Travelling back after 15 years..any recommendations?

Emmest

I am due to be in Goa at the end of October with some friends who have never visited. I want to show them the Goa I experienced in the mid-90's. I am considering going back to Anjuna but worried I will be disappointed with how it has changed.

Can anyone recommend where I may find something closer to the Goa I know and love? I've heard parties done really happen much but I just want that shanti experience again (with maybe a party on the side!) I have been told to go to Palolem... good advice?

I would like to rent a traditional Goan house/Villa close to the beach... if anyone feels like replying I would really appreciate it!

Thanks Emmest in Brighton x

theyyamdancer

Hi Emmest in Brighton,

You might like to take a look at the following thread for starters:

Thinking of returning to Goa for holiday after 30 years

__________________
"Wandering seemed no more than the happiness of an anxious man." - Albert Camus

Emmest

yea I did check this thread out tho' it didn't tell me much except go to Kerala which is probably too far to travel from Goa airport ??
The furthest south I have been is Gokarn & Ohm beach which was just a few huts with 1/2 restaurants in the 'party dayz!'

Be good to know whats going on there now...

I would like to visit Anjuna/Arambol etc but just not sure it will be right to stay there......

Emmest x

johnbmain

Save your money and go to Benidorm, its cleaner and cheaper too.The Goa that you used to know has gone for ever...Anjuna is a ghost town full of TO LET signs.A few old timers still hanging in there but in reality its just an empty shell of what it used to be.
No parties any more just greedy police men on the make.Its rapidly becoming a middle class hangout.Shore Bar is now a wine Bar.Curlies is still open for business but don't expect any spontaneous raves happening.Full of affluent Indians looking for the hippy scene.Chapora and Vagitor are OK but even here the ageing ravers are opening restaurants and crèches for their little tots.Across the bay, in the Russian Republic of Mordjim, they are doing exactly the same except they import their own prostitutes by the plane load.

Emmest

guess its what I expected as it always happens to a place.. i see it in Brighton..a victim of its own success...its always the alternatives who break from the system only to be eaten up by the greedy corporates who want a slice of the pie which was never supposed to cost anything in the first place...! its the nature of the beast sadly....

I appreciate your comments but SOD Benidorm !!!..you just have to look harder... I am going back and I refuse to be beaten into the notion that there's no little pocket in Goa or further South left...

I guess next time we find it, we just won't tell anyone eh??

emmest x

Following on....has anyone been to Hampi recently??

johnbmain

The same thing happened to Glastonbury.Im surprised its not got a Royal Crest and Warrant.... Hampi has undergone a sea change in recent years. The shops have been kicked out and there has been some serious work of preservation on the site.a foot bridge us being built to get rid of the coracles and open up the the sites across the Tungabadra River.Lots of nice chai shops selling cakes and decent coffee.The Israelis seem to have taken a liking to the place and have opened up a few shanti restaurants. Nice food and clean.Some places now cost 500Rps to get into but you can ignore them as the site is huge.Hotels have opened around the place and they are economical.Its a World heritage Site and has been for 20 years but the Indian authorities have only woken up in recent years to the possibilities of educational tourism. It is their heritage.At least they dont use the old temples as toilets now I have started to explore West bengal around kolkatta.Its full of old palaces and ruins and the Bengalis are in general, very open and freindly people.Gokarn is OK but its heading the same way as Goa.Western hippies are tourist attractions for middle class Indians to gawk at.....

johnny five

Emmest, just in case you think Johnbmains view is just the jaundiced view of one individual, it is not. His description of today's Goa is very accurate. If anything he is not critical enough!

Emmest

I prefer honest comments to bullshit any day even if its not what I wanna hear...

as you say India is a big place and thankfully not as bad as Benidorm ..(YET!) Sounds like Hampi is still worth a visit tho'..which is refreshing to hear.. I'm a photographer and remember the amount of incredible images I was fortunate to take away with me ....the carvings, the caves....and hey the cakes wanna check those out....!...and also excercise some demons of my own... Hampi is truly a place that leaves its mark on you..

well if you fancy giving me any advice towards where to stay (i get the point no where near North Goa.. feel free...

Just glad I visited when I did.....

Emmest x

Hal

I was in Hampi in November. I thought it was marvelous. I spent half my time exploring rural Karnataka on a moped, and it was as interesting as exploring the ruins.

The elephant stables were a bit of a letdown. Some sort of event had been taking place there and it was filled with plastic chairs and a tacky stage and lights.

johnbmain

Rural Karnatika is one of the beautiful places in India. I entirely agree with you.Its a fantastic place to explore.The back roads are magic and there is something different around every corner.Caves to old forts and some of the oldest temples in India. Ellora to Ajanta and around Aurangabad and the Mughal cooking of course.......

Jefferson72

I wouldn't totally agree. I too went to Goa the first time in '91and again in '96 and both times stayed in the Anjuna area.
I returned back in 2006 for the first time since and was pleasantly surprised by how little that area had changed. No, there weren't the parties at disco valley etc & it didn't quite have the same vibe that it had the first time I went but it was still a very relaxing place to be and enjoyed my time around Anjuna, Vagator & Chapora thoroughly.
Seeing all the Brits on Baga beach however was a lot more disturbing...
Yes, maybe Anjuna is going & bit more upmarket and people with kids are opening restaurants etc but people get older
I'm going back in December & am having a week in the North (Anjuna area) and a week down South (probably Agonda)and I'm going to relax, eat good food and go to a party if there's one on!

johnny five

2006 is three years ago.

Goa has gone down hill massively in the last three years.

Not individual villages, corruption, crime, police harrassment, bad attitude by locals to tourists, escalating prices, collapsing infrastructure etc.

The effects of a corrupt government that is only interested in lining its greedy pockets are being felt in every corner of the state, but especially on the coastal strip.

Anjuna/Vagator/Chapora have not changed very much in the 16 years we have been here, in fact some of the best road surfaces can be found in this area.

I certainly would not say Anjuna is going up-market, Goa just does not support that sort of business. Look at what happened tp Chris who built an excellent restaurant business with the famous Sublime, beaten and maimed by jealous Goan neighbours!

Siolim, where I live, has turned into one big building site, but Anjuna/Vagator/Chapora have escaped this largely due to the ludicrously high land price expectations in the area. Rest assured that as soon as land prices vs resale prices equalise, the whole area will be built all over!
We call it "Goan Landscaping"

Jefferson72

Well, I stand corrected then.
Just hope I can find some good spots to go to when I go back in December...

johnbmain

I used to dine at Sublime when it was at the side of River Side near the bridge.The "toughs",involved were not from Sunset and the place around the headland ? The local lunatic who had a go at Pauli from Mayona Cafe and threw a brick at Dave the English bloke, i think was called Colin? He is now on the Panchayet.He tried to force Pauli out of business too because he was too successful with the music sessions on Sunday night.As you said jealousy pure and simple.PS, your right i exaggerated a little around Anjuna.But only a little.Just see in 2 or 3 years time.

johnbmain

My memories of rural Karnatika still make me laugh today. We travelled by Gypsy to Badami to have a look at the cave rock carvings. While we there one of the old timers in the village at the foot of the rocks died.They had a huge festival for her funeral. All the village came out.The roads in Badami are so narrow that using a stretcher to take the body to the burning ghat was impossible, so in Badami they tie the body to a chair and carry it around the village. My friend, who had never been to India before, thought it was her birthday and started to shout "happy birthday.",And went quite grey in the gills when i explained she was dead......