Getaway GOA

We came to Goa to laze on its sandy beaches, savour some sea food, and of course take back memories.

Quick Tips:

Do post a vacation reply on your email server, you might never want to leave GOA!!

Best Way To Get Around:

Though we preferred going around in a taxi we feel the best way to get around is by hiring a motorcycle. We have seen this to be the most popular form of getting around Goa. Taxi's charge about Rs. 6 a kilometre, if you are used to driving by the mile then 1 mile is close to 1.6 kilometres. Hiring a motrocycle would be definitely cheaper.There is an alternative - something in between a motorcycle and a Taxi infact a hybrid a motorcycle taxi! Though we havent used them they seem to be popular especially to get to beaches.

Sterling Vagatore is situated by the Vagatore Beach. Secluded and secure, the rooms are spacious and sparsely furnished with TV, hot water, a kitchennette, seating, and dining area. The beach is about a 5-minute walk and at night you can hear the tides. Sterling has an RCI affiliation and if you happen to have timeshare days in any of the affiliated timeshare resorts, they can be exchanged for days in Goa.

On our way back from Bicholim we stopped by the Stomach Restaurant and ordered our favourite--Goan Fish Curry Thali. A 'thali' in India indicates a limited meal. It was served with a cup of 'Cocum' water, a local digestive concotion which did us good after the heavy meal.

The heat was unbearable by the time we got to Calangute. The approach to the beach is lined with souvenir shops. There are plenty of shops to buy straw hats, beach wear, and a lot of trinkets.

We visited a shop well stocked with party and beach wear. The girl in charge gave us a good price on the things we bought without us having to haggle. We spent a few minutes at the beach and then headed towards the Anjuna flea market.

We reached the flea market around noon. It was a melange of colours, the crowd was swelling, and our driver had trouble finding a place to park the car.

We got out of the car and entered the flea market consisting of make-shift thatched huts which I believe are rented out by the square foot. Tibetan, Gujarathi, Rajasthani, and a great deal of westerners sell almost everything under the sun: brightly dyed clothes, trinkets, oxidized silverware, beach wear, incense sticks, spices, semi-precious stones, imported cigarettes, etc., etc. In fact, we saw a westerner sitting on his motorcycle and it took us some time to realize that the motorcycle was for sale!

We bargained (it's become a habit by now!) for some ethnic-styled pens and settle for Rs 20 per pen (down from Rs 50). We picked up a dozen so that we could give them away to our friends in Chennai (Madras); when we paid for them, the lady was short of 20 Rs so she gave us two bracelets to compensate. We got back to the taxi and told the driver of our purchases only to get a sarcastic smile and some advice on how to bargain. He told us that the pens were hardly worth 10Rs and the bracelets not more than 5 Rs each. So much for all the effort! We decided that it's a FLEECE market rather than a Flea market and headed back to our room.

A small but quiet market street in the heart of Goa's capital Panjim is surprising--we could find only two souvenir shops.

Our driver took us to "Kohinoor Treasures" when we asked him to take us to the government-owned shops. Goa's government-owned handicraft shop is so small that we almost missed it. We could hardly find anything of interest in there. However, we patiently explored the shop and finally ended up buying a small chandelier made of sea shells. We also picked up a monkey figurine carved on a coconut. We then drove down to the main market street and picked up some cashew nuts and dried mango from "Kajuwalla" (in Hindi this indicates a man who sells Kaju's i.e. cashew nuts). We then walked into Bombau Bazaar, my wife picked up some beach slippers and some skirts. We then left for Mapusa.

On the day we were leaving Goa, we visited "Kajuwalla" and picked up the local delicacies 'bebinca' and 'Doodal.'

Mapusa was almost deserted by the time we got there. Our taxi driver told us that the market gathers here every Wednesday, so since it was Monday, we headed straight towards the Bicholim pottery village.

After a long drive, we reached Bicholim just to find two factories engaged in making pottery. The privately owned 'Goa Potteries' was much better than the government owned shop. Mr. Pandit, the proprietor, showed us around but there was hardly anything of interest. After all the terra-cotta pottery we've accumulated over the years, what we saw paled in comparison to our own collection.

After the disappointment at Anjuna, we were delighted to see the Aguada fort and the vast expanse of emerald-green water: the loveliest beach we have ever seen. The water was so clear that we could see the rocks beneath.

As our taxi approached the fort, touts rushed towards the car yelling and wanting to know whether we were interested in going on a dolphin-spotting trip. We just ignored them and went on to enjoy the beach.

The Taj resort, which is right on the fort, is sheer opulence. We watched a man indulge in some skiing before we clicked some snaps and drove off to see the Aguada fort.

We weren't pretty impressed by this beach, though we heard people speak a lot about it, probably because we reached there very early and there was not a soul in sight. We spent about 40 minutes clicking some snaps and collecting a few pebbles. The sea is rough as in Vagatore.

Both of us have hectic schedules at work, I am a software professional and my wife is a pediatrician. We planned that, while in Goa we should unwind completely rather indulge in any sightseeing--Goa is a place to do just that.

Our first day at Vagatore, we watched the sun set by the Arabian Sea while a man was surfing the waves with his board and parachute.

On the second day we spent long hours by the beach collecting shells and watching little crabs scurrying for cover when we walked towards them. We crossed over to Small Vagatore and saw a few people bathing in the sun hoping to achieve that elusive tan! A few others (a lot of bikini-clad women--a rare sight on Indian beaches!) were swimming and a couple of them were enjoying a game of pool and drinking beer. Vagatore has several sea-side bars and restaurants often in make-shift thatched huts that serve a variety of liquor and food. We sat at one of these restaurants and ordered Goan fish curry and rice and some fish and chips for lunch. I conciously avoided the drinks. We finished our lunch and walked over to Big Vagatore only to see women sun-bathing in the nude! A risky thing to do in India. We hurried back to a saner spot where we spent the rest of the evening collecting sea shells.

We returned to Vagatore on our fourth day. We bought straw hats. After some hectic bargaining we managed to reduce the price of these hats from Rs.80 to Rs.40. Bargaining is a must in Goa, almost everything is steeply priced. A tender coconut costs Rs.10 by the beach when normally it about Rs.5.