India's beautiful State of Goa is a great place to go to on holiday with it's generally speaking wonderful consistent weather - fairly hot days (but usually tempered by a
sea breeze or two) and lovely relaxing evenings where you can wander
around in shorts and t-shirt quite happily.
Goa can be as quiet or busy around it's beaches and hotels depending on where you chose to stay with generally
the further south you go the quieter it all is. You easily have access
to excellent scenic countryside a little inland and then of course the jungle out in India's Karnataka
State is not so far away either - with the possibility of spotting tigers, leopards, crocodiles, all manner
of birds and the wide and beautiful rivers like the River Kali all available to enjoy. On top of
this there is the really great food you can get from the small restaurants frequently
located along the beach areas in Goa. These restaurants usually have extensive menus
available with all sorts of fish and curry dishes to try out - and they are so
inexpensive too. Our information relates to our holiday when we stayed at Bogmalo Beach, Goa,
India during December 2006
Getting to Goa. We booked our hotel and flight separately
rather than go for a package deal since this was cheaper (found the offers on the web).
The hotel we stayed at was the 4 to 5 star Bogmalo Beach Hotel - this 6 floor
hotel is situated right on the beach and offers great views of Bogmalo's fairly small
cove. It's worth noting that the first floor rooms at this hotel do not have balconys, floors
2, 3 4 and 5 are de luxe and so more expensive and then floor six, where we stayed, do
all have a balcony and you really do want that. Although we had booked our
holiday as all inclusive we hardly ate in the hotel - it was far nicer down on one
of the beach restaurants where you could chose from an extensive
menu of great cooked food for just a few pounds.
Our flight was with My Travel from Gatwick -
as (sadly) normal there is not a lot of leg space on their flights
and 8 hours of being cramped like that is not too nice (let alone of course the
10 hours flying time back). The alternative could be to fly by scheduled airline to Mumbai
(though this will probably work out more expensive of course) and then hop onto one of the
new low cost airlines which run down to Goa (we believe
Mumbai-Goa-Mumbai is around 80 UK Pounds round trip) - certainly this is
how we would do it next time. You can get a taxi from Goa
airport to your hotel for only a few pounds - much better than
messing about on package tour coach transfers.
Another tip is to carry a few UK Pound coins with you - for instance on arrival and having got through the slow paperwork queues let a local take your suit cases and tell him you want a taxi to "wherever" - he will get you past the taxi Qs and away in minutes and be really happy getting a pound or so for his trouble.
Bogmalo Beach. This fairly small cove is located about 4kms off the Vasco da Gama - Margao main road (Vasco da Gama is around 8kms North). Goa's airport is close by but we did not notice aircraft noise to be any problem/annoyance. Bogmalo beach has an unobtrusive six storey hotel edged with palm trees on one end of it's cove plus several small guest houses, about half a dozen restaurants, quite a few tiny shops selling t-shirts, beach wear etc., several jewellers and also a couple of tailors - the latter will make you an excellent suit in just a few days of good quality and also really cheaply. Bogmalo is really quiet with the beach almost deserted most days - at least until the early evening when the locals wander down and also on Sundays when loads of people arrive for a stroll.
There is a local bus running frequently all day between Bogmalo beach and Vasco (the ticket costs an awesome 7 UK Pence) plus there are always taxis around. The beach has sun beds etc., also one jet ski for hire and you can also hire out a small speedboat for going fishing or a trip out to Grande Isle etc. The wildlife is pretty good - with lots of kites, buzzards, waders and fish eagles around as well as quarrelsome crows - then there is the flashing site of kingfishers - and we also saw dolphins several times a little way out in the bay.
Vasco da Gama is the nearest town of any size to Bogmalo - it's a busy bustling working town with quite large fish and fruit markets as well as a really enclosed but huge general market area - this was actually like a maze. In reality there was not a great deal to see and photograph and we did not note any restaurants that looked appealing to go into.
Vasco da Gama has quite an extensive fishing fleet and boat building/ repair area located in and around the harbour. The main bus station is located just a little way out on the town's western side however local buses start from the centre. You can also get railway connections into most of India from here.
Needless to say apart from the gorgeous
beaches Goa has fantastic countryside
to explore if you fancy getting
out and about a little. The photo on the left was taken at Dudhsagar Waterfalls
- these impressive waterfalls are located on the Western edge of Goa.
It's really worth getting to them
early if possible since the area gets a little busy by midday.
You have
to take a 45 minute jeep ride to get to the falls - the busier things
get the more people are somewhat packed into the jeeps but it's all a good
laugh. It's a very bumpy trip up to the falls but enjoyable.
Old Goa is one of those places which is on "the list" of places to go and you can surely tell it is - full of locals trying to sell you various things, lots of stalls and all the usual clutter which goes with a well known tourist area. The buildings both inside and out were very impressive so the stop over on the way to Panaji was worthwhile but we did not hang around too long once we had looked around Xavier and then photographed the Church of St Cajetan opposite.
Panaji is Goa's State
Capital City and where needless to say all the "governing" takes place
-
the city easily has the best shops
in the area - catering for whether you want well made
brand goods or the cheaper copies - and there are needless to say extensive markets
where you can buy
fish, fruit and general goods.
