It may or may not be apparent, but we take all the feedback we get on Yab Yum very much to heart. Most of it is hugely positive and helpful, some is simply negative and makes is wince, some is just downright odd!

This season our good feedback has been crazy, with the vast majority of guests simply saying ‘don’t change a thing!’. Another comment we see a lot is ‘don’t get too big!’.

For no other reason than a quick chuckle, here are some of the more leftfield comments we have seen.  Thanks to the contributors (though not all comments were meant in a humorous manner):

- What 1 thing could we improve?: ‘more cats!’ – written, funnily enough, by Wolf, a great guest that came with his family and befriended a stray that we took in.

- ‘No furniture’: written by a German guest, so something may be lost in translation. Note: our rooms are sparse but we do have furniture, though we are a beachside, eco-friendly type of place, not the sort of place where you will find a business desk.

- ‘No windows’: we actually complained to TripAdvisor about this one as, of course, it’s not true. But they just sent us an automated email: factual inaccuracy is perfectly fine.

- ‘The sea is too loud’: the implication was that the rooms were badly designed and amplified the sound. We tend to think it’s more to do with the sea being about 50 metres away.

- ‘Fish dropped outside our room by a bird’: this actually happens quite often, the sea eagles nest above the dune and carry their catch back to their nests. The guest found this disgusting but we quite like it.

- ‘Bed linen is not white!!’: a recent guest was hugely irate because our linen is dark blue and not white, and demanded we change the bed sheets. We did.

Thanks to Bernd, one of our resident yoga teachers, for this month’s post.
I figured it was high time I appeared on this blog, to share a few thoughts with you and talk about a very exciting yoga retreat Kasia and I are holding here in north Goa in February.

We are both loving the experience of sharing the wonderful practice of yoga with folk from all over the world, in a truly beautiful space within a truly beautiful space. The shala here at Ashvem Beach is an ideal place to explore the body, breath and mind, whether you are a seasoned practitioner, an occasional dabbler, or a complete beginner. Yoga is certainly not limited to those who are able to perform breathtaking contortions and have a spectacular level of physical fitness! 

No matter at which level you take the practices, it’s difficult to beat the feeling of having gone through a class, especially when the sound of waves is present throughout, and you know you have little to do for the rest of the day other than eat, drink and be merry here at Yab Yum.

From February 17th to March 2nd, Kasia and I are also running a retreat at Yab Yum’s sister property Jivana. This is a pretty special venue, surrounded by jungle (with its own school of monkeys resident in the trees above), and total peace and quiet.

A retreat setting provides the opportunity to work systematically and progressively through the myriad aspects of yoga practice, grounding you in a firm bedrock of asana (posture) work, as well as looking at the breath and mind through a range of other practices.

It’s going to be a pretty special two weeks! If you feel like checking it out, asking any questions, or booking in, visit the Jivana website HERE.

At Yab we’re lucky to have one of the most photogenic beach locations in the whole of Goa; someone even suggested ‘in the world’ but that’s not something I can vouch for.

Our 2 serene acres of boutique, eco resort-cum-beach resort (or whatever you want to call it) has been photographed thousands of times: by ourselves for the website, by guests for memories’ sake and by professionals for fashion shoots. However, we never get bored with seeing new pictures; different people see different things and, with the light constantly changing, no viewpoint stays the same for long. 

Our latest batch of new pics comes courtesy of Matt (thanks again) who has not had an easy time, tasked with taking pictures of our dark and cool interiors and our odd-shaped bathrooms! We’re happy to finally have some usable images of our newly-tiled bathrooms and a fantastic new shot of our beach gate in the late afternoon light. See more HERE

November is here, and though it’s been a hectic couple of weeks since we opened on October 15th, we’re now glad to say that all is well and the guests seem happy!

We have been more or less fully-booked since October 20th, which is great, but of course difficult to iron-out teething problems when rooms are occupied. I’m sure most hotels in Goa, India, wherever, start the holiday season with hurdles to be overcome as new staff find their feet, new processes are installed, new dishes hit the menu and snags in renovation work are uncovered. Some questions we have asked in the past 2 weeks: Why would you fill a hole in a wall and not make it flush!? Why would you fit a clean white light shade with dirty hands?! Why would you paint an antique chair with brown gloss paint!!!!!!!?

Other things, however, tend to just fly right from the start. Our new yoga teachers Bernd and Kasia are busy as guests take advantage of our improved shala, and we’re happy to announce our new masseuse Julie has now started with us and comes highly recommended. Check out our available massages HERE

Our renovations have been continuing apace, hampered by the weather of course, but if we waited for the rains to stop then we’d be left with about 2 weeks to do everything before we open on October 15th!

