What to do in Bali in October. Attention! Dangerous currents

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66 comments

Misha, this time you managed to recreate the atmosphere very well independent travel. It seems that in every photograph the viewer is a third vacationer, walking with you along these deserted beaches, hills, and along the dam.

As I said earlier, in discussing the review of the Canon EOS 600D camera, I now really want to go to India too. And I don’t know: my soul is torn whether to go to Goa or Kerala. In general, either the photographs are good today, or it is so, but if you compare it with your review of your vacation in Kolva, I liked Palolem more.

At work, my friend has already traveled to Goa twice, and this year to Thailand, to the island of Phuket. He told me that he didn’t like it at all in Thailand, that India is 100 times better, since there are no crowds of vacationers. Now, looking at your photo report, I understand it.

Thank you very much for this interesting review, for the photos!

• Misha, don’t be angry... 🙂 I’ve been scouring the Internet all evening, looking at your reports... and I don’t understand, how do European tourists swim in India? Here in your photos you either have an ocean with huge waves that no one enters, or crowds of Indians swimming in their clothes. You yourself told me that this time in Goa you almost drowned because the wave pulled you in. I read other people's reports - there is also no clarity...

  Here you have, for example, photo No. 11-17 - it seems to me that it is risky to go into the sea: you can get killed on the rocks in the waves, and under water - for sure, sea ​​urchins and various sea creatures. And the water sometimes looks unpresentable for swimming... In pictures No. 8 and No. 9 all the girls are wearing clothes. I can’t imagine a wife wearing a bikini going out to a beach like this - half of India would come running there...

  Why am I asking? We are increasingly inclined to go on vacation to India in February. Only now I would like to have a beach holiday. But now I’m confused: don’t swim on deserted beaches - it’s dangerous from a criminal point of view or you’ll get dragged into the sea, on public beaches - do you have to buy a burqa?.. I remember how in Sri Lanka we went to the beach to swim: every 5 minutes locals came up and tried to take a photo or say hello, which sooner or later becomes annoying.

  Or did you use any fenced areas of the beach for swimming on the hotel grounds?

  • Sergey, this is like a conversation between a deaf and dumb man and a blind man. There are no private beaches in India. There are trestle beds that belong to the hotel or guest house. As a rule, they are looked after by the owner of the nearest cafe, i.e. even if you are not from this hotel, but buy something in a cafe, he will turn a blind eye to the fact that you will occupy him (lounger). Very rarely such a group of trestle beds is fenced with a rope: in Kolva in 2011 - yes, and then only a few. Between the individual groups of sunbeds there is a huge empty expanse of sand. Sometimes a cow may be resting, or a wanderer in orange clothes may settle down, looking like a beggar (in fact, he is a beggar, but not a professional who earns his living from this) - a sadhu.

    Coastline of Goa - continuous beach: 101 km. Something needs to be thrown into the Panaji region, somewhere the beach is limited to bays (south), but 80 km is a continuous beach. Wide in Kolva, 20-30 meters - in Palolem, in Agonda - 50 meters.

    No one will forbid you to lay down a towel and leave your things on a free piece of the beach.

    Holidays in Goa in February. The sun will already be in our hemisphere - without an umbrella, a long stay (an hour is enough for me) threatens to burn. In Gokarna - there are no sun loungers on the city beach, and on others there is a fee, we brought a folding umbrella with us from Moscow (they sell it as equipment for summer cottages). In 2015, in Palolem, we sunbathed right on the beach.

    The sea is the sea, and the Arabian is no exception. Naturally, there is a breaking wave. Height and strength are different. Usually, one catches up with the other. The bottom is sand. Algae, hedgehogs - I didn’t see them. There were jellyfish in Palolem for two days, then that was it. But not the ones that sting.

    I'm not a good swimmer. I can swim 20-25 meters in one breath, then rest. It's bigger and further on the back. The first wave is usually below the waist, I dive under the second if it’s high, or go sideways if it’s chest deep. Then there are no waves, ripples - yes, swim as much as you like. I wrote about rescuers. There weren't any before. In Goa, the locals don't get enough attention. It happens in Kerala. In Gokarna - if on the city beach, pilgrims will be tortured. On the beaches of Om, Kudli, Moon, or Paradise - no one is interested in you.

    I sailed in the Mediterranean Sea, both from Africa and from Europe, in the Aegean, Andaman, South China, in the Lambok Strait of the Indian Ocean, in the Arabian Sea off the coast of the Emirates, and India - most of all I had the most pleasure in Goa.

    I don’t take a camera to the beach, and I don’t take a lot of money, a phone - yes, no one has ever touched anything. Keep in mind that money is being exchanged in India now: 500 and 100 rupees notes are being completely withdrawn from circulation, and 2000 rupees notes are being introduced into circulation. Now I have 10 stuck. Well, it’s a souvenir.

    • • Kerala - people don’t come here for a beach holiday: Ayurvedic resorts. Small sandy bays are sandwiched by rocks. You may come across a piece of debris in the water. The wave is much, much stronger than in Goa. Closer to the equator. But here you can also find a good place to relax on the beach: Varkala, for example, or the Beach in Kovalam - “Beach at the Lighthouse” or at the Lilith Hotel.

        You can choose a hotel on one of the lakes. And go to Varkala for a day.

        Last November, we were drawing up a vacation schedule at work, and I signed up for the end of September - beginning of October - we planned that we would go to Georgia, where grapes, wine and beauty, in general, ripen. Due to certain circumstances, it was not possible to rest this year. Now I’m really drawn to India. It was already practically decided that we would spend five days on the mainland (most likely Jodhpur, plus some national park– it seems like there are nature reserves with tigers nearby; I also really want to go to Varanasi - perhaps we’ll spend three days there again, or replace Jodhpur with Varanasi).

