[gomzi]

Originally Posted by traveloholic

Baga off late seems to have turned into a haven for panga's

What else can one expect when a lot of tourists come to Goa to get drunk and behave loutishly?

Goa is a place with a reputation of chilling out and a lot of the indian tourists can behave without fear of disapproving parents/in-laws/miscellaneous relatives/uncle next door etc etc. This translates to a lot of drunkness, scant clothing and unfortunately tourists behaving as if they own the place. This will definitely lead to more violence, eve teasing etc.

Calangute and Baga are the focal points as a lot of tourists' definition of Goa is just these beaches. The people I was with on this trip had been to Goa every year for the last 5 years, but had never even been to Old Goa side

/rant

[amip]

Great going Avi - always wanted to climb the steps up that waterfall - has a sort of dark, dreamy appearance in the monsoons! Also - i know what you mean about not being able to stay away from Goa - we've cut many roadtrips short & changed our route towards it .

[StarVegabond]

Talking about the beach hotels in goa,
i just received this via e-mail,
photo is self explanatory (sorry Avi for posting picture in your thread, but i could not stop myself).

[pulsar56]

Originally Posted by StarVegabond

Talking about the beach hotels in goa,
i just received this via e-mail,
photo is self explanatory (sorry Avi for posting picture in your thread, but i could not stop myself).

That's a good one! I am ROTFLOL now!

[traveloholic]

Originally Posted by amip

Great going Avi - always wanted to climb the steps up that waterfall - has a sort of dark, dreamy appearance in the monsoons! Also - i know what you mean about not being able to stay away from Goa - we've cut many roadtrips short & changed our route towards it .

Is this the water fall you were refering to?

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by ASHISHPALLOD

Now, i hope, its time to move toward uproar on baga beach.

Originally Posted by pulsar56

Yes Please... Even I am eagerly waiting.

Sorry guys for keeping you waiting for so long. It comes in this installment. Trust me, you should have been there along with me

Originally Posted by traveloholic

Baga off late seems to have turned into a haven for panga's

Yes, since its probably #1/#2 beach in Goa in terms of tourist visiting it. Since a lot of mixed crowd, high chances of panga too.

Originally Posted by gomzi

What else can one expect when a lot of tourists come to Goa to get drunk and behave loutishly?

Goa is a place with a reputation of chilling out and a lot of the indian tourists can behave without fear of disapproving parents/in-laws/miscellaneous relatives/uncle next door etc etc. This translates to a lot of drunkness, scant clothing and unfortunately tourists behaving as if they own the place. This will definitely lead to more violence, eve teasing etc.

Calangute and Baga are the focal points as a lot of tourists' definition of Goa is just these beaches. The people I was with on this trip had been to Goa every year for the last 5 years, but had never even been to Old Goa side

/rant

Absolutely right. I agree some of the tourists probably their percentage is very less ( especially the banian and underwear/tight short wearing types) get drunk and behave as if they just landed in heaven. Feel sorry for them.

Originally Posted by amip

Great going Avi - always wanted to climb the steps up that waterfall - has a sort of dark, dreamy appearance in the monsoons! Also - i know what you mean about not being able to stay away from Goa - we've cut many roadtrips short & changed our route towards it .

Thanks Ami. I am addicted to Goa. Need to get myself enrolled in a de-addiction center. Do you know of any?

Originally Posted by traveloholic

Is this the water fall you were refering to?

Yes, that's exactly what she meant.

Contd....

Next day got up at our usual time of 9AM and headed straight to Infantaria and it was a repeat of yesterday, wherein we waited for nearly 40 mins for a table, 30mins to be served our ommies,toast and bacon and chucked the idea of waiting for coffee when our waiter arrogantly said 30 minutes wait for a cup of coffee.

Next few minutes we see a couple of caucasian girls arrive and get seated next to our table and order coffee, bam it's served in 5-10 mins flat ( This incident is outlined specifically for Spitfire).

After finishing our leisurely breakfast, we stepped out at half past noon and see that weather has become much better. For the first time the rain had completely stopped and we decided to head to Baga Beach and spend the afternoon there. We parked the car at our hotel parking, i deliberatly left my camera in the car ( didnt want to take more chances with an already erratically functioning piece) and walked towards Baga.

We walked the entire stretch from Baga until Calangute and returned back to a small shack near to Brittos and decided to freshen or rather start the day with our favorite beverage.

We usually select a shack that is full and buzzing with noise with the logic that their food would be fresh and there must be a reason why so many people are hanging out there.

