Today was showdown time with Shanti. I suppose we have now experienced both good and bad sides/times of backpacking - in India. I was tired and unhappy after last night - and so was Claire.
I went for a run first in the hope that that was going to calm me down, which it didn't really. So after the run and a shower I first found the 3 Swedish girls that had kept us up half the night and gave out to them - as this was their second time keeping us awake. They seem like nice girls but they're probably in their late teens/early twenties and my take is they picked the wrong (quietest) beach here. They seemed somewhat mortified and embarassed.
I then went straight up to talk to the married couple that act as managers and told them that last night's noise levels were completely unacceptable. They retorted saying that this was to be expected from staying customers and that they wouldn't refuse to sell them drinks - more or less saying that they had a right to party and disturb everyone else - clearly that decision would be purely commercial as their markup on (a lot of) drinks probably is far higher than the markup on rooms, given government lease upfront costs and that of the of huts etc.
I then restated that it was unacceptable, got pretty pissed off and told them that I could continue to have this conversation with them everytime it happened - and then proceeded to state that the alternative would be that they refund the remaining 8 nights and we would find accommodation elsewhere.
Somewhat to my surprise they immediately agreed - however, in hindsight this had become a public forum and that others weren't too happy either - in effect they really wanted us out of their hair as they knew we would be trouble if this continued - we clearly did not belong to their stated claim of customers who would return to their place year after year for that sort of trip or behaviour. Another point to make is that we only ate a couple of times in their restaurant as we're the adventurous types when it comes to food while away - and don't just eat the same place ever night, which many others seemed to do. So value-added business was obviously not optimal for these guys and they were probably reasonably happy to see us go.
Anyway, Claire felt she had to apologise to the girls, which made them even more embarassed and apologetic. Even more so when we met one of the girls as we left Shanti with our stuff - they seemed somewhat shocked that their behaviour resulted in us leaving - although, really, management should have sorted it out and not have encouraged them to continue drinking and make loads of noise until the middle of the night. And this on their last day there in the resort...
The two managers did "offer" for us to stay in the Shanti village, in the south end of the beach, which is a much quieter resort and without parties or even a full fledged restaurant - and we even went to have a look. But they quoted prices that were 3 times higher than what we already paid with no intention to negotiate - so instead we took the cash and went back to Om Sai (my plan B as I had already called Nelish to check availability - of which there was none, but he could get us in next door for a couple of nights before they would have availability - always have a plan B when it's showdown time so that you can call their bluff rather than having to come crawling back! ;-) and got sorted in the Papillion. Despite us not having a great seaview here it at least seems very quiet and it comes a lot cheaper at R.1.000,- per night.
A further bit of background is that I had a dentist appointment at 12:30, which added to the stress of packing literally at 12:00, then running up to the new place, leaving my luggage there and then run back down to the dentist; making it just in time, sweating bit time!
At the dentist I got 3 fillings done - with another 2 to go. Then it was Claire's turn for a final 2 fillings at 13:30. I got the keys to the new place off her and returned to our new home in the Papillion.
Claire returned back about an hour later with a missing tooth. She has had a bad and slightly turned small tooth that has been killing another tooth next to it - and for some time dentists have been telling her that it should be pulled - and so it was today. We had previously had a discussion about it and I said that I would go with what the dentists recommended, even if she will have a slight gap on the left side. She got stitches too to cover up the small hole and was sent back on antibiotics and pain killers - she will have her two fillings done Friday instead.
Afterwards did some unpacking and went for a small walk, then relaxed for another while.
At 18:00 we went to D'Raj for some food - Claire could only eat rice and drink lassis (Indian milkshake type stuff based on Yogurt) but I had a Thai Green chicken curry and some naan bread, followed by a well-deserved beer after a rather stressful day ;-)
We then returned and watch 1.5 hours of the 5th installment of Harry Potter before Claire got too tired and we went to sleep at 21:00, needing to catch up...
I went for a run first in the hope that that was going to calm me down, which it didn't really. So after the run and a shower I first found the 3 Swedish girls that had kept us up half the night and gave out to them - as this was their second time keeping us awake. They seem like nice girls but they're probably in their late teens/early twenties and my take is they picked the wrong (quietest) beach here. They seemed somewhat mortified and embarassed.
I then went straight up to talk to the married couple that act as managers and told them that last night's noise levels were completely unacceptable. They retorted saying that this was to be expected from staying customers and that they wouldn't refuse to sell them drinks - more or less saying that they had a right to party and disturb everyone else - clearly that decision would be purely commercial as their markup on (a lot of) drinks probably is far higher than the markup on rooms, given government lease upfront costs and that of the of huts etc.
I then restated that it was unacceptable, got pretty pissed off and told them that I could continue to have this conversation with them everytime it happened - and then proceeded to state that the alternative would be that they refund the remaining 8 nights and we would find accommodation elsewhere.
Somewhat to my surprise they immediately agreed - however, in hindsight this had become a public forum and that others weren't too happy either - in effect they really wanted us out of their hair as they knew we would be trouble if this continued - we clearly did not belong to their stated claim of customers who would return to their place year after year for that sort of trip or behaviour. Another point to make is that we only ate a couple of times in their restaurant as we're the adventurous types when it comes to food while away - and don't just eat the same place ever night, which many others seemed to do. So value-added business was obviously not optimal for these guys and they were probably reasonably happy to see us go.
Anyway, Claire felt she had to apologise to the girls, which made them even more embarassed and apologetic. Even more so when we met one of the girls as we left Shanti with our stuff - they seemed somewhat shocked that their behaviour resulted in us leaving - although, really, management should have sorted it out and not have encouraged them to continue drinking and make loads of noise until the middle of the night. And this on their last day there in the resort...
The two managers did "offer" for us to stay in the Shanti village, in the south end of the beach, which is a much quieter resort and without parties or even a full fledged restaurant - and we even went to have a look. But they quoted prices that were 3 times higher than what we already paid with no intention to negotiate - so instead we took the cash and went back to Om Sai (my plan B as I had already called Nelish to check availability - of which there was none, but he could get us in next door for a couple of nights before they would have availability - always have a plan B when it's showdown time so that you can call their bluff rather than having to come crawling back! ;-) and got sorted in the Papillion. Despite us not having a great seaview here it at least seems very quiet and it comes a lot cheaper at R.1.000,- per night.
A further bit of background is that I had a dentist appointment at 12:30, which added to the stress of packing literally at 12:00, then running up to the new place, leaving my luggage there and then run back down to the dentist; making it just in time, sweating bit time!
At the dentist I got 3 fillings done - with another 2 to go. Then it was Claire's turn for a final 2 fillings at 13:30. I got the keys to the new place off her and returned to our new home in the Papillion.
Claire returned back about an hour later with a missing tooth. She has had a bad and slightly turned small tooth that has been killing another tooth next to it - and for some time dentists have been telling her that it should be pulled - and so it was today. We had previously had a discussion about it and I said that I would go with what the dentists recommended, even if she will have a slight gap on the left side. She got stitches too to cover up the small hole and was sent back on antibiotics and pain killers - she will have her two fillings done Friday instead.
Afterwards did some unpacking and went for a small walk, then relaxed for another while.
At 18:00 we went to D'Raj for some food - Claire could only eat rice and drink lassis (Indian milkshake type stuff based on Yogurt) but I had a Thai Green chicken curry and some naan bread, followed by a well-deserved beer after a rather stressful day ;-)
We then returned and watch 1.5 hours of the 5th installment of Harry Potter before Claire got too tired and we went to sleep at 21:00, needing to catch up...
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