        But then I caught myself thinking that I had never seen a photograph of a girl standing in the sea in a swimsuit. For fun, just search Google Images for “Turkey beach holiday”, “Thailand beach holiday” and “Goa...” In the first two cases, you will immediately see some beauty in a white swimsuit posing against the backdrop of the azure sea. And in the case of Goa, there are always crowds of Indians in clothes knee-deep in water... Before asking you a question, I studied a dozen or more reviews on the Vinsky forum, looked for videos on Youtube. There is a debate about where is better: Goa or Kerala, whether you like or don’t like a holiday in India (and here it’s 50% to 50%). But there are no such beach photos!

        After your answer and the crumbs of information that I managed to find, I got the impression that holidays in India are similar to Sri Lanka. In the eastern part of the island there was a normal quiet sea, deserted beaches, full of “Bounty”. We did not swim in the Western part of Hikkaduwa, and the Negombo beach left the most negative impression of all the places where we vacationed at sea (Adler, Turkey, Egypt, Thailand, Mexico and Sri Lanka). Firstly, there is no swimming as such: the waves are taller than human height, so you can only go waist-deep into the water, deeper - it’s scary that you’ll be drowned. Secondly, you are bathing, and at that moment a plastic bag or rag sticks to your body - you immediately want to throw up in disgust. Third, you come to the beach, it is empty, only 200 meters away the local youth are playing ball. You start swimming, they slowly approach you. After about 15 minutes, you suddenly find yourself swimming and sunbathing among a crowd of locals. It would be nice if they just stared at you (and your wife in a swimsuit), but they pester you with questions: “Sir, where are you from? Sir, this is how I can..."

        The wife covered herself with a pareo, put on sunglasses, and lay sunbathing. Every 10 minutes souvenir sellers come up and take out... In addition, there are Sri Lankans on vacation:

        - Madam, hello!
        Pretends to be asleep.
        - Mad-a-a-am, good day!
        - Hello.
        - And look how sweet our daughter is.
        - Yes, beauty. Princess!..

        Everything would be fine, but after half a day it starts to irritate... We spent 2 days in Negombo and were glad that it wasn’t 2 weeks.

        I understand that the garbage in the water was probably caused by the nearby landfill. In other places, and in India too, most likely nothing floats in the water. The trash on the beach and sun loungers don’t bother us: in Thailand we had to pay for umbrellas, and we take rugs with us and sunbathe on them. The only thing that confuses me is the possible obsessive attention of the Indians, as I wrote about the Sri Lankans in Negombo. As I wrote earlier, looking at the crowd of locals knee-deep in water, it’s hard to believe that you can come and swim in peace... 🙂 But, I believe you that they don’t care about Europeans... I almost believe it. 😉 We will, in general, think some more.

        So tell me: did your wife swim in a swimsuit or buy a robe?

        It turns out that two girls from work went on vacation to Goa and Gokarna. They calmed me down. Everything is fine with a beach holiday in India... You don’t have to answer. 🙂 We swam in bikinis and quickly got used to being photographed by tourists from Indian villages every 10 minutes. I enjoyed my vacation and so did you.

        Sergey, what nonsense! What robe? I swam in a swimsuit. I don’t post personal photos, I’m not Apollo, and my wife is not Aphrodite, showing off the bodies of 50-year-olds is bad taste, in my opinion. Especially for you, I will temporarily post two photographs from a seaside holiday in India: the first is of my wife in the sea in Goa (2011), the second is of me swimming at the temple in Murdeshwar (2014), and the third is the beach near the lighthouse in Kovalam (Kerala) . I will delete the first two photos by evening.

        fotki.yandex.ru/next/users/shmakov-misha2012/album/184937/view/2357514

        Convinced and reassured, Misha! Another colleague vacationed in Goa, it turns out, three times with a girlfriend. He says that the beach was deserted, the holiday was absolutely relaxing. And he liked that, unlike the island of Phuket in Thailand, in India everything is calm and there is no movement.

I especially liked the pictures:
1) “Fashion lifeguard” on Palolem Beach - No. 10;
2) “Sea of ​​Milk in Goa” - No. 13;
3) “Boulders on Colombe Beach” - No. 15.

Very positive photo No. 16 with dogs. The rays of good mood are shining from him!

• Sergey, thank you for a job well done! First, one note: we did not go to Panaji, the excursion by train was to Old Goa. Any review is very subjective and reflects the preferences of specific individuals. For us, India is and remains the most preferable option. It’s not just about the budget (you must agree, this aspect is very important now) - in India you can find everything in one place: the sea, architecture, nature (yesterday we walked 15 kilometers through the national park on the island of Penang, and met two macaques and three monitor lizards - just for comparison), people and their distinctive culture. And you don’t have to go somewhere special to see it.

  I would be very glad if my stories help someone decide on the choice of country to travel to.

  • Regarding observing animals in national parks, I can make the following remark: our experience of photo safaris in Sri Lanka and India (Kaziranga National Park) showed that you need to arrive in the jungle before dawn. They are active for an hour, then hide.

    Well, regarding the variety of interesting places in India, I agree 100 percent!

    • This is all true (it’s better to watch the fauna in the morning and evening), but in Penang the national park is a small piece of accidentally surviving forest around a mountain. One of the paths is the longest (that’s why we chose it) stretches along the edge of the jungle along the steep seashore. Like it or not, it takes about thirty minutes to cover a kilometer of such a trail.

      One thing that makes me happy about this trip is that we didn’t overpay a single ruble to the travel agencies: we did everything independently and only by public transport. I will thank you again and again for the example and experience you share!

I really want to see how the photos look on the blog (usually a significant difference from Yandex Photos). We'll have to wait another week until we return from our holiday in Malaysia.

