Go Goa

Goa in the South West of India is India’s smallest state but still manages to be it's richest. Occupied by the Portuguese for over 450 years until 1961 you can still see their influence in the buildings and dress of some locals. Fishing, farming and tourism are the main industries of Goa attracting international travellers as well as Indian holiday makers. This trade started in the 60’s with the flower power days attracting hippies to the beautiful beaches where the “beach shack” culture started. You can still find some of the original tourists here and there and they can be recognised by their pony tails and bald heads. They usually wear miniscule thongs and exercise as they walk the beaches to the next bar. Throughout India the cow is sacred and allowed to roam freely throughout although you see less and less roaming the streets as years go by. Sometimes they are even found on the beaches but their favourite places are on the top of rubbish tips.

Each year there is a monsoon in Goa lasting from June to late September but this year the rain didn’t stop until well into October. Between October and May you have almost perfect blue skies and 30 degrees almost every day guaranteed. Goa is roughly divided into two, North Goa and South Goa with the capital Panjim and the river Mandovi separating the two halves. North Goa is where the tourism industry started and therefore has the most advanced tourist industry. For this reason we prefer the South where it’s a little less crowded and more like Goa used to be. It’s also a little cheaper and you have more chance of authentic food. Having discovered most of what South Goa has to offer we are starting this trip in the North and hope to travel independently for around a week before relaxing back in South Goa for the remaining of our three weeks holiday. We do have a hotel which is paid for in the North for the duration of our stay but we are not expecting to be staying there for too long as it is still quite cheap for a couple to stay over night while travelling. You can pay around £10 a night for a normal place but 4 and 5 star hotels are available at a price if you prefer. We tend to travel around in cheap or midrange places most of the time and treat ourselves to a few days of luxury here and there.

There are several other rivers emptying into the sea in Goa and over 150 miles of rivers that can be visited by boat making lots of “backwaters” to be seen. Normally one associates Kerala with backwaters but Goa also has them on a smaller scale but in my opinion they are almost as beautiful and many times cheaper to travel. Much of inland Goa to the East or “The Western Ghats” is recognised internationally as one of the most bio diverse areas of the world. We have so far only visited parts of them a couple of times in all our visits and hopefully we will get chance to see a little more of this area this time.
The staple food of the average Goan is “Fish curry rice” and is very cheap throughout Goa. Fish is very plentiful in Goa which they usually cook in coconut oil, coconut milk and coconut which is also plentiful around Goa. The locals also eat a traditional Thali which you can buy for under £1 for a meal. Traditionally Thali’s are vegetarian but meat ones are available but at a slightly higher price. Any number of different curries are available but the Vindaloo was also invented in Goa and is cooked with vinegar. Unlike Vindaloo’s in England they are much milder in Goa. They also have lots of pork dishes because of all the pigs running around. Most families keep chickens and pigs so eggs are also plentiful. They make these little spicy pork sausages but I can’t remember their names and have yet to try them. I’m a little put off eating pork in Goa as most pigs seem to eat raw sewage fresh from the households. The local drink or toddy is called feni which they brew locally from palm trees; it’s difficult to find a palm that doesn’t bear the scars from “toddy tapping”. There are two different types of feni, one made from cashew nut palms and one from coconut palms and they both taste different but similar and the local phrase, “Same, same but different” comes to mind. For western tastes, spirits are available for around £1 a bottle, the local beer is Kingfisher and is also quite cheap but comes in 4 different colour bottles. Although it’s exactly the same drink in each, locals usually have their favourite colour and swear that their favourite tastes better than all the others. Cocktails are also freely available and quite cheap especially during happy hour which sometimes stretches out to several hours. Of course, if you chose to drink in your 5 star hotel then you will pay western prices or higher. They do try to persuade you that it’s worth paying the extra for because their ice is made only from bottled water but in practice so do the local bars and beach shacks. If they were to use unsafe water their customers would soon evaporate with the fierce competition.
I have put some photos from previous trip in; I look like a South American drug dealer on the motorbike but I have tried to put in a cross section of what it’s like there, the good the bad and the downright ugly.

It is quite normal to have a dodgy tummy while travelling through India but in my experience this is largely due to the malaria tablets. Having lots of experience with these problems, tablets are available from chemists which are far superior to western remedies and they are almost free. They are very small yellow or orange tablets and they charge around 5 pence for 10 tablets. If you ask for diarrhoea tablets they will try to sell you western remedies which are much more expensive and far less effective and only seem to work by binding you up for the next few days.

We are getting really excited now and by the time you read this we will be on our way. It doesn’t seem to matter how many times we go there we always seem to suffer with culture shock forgetting all the poverty, heat, traffic and smells. Everyone wants to talk to you and be your friend but it does feel a little insincere as usually they have an ulterior motive. This does make it a very friendly place and everyone wants a part of you and your western money but we love it! GO GOA!