Another treasure trove of negative reviews of Om Beach, this time for the beach in general. Lets start with the subject of the awful 'day-trippers', who dare to visit the hippy paradise for only a few hours. One Delhi resident utterly condemns this group as "the kind of tourists who come for a few hours dip their feet in the water and leave". Another Indian tourist takes the complaints against 'local tourists' further. Local doesn't mean Indian, local means that kind of local.
"... noisy beer drinking tourists from nearby towns, who comes on weekend to watch sunbathing bikini clad Hippies to take pictures slyly, having them in background. Some over enthusiastic local tourists, wants pictures to put the hand in the neck of you to take back the souvenir home".
The final level, elevating local to figurative use of the N-word, is reached by a reviewer from Pune. His review is titled "Unclean Beach and Disgusting Locals".
"The beach in itself is beautiful and amazing. what spoils the scenery is the untidy shore where the localites who visit the beach, throw their garbage. This makes the beach untidy. Moreover, there are some groups of localites, specially males, who unnecessarily try to make conversation with the foreigners there. They derive pleasure out of this which is disgusting and makes it uncomfortable for the tourists. It was totally disgusting...just shameless people."
He has captured my feelings exactly; it's the sense of shame which is missing. But this isn't universal, and he seems to be feeling more than his fair share of shame for the behaviour of others.
As the beach is popular with young people, the reviews "Not with Family" are obvious. Many parents worldwide would not want their children exposed to drinking, drug use, and the most dangerous of all role models, heterosexual couples holding hands. Other Indian tourists, as seems to be a trend, take issue with both things which cannot be changed and the fact this is not 'the city', with full amenities, street lighting and road access. There were "No street lights to walk towards the beach", also disappointingly a complaint by a London tourist, because nature be damned. I was prevented from experiencing the magical bioluminescent plankton last night exactly because of the light pollution. There were also "no restuarants open where a 4 wheeler can reach". "The road leading to Gokarna is a nightmare and is totally a devastating experience for peson who is driving", but perhaps in the rainy season there may have been a few potholes. In Nepal this road would be in better condition than many parts of the East-West Highway, Highway 1. One Bangalore resident complained that the sea was too muddy, but thankfully we now know that his toes were safely protected from such a menace. Another Bangalore resident complains of Om Beach that "You cant even swim here because the beach is quite rocky", somehow missing the 800m of smooth sand known as 'Om Beach'.
"I did not want to go to Israel" says the Brit from Brighton, mixing his opinions on what he didn't like. Apparently the pretentious people of the beach have driven him back to Agonda, Goa, which is "a hundred times better". I perfectly agree, and as he clearly belongs in Goa maybe he can spread the message to his like minded friends. Curiously about half of all the Brits on Om Beach come from Brighton. This small city is disproportionately represented on the beach, some aspect of it's culture leads its open-minded residents to explore India. These friendly easy-going people make the beach at times almost a Brighton social gathering.
But what about a Sydney couple who stayed on the beach, in one of my favourite lodges: Dolphin Bay. They complain about the rats. I must point out that the rats are a feature of Dolphin Bay, and I would still recommend the place. This situation particularly arises due to the absence of cats, due in turn to the pet fancy pigeons. Apparently the staff don't care about anything except the money. I don't think they care about anything after working 80 hour weeks for 4 months. Have some consideration for the staff. "I'm sure there is nicest beaches around"... native English speakers aren't allowed that one.
The trace of bias is still there, 'hedge-hiker' from India comments "However, it is tough to get accomodation here (especially if you are an Indian!) Also, most places to stay here are dingy and dirty."
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