• I hope you buy yourself a new monitor when you return from Malaysia so you can be on the same page when viewing photos. 🙂 And then the photos from the Malaysian trip will be “a completely different story.” 🙂

  • I'm afraid there will be nothing to please us from Malaysia! Two islands are nearby (Penang and Langkawi), but what a difference! In Penang you can’t even swim in the sea (my wife was burned twice by a jellyfish, here it’s called Jellyfish, go figure)! It’s good that we visited a bird park in Kuala Lumpur, otherwise we would have had to be content with parrots in a cage and small sparrows, half the size of ours.

    • During your trip to Mumbai and Goa in 2015, you also complained that the light and texture were not the same... 🙂 But you shot a pretty decent photo report about your vacation. 🙂

      This is different! I like Malaysia, I’m impressed by its multiculturalism: Malays, Chinese and Indians live peacefully here, they mixed not only cuisine, but also blood. I don’t have the ability to describe this phenomenon, much less convey it in photography.

Wonderful story and great photos. Many photos capture the sky very well. In the 19th photo with a view of the Chapoli dam, the shore seems to be strewn with stones. Interested in origin: artificial or natural? I would like to know: which syllable is stressed in the word Palolem?

• Thank you, Mikhail! The dam is man-made, but filled with natural stone. Why they studded the shore with sharp stones is not clear. Perhaps to avoid getting into the water from this side?

  The pronunciation of proper names in India (accent in words) is a mystery to me, usually on the last syllable, i.e. In Palolem-on “E”, like Kerala, the locals put emphasis on the last “a”.

  I have another question: an ND filter is used to lengthen the shutter speed in sunny weather. Well, I know of only one application: to wash the flowing streams of waterfalls into milk. It is clear that in photos No. 23 and No. 24 you tried to do this (although on a bright day you need a filter not ND-4, but ND-500, I think). But why did you use it in photo No. 19 with a panorama of the dam? Did you try to blur the water, like in the sea in photo No. 13? So in Chapoli there are fewer waves - it’s more difficult to do this...

  • Sergey, the answer is quite simple: there was nowhere to put the filter, and initially it was on the lens. Photo No. 19 “Chapoli” is one of the first in this series. Naturally, when entering the forest, I took off the filter and put it in my shirt pocket. I had already vowed not to wear the filter unnecessarily, but here I took it, just in case. A mistake, in general.

    • • So it is clear that in the evening, in the sunset light, when the intensity of the light flux drops, you can extend the shutter speed without resorting to using an ND filter. Its main purpose is to help the photographer during the day.

Returning to your first comment, I strongly advise you to think about the option with Karnataka! I now have a vacation in October, I’m thinking of combining a trip to Rajasthan and Karnataka (Gokarna - for the sake of the sea, and, in my opinion, this city is akin to Varanasi). On the other hand, I would like to see other countries - maybe China? Is there a warm sea somewhere in October?

• Oh, Misha, where have you been before? I always thought that in China people only vacation on Hainan Island. I started looking at the information to answer your question, and found out that the country also has good beaches on the mainland. So, the best time from April to November is on Beihai Beach (北海市, Beihaishi), located in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. This is only 550 km south of the city of Guilin, which we visited twice. First, when in 2011 we went to the town of Yangshuo to raft on the Li River. Then - in 2014, when we saw the rice terraces and the Crown Cave...

  Those. you can repeat our trip in 2014: go down from Zhangjiajie Park through Fenghuang and the Longji Terraces, and then, in order to save money, not fly to Bangkok, but take the train to the city of Beihai (北海市, Beihaishi)... Next time I wanted to get there to the Huashan Mountains, but due to the rising cost of travel due to the rising dollar, I didn’t know how to combine a trip to China with a beach holiday. Now I know. Information on .

  • Sergey, just great! I'll come back and study this issue. Naturally, I’ll start with your travel reports. When I first read it, I wasn’t planning on going to China or, like you, I had Hainan Island in my head. I didn’t focus on the twists and turns of the road. As you read the reviews, questions will arise. But let’s not guess, I was bored and thought about a vacation in October.

    • Review of a holiday in October on the island of Bali in Indonesia

      The algorithm is simple: you select a country on the map and look at the climate on the Internet. It turned out that except in United Arab Emirates and Bali has nowhere to go (South America was not taken into account at all - it’s far away). Vietnam: “October is one of the worst months for tourism. The heat is already subsiding and it is getting cooler. It is raining almost every day, strong winds and even typhoons are frequent.” Rain in Thailand, rain in Malaysia. Emirates - it was: the sea is good, but 17 days of one beach holiday - you will die of boredom, and even the conventions of Islamic culture and very expensive accommodation. But in Bali, the precipitation map showed the least amount from August (25 mm) to October (47 mm, on the coast - 63 mm).

      Far. Expensive flight. But, in the end, we only live once (although the Balinese, who believe in incarnation, would probably disagree with me). What did you know about the island? Equatorial island, state - Indonesia, a third world country, an amazing, unlike anything else culture. That's it... And surfers and divers also go there.

      We looked at the guidebooks: a wonderful warm sea, amazing pagoda-like temples, jungles, mountains and emerald rice terraces. Reviews from tourists range from the most negative (dirty beaches and sea, traffic jams, low tides, etc.) to enthusiastic ones. But this is a common thing; India is also dirty. We know! It's decided - let's go!

      Sorry for the long introduction. Now to the point. But I’ll make a reservation: my opinion is very subjective. Someone will say: “We got too drunk!” I agree: seven years of travel, a dozen countries... My opinion: Bali is not suitable for a beach holiday! Educational tourism is for the inexperienced, or, on the contrary, for an in-depth study of the symbiosis of religions and culture. Sports are not my thing, and I won’t talk about this topic.