The city is located on the south bank
of the Mandovi River and one of the interesting things (well for me
anyway) was watching the heavy but rusty ore carriers doing the trips
up and
down the river to meet up with and unload into heavier cargo ships anchored
out in Aguada Bay.
There was plenty of
other river activity too - from fishing boats wandering about to the
small and not very safe looking cross river ferrys. Panaji is a very
busy city - buses, lorries, taxis, cars and motorcycles all racing
about the roads with their drivers hooting and often shouting in the
chaos as they more or less just fail to hit each other (or mow down
the many pedestrians) - which is normal Goan driving of course.
Amazingly or perhaps not so, we saw cows wandering about as well -
they seemed quite oblivious and probably indifferent as they were being swerved round and blasted with
horns of course.
On the northern side of Aguada Bay is
located Aguada Fort plus two lighthouses - one old and
dis-used but nice to look at and
the new operational version which is nowhere near as good.
The Fort does not particularly offer a lot visually - mostly
outside walls with nothing much inside however you do get excellent
views out into the Bay - with dozens of large ore ships waiting for the
river ore-carriers to arrive and unload. Entry into the Fort is free
and we think it is open every day but they were shutting the entrance gate at
around 1630hrs and kicking out everybody already inside at around 1700hrs.
Food and Drink in Goa. Even the smallest restaurants generally offer an extensive menu - the variety of fish, prawns, currys made with all manner of spices - hot, mild whatever you want - all you do is ask and they are so willing to give you what you want. There are also of course loads of vegetarian dishes on offer - wide use of peppers, lots of different vegetables - the main problem is picking out what you want this time and what you will have next time instead etc. Also the variety of rice mixes are brilliant and finally the stone cooked rotis and nanns from plain to prawn mixes to chicken and so on. Typically a starter cost 90 rps, average main course dish around 100 rps, various rice dishes around 80 rps and nanns/rotis about 30 rps - so for a couple of UK Pounds you get a lot of food. The beer on offer was local Kingfisher and Fosters at around 50 rps a bottle and whisky/vodka/gin around 80rps depending on make.
Getting Around. Local Buses run
constantly but can get very crowded especially when the schools close
at around 1300hrs - however the tickets are very inexpensive and it's
worth trying them out just for the experience. It is possible to hire
mopeds/scooters but when you watch the driving around for instance
Vasco da Gama - which is haphazard to say the least - then it's
probably not worth the risk especially when considering how cheap a
taxi fare is. 
In addition
many of the roads have really bad potholes - particularly outside of the
towns - and even fairly main roads can suddenly go from tarmac to track
for short distances. There are a
huge number of lorries and buses on the roads and they don't
tend to stop even at junctions etc. - the trick is just to let out a
blast on the horn and go for it regardless. One major headache for
drivers (mostly out in the countryside but we saw them wandering about
in Vasco da Gama and Margao) are the wandering cattle - they roam freely
even on dual carriageways and of course you really don't want to hit a
cow in India.
Taxis are the answer - we used the same driver many times
over our two weeks holiday - often hiring him for the day. Depending on
how many miles/kms you went on a day you could probably have your own
driver for around 1800 rps. Our driver was excellent and often went
round the various places we wanted to visit with us - giving us a guided
tour sometimes in places like Panaji. If you want to travel further
afield then Trains might be the answer - we took a train out of
Vasco da Gama when we did our jungle trip into Kanataka - somewhat slow
ride but really inexpensive.
The Local People. We met quite a few Goans and
also quite a few locals from the neighbouring state of Kanataka -
the people and especially the children living in the villages we walked around
whilst in Kanataka did not really seem
used to seeing Europeans wandering around
but they were always quick enough to smile a greeting. The Goans around
Bogmalo were extremely friendly (and no - not just because they wanted to
sell you something).
A fairly early morning walk along the cove meant the
various girls running the small shops at the edge of the beach would
wander down to say hello etc. - and particularly in our "local" the Full
Moon restaurant it was not unusual to be sat around with maybe 20 Goans
talking about this or that really late into the evening.
Shops. As mentioned there are several shops
clustered around Bogmalo - a lot of them selling the usual t-shirts, beach wear,
ornaments and flip-flops and so on - we did before we left make a point of
visiting most of them and buying a few things from each. Spending a
couple of English pounds here and there is not a big deal for us but it
is significant for a small Goan shopkeeper. There are some particularly
nice ornaments if you look around - for instance we bought some hand
carved marble owls, elephants and tortoises - beautifully made and of really good quality. In
addition if you use suits regularly it might be worth buying 2 or 3 from
one of the local tailors - these are not off the peg but made for you so
they will give you several fittings etc. with a well made suit on
average costing 55 or so UK Pounds.
The other money saver which might be
of interest we found was when my son wanted two pairs of Ray Bans. Our
taxi driver took us to a shop in Panaji - whilst he was buying them the
shop owner asked me about my bi-focal glasses - he said with a correct
prescription (although they would do an eye test anyway) he could make
me the same thing for around UKstg 120. I had only recently payed 400
UKstg in England. p.s. the -genuine- Ray Bans genuine were a third
cheaper than in England.
Our Pages about Goa, India
Dandeli Jungle
Photos of Goa
More Goa Photos
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