When we entered this shack, we see a group of around 8-10 extremely pretty ladies between age group of 30-40 years with fashionable big sunglasses and looked pretty hip and hop seated immediately inside the entrance and not able to decide between to our shock or pleasant surprise all of them were wearing baywatch attire with just a transparent shirt on top of it.

I assume they were from Mumbai, from their accent. I don't want to make any lurid descriptions here but, oh boy! did they set that shack on fire.

With a seating capacity of maybe 30-40 people, that shack was overflowing with close to 80 people who didnt mind standing with their drinks but wanted to stay in touch with their fantasies, if you know what i mean.

Word of mouth spread and more people started to throng this shack and it was very evident these beautiful ladies were thoroughly enjoying this attention and started dancing one after the other with other ladies clicking pictures of them. Some of the dances got really raunchy and it was a sight to behold.

After being the cynosure of everyone's eyes for a long time, they decided to step out towards the beach and all of them ran towards the beach and trust me, something happened that happened a few years ago to a famous ramp model. That created a huge hullagulla. But, all ended well with some swift action from her friends.

Infact, they continued the beach rampage until 7:30pm moving from one shack to another and even saw them having lunch/dinner at Brittos where we too were having our lunch at the same time.

Their was a parallel drama happening around the same time at Baga, I was standing near the water very close to a lifeguard and saw a bunch of guys ( 8-10 of them, the banian and tight shorts type of guys) playing in the water and he asked them to come out of the water as currents were pretty high. They were not even 5 feet inside the water. They said something in Kannada and he raised his voice and asked them to come out again. But, they ignored him.

He used his walkie talkie and within 5 minutes a red colored mahindra jeep came with 3-4 lifeguards in it and pounced on this group.

You won't bieleve this but they beat the hell out of a couple of guys in that group.

It was ruthless to the core, kicking in their stomach, jaw punching, head butts and remaining 6 friends were stunned and not the fighting types were crying and pleading sorry and requesting them to stop. But, they continued hitting these 2 fellas for quite sometime. It was not a good sight !

Another fight took place within another one hour. Another small group were taken to task by the very same lifeguards. It looked as if they wanted to pick fights and were enjoying giving the explanation that you guys drink and enter water and we have to save you.

Trust me, that day nobody even ventured 10 feet inside the water.

Whew ! What an afternoon, it had the complete ingredients of a bollywood movie.

We wound up that day with a late lunch at 7:30pm from Brittos with lots of food being ordered since we were all ravenously hungry. So the usual Fish, Prawns ( Snacks and Rice) were ordered to complete an eventful day. We later on spent the night at the club until wee hours of the morning that we were supposed to drive back to Hyderabad.

[pulsar56]

Now, the cat is out of the bag finally!
Had it not been for the Drag, I would definitely have joined for this trip...

I am planning to gift you a USB Pen camera (which is being sold everywhere these days) before your next Goa trip! LOL!

[Spitfire]

Originally Posted by mobike008

( This incident is outlined specifically for Spitfire).

Point noted and forwarded to concerned authorities. If you want to be kept abreast of the actions being taken please pm me your email id.

He used his walkie talkie and within 5 minutes a red colored mahindra jeep came with 3-4 lifeguards in it and pounced on this group.

You won't bieleve this but they beat the hell out of a couple of guys in that group.

It was ruthless to the core, kicking in their stomach, jaw punching, head butts and remaining 6 friends were stunned and not the fighting types were crying and pleading sorry and requesting them to stop. But, they continued hitting these 2 fellas for quite sometime. It was not a good sight !

THIS IS DEEP S***. The lifeguards are a private undertaking. And they will be screwed royally if it is what you say it is.

Do you have pictures of this. Anything as evidence.

Believe me this is not accepted and will be dealt with the highest urgency.

There have been a lot of deaths on this stretch and the lifeguards get pulled up for this with some heavy penalty. But this does not give them the right to touch any tourist.

This is totally unacceptable.

[maddy42]

Well seems like you had fun mobike:-) The baga shack part one was nice and reminds me of a line copied to the indian touch. What happens in goa remains in goa! Lol

@Spitfire: Good job man. Appreciate your effort in getting things set right.

[Sawyer]

Originally Posted by Spitfire

Atiti Devo Bhava. To be frank, the state has no other mode of sustainable income other then tourism.



Thanks for understanding. I mostly get the stick for such posts.