      We chose resorts where the waves allow you to swim in the open sea. The resort city of Kuta is a disco and party until the morning, there are no traffic jams even at night. Sanur is a “resort for a quiet family holiday.” Yes. But here is the sea... Natural coral reef along the entire coast it dampens the wave, but it also contributes to the stagnation of water near the shore. Solid algae. Moreover, there is a tradition of offerings to spirits: baskets with gifts woven from palm leaves. Garbage in the water, garbage on the beach, although we must give credit to the beach employees: they scrape and sweep every day. Low tide - the water level drops by two meters, the sea goes away, you can wade to the reef (I walked), and this is 500 -800 meters from the shore. The bottom is algae, broken corals and sea urchins. Before you go swimming, you need to check the tide schedule: today high water is at ten in the morning, in a week - at six in the evening. I'm simplifying a little, but the essence is the same.

      Accommodation in Bali. Everything here is as in the reviews: for every taste and budget. Food too. On the first day we came across the Nook cafe - dinner with alcohol for two - 25,000 thousand rupees or 15 dollars, approximately. Grill. Fresh fish (huge steak), Tiger chrimp(4 pieces), chicken, pork, all with stewed vegetables, and a side dish - rice, noodles or potatoes, as desired. Local kitchen similar to Malaysian. Here I must add - there are a lot of “supermarkets”, the Balinese eat pork, so you won’t go hungry, and there is also an abundance of cheap fruits, fresh fish, cheeses, yoghurts, canned food, baked goods, etc. Beer - the line was supplied by the Czechs (I didn't like it, but I don't like beer either), local vodka "arak" - difficult to find (Hardis store), moonshine, you can drink it. Just don’t take it from your hands (they offer it and pour it out from under the counter) - there were deaths. Wine and imported alcohol are super expensive.

      In general, the Sanur resort is an analogue of the Vietnamese Mui Ne (those who have vacationed in Vietnam know), but richer. Along the main street, food is twice as expensive, but live music (local talents, those who are unlucky with work in Kuta, sing rock and roll hits, sometimes it’s just terrible, hurts the ears).

      Apart from the western tip of the island (the one near Java), Bali is a lot of villages, turning into one another. Wild nature near the mountains. A continuous stream of scooters and cars. Frequent village holidays lead to confusion on narrow roads. The spectacle is interesting (holiday), but annoying because of the traffic.

      There is nothing to go and see. Although I lied. Each courtyard (family, clan) has its own home temple, well, in extreme cases, an altar or a statue of a deity. Here it must be said: Bali is an island of Hinduism in the ocean of Islam. Hinduism came to Bali in a complex way, through China, and Buddhism, absorbing Taoism. Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma and yin and yang! The gate is split in two, but the entrance is guarded by dvarapalas. Again - wrapped in checkered (black and white check) fabric.

      Since I’m distracted from everyday life... “Culture” is only available to you that they are willing to show you, and you are willing to pay for it. Any attraction in Bali is paid. If the beach is public, then access to it or parking costs money. It’s not clear who you’re paying to. The guide jokingly said: “Mafia,” I think, just a small-town racket. Inexpensive, but ubiquitous. A narrow road - a serpentine in the mountains, a tiny “pocket” near the rice terraces - pay a village fee. The roads are good, there are a lot of tourists, the peasants are happy.

      There are very interesting, ancient temples in the jungle. But they don't take you there. If you go on your own, they’ll beat you (got off easy). You can climb the volcano, but you have to pay a guide, a carrier across the lake, a village, a local guide, pay for an overnight stay, and appease the spirits. But they can quit halfway through - they didn’t like it. I am telling this from the words of a local guide.

      People in Bali especially don’t like Indians - they question themselves and consider themselves carriers of pure Hinduism.

      What you can see is impressive, but not so impressive that it would be worth flying 10,000 kilometers in one direction.

      That's probably enough for now. Ask what interests you about a holiday in Bali in October.

      • Misha, I’ll answer tomorrow about my vacation in Bali... And now I’m looking at your photos from South Goa - they are amazing! And I have nostalgia for the Indian Ocean, even though I haven’t vacationed in India yet... But I look at your photos, read the report about Goa - I definitely should have been there before...

        You know, thank you very much again for this report!

        I read your report, Misha, and understand how strong our stereotypes are. Until now I thought that Bali is a paradise island, the dream of any traveler, and Goa in India is so cheap holiday with a dirty sea, with strong waves. This is not the first time I have come across the opinion that Goa is a wonderful place that rivals not only the Indonesian resort, but also Thailand in terms of comfort and interest...

        What does it mean “if you go into the jungle alone, they will beat you”? How is the safety of tourists in Bali? One acquaintance traveled to Indonesia: “They are behaving peacefully, but it feels like at any moment everything can change and all the whites will be slaughtered.” 🙂 Stereotypes too?

        Judging by the prices for dinner in a tourist destination, a holiday in Bali is cheaper than, for example, in Krabi in Thailand.

        This is not a matter of stereotype: can you imagine, I flew to Bali, 10,000 kilometers, 15 hours of travel, spent 100,000 rubles on tickets alone, and I’ll say that I didn’t like my vacation? Who wants to make a fool of themselves?

        For a European package traveler - just right: arrived by charter, bus - transfer, familiarization tour by bus. For the diver and surfer - wave and wind, corals and fish - everything is as promised. Well, for me, out of poverty and greed, trying to combine incompatible things, that’s what I need. One more nuance: the stereotype of a “heavenly place” was born in the 90s.

        I asked the guide (his name is Made Suda) has Bali changed a lot over the past ten years? “Unrecognizable!” — was his answer, “The whole life of the island is completely geared towards tourism. Bali, as we say, is a donor to Indonesia. The average per capita income in Bali is 5 times higher than in Java. If a tourist wants to wander around the rice terraces - “welcome”! We will put boards so that your feet don’t get dirty. Does he need comfort? Taxi cars are no older than five years old.”

        Here it is appropriate to answer your second question - safe. If you don't go there, they don't want to show you. If you want to photograph churches, these are public ones, you can even take pictures of people praying, but don’t go near the altar. On a lake in the old crater of the Batur volcano there is a village where the dead are not buried, but placed under a tree. A tourist wants to see it - for money, please! By the way, it is through this village that they take an excursion to the new crater of this volcano. New in old - a spectacle.

