Great report. Would you mind copying it over to our reviews site. I have added Molly Malones

Thanks very much.

Sarah

Welcome to HT and what a first post What took you so long With 5 trips under your belt I'm sure you can make great contributions to the forum. I'd love to hear about your experiences in Mumbai as well if you have time. ( If you go to the India forum you will see I'm off there for the first time in October!)

Fiona

Will add details on the Mumbai trip in the next few days I could also add a hotel review for Mumbai as we stayed for 4 nights in the Chateau Windsor hotel at Churchgate.

Sarah

I will add a review on Molly Malones in the next few days also.

Time to write a little more.

Day 4 - Back to the Sea Pearl and prawns again for lunch (I know I will turn into one). Had a great relaxing day, there is one big change fromthe first time we came to Goa in that you rarely get bothered by hawkers anymore and if you do the guys at the Sea Pearl are quick to move them on. Went for an evening meal to the Oriental which is a Thai restaurant which has moved to the Mira hotel in Calangute. The Mira was the first hotel we stayed at in Calangute back in 1999 and we always go back and say hello to the staff but were surprised this time as they had all changed and all the familiar faces had gone with the exception of on of the taxi drivers, Santos, who is always very cheery. The food at the Oriental is fantastic and is highly reccomended we had Tom Yam soup and a fantastic main course with cocktails and Irish Whisky all for around 1400R. We had a drink at the bar but the barmen were not as good as they used to be, infact we had to wake them up to pay. We were a bit bagged up after this so just finished the night with a few drimks at Molly's, you always seem to get talking to people whilst at the bar here which is always fun.

Day 5 - Had breakfast at the Portugese cafe in Calangute then I went into the Smile dentist to enquire about getting a crown on a tooth, something I have been meaning to do for ages, was offered implants as well but maybe another time and made an appt in a few days to have a crown done, quoted a price of 12,000R for the best crown available. We then went to the Chalston Resort which is a hotel near the beach at Baga which is used mainly by Swedish, we used to use this place a lot when we stayed at the Aldea Bello a few years back. They have a shack on the beach for sunbathing and a nice restaurant behind. You can also wander a few yards up to the hotel and use their nice clean pool and also a clean toilet in the reception. Went for a meal at night to After Seven which is in Candolim down a side road so as a taxi to take you there. It's a really nice outdoor restaurant with fantastic food. They are opening a new restaurant called Posh at the end of the year also. Had a chat with the owner who asked us to reccomend this restaurant as much as possible so please give it a try I doubt you will be disappointed. We then went for a drink to Oh Yes bar in Calangute which has a great chill out place at the back where you can smoke the hooka if you wish. Got chatting to Khalid at the bar who informed us he was also opening a new place at the end of this year opposite Molly's and intends to have pictures of the Kama Sutra on the wall and have authentic Indian musice & dancing which will be a nice alternative to the karaoke.

Day 6 - Went to an opticians for an eye test which is something else I had meant to do for years and the glasses are so much cheaper here. As I knew I would I needed glasses so myself and Alex both ordered a pair which would be ready for collection in 4 days. Went back to the Sea Pearl, just had a light lunch this time, no prawns, and topped up the tan. Went to East meets West in the evening for a meal, however, not to long after we sat down we had to find cover as it started to rain (wow, first time had rain in Goa). Alex ordered a Pomfret and when it came it was enormous and she could not eat it all, we were charged 600R for this when they are normally around 250 - 300R so always ask the size they have. We were a bit bagged up after the meal so had a walk down Baga Rd and had a few drinks in Molly's and got talking to an Indian man with a Korean wife, he was from Kerala which is another place we have also been.

Rob and Alex im enjoying reading your report it makes you feel like you are right back in goa ....keep us posted with more ...colleen

you have to make the most of prawns in Goa- UK ones don't really compare do they? I mean - can you imagine having one prawn at home and being full up

Moving on......

Day 7 - Back to the Sea Pearl and finally gave in to a massage from Simone which was not to bad for 300R mind you sand gets everywhere. Went back to the Oriental at the Mira in the evening for a meal which was superb again. Went to the Log Cabin for a few drinks and ended up staying there till around 3:00am. In that time I remember playing connect 4, Alex dancing with the bar staff, chatting to a local man who owned a jewellers, chatting to a gay couple who had had an accident (one of them had a broken ankle), having my palm read by one of the gay guys who had to sniff my palm as part of it, then he left before he got to the good part and said he would continue it the next time we saw them.

Day 8 - Went to the Swedish beach shack at the Chalston Resort had a light lunch and a swim in the pool which was great to cool down. Went back to Smile dentist to start having my crown done but the dentist was off ill and made another appt for tomorrow at 9am (yikes). Went for a meal in the evening to Indian Spice up the Baga Rd we had Butter Chicken & Mutton Rogan Josh both meals were excellent. We bought a few magic tricks from a stall up Tito's Rd and ended up back at Molly's for a few drinks and amused the bar staff with the tricks, earlyish night as at dentist at 9am.

Day 9 - Made the dentist at 9pm and had to go back in 2 days to finish it off as I was left with a temporary crown. We went back to the shack at the Chalston, got pestered by a few sellers and Alex bought some sarongs. Went to the beauty parlour opposite Smile dentist as Alex wanted to get threading done on her eyebrows, only 40R. At night we had arranged to go to Panjim with Leslie who owns Molly's & Log Cabin and another couple from Sunderland who were staying at Molly's, Simon and Lisa. Leslie took us to a very plush restaurant called Chilli N Spice which was part of a nice hotel (can't remember it's name) the meal and the cocktails were fantastic and is highly reccomended if you are looking for a meal in Panjim. Finished off with ice cream from Baskin Robbins and then went back to Molly's for a few drinks.

