GOA...well what a place. we went about 4 years ago and really lved it, but i can see its not everyones cup of tea.
1st impressions..we flew into a military type airport and were escorted off the plane with machine gunned security..into a barrack of a building which was the arrivals lounge. the heat was sweltering. our clothes were sticking to us.
you fight for your luggage, and the once outside the locals fight you for your bags, to carry them for you in the hope of getting a few pennies. the bus winds through the jungle on a dirt track to our hotel in candolim. i wondered where the heck we had arrived. the dusty track had little villages dotted along itwith signs hung up in the palm trees. women washing clothes in the streams and cows walking up the road.
the beaches was really long and sandy, but the waves are quite big and powerful, you cant snorkel or swim very well. there was a huge tanker ship beached just off the beach.
the locals are very friendly, extremly poor. little girls sell jewellery and sarongs on the beach. there are loads of litter, empty water bottles everywhere. to get to the beach from the hotel, we walked across some scrubland with a few little shanty type homes. cows walk along the beach. its very humid.
the hotel was nice, pretty basic but suited us. it was sort of little bungalows around a pool ( cant remember the name) we booked it off teletext and paid about 400 quid all inclusive.. we did say we would love to go back, but just havent got around to it
xx
db