        The fact that tourists are embarrassed to say that they didn’t like their holiday in Bali is somehow hard to believe. I was not very impressed with my vacation in the Philippines - I don’t hide it. 🙂

        In general, everything you said is similar to our trip to the islands of Bohol and Pangalao in the Philippines: a tourist aquarium that has little to do with real life.

        Nowadays, the Travel and Adventure TV channel shows films about traveling around China every evening. Lots of new places that I had never heard of before. I immediately go online to find out where it is and how to get there. So in almost all places there is an entrance fee. This seems to be a worldwide trend.

• • I knew about low tides, read reviews from tourists. But seeing it in person is another matter. High water - plus 1.8 meters. You can swim, but you rake up algae with your hands and stomach.

    Now the tide chart in Bali - we still need to figure it out. Here is the link, for example: balimio.com/main/table/bali-tide-chart/

    I’ll post a couple of videos on Facebook later today: a view of the volcano and two lakes.

    • I will translate the information into Russian. Maybe it will be useful to some tourists planning to relax in Indonesia.

      Bali tide table

      The height of tides on our planet is determined by several factors: the Moon rotates around the Earth, which in turn rotates around the Sun and around its axis. Therefore, the distances between celestial bodies change at each moment of time and the forces of gravity act differently. Accordingly, the magnitude of the tides also changes every day.

      Those tourists who are planning to relax in Bali and swim in the sea (for example, surfers, swimmers and divers) must learn to understand the tide schedule.
      In Bali, high and low tides occur every day. If you have enough time, you can use the table data to choose the time when the sea will be the most beautiful. You may need to wait a few days before heading out for walks or to take pictures of beautiful landscapes.

      In the table, the higher the number, the higher the tides (as close as possible to 2.0), the lower tides - the figure is close to 1.0. The most low levels highlighted in green (numbers close to zero).

      Please note that the tide may be affected by strong wind, which can raise the water level by 50 centimeters.
      Enjoy the low tides - there is an opportunity to walk along the shore and watch the marine life.

      Attention! Dangerous currents!

      Near the shores of the water you can fall into the trap of strong sea ​​currents. If this happens to you, try to swim parallel to the shore to escape from it.

Over the weekend I watched the Indian film Heart's Desire (Dil Chahta Hai) about three friends from wealthy families. At some point, one of them suggested: “Let’s go on vacation to Goa!” And they spent a week there, having fun, just like you and your wife, Misha: swimming in the ocean, hiking through ancient ruins, running through the fields. So, it is not surprising that this resort has many Indian tourists with European values ​​- Bollywood promotes it. 🙂

By the way, I didn’t notice that strong toning was used in this film. Was the beach more yellow-gray than red? What is it really like in Goa?

• Sergey, the color of the sand depends on the specific location: I was in Kolva and Palolem. In Kolva, the sand is white and crunches like snow underfoot. In Palolem, Agonda and nearby, the beach is yellow, but with different shades. If you look carefully at the photos in the album, then where there are rocks of volcanic origin, there is also gray-black.

  Where is the best place to relax in Goa? Colva Beach is a tourist center, while Palolem Beach is home to coves and nature. Choose! I can’t comment on the film, I haven’t seen it, but you’ll have to go to Goa to see the “ruins.”

Hey, I’ll answer myself - in the film the sand was the same color as yours in photo No. 32. They also went with backpacks to some ruins of a fort on a high bank: there is silence, grasshoppers are chirping, you can directly smell the smell of fresh grass in the frame. And below is a bottomless ocean. Beautiful!

• Sergey, the sand is different everywhere: in Kolva, and this is what the beach is famous for - the sand is white, like snow, and also crunches underfoot, and in Palolem it is yellow, but in different bays it has its own shade.

Sergey, amazing photos! I understand that my question does not really fit into the topic of your review, but if you don’t mind, please answer.

We are going to this Lalit Hotel (The Lalit Golf & Spa Resort Goa) on October 15, 2016. Hoping that we were quite active travelers and would explore the surrounding area, we planned to have lunch on the beaches of Pantem and Palolem. But, according to your story and some reviews from other tourists, I realized that at this time all the cafes in Goa are closed.

And we were hoping to try Indian cuisine and seafood! Do you have any advice? Thanks in advance, Irina.

• Irina, good afternoon! There is a cafe on the beach next to the Lalit hotel, but they didn’t even sell us beer there: there are waiters, but they don’t serve (the holiday season in Goa starts on November 15). On the other side of the hotel, in the village itself, I think they will feed you. In Palolem itself, working shears on the beach are easy to find.

  Today I’m working, I can only answer through an application on my smartphone, which is difficult for me, but tomorrow I’m at your service.

  In general, for studying Indian cuisine the resort of Goa is poorly suited: the food here is adapted for tourists. That's seafood - yes! Although, according to our experience last year, fishermen began to go to sea only in mid-October, and only sporadically.

  • Mikhail, good afternoon! I am grateful for such a prompt response. Food was the only thing we were a little worried about. To be honest, before purchasing a tour to India, we read seemingly everything, but we didn’t pay attention to the fact that the holiday season at this resort begins in November.

    We tried to go to Goa for several years, but we were constantly dissuaded. We try to see a lot on our own, but we are not yet quite “advanced tourists” to travel around the country the way you do. Thanks again.

    • Irina, no need for gratitude! You have chosen such a hotel that you don’t have to worry about food. Of course, food in a cafe is much cheaper, but sometimes it suffers from simplicity: if you have shrimp, then grill, fish steak, grill, potatoes, grill. Although, all this is compensated by freshness, size and cheapness. From personal experience: we lived in the “five” in Hassan (there is simply no other decent hotel for foreigners, according to the guide) - the food was wonderful!