Looking forward to the Mumbai hotel report. We have been up there twice this season and on the first visit we stayed at the Bentley which is a bog standard sleeping place, cheap but clean and near to India Gate. The next time we stayed at the Hotel Manama, recommended by a woman we met in Calangute, good write up in Lonely Planet and near the railway station. Worst place I have ever stayed in - left the lights on for 4 days to deter the cockroaches from coming out to play, after spraying the place at every opportunity. (stayed because I had paid for it online and wouldn't admit to OH I wanted to move) So we are looking for somewhere nice to stay when we have the "long stayers" holiday next season which is not too expensive but clean - not looking for the Taj for 1000 a night but that would be nice After we had done our 2 trips and friends saw our shopping they have all decided that is where we are all going but have different budgets.
Don't leave it too long.
By the way the chef from the After 7 lives in our block and is really looking forward to the move to the new restaurant - we could almost jump from our balcony into it - lovely man.

Your report is great, so interesting!
After 7 (IMO) is the best, or certainly one of the best, restaurants in Goa. Was in there last week again and wasnt disappointed. Posh is scheduled to open in September. Was supposed to open this season, but more renovation work required than first expected.

Finish this off now hopefully

Day - 10 We had been talking to Leslie last night about having my palm read and he told us about a very good astrologer called Masterjee who is based at the Taj hotel at Fort Aguada. Alex was interested so we took a taxi up there in the morning hoping to catch him. The Taj is a very plush hotel with a lovely pool and area for bathing. We went to reception and asked for him only to be told he had just left, however, the receptionist had a look outside and manged to catch him this was around 11am and we arranged to see him at 2pm. We had 2 fresh lime sodas at the pool bar at the Taj which cost 100R each instead of the usual 20R and thought we would just lie around their pool until 2pm but we were told it was strictly residents only so we made our way to the nearby beach and got a couple of sunbeds there.

We went back to the Taj at 2pm and had our astrology charts mapped out by Masterjee, he is now 81 and has been doing this for over 60 years. He should us a picture of him with Goldie Hawn and also said that Demi Moore is a regular visitor. You have to give him your date of birth and time of birth and he creates a chart for you. This takes a while and he will email or post this to you. We received our by email on Monday this week, very comprehensive mines was 29 A4 pages and Alex's 19 A4 pages. He charged 2,000R each, but make sure if you go to see him that you explain you are not from the hotel as he charges more. After this we had a little more sunbathing then went to the opticians in Calangute to pick up our new specs. I can't see things in the distance to clearly and was amazed at the difference it was like a whole new world.

At night we decided to have just a plain meal at Molly's but I started to feel ill so that was the end of the night due to dodgy stomach & sickness.

Day - 11 Still feeling a bit weak but managed to wander to the chemist for some tablets, chemists are brilliant here everything is so amazingly cheap. Went to the Portugese cafe and had a juice and milky coffee which was all I could stomach. Went to the Sea Pearl but idi not feel comfortable so did not stay too long. Started to feel a bit better later on in the day which is just as well as I had an appt with the dentist at 6:30pm to get ny crown fixed. All done very nicely and it has certainly improved my smile. Just had a quiet night as I still could not face eating or drinking much.

Day 12 - Last day (boo hoo) did a bit of shopping for souveniers at the Tibetan Market and a few other stalls got a few cushion covers and other bits & pieces. We also went to the internet cafe as with BA you can check in for your flight online 24 hours before departure, so booked 2 good seats on the Mumbai to Heathrow flight then went down the beach for our last bit of sun for a while. We had to be at 6am the next morning so had a quietish night, meal & a few drinks at Mollys.

Day 13 - Got up at 6am for the Air India flight which was from Goa to Mumbai leaving at 8:30am got a taxi to the airport only to be told the flight had gone at 6:00am They tried to get us on another airline but they only had 1 seat. The next flight we could get on was another Air India flight leaving at 2:30pm not good when your BA flight from Mumbai leaves at 1:15pm. We called the BA office at Mumbai and asked if we could be moved to the next flight, but they told us the first available flight was the 1st May (10 days away). We decided to go to Mumbai anyway and try and sort it out there as I knew there was another BA flight at around 2:00am. Once we got to Mumbai we headed for the BA office and were told the flight was very full but there was a chance of getting on it, but we would have to go back at 10:00pm when the check in opened for the flight. We did this but we had to leave our names and they would let us know if we would get on the flight around 1am when everyone had checked in. This meant we had been hanging around either Dabolim or Mumbai airport for around 18 hours. Anyway we did get on the flight seperated by 20 rows (so much for checking in online) and eventually got back to Edinburgh around 12:30pm on the Sunday when it should have been 9pm on the Saturday. So the moral of the story is always check your flight times especially for internal flights in India. By the way the BA staff were very helpful through all of this and changed both our flights at no extra cost, thanks go to them.

I will place a report soon on the Indian forum on our time in Mumbai.

OMG- what a stressful end to your holiday! Glad to hear BA were so accomodating though.

Have decided to go back in December, last 2 weeks, have been in early December before when it is cheaper as both flights and accommodation jump up in price I've noticed over Xmas.