It was a dream come true. We(myself(Prakash), Srinath(assid anna), Nagesh(buss naga), Raghu( Kaddi), Harsha(Mr Late), Dilip(JPD dilipa), Ramanujam(Nakli) and the great Ramachandra(Ots)) wanted to visit goa from a long time.
It was the time for the execution of our quarterly plan(one trip for every quarter ;-))
All of us had holidays for the Deepavali and Ramzan, in addtion v put two days leave...so it was nine days(Yeah) of holidays for most of us.
Our holidays started from 29th, and our Goa plan was supposed to start from 3rd of Nov.
V had the plan to cover most of the famous beaches in Goa. V had done extensive R&D regarding the places to visit, activites to do, night life(which was a big flop :-) ) etc.
Just a day b4 v were supposed to leave for Goa v had one big prob. Actually v had booked return tickets well in advance, from Panaji to B'lore on 6th of Nov. But my travel agent told me that the bus has been cancelled and v have to cut short our trip by one day(i.e by 25%), which meant a lot to us. This was a cause of concern for us.
Some of us(Assid, Ots, Nakli, JPD Dilipa) started the trip on 2nd itself from B'lore and Buss from Shimoga and others(myself, Kaddi and Late) started on 3rd morning from Belgaum and Dharwad/Hubli.
Day 1:
V all were suppoed to meet at Londa. From there v were supposed to move to DudhSagar(DS).
I was at Londa Railway station(RS) at 7:00 a.m.
It was around 8:15 in the morning when v all met.
On that day(Thursday) there were no passenger trains to DS. Our only hope was the goods trains going to CastleRock. There were two trains(goods) standing at the Londa RS. One was supposed to leave late(@ 10:30). The guys(Driver and the guard) in the other train which was leaving early did not allow us to board the train. One was bound by duty and other was frightened thinking that v might be carrying bombs with us(he told us so :-))
Finally we decided to travel by Rikshaw till CastleRock and by Goods train from there to DS. V hired an auto for Rs. 500 (for 37 kms), the road had hardly flat surfaces, it was a memorable journey.
V were lucky to find a goods train the moment v got off the Rikshaw. It took us abt an hour to cover 18 kms betn CastleRock and DudhSagar. V were allowed to seat in the Cockpit(control room :-)) of the engine.
Finally v got down at DudhSagar RS and had to cover the remaining distance by walk on the tracks. When v reached the site of the falls v were happy that it was more than worth of our efforts.
V all took the much needed bath at one small water falls, had some food and started moving towards our next destination, Majorda beach near Margao.
V reached Culem and from there caught one passenger train to Majorda...it was a great journey during the sunset. Some of us did some time pass in the train while others preferred sleeping.
When v reached Majorda it was around 7. V Walked for abt 2 kms to find a place for our stay. V got two good rooms at a nominal price of 500 per room. After alighting our luggage and some refreshment v started for the Beach.
It was around 8 in the evening...v cud only hear the roar of the water and a feel of smooth sand below our feet and the cold air blowing to our face. There was no moon in the sky....v walked along the beach for half a kilo meter, then it was decided to have dinner.
V decided to come to the beach again at 6 in the moring.
After a good dinner all surrendered to sleep.
Day 2:
v reached the beach at 6:30 in the morning.
V got the chance of seeing some fisherman on duty, they were at the beach and were mainly catching small fishes.
V layed in the water for abt half an hour and left for our room.
It was unanimously decided that v shud hire bikes for sight seeing, at 9 in the moring v were ready with Two Splendors and Two activas.
V contacted a local travel agent for return tickets in Paulo travels, he said he would give it in the evening.
v started for Palolem beach located in southern goa.
After loading fuel at Kamat hotel v started for 40km long drive along the highway.
The good road, made our drive smooth. Nearly 1 & half hours of drive took us to the beautiful beach of Palolem. The beach was like a piece of arc....was really stunning.
V played in the water for some time and deciced to move towards beach of Agnoda.
This beach hardly had any crowd, it had some big rocks at one end.
V left this beach early and moved towards Cabo de Rama fort.
The view of the sea from the top of the fort was cool....it provided such a strethed view of the sea that one cud get a clear picture of the activities at the sea from this point(that is y they built the fort there :-)).
It was around 5 o' clock when v started our journey towards Majorda. Our dear friend Agadi(urf Late) and Raghu(Alias Kaddi) were travelling on one bike with control in agadi's hands. On trying to negotiate a curve in the Ghat section agadi lost control of the bike when a car came infront of him. Agadi and Kaddi fell of the bike with wounds all over the body. The damage to the bike was minimum but agadi's Digicam was severely damaged.
When v reached Majorda it was 7 in the evening. First v went to the travel agent to ask for the tickets, but for our disappointment there were no tickets available on 6th of Nov.
V left Majorda with the intention of staying at Panaji, caught one Tempo to the main road and from there got in to the Kadamba bus destined to Panaji.
When v reached Panaji it was around 9. V enquired at all the lodges and Travel agencies for rooms and tickets. Finally v got a place to stay at Messa, a small place near Panaji. The house was owned by Illacio(Mr. Season...b'cos for every price he charged when v tried to negotiate he used to say it is Season in Goa).