      Now about the “off season” in India. Everything is relative. Last year we arrived in Goa on October 9, if I’m not mistaken - the sea is warm (+30 degrees Celsius), the sky is blue, there is no dust, the greenery of the palm trees is fresh. There were a few showers, but all in the late afternoon. The electricity went out, and sometimes we sat for an hour without light. This is not a problem at your Lalit Golf & Spa Resort Goa: they have their own generators.

      The only incident that is worth mentioning is that once at sea a wave did not let us go. Our fault: we didn’t pay attention to the cold jets bottom current on this day (subjective, another explanation is possible). Thanks to the Latino who responded to our “Help”!

      • Misha, I'm confused. Either you say that fishermen don’t go to sea until mid-October, then everything will be fine. 😉

        Question: do you think that if you fly to Goa on vacation on October 5, will you be able to taste shrimp or will you have to be content with rice? 😉

        They go to sea, but not en masse. So, fishing for myself, as far as I could tell. At other times in Goa the horizon is full of fishing schooners. We ate both fish and shrimp. Often, we were too lazy in the evening to go to a cafe on the main street of Palolem or to a shake on the beach (this is where the main catch comes), but visited a small cafe in the guest house opposite the hotel. It happened that one person had enough shrimp, while the other had to be content with fish.

        In addition, there is also lamb and chicken. The first one is probably more difficult, but chicken is always the same (cooked in tandoor - you'll lick your fingers)! On our street, a little further from the sea, there was a wonderful cafe - tomorrow I’ll try to find it on Google and indicate the name. There, among other things, there are wonderful pastries and homemade hard cheese. Pancakes are baked as thick as a finger! For some reason I decided that the Tibetans were holding him, well, the Chinese were on the edge: they bowed, smiled, and repeated Russian words all the time. In my opinion - a little untied.

Hello Irina. Thank you very much for your compliments and interest in the report. The author of the story about a holiday in Palolem in October is Misha Shmakov, he will advise you a little later.

Based on my experience of traveling to different countries, I don’t believe that you can die of hunger in India... even in the off-season. 🙂

Sergey, I sent comments with the old address, I made a mistake. Please sign me up for notifications about new reviews, otherwise I will miss new questions about holidays in Goa.

1. My wife and I are thinking that next time we should go to India again. If we live in Goa or Kerala, we would like to enjoy seafood. If the holiday comes in October, it will be interesting to get another review from a tourist who actually visited there at that time.

   • Hello, Sergey! We returned from a holiday in Goa and, naturally, with a lot of impressions... but ambiguous. Life on Patnem beach and Rajbagh Beach slowly began to wake up after the 20th of October this year. We left on October 27th, it was still very sparsely crowded, the cafe was just starting to be built. We were told that their season starts in November.

     We didn’t like Palolem beach: there were just a lot of tourists there for October, it was very dirty (cows, dogs, waste of both animals and humans). I guess a few years ago, maybe it really was a quiet piece of paradise, then it was promoted and that’s it...

     In mid-October, there was an invasion of jellyfish in the sea on all southern beaches (a little earlier they were in Thailand), but this lasted for 3-4 days. Local residents noted this as a rare occurrence - I don’t know how true it is. I didn’t like the sea: it was cloudy, khaki-colored, even when the waves were small. For the first time in my many years of tourist life, I forced myself to enter the sea through force. Well, it's just not mine. My husband swam with pleasure.

     Due to the fact that there were few tourists on our Rajbagh and Patnem beaches and the fact that the Lalit Hotel (The LaLiT Golf & Spa Resort Goa) was chosen for our stop, the vacation was a success. Under other conditions, we probably would have been disappointed. However, there is no need to talk about disappointment: we knew where we were going, we read a lot (including thanks to you) and wanted to see this amazing country. But, probably, now many will correct me: “Goa is not India.” For four years my husband and I looked closely at this direction, but somehow it turned out that other countries were taking us away. This October the plan came true.

     I liked the nature of Goa. A riot of greenery various shades, multi-tiered - beauty! The views were reminiscent of novels we had read about colonial India (especially when we went to Agonda, Margao). By the way, in Agonda I liked the beach and sea more, although there are bigger waves there.

     We ate in Palolem, all 11 days we enjoyed only seafood. With fruit, of course, it turned out to be a complete ambush. We did not even imagine that India (!) does not have such diversity as Thailand, Vietnam or China. Papaya (decent), sapodilla and sugar apple helped out.

     The holiday was a 5+ success. Will we fly to India again? Rather yes than no. But with careful planning of your vacation spot. Thank you very much again for your interesting reports, you definitely have talent. I can't describe it like that. Good luck!

     • Irina, thank you very much for your feedback about your impressions of your holiday in Goa in October. We are also already thinking about a future vacation in February, so I’m interested in the opinions of tourists who have been there. I think we will go to India again, but we haven’t decided exactly which place “on the mainland”. This will determine where we will vacation at sea: in Goa, Gokarna or Kerala (there is also a resort near Calcutta, on the shores of the Bay of Bengal).

       Judging by Mikhail’s answers, according to the information that I found in the reviews of other tourists, a holiday on the beaches of Goa is similar to Sri Lanka: everything is green, a lot of wildlife, friendly people and a huge number of attractions. Well, the sea is a kind of compromise.

       When we just returned from India, and I complained that I had lost 5 kg due to the fact that I had to eat only rice for 2 weeks, Mikhail made the assumption that after time all the shortcomings would be forgotten, we would remember only the good. And so it happened: again it pulls very strongly. I hope you will have the same effect. 🙂

       The variety and quantity of fruits apparently depends on the time of year. In Sri Lanka and Mexico there were also not a large number of types of fruits: coconuts, bananas, and green tangerines, by and large.