We have improved so many things for the coming season, some of which are not visible to guests (plumbing, electrics, kitchens and so on) but there are some significant changes that our regular guests will love…

• New gates with our trademark Y wings logo! Courtesy of Mr Ashok, our local fabricator.
• A larger yoga shala.
• A new, dome-style guardhouse with space for luggage.
• A new reception area and reception desk.
• New lighting, lovely new toilets, new day-beds… the list goes on!

Beach hotels or resorts in Goa don’t often embrace the green aspect of their environment, and though we don’t claim to be a fully accredited eco-resort we do go a bit plant-crazy from time to time. Check out the pics below, our new walls should be covered in bougainvilleas by the time you visit!

Here’s my own personal top 5 reasons for visiting North Goa. There’s 1 thing to note here: I don’t really drink or party hard! Lots of people go to central Goa (the busy part, where most big hotels in Goa are situated) for those reasons and good luck to ‘em, but I see Goa as more of a chill-out destination.

So here goes…

1) COLOUR – it’s one of the clichés about India but like most clichés there tends to be some truth in it. Everywhere in Goa there is bright, vivid colour that tingles the brain as our eyeballs soak it up. The lush green of the paddy fields, the produce in the markets, the furious, orange sunsets, the brightly painted houses and the hand painted adverts for ‘Idea’, ‘Reliance’ et al on the side walls of shops. Colour forms a great part of the sensory overload that is India, just make sure you have your camera at all times!

2) IT’S EASY AND FRIENDLY! – Goa, and north Goa in particular, can be fairly described as ‘India Lite’, more tourist-friendly and with less crowds and less noise than most states. Goa is an affluent, laidback place (horizontal, in fact) where doing very little is the order of the day and a smile always gets a smile in return.

3) FOOD – Goan food is well-known and it’s easy to find good seafood, simply cooked and simply presented. Large numbers of western tourists mean that in beach areas like Arambol, Anjuna and our very own Ashwem there are a wide variety of options (Chinese, Nepali, Italian, India and so on); though as in most tourist spots these may vary in quality (and price). My advice: quality is worth a bit extra, keep going until you find somewhere really great. By the way, I’ll post some specific places in my next blog entry.

4) THE ARABIAN SEA – Goa faces directly west (= sunsets!!). The Arabian Sea is warm so you can walk right in, that in itself is worth the trip for me! During the Goan holiday season (October to April) the sea is mostly calm but please don’t expect this to always be the case, and don’t ever follow the example of some locals and holidaying Mumbaikers who only get the urge to swim when drunk!

5) YOGA – If you want to learn yoga in Goa then what could be better than practising overlooking an idyllic beach as the sun drops into the sea. Classes, workshops, yoga retreats and instructors can be found all over but North Goa, as the most untouched part of the state, is surely the best place to include yoga in your holiday, along with the other spiritual pursuits that can go with it. Please note: you don’t have to be on a self-help mission to try yoga, like all things there are people that get a bit carried away with it but at Yab Yum we cater to all levels. At the end of the day it’s your holiday but there’s no denying that a bit of yoga feels great!

How many men does it take to move a coconut tree? Well we’ve done it a few times and it can be as many as 25!

Now, with Ashwem Beach closed and the monsoon looming, there’s a window of opportunity for planting, replanting and transplanting. Moving this particular tree was like moving Stonehenge. All nearby able-bodied men jumped in, and with some rope, brute force and tree trunk rollers, the coconut palm was moved all of 50 metres to a new spot. 

See pic below: credit must be given here to Lakhan, our night manager, for being the man holding the rope (all by himself!!). It could be a smart move on his behalf though, would you want to be at the other end of that picture if he let go?!

Two years ago we gave our domes grass roofs and then last year we completed the look with a very fetching grass hat ventilation system. This off-season it’s cottage 03′s turn as the weight of falling tree litter, some playful squirrels and old age has meant that a new roof was called for.

Many of the tiles were reusable but we subscribe to the ‘if a job’s worth doing it’s worth doing well’ philosophy, so the entire roof will be replaced. And how many men did that take? Actually, just 3.

Something occurred to me whilst looking at this photo of cottage 03: when taking photos in India the light and colour can be so amazing that no matter what you point the camera at you get a beautiful shot.

