Goa

When you think about holidays in Goa, first thought and picture that comes in mind – romantic beaches, sexy females and the booze

The next curious question will be the famous “Nude” beach of Goa.While you find guys and gals oh la laing the whole fantasy of the Nude beach concept, your rational part of brain will be denying this filmy fantasy. Realization& truth dawns when you possibly, if luck prevails find some topless teenagers in that part of the beach

Keeping all the above in mind, I didn’t tell my family that I am going to GOA. Just informed them about a training program that I have to attend at Pune as did another friend. One of the girls had said that she was off to Coorg and someone else had said that it’s a trip beyond Bangalore. Later we realized that none of us had told the truth at home.. Loads  of  fun!

Day 0

9 of us started in two cars an Indica and Indigo at 8PM from Chennai trade center.. The route map was decided by our trail blazer Sahaya Joseph.

Stopped at Company owned Bharat Petroleum bunk, Vedal, Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu, India ( our first pitstop) to fill fuel for the cars and also fill our tanks (stomach 🙂 ) with food which was homemade by the two housewives.

The next pitstop decided was at Krishnagiri.  Expected clean roadsbut thanks to rains and too many diversions due to the expansion to 6 lanes we were delayed by 90mins. Had tea there and started the journey and reached Infosys – Bangalore. From there the NICE roads started and we drove at a speed of 140KMPH…

Day 01:

Took few more pitstops and drove further to reach the outskirts of Chikmaglur where we found a restaurant to refresh ourselves. Decided to reach Shimoga for breakfast and reached there. Then the unfortunate thing happened – Indigo car’s battery conked and the car never started. Pushed it to start and realized the battery was dead.  Found a garage nearby, dropped the car there and as we were hungry breakfast was of highest priority.

Finished our breakfast and returned to the garage to checked on the car to find that the dynamo which charges the battery was faulty. Spent 5hrs there to get it fixed which delayed our day and around 2.30 PM we re-started the journey. The next destination was Honavar which was a beautiful ghat ride, not to mention the drive in the ghat road during the sunset…it was awesome!!!.The road from Honavar to Karwar was again a ghat session and was a very difficult ride and finally we managed to reach Goa at 11PM.

Stopped the car and lowered the window to check the route with a passerby and before I could ask him anything, his immediate question to me “Sir welcome to goa… do you want any hotel rooms, and sexy girls..its absolutely safe”.. Decided to fully depend on google map as our accommodation was already arranged in “Hotel Seaview” at Bogmalo Beach, Mormugao, Goa, India. The nearest landmark – Goa airport. Kept searching for the Goa airport in the sign boards and reached. We checked-in the hotel by 12.30 am. It being a full moon day we thought of spending some time in the beach for a while but unfortunately we got struck at the ganesha immersion procession. Added to this was a drizzle that made us rush back to the hotel

Day 02:

Woke up little late.. refreshed ourselves..  having the hangover remains of last night.. Reached a South Indian hotel and had a yummy breakfast.. after that we started visiting places..

The first place we visited in Goa was the shipyard.

Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL) established in 1957, is a leading ISO 9001-2008 certified shipyard on the West Coast of India, functioning under the administrative control of Ministry of Defense, Govt. of India is strategically located on the banks of river Zuari in Goa, a major international tourist destination well connected by its international airport and major port en-route all important shipping lines.

Source:Goa shipyard

Plan for the day was to explore few beaches in South Goa. The first beach we went was Colvo Beach – one of the largest beaches of southern part of Goa.  The coconut trees dotted Colvo Beach and the calm and peaceful atmosphere has made Colvo Beach was totally awesome!.

We spent very less time and decided to move on to the next beach.
Cavelossim beach the next one we decided was one of the lesser known beaches and to prove this there were no signboards. As soon as we reached… jumped out of joy as it was the best place to experience a memorable time enjoying sunset..