       • Sergey, then many thanks to Mikhail for the report, and to you for asking him to do this. Of course, any rough spots of the holiday are forgotten and, looking through the photos, after a week you think: “Should I go there again?” It was the same this time. We even asked our travel agents about the cost of a trip for the post-New Year holidays, but only either to Lalit or to one of the hotels on Mobor Beach, again, based on the reviews we liked from tourists. Let it not seem snobbish to you, but in our lives we traveled a lot, including throughout our country - we lived in tents, at camp sites, in general, in different conditions. Now we gravitate towards greater comfort, at least as far as accommodation is concerned.

         But, to be honest, we really missed the simple, much-maligned holiday on the Red Sea. In contrast to the masses, not very much good opinion about Egypt, we love it: history, culture and most importantly - the sea. We have not been to the Maldives or Indonesia. In the countries we traveled through, there is no such sea and underwater world. Every time we leave fins and masks in our suitcase with hope, but for the last four years they have been unclaimed. Lately, the tourists we meet while traveling are also inclined to this opinion.

         Maybe you can recommend something interesting to us?

         Irina, we also vacationed in Egypt: in 2008, and on a tour package. I have never seen such a sea and with such diversity as in the Red Sea. Even when I started traveling on my own, I found reports from tourists about trips around Egypt while driving a car, about photographers spending the night in the White Desert. And I really wanted to repeat the trip, also by car. But then the Arab Spring happened...

         The other day I was looking at information about trips to Egypt on my own. People, of course, travel: flights from Russia have been cancelled, but no one is stopping anyone, especially Muscovites, from making a detour through the Baltic states, for example. The landscapes in the mountains are simply breathtaking, you can relax in hotels... But still, I wouldn’t risk going there now... 😉

         While vacationing in the Philippines, on the island of Pangalao, we took an excursion and took a boat ride to the small island of Balicasag Island - there are corals and fish... but not such a variety of species as in Egypt.

         When we were traveling Here is a report from the Vinsky forum (forum.awd.ru/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=256343) - the tourist claims that there was the coolest snorkeling of all the places where he vacationed in Southeast Asia, mainly , he liked that there were a lot of sharks swimming around. 🙂 He says that the corals survived the tsunami, which is why the underwater world is so diverse.

         P.S. Let me note that the underwater photography was carried out using an Olympus Tough TG-2 iHS camera.

         Thank you, Irina! I have one question: did the Lalit Hotel only offer breakfast? We went to the main street of Palolem to buy fruit; the stall was just being built and we sold it from a car. Or to Canacona, but you have to go there in the morning. You're right - it's low season.

         “Fins and Masks” - we just returned from Bali, here you go. However, choose your beach carefully. Kuta is a party-disco, Sanur - in the sea there are only stars and urchins and algae. At low tide the sea is knee-deep for about a kilometer. I won’t write a review about my holiday in Bali, but if you have any questions, I’m always happy to answer.

         Sergey, I advise you to think carefully about your holiday option in Gokarna. We arrived there by car. From Dabolim it is 230-250 km. From Dabolim to Palolem - 70 kilometers and 1700 rupees in October 2015. By train to Gokarna station from Vasco da Gama station it takes 10 hours and 40 minutes, I look at the route on the Google map. The Matsyagandha Express train departs from Vasco da Gama at 18:00. Perhaps there are other options.

         February - Mahashivratri holiday will be on the 24th. This means that pilgrims will live in Gokarna for the whole month, and they will occupy exactly the housing in which you are used to living. Hotels - our Om Beach Resort - on the Internet I could not find booking options for February, I think we need to contact directly, they only have Internet at the reception... and only when the satellite flies over Gokarna. There is another Om Beach - it is somewhere by the sea.

         We ate at the hotel (four meals a day, but, naturally, we didn’t go for afternoon tea), and honestly, I didn’t look closely at the cafes in the city. It wouldn’t happen that you would lose five kilograms again. If you decide, then stay in a guest house on Kudle Beach. It is the closest to the city, not counting the city center, and it is quiet, clean tourist place. Shakes are there. To swim on the city beach, you need to go to the right at least 800 meters, or even a kilometer - the pilgrims will reach you. I can withstand daily communication with 129 recipients of social services, and sometimes I wanted to pull an umbrella out of the sand and hang it on someone. On Kudli there are not only guest houses, but also plywood “cottages” - the conditions are Spartan.

         I won’t finish the article, but I will always answer any questions, nothing has changed here. You don’t need a passport to rent a bike, but I don’t recommend going somewhere far away. Local traffic police posts are located on state borders. The hotel owner offered us to take a car, but I didn’t dare. They charged mere pennies with the driver. I don’t remember exactly, but somewhere around 1500 for the whole day. Usually, this is a relative who needs to be occupied with work.

         Thank you, Misha, for the recommendations! I'll take it into account. My words cannot yet be perceived as decision. For now, I’m making some preliminary sketches of where I’d like to go “on the mainland,” and then a decision will be made about where to vacation at sea.

         For example, I was seriously considering Kerala because there are a lot of national parks nearby and tea plantations in Munnar. But now it seems to me that we have already seen such landscapes in Sri Lanka and in the Himalayas in India. I want something else. I used to want to go to a national park where I could see tigers. Then I read that the likelihood of this was too low... I crossed it off the list of must-do places. Here I found a couple of reports from tourists who went to Bandhavgarh National Park and not only did they meet tigers, but also the territory of the reserve is located in a gorge between the mountains - beautiful in itself, even if you can’t photograph the predators. I want again...

         In the forest national park In the Gir Forest National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary or Sasan-Gir, you can go on a safari and see Asiatic lions. I wanted it too. But I saw on the news that the Indian government was planning to relocate them for some reason to the Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary (or Palpur-Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary). We need to figure out where to look for these lions now. 🙂

         It’s also unclear about the cultural program... I’d like to go to Varanasi, we haven’t visited Ramnagar Fort there yet. Then again, maybe the second time it won’t be as interesting. Let's see Jodhpur - beauty.