Here is some stick of a different type!
First of all, let me say that I endorse your views 100%. As a nation, we still lack civic sense and obligation to community. Obligation to the environment can come only after that is present to some degree. We leave our dirty fingerprints wherever we go, and generally behave like louts, unless policed by the threat of a stick, when we become lambs.
But here is my gripe about Goa. I lived there for 4 years in from 1978, working/studying, and with my Yezdi, it was a great place to live, work and holiday in. The Taj hotels were there, and just as unaffordable, but the beach shacks were clean, and very reasonably priced. Panjim was a bustling and beautiful city.
Over the years, the state has shown what commercialism done via the laissez faire model can do. Beach shacks are no longer shacks in terms of their pricing, though the facilities they offer remain much the same. The Siquerim to Baga strip has become a monstrosity. The very good restaurants all along that road, especially at Candolim, are a consolation of course. Go north, and the Israelis and the Russians have taken over some parts. A decade ago, I intended to go to Palolem for a stay to rediscover the Goa I knew and loved. I couldnt make it due to priorities, and now it is too late, I think, from what I read. So I will never get to see that part of the state. And Panjim, to my eyes, seemed dilapidated the last time I was there, and I don't know if the shifting of the Govt offices out has anything to do with this. The Se Cathedral and the Church seemed run down too.
Don't get me wrong, I still love the place and nothing beats bumming out in a small shack that can give you a sense of space, that has some great music going, on a beach, with great cashew feni and seafood - the two of them, in that environment, are a fantastic combination. I can only drink the feni in Goa, I don't much care for its taste in my living room! The closest I found to that heaven is Zebop, but the prices are outrageous. Can't spend a week there, just for that reason!
So this time around, I decided to drive down to Malvan and get my quota of seafood and beach there. And work our way north, along the coast.
I hear you say about tourism being the only source of income, but between the tourists and the goverment, the golden goose is not doing quite so well. Or so I think.
Having said this, who knows, after three days in Malvan, I might find myself driving south!
PS: The other thing I can't help point out is that Atitis also have to behave as guests, and not as Gods! That is when this works well usually, the devo bhava part.

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by Spitfire

Point noted and forwarded to concerned authorities. If you want to be kept abreast of the actions being taken please pm me your email id.

Sure. It's my tbhp id at gmail dot com

Originally Posted by Spitfire

THIS IS DEEP S***. The lifeguards are a private undertaking. And they will be screwed royally if it is what you say it is.

Do you have pictures of this. Anything as evidence.

Believe me this is not accepted and will be dealt with the highest urgency.

There have been a lot of deaths on this stretch and the lifeguards get pulled up for this with some heavy penalty. But this does not give them the right to touch any tourist.

This is totally unacceptable.

As said before i wasnt carrying my camera. But, this incident must have been witnessed by a thousand people. And there was a lengthy discussion which lasted for more than 30 minutes by a big bunch of tourists discussion what lifeguards did was not right etc.

I can describe the main antagonists. One guys was very short ( maybe 5.5), wiry, with close cropped hair and he was suprisingly very aggresive considering his built.

The other lifeguard was tall (6ft), long curly locks almost to his shoulders and quite nice looking in a dark way. He will stand out in the lifeguard group. I can tell you the approximate time, it was around 4:00pm on Oct 3rd, 2009.

[Spitfire]

Originally Posted by maddy42

@Spitfire: Good job man. Appreciate your effort in getting things set right.

We all need to someday. Wish me luck

Originally Posted by Sawyer

But here is my gripe about Goa. I lived there for 4 years in from 1978, working/studying, and with my Yezdi, it was a great place to live, work and holiday in.

I wasn't even born then. But nice to hear that you were in Goa during that period. As per my Dad it was such an awesome place then, before the hippies "discovered" it. Crime was unheard of and we had a very strong community.

Panjim was a bustling and beautiful city.

It has now been overtaken by greed and quick money mentality.

Over the years, the state has shown what commercialism done via the laissez faire model can do.

I can't agree less.

The Siquerim to Baga strip has become a monstrosity.

Ah... and we see the River Princess marooned off the Sinquerim Beach. It is probably the most photographed place in Goa with the ship in the background. But it is like a deep scar for us. It has devastated the Sinquerim Beach. If you have been there recently you will see the difference. The sea has almost completely eaten up the beach due to the soil erosion around the ship.

The ship is like a majestic symbol of corruption and total lack of empathy of a few rich goans - whose cars we see quite often in the Exotic Cars thread.

Go north, and the Israelis and the Russians have taken over some parts.

You put it very very midly. If you get to know whats happening there you will not even venture that side of Goa. Since we are localites there we know that much bit more.

A decade ago, I intended to go to Palolem for a stay to rediscover the Goa I knew and loved.

Oh the Palolem we knew about. It brings tears to my eyes now. I am sure you know what i am talking about. Can anyone here believe that it was even more beautiful then the beach we see in the movie Beach. Believe me it was so very beautiful. Its difficult to even imagine that today.