It was time up for the day and we decided to return back to our hotel and plan for the chicken barbeque with our expert chef Sahaya Joseph… It was a long drive back to the hotel. And when we reached there was no power, but our Chef never gave up. He started preparing dinner with the help of the housewives keeping them engaged  in the kitchen, so that their respective husbands can enjoy their drinks in peace 🙂

Day 03:

Today being our last day in Goa we planned to visit few monuments that represents the Goan Architecture..
The first place of the day was Basilica of Bom Jesus

The next place we visited is Morjim Beach Though it was a long drive from Bom jesus church, it just had black sand where we did a bit of cycling…
Later we moved to Baga Beach, North Goa .. very famous for beach shacks , terrace cafeterias which provide freshly prepared sea food and for adventurous water sports.

Not only Baga beach is renowned for food items but also for sexy women. Never knew gender is geo based as our lens man preferred Indian females sexiest than the non-Indians.

The unfortunate things that we missed are the water sports that were not available due to off season. We exited via Calangute Beach, did a little bit of shopping here as the next day was Gandhi Jayanthi and shops would be closed. Headed back to our accommodation.

Day 04:

Woke up early in the morning and packed our things. The plan for the day was to reach Chennai en-route Dudhsagar by sunrise next day.
Happened to stop near a mosque accidentally on the way at Ponda and was surprised to see that it was an ASI monument named Safa Masjid, Ponda.

Heading towards Dudhsagar Falls – Sea of Milk is a tiered waterfall located on the Mandovi River in the state of Goa, India, on Goa’s border with the state of Karnataka. It is 60 km from Panaji.

Legend has it that a beautiful princess lived in the forest (near present day, Dudhsagar Falls) where there was then a palace. She loved and enjoyed bathing in a lake nearby and used to drink “sweetened milk” from her “Golden Jug” after finishing with her bath. One day while enjoying her jug of milk she found herself being watched by a prince, who was standing amongst the trees. Red with embarrassment at her inadequate bathing attire, she poured the jug of milk in front of him to form an improvised curtain to hide her body, while the maids rushed to cover her with her dress.

And it is said that, it is that sweetened milk that cascades down the mountain slope to this day as tribute to the virtue and modesty of the Princess, as the “Dudhsagar Falls”

Source: Wikipedia

When we planned about Dudhsagar waterfalls reading the reviews online, it was said that we need to hire a 4X4 Jeeps from the base station of the waterfalls. But when we reached there, shocked to know that no such facilities were available due to overflowing water. The jeeps are likely to start their services in the later session of Oct once the water flow reduces..

So now the only option left to go into the waterfalls is that a bike ride.  When we heard the word bike ride.. our eyes opened wide as we always keep our thumbs up for such kind of activities. Unfortunate its not the way we dreamed..  we have to be pillions while the bikers drive to the water falls. It will be a 45 mins drive both ways and we will be having 90 mins over there.. for which the bundled price that includes the forest department bribe is 565rs.
Tried our level best to negotiate with them about not being as pillions.. and wasted about 2 hours. The situation was like we have to be pillions if we want to go inside otherwise we have to check out. At last we decided to go as pillions.. there were 9 bikers who started riding..

Never expected to ride over the railway tracks.. the bike wheel was falling between each ties of the railway track.. and driving between the Track ballasts… awesome experience.  In between they asked us to get down the bike and cross the water .. where they drove and crossed.. after few such exercises.. we finally reached the water falls..

Best food of the trip:

The best food of the trip during all the 4 days – Vadapav. – the cheapest and most easily available snack at each and  every ‘street corner – it’s imbibed in the food culture of the city! Its one of the popular vegetarian fast food dish.
Also our Chef Sahaya’s yummiest preparation of Briyani with chicken curry and prawn fry during the power failure is also unforgettable!

Day 05:

After long drive we managed to enter the borders of tamil nadu before sunraise. It was too early to stop for breakfast at hosur, we kept driving.. Found an Adyar Andhabahavan on the way inside a company owned Bharath petrol bunk once again.. Stopped the car. refreshed ourselves.. had a great breakfast.
2300 kms of ride though the highways, ghat roads, forests etc.. Finally came to an end safely as we reached Sriperumbadur toll gate at 12.30pm..We were late by 7 hours but came back home with complete contentment. I had been to some ASI monument Hindu temples earlier but was surprised to see ASI monument Churches and Mosques during this trip. Thank you all for making this trip a memorable one!