         I came across a report on a two-day camel safari in the Thar Desert - excursions begin in the city of Jaisalmer. On our first trip we thought about going there, but we didn’t have enough time. You can spend the night in a tent camp equipped for tourists. But the review that I saw was that they simply lit a fire under the thorn bushes, talked and went to sleep in their sleeping bags. And above your head is a bottomless black sky with myriads of stars... A dream! Can you imagine what photographs were taken at dawn and sunset? Mmmmmmmm...

         All these attractions are located in different parts of India. Where we stop will determine where the beach holiday will be: in Goa, Kerala or Mandarmani beach (near Kolkata). You dissuaded me from Gokarna.

         I definitely won’t dare to drive in India. At least until I travel to this country several times and understand where the traffic is not very intense. To rent a motorbike - only the wife has a category “A” license. I consider it imprudent to drive without a driver’s license, and even without experience in driving a motorbike. Bribing a police officer is one thing, but in which case the insurance does not apply, it is another thing. Okay, you’ll hurt yourself, but if you shoot down an Indian, they’ll milk you to the maximum... No, not my option.

     I also had another question: Irina said that we ate at Palolem. But Mikhail wrote that the distance from Palolem Beach to Rajbagh Beach (where, as I understand it, the Lalit Hotel is located) is about 3 km or 40 minutes on foot. Did you walk 12 km every day for lunch and dinner? Or did you rent a bike? Just now I read reviews about moped rentals - it seems that in recent years the conditions have become tougher: they require a passport as collateral (you can’t even give it to the police abroad, you can’t even give it to the police - only a photocopy), and the Indian traffic cops are fierce...

We (two families) took a taxi from the hotel in the evening and went to Palolem for dinner. It cost 200 rupees (200 rubles) there and back, that is, 100 rupees per family. You walk, eat, then show the taxi driver’s business card to the cafe and they call him.

During the day we rode a scooter, visited nearby beaches, and bought fruit at the market in Chadrow. On Saturday, a large fruit and vegetable market is organized in Chadrow. The variety of fruits is the same as Palolem, but the prices are much lower. The king of fruits, mango, is a no-brainer, but October is not the season for it. Experienced tourists said that since March, when mangoes appear in large quantities, its taste is inferior to Thai, Vietnamese and Egyptian, including.

We rode the scooter calmly, but did not go on the highway. Police were only seen at the Saturday market in Chadrow.

A very interesting story about Goa, I read it in one sitting. Last year we went to Goa, and this year we decided to go to Bali. We went for 2 weeks with a package tour. And, to be honest, we liked Bali much more. On the island unique culture and many places for excursions, so there was always somewhere to go and something to see.

I think that tourists who come to relax in South Goa, it can get boring hanging around in one place among the stones for a week. It seems to me that one of the options could be a trip to Gokarna, to the city of Murdeshwar, which Mikhail talked about in the first chapter of his series of reports on vacations in India. I’ve been studying the question of how to inexpensively get from Palolem beach to Gokarna, I’ll post the results here so they don’t get lost.

How to get to Palolem cheaply?

Planes land at Dabolim Airport, from which the beach is 67 kilometers away. If you take a taxi at a pre-paid taxi services counter, the price will be approximately 1200 rupees. The exact distance from Madgaon Railway Station to Palolem is 43 km, so the cheap way to get here is as follows:

1) Take a rickshaw and go to Kadamba Bus Stand. Cost: 40 rupees.
2) Wait for the bus heading to the southern part of Goa, where you will get to the Canacona Bus Stand stop. Buses run all day at intervals of 30-60 minutes. Ticket price is 20 rupees.
3) Travel from Canacona to Palolem by auto-rickshaw - 40 rupees.

Second option: take a prepaid taxi from the railway station in Margao (Madgaon Railway Station) for 700 rupees.

So, we figured out how to get to Palolem. Now we will think about how to get to Gokarna. I studied the Internet: the distance between Canacona and Gokarna is 94 km. But you can't get there directly. So far, I have found out that you can take a bus from Canacona to Karwar in 1 hour (distance - 60 km), and from there there are very frequent routes to Gokarna (2 hours, 40 rupees somewhere).

How to reach Jog Falls in Gokarna

In the chapter with the report on vacation in Gokarna No. 11-1, Mikhail showed pictures of the Jog Falls waterfall. You can get there by public transport like this:

From Gokarna to Kumta, and from there to the attraction. Buses run to Kumta every half hour. We arrive at the Kumta Bus Stand, from here all routes go to Jog Falls in the direction of Siddapur. You just need to warn the conductor so that the driver stops at the intersection.

Sergey, I don’t remember, but have you ever traveled by bus in India? Maybe it’s worth adding that this method is good for people from 20 to 40 years old, not burdened with luggage, but with good physical fitness?
We traveled from the airport by taxi (1200-1400 rupees, cheaper without air conditioning) for an hour and a half, no less, and by bus, through Margao, crowded with cars, stopping in each village - I think all three.

It’s good if the bus goes along highway No. 66, and if it goes along local road No. 43, in villages on it oncoming cars can barely pass.

Gokarna and Jog Falls: I advise you to arrange a car “for the whole day” at the hotel (guest). It is approximately 100 km to Gokarna, and 195 km to the waterfall. There is somewhere to stay overnight in Gokarna, but I doubt it at the waterfall.

• Thank you, Misha, for the clarification. We didn’t travel by bus; we spent a week in the Himalayas in a shared jeep. This is an ordinary jeep, from which they made a minibus: 4 passengers are packed into one row... But we drove like bourgeois: we bought 3 seats for two, so as not to be crowded. Of course, our experience cannot be compared: the trips were in the mountains, it’s not hot there. Probably in Goa it’s a completely different story.

  We'll look at the situation. It’s just that now I’m looking for options for what to do: in 6 days at sea, you’ll probably die of boredom. 🙂