Last august we lost 2 of our oldest residents at Jivana when Shakti and Parvati, our happy guard dogs, sadly died. Both dogs have been sorely missed this season and now wandering round the gardens at night it’s not so easy to imagine what that shuffle amongst the banana plants is!

So now a big ‘thank you!’ must go to the staff at International Animal Rescue’s ‘Animal Tracks’ centre at Assagao who gave us 3 lovely puppies. It’s great to be able to give Chapati, Tikka and Roti a new home, and with such a great playground at Jivana we’re sure they’ll be happy! 

IAR’s Animal Tracks is a fantastic charity that originally focused on Goa’s many stray dogs and cats, but they have expanded over the years to care for and treat all sorts of animals. Check them out online here (they need volunteers and supplies!):

http://www.iar.org.uk/where_we_work/3/projects/17/Goa+Animal+Tracks+centre.html

We didn’t just stop at 3 dogs though! Sachin, a long-serving member of our Mandrem staff, brought in a kitten who seems more than happy with 2 acres of private garden to call home. Being a feisty little fella, Spinxsir is now holding his own in a dog’s world (and a cosmopolitan security detail).

On April 18th we drew a line under our busiest ever season at Ashwem Beach, north Goa. Like most hotels in Goa – whether boutique guesthouses, beach resorts or yoga retreats – we consider April to be the end of the holiday season. As the tourists fade away and the humidity and heat increase, local people start to yearn for the rains to arrive.

People do ask: ‘why not stay open until May?’ but the truth is we’re all tired and our staff need a well-deserved rest! We will re-open on October 15th.

BUT we don’t just shut up shop that easily! Remember: Jivana Plantation and the Artists’ House are still open! Both properties make wonderful retreats for the monsoon period.

At the Artists’ House you can lounge on the large veranda overlooking the paddy fields, which turn a fantastic, emerald green colour. And at Jivana the gardens just go crazy: everything grows and grows and grows! Monsoon brings fresh life to the countryside and all around there is vivid colour; this is a side of rural India that many tourists never get to see and boy are they missing out!

Before I finish this post, I’d like to thank everybody that visited this past season, it’s been a real pleasure for us to see more and more returning guests, many of whom have already booked for next Xmas & New Year. It’s wonderfully satisfying to know that we’re helping people have great holidays, after all, those are often the most precious memories we carry throughout our lives.

I’ll leave you with some snaps of our team replacing one of the cottage roofs, and a less glamorous shot of our new toilets. Renovations are underway, stay tuned…

Most people hate them but our staff are indifferent to them. Why? Because they have learnt what all inhabitants of hot, humid places have learnt: you can’t kill them all! And trying to do so is the quickest path to insanity!!

One of the biggest concerns western travellers to India have is malaria. Like any medical issue you can easily spend a week googling and researching and still be none the wiser. Most people in Goa will tell you that there is no malaria, and it is true to say we’ve never heard of anybody having it in Goa, but then we aren’t doctors.

Our advice: consider the probability of catching malaria and weigh that up against the side-effects and cost of taking tablets. There are all sorts of things you can catch when on holiday and perhaps malaria should be a bit further down the worry list.

Being someone who used to always worry about getting bitten (and frequently did), I have now got over my fear and a few simple things have made my life a lot easier, so I can now get on with enjoying India (and writing this blog):

1) A few reassuring facts:

You will almost certainly be visiting North Goa outside of the monsoon season which is when they really get frisky.
Mozzies appear mostly at dawn (when you’re probably sleeping), and dusk. At other times they seem to leave Ashwem Beach, perhaps heading to the market in Anjuna where the tourists are fresher.
This off-season we’ve planted lemongrass, a well-known mozzie deterrent, around all our domes and cottages.
We sometimes burn cowpats as well, this is a great local technique that really works and is not at all unpleasant.
All our beds have mozzie nets, the best protection of all.

2) At Ashvem Beach we benefit from a sea breeze, so if you’re around in the late afternoon try not to have a shower and freshen up your skin for them, instead try having a cocktail and sitting on the dune watching the sunset.

3) If you are in your room just put on the fan, our fans are huge and they work wonders.

4) Cover up –the idea of wearing trousers in 30 degree heat may at first seem horrible, but the right material (linen, cotton) will be comfortable and you’ll get used to it quicker than you think.

5) Use repellent. We really recommend the local brand Odomos. Firstly, it works and secondly we sell it (50 rupees).

6) Finally try not to scratch a bite, it only makes it worse! A few minutes self-control when bitten can stop the bite being persistently itchy.