Goa has always been tedious for me because we are:
- Not willing to take flights to save money and why the hell are the train stations in Goa so far from everywhere
- Not willing to be duped by taxi drivers and the Goa heat is ideal only for beach bumming and not for bus rides
- Not willing to live in cheap beach huts for howsoever much beaches are fun but after sunsets we need four walls around us
- Not able to go with recommended guest houses because you see our definition of budget doesn’t include dirty shit hole of a room
Therefore, getting to Goa, getting to someplace when you are in Goa, and then finding a room was a challenge I didn’t feel I was upto. I remembered Goa for:
- the beaches full of young couples parading the tiniest clothes in their wardrobes
- the babies of IT boom buying beer after beer
- men displaying their recently waxed chest and new sunglasses
- the tiny lanes around Calangute and choked with SUVs of wealthy families from surrounding cities breathing smoke and stress
- and the shack owners not happy to serve brown skinned Indians and giving extra of what we call footage to the fair skinned cientele
For those operating businesses in Goa, you are just another wave in the many million waves that hit Goa beaches. There will never be smiles to welcome you. They look at you, size you up and blurt a number quoting a price, take it or leave it. The room, the service, the food quality doesn’t matter. Forget it. You can’t reason with them. This is Goa. If you leave someone else will come and take your place.
But Vikram was convinced that if we have been traveling for over a year, then we have to get to Goa. And things happened just as I had expected. When we first got into Goa, we got off at Swantwaadi, a tiny little ghost stop on the border of Goa and Maharashtra. It took us two hours to get to Arambol. Wow! I thought, how could it take any lesser. Once, we got their, we placed ourself in a beach shack where some guy not very happy to serve brought us food that was very promising on the menu but disgusting on the plate, followed by a search for a room that took us around the slum like developments in Arambol.
Goa was turning out to be what I had expected. Yet again, it was unable to live up to the promise it always made.
Where are the:
- quiet beaches
- budget places
- great food
They are nowhere, I don’t see them. All I see our bunch of hippies with dreadlocks and weekend vacationers pretending to have fun by playing music on the beach and drinking beer after beer. Somehow after traveling the world it felt cool to look down upon Goa. I looked at the beach and had to acknowledge that it beautiful, stunning even. The sun was setting, guiltily I admired it while my husband was navigating the tiny lanes of haphazard mess around Arambol to find us a clean room to stay in. The shack where I was seated had perfect ambiance, great music but the carrot juice that was served to me was a load of shit mixed with water. I mulled at the 120/- I will have to part with for the mess I was served in a glass with a straw. This is what Goa is, I thought, contrasts of ugly and beautiful. The question is how much of the ugly can I take for the beautiful. Forget it, I will stay here and let my husband have his anniversary wish.
Read the love part here: https://www.emptyrucksack.com/falling-in-love-with-goa/
Interesting read !
Niranjan recently posted…Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary- Serene Wilderness…!!
Thanks Niranjan.
Sorry you had me laughing a lot. Waxed chests you say. A great and witty post
Contented Traveller recently posted…Soft kitty, warm kitty ….
Hey guys,
Thanks again. Goa is so much funn, you should visit it soon
-Empty Rucksack
Empty Ruck Sack recently posted…The beach belongs to me
Glad someone who came to Goa as a tourist saw the condition the state is in the way we Goans see it.. yes that is how Goa has become… made by the tourists and governments that were as scrupulous as any other govt. is in India….
Seeta recently posted…Hunt For The Winning Horse
Seeta,
I cannot imagine what goa would feel like without its shacks, hoards of tourists, pizza joints, shops selling all kinds of junk.
There is something special that despite India having such a vast coastline, only goa gets all the crowds.
There is something which puts you at ease like no place else. But growing up in a place like goa would be something that we can’t even imagine.
-Empty Rucksack
Empty Ruck Sack recently posted…The beach belongs to me
a different perspective. as a goan, i agree that tourists are robbed off. hopefully the govt/tourism departments wakes up because with a normal budget it gets quite tough for any tourists
Amar Naik recently posted…Dear shoes
Amar,
Arambol is still on the cheaper side of the budget. I dread to think of how much we would have spent if we were anywhere near baga or calangute. Its not about the money but the value for money which needs to be improved
-Empty Rucksack
Empty Ruck Sack recently posted…The beach belongs to me
GOOD ONE TO READ!!!
good post recently posted…FIND WHAT NEXT SERIES
Thanks Gowtham. Goa has become one of our most favourite in the last few weeks.
wow….this is wonderful….n very hilarious….drinking beer after beer is funniest…..well on serious note its a great thought to indulge oneself………:)
Deepanishi,
Thanks. Goa is great and is now on the top of our list with ladakh. Its gives you so many things to think about even when you are not drinking.
-Empty Rucksack
Empty Ruck Sack recently posted…The beach belongs to me
I loved the love Goa part more…. but most of Goa has now become totally and I mean totally touristy…but I still would like to go back again.. 🙂
Prasad Np recently posted…Best Hindi Travel Blogs India
Prasad,
Despite all the tourists it can make you like all the setup is just for you n you alone when you hit that quiet beach or discover a great place to eat or when you end in a very quiet n picturesque lane where no one disturbs you.
We love goa more every single day.
-Empty Rucksack
Empty Ruck Sack recently posted…The beach belongs to me