that all Indian run offices/departments have a "comments and complaints book," if your not happy just ask for the "complaints book,"

Don't except that they don't have one, they do, all Indian government employees are scared of being entered into the book, it could end any promotion just having their name written in it could mean demotion/dismissal from their job,

Failing that, write to the high commissioner outlining your concerns.

Lez

Doz,

The money thing.... It seemed a lot worse this year. I never saw it at the airport before until this year, officials wanting you to 'donate' money to their funds, unbelievable.

There seemed to be more 'scammers' present this year, even Indians we know were getting fed up with the amount of touts wanting to make a rupee. Considering the hawkers and beggars make more money than labourers on a building site! That isn't right! Then the tourists get annoyed when the police give rogue traders a hard time on the beach, not realising that it's the traders who are causing animosity with those that work hard for a lot less than the hawkers. None of the beggars are in fact Goan! Where did they get the cash to get as far as Goa? In Calangute you can see the head of beggar families spending money in the run down bars drinking Feni.

I spoke to some Goan businessmen who have now started an action group to highlight the problems about: beach shacks, hawkers, building, corrupt licensing, health, road safety, corruption. For once the Government is listening, expect to see some big changes in the years to come. The group is also highlighting the environmental issues which tourists don't seem to know about.

You are not alone with the way you are feeling, many Goans are caught in the tourism/money trap and see it as having gone too far without support and infrastructure.

Many other tourist destinations have suffered a similar fate; Algarve, Corfu, Costa del Sol with the governments trying to make radical changes to turn the clock back because they have chased the big bucks for too long.

Maybe all this doesn't mean a thing for those who just want 2 weeks in the sun. But if judging by the number of tourists I had spoken to who had been to Goa many, many times and for long stretches were saying 'the last time'. Well maybe there's something to be learnt.

Neil

I know there is now a problem in Goa the Shack owner we always used was really annoyed at all the beach sellers this year I asked him why the police did not do anything he said the beachsellers are paying them. The Goan people are lovley and I have made many friends but as you say most of them are not from Goa and as the last plane leaves at the end of the season so do the sellers, it is very sad because over the years I have loved my visits and I know given time I will miss my holiday in the Goa I knew.

Big Neil,

Airport....
There has always been far too many people trying to con the tourist out here... I thought the airport was a little less stressful this year for the new tourist. I definately saw an improvement on the bag carriers at the airport, far less aggressive. (It used to always amuse me when I was waiting for people (sorry guys!), watching all these innocents being bombarded by people grabbing their bags... There were a few different types...

Scammers...
I don't think there has been a huge increase in beggers/scammers, it does depend where you go though, each 'area' is completely different, Calangute is the main culprit for 'these types'. You can't really blame the beggers completely, if people didn't give, then there wouldn't be the problem, they'd either move somewhere else or do something else. I do think this is the right step (waiting for the backlash here), money is the root of all evil, I used to know a formula which then converted from money to women... *** joke edited out. Sorry Rob- the joke was ok, it was the comments after it that weren't! Fiona HT mod ***
If you think you need to give anything, then give them food, fruit is always good (lots of vitamins etc).

I'm NOT convinced that you SHOULDN'T be sorry for the 'rogue traders' on the beach. There is a lot of money that changers hands, unfortunately Goa is such a corrupt place.. It ALL revolves around backhanders, It's this that really needs to be stamped out. The 'rogue traders' have to pay the people they get hassle of may it be the shack owners or the police.

I think the statement 'None of the beggars are in fact Goan!', is not quite right... I know a lot of Goans who do beg, just because it's such an easy way to get money, so giving to the children is really not the way to do it. Far too many times I've seen children playing and dancing as soon as a white person gets close the hand goes out and the face changes to a sad poor child face. - So False, but soetimes complete irresistable.

Also it doesn't cost much at all to travel in India. There are LOTS of different classes. I managed to get over 500kms for less than £1!

Drinking / Alcholism is a big problem, but it doesn't cost that much, the 'rag collectors' in Goa (who don't beg), seem to find enough money to get completely 'toasted', so it doesn't cost much for this.

Dare I say, I think it will take a LONG time before anything can be done, as people seem to think that money is the answer to everything! A LOT of Goan people do the same thing (sorry, I DO know there are lots who are really nice, these ones will continue to get my business), but when I can't buy a 20 Rs/- bottle of Coke for 20 Rs/-, giving 25 Rs/- is just like begging/hawking. It's so frustrating... The prices on the bottle (and everything) is the MAXIMUM RETAIL PRICE (done like this so it extends to the whole of India and includes transportation etc) - So just don't pay over the price as again it just encourages this behaviour.