V had dinner in Messa in a small restaurant and came to our room.
Day 3:
It was 9 0' clock when v started from the room. First place on the list was Fort of Agoda.
The fort was not that big one. It also housed one light house. There was one Jail, one big under ground water tank inside the Fort.
V left Agoda fort and and started for the famous Calangute beach.
The crowd at the beach was HUUUUGGGGE.
The waves too were excited on seeing such a crowd i think...the waves tooo were big ones.
V did some water biking there... vow...it was really exciting...the jump on the waves...the speed turns in the water.
Next on the list was Anjuna beach. The beach is full of huge rocks. One has to get down the hill to go to the beach. Mighty Sea waves hit the rocks, only to get scattered in all directions. The sprinkle of waters on the body feels really nice when one stands on these rocks.
V left Anjuna and started moving towards Vagator beach, The beach is really good and is very safe for playing in the waters, V had a very good time on the beach and spent good amt of time on the beach.
Chapora fort...the fort which became well known(atleast to us) after DCH was the next target.
It was the largest of the forts v visited in Goa. The fort is full of white, tall grass. The rock walls, the refreshing air, the view of the Vagator beach from the top, the not ending sea....cool.
Actually v were supposed to reach Panaji at abt 6 in the evening and were supposed to go on Cruise. But v wanted to spend evening/night in Baga. So assid called Mr. Season(Illacio) and told him that v wud b coming late. He agreed.
v all were happy to have earned time to spend at Baga, where the night life is very colorful.
spent some time outside the Chapora fort and started moving towards the famous Baga beach. V stopped at a roadside hotel to fuel our stomach. the hotel was good, with good lights, sand at our feet and ofcourse good food.
It was around 6:30 when v reached baga beach. All of us decided to go on walk on the beach side. The beach was full of restaurants, which had put thier tables on the beach sand and some melodious music.
v walked for abt half an hour and stopped at the sight of Titto's DIsco(Yeah).
On enquiring v came to know that the 'night' was supposed to start only by 11pm(:-().
Assid Reddy called the manager of another Disc0(Matrix) and gave us the good news that the show('night') at Matrix starts early(9 pm). It was abt 7pm, v still had 2 hours before going for the disco. V decided to go into the city of Baga. The city with its beautiful small roads, with restaurants/shops lined on either side, with decent lighting is a great place.
By the time v reached the place where v had parked our bikes the night plan was put off. Like good kids v had decided to return to panaji. Less than half an hours of drive brought us to Panaji. V decided to have dinner at the Udupi Restaurant near the Kadamba Bus stand. There was one 'Jogi' standing at the entrace who became food for all Nakli's jokes.
When v returned to our room, Mr. Season, his mom and Fraancis were all waiting for us with thier guns loaded with words. Like in Matrix we tried to avoid all the bullets but they stuck us hard and cost us dear money. V were made to cough up Rs. 500 extra for using the bike for two extra hours.
By this time v had got the return tickets(Hurray.!!!!!)...releiving us of the big headache.
Day 4:
Sunday(6th Nov) was our last day at Goa. V had plans of visiting Old Goa. When v reached there it was 10:30 am. After eating some Bread Bhaji at one hotel hugry lions decided to load some more fuel at another nearby hotel.
V visited two churches(one of them being the famous church(Boom Jesus Basilica) where the body of St. Francis Xavier is preserved.
By the time v reached Panaji it was 1:30 pm, v decided to first go Mahalakshmi Temlpe and then to the Panaji market.
The temple was quiet and good.
Since it was sunday only few shops were open in the market. Our guys purchased some Hot beverages like Fenny, Port wine etc.
V had a good lunch at the nearby Nova Restaurant.
After lunch v walked to the main road and relaxed on the Benches put on the banks of River Mandovi.
3 of us(myself, Otls and JPD Dilipa) decided to go on the ferry, to our surprise the ride was free(they only charge guys with motor vehicles).
V then went to Panaji bus stand and two of us(myself and buss naga) went to Messa to bring the bags.
The reporting time for our bus was 6pm but after going there v came to know that the bus would only leave by 7pm. so v had some more time. Late and myself went on a walk and found a peaceful park, v sat there for some time refreshing the memory of our trip.
At 7 o' clock v boarded the bus for Bangalore.
As in the college v got the chance to sit at the last benches(seats).
Since the "Goa kick" had not dried off, none of us was ready to settle. Some titles were awared to our Fellow Halkas(Nakli and Ots).
Nakli also sang "Chitradurgada...." song for us.
V all surrendered to sleep only to get up at the Checkpost. The guard entered our bus, came to our seats. He then checked our bags to find some sound of liquid, since our guys had taken the permit there was no problem.
The bus started moving again, the roads in some pars of Karnataka on our bus route were horrible, denying us our right to sleep.
It was 12 noon when v reached bangalore.
To summarize the trip, it was good, full of energy(may be excess of it).
Do visit my blog to see the pics of the trip.