So this time around, I decided to drive down to Malvan

We have a house and lot of land there . My mom's side family moved to this place from Goa in the late 1800's to get away from the prosecution under the Portuguese.

Every year we kids used to spend a month in the summer holidays in Malwan.

We still drive down every year for Ganesh.

Oh and Taj is building a big 5 Star Hotel there between Vengurla and Malwan.

the golden goose is not doing quite so well.

The golden goose is our only source of income for now. The miners have looted whatever they can and the red tape holds back the industrial development.

When an MLA, in his shorts walks into a 5 star hotel to pick up a suitcase filled with cash as his monthly hafta infront of all the public every month. We know where we are getting to.

PS: The other thing I can't help point out is that Atitis also have to behave as guests, and not as Gods! That is when this works well usually, the devo bhava part.

Yes, but they are very few and inbetween. Most of the visitors are quite well behaved. Some who get too eager to enjoy themselves are the ones who create the problems.

OH GOD. We seem to have hijacked mobike's thread. Sorry man.

[traveloholic]

Originally Posted by Spitfire

Ah... and we see the River Princess marooned off the Sinquerim Beach. It is probably the most photographed place in Goa with the ship in the background. But it is like a deep scar for us. It has devastated the Sinquerim Beach. If you have been there recently you will see the difference. The sea has almost completely eaten up the beach due to the soil erosion around the ship.

Apologies Avi & others, I might be going a bit off-topic from the content of this thread, just wanted to contribute to what Spitfire mentioned regarding River Princess.

We as tourists enjoy the beautiful beaches and try to love them as much as you love them. Most of the beaches where we've been we do see litter strewn all over the place. I would not blame only the tourists for this whole thing, there are many factors involved in it. I would like to get into the details as of now, but there is one thing that needs to be mentioned, we do love your beaches as we would have loved ours, only if we had one.

We do take a couple of photographs with ship as the background. Seen most of the people taking photographs of the ship from Sinquerim Beach, I wanted a close view of the Ship, hence ventured out to Candolim Beach to have a better view of the ship. Seems like this ship has been anchored there for ages.



Never knew that this ship, which tourists think is iconic to the beach is actually a scar. I thought this was heading to Junk Yard to be scrapped.

This is what I read online about this whole thing (Goa: Grounded River Princess raises ecological concerns):
"Goa-based salvage expert Anil Madgavkar, partner of Madgavkar Salvage, says the task of removing the ship is “like uprooting a sunken four-storeyed building” Over the years the ship has settled nearly 8 to 10 meters (26.2 - 32.8 feet) into the seabed, taking in between 30,000 and 40,000 metric tons (33,069 - 44,092 tons-US) of sand."

Regarding the damage to the shoreline and seabed, some locals feel removal of the ship could leave a depression in the seabed that would be dangerous for swimmers and wonder how many more years it would take to restore the original coastline.



This is a serious concern.

[straightdrive]

Seems to have been an incident-packed trip, Mobike. Any more to come?

Have been to Goa a couple of times and it was quiet and relaxed. Not that I am complaining.

Originally Posted by Spitfire

......There have been a lot of deaths on this stretch and the lifeguards get pulled up for this with some heavy penalty. But this does not give them the right to touch any tourist. This is totally unacceptable.

Totally unacceptable is right. It is probably a combination of their superiors telling them to be extra-vigilant, after the heavy penalties, and of course the all too common human tendency to abuse any little power that is given. These lifeguards probably choose their victims - going after people who, like Mobike said, don't look the fighting types.

[Sawyer]

Originally Posted by Spitfire

I wasn't even born then. But nice to hear that you were in Goa during that period. As per my Dad it was such an awesome place then, before the hippies "discovered" it. Crime was unheard of and we had a very strong community.

Before handing back the thread, just a short one - even by the late seventies, the hippies had already moved on largely, and the charter flight tourists had not started. A few of them were still in Anjuna/Vagator, and the funniest/sorriest sights used to be an Indian tourist bus drawing up there, people disembarking, spending the allotted 15/20 mins gawking at white bodies - clothed, if scantily - on the beach, and then, back to the bus to zoom off to the next must see thing in Goa!
Then the charter flight tourists came and messed up things including pricing big time.
The river princess - I know how badly the beach has been eroded because of it, because I have seen it before the vessel beached, around ten years ago. The Sinquerim/Candolim beach frontage has been ruined. As I know, it was a Salgaokar owned/chartered vessel that ran aground in a storm, and then what came in the way of getting it unstuck was the argument as to who was to pick up the bill for doing so. At that time, getting it out would not have been a technical challenge of the kind it is now, now that it has rusted and started breaking up and settling. I expect in a few years, parts of it will start washing up ashore.