Some good guys I support are 'Varela's supermarket' in Calangute, always above board - so give them your support!

Going top go fr now as run out of time...

nice one rob you are always so infomative im sure all outher h/trs do agree with me so keep us all posted with your experiences they are much apperciated

All very interesting stuff but nothing new at all. Maybe as foreign tourists we have a lot to answer for. We come to the country saying how cheap it is etc and throw our money around because it gives us a 'feel good factor' a sort of 'superiority feeling'.

The problems that are being discussed now were not around when I first went to Goa back in the seventies. Backpackers in those days were more careful with their money etc. They rented a room in a local's house.

Can we really expect things to stand still. India is a 'developing' country. Millions of millions of really poor people. If they have heard that there are big, quick bucks to be 'earned' in Goa then can you blame them making their way to Goa.

Corruption tends to be a way of life in many many developing countries. There is nothing new in that. Corruption tends to start at the very top NOT at the very bottom. Corruption can have it's good points believe it or not. I wonder how many beach shack owners have got their licences on the quick and and cheap through a backsheesh.

Doz123 spoke of going to South Africa next year. Does he/she know that that country has the highest crime/murder rate in the whole world? White people live in beautiful houses with swimming pools surrounded by barbed wire with quick response mobile armed units ready to act if they get broken into. They lock their car doors at traffic lights.

Maybe the best way is never ever to return to a place as that only ruins the memories etc. Moralising about a country after a two week holiday is not the way forward at all.

I'll step down off my soapbox now and give someone else a chance.

Hello, I just got back to work and so now I can share my experience on Goa too
While I work in a «kind» of a report, about this subject I must say I've been to Coco beach (wonderfull and also the best food I had was in Lovely Jubbly - I didn't bring my notes today, I think it's spelled this way - beach shack) and Mandrem beach and none had sellers on the beach. I wasn't harrassed at all! On Mandrem beach there were two fruit sellers who wouldn't get near us, but we went to them to buy pinapple and bananas and that was ok. Never had a better pinaple my whole life! Ate one by myself just before lunch oh but we did pay 50 rps for the sunbeds (not at Coco beach, but we didn't stay long anyway).

Erika

I have just returned having had a lovely holiday in the south of Goa and wasn't pestered too often by the beach sellers.

I did have one problem with one girl who was very rude to me because I had just bought a sarong from one seller and would not buy anything from her (partly due to her attitude). She was thrown out of the shack and told not to return.

I was told that next year the sellers will be banned from selling on the beach. The goan authorities are concerned about the numbers of migrants turning up each year.

The beach seller we spoke to said he will only be able to sell things but only from a shack (but he will have to give the shack owner a proportion of the sales).

Therein lies the problem. Everone wants a share of the spoils. The beach shack owners will ban these young girls if they annoy their customers. However, they are quite prepared for them to work out from their shacks if they get a share of the takings. Hypocricy comes to mind.

I go to the South of Goa and have never had any problems with them. we have even bought some tat from them as well. I find that they somehow add something to the place. They are all very colourful and dress in local attire. I see them as part of the scene.

A lot of local complain of the 'immigrants' from neighbouring states coming to Goa. Where do all the waiters and chefs in the shacks and restaurants come from. Not Goa , I can tell you.

At a top restaurant like Martin's Corner, the staff come from Karnataka. I remember talking to a restaurant owner about this and his take on it was that local young people do not want to do these type of jobs. They want to get higher paid jobs abroad and come back to Goa to build a house etc.

Reminds me of the situation in the UK back in the fifties. Our commonwealth friends coming into the country were doing jobs that local Brits did not want to do. Goa is no different. The Goans cannot have their cake and eat it all the time.

to be honest , although we were approached by hawkers every 5 mins, Candolim Beach at Monicas Shack (not monicos) i found that totally ignoring them was the best response. Just a simple look up and then returning to my book discouraged even the most persistant.
(or maybe it was the snarl and the 12 bore shotgun sticking out from under the bed!)
And what about the shopkeepers on the way down to the beach?
every day the same requests to "just look in my shop".
How many sarongs do they think that you need?
Seriousley, the growing problem as far as I was concerned is the jetskis, which seem to be proliferating at the Candolim end of the beach. Noisy, smelly and no idea about the safety of swimmers etc.
We have decided to have one day on the beach at Candolim/Sinquerim and the next get a taxi to Coco, Aswem, or Turtle beach. Makes it a bit dearer but whose counting the pennies?

del949