Hi all,
I should have started this travelogue a long long time ago. But still, better late than never. Probably I did not get around to it as never before was there a trip in my life that I enjoyed so much as this one. That too, was probably because this time my enjoyment was linked to and depended, and magnified with someone else's enjoyment. Oops, sorry I divulged a personal info, did I not?? But I give a damn when it comes to this. Anyways, enough of beating around the bush. Lemme start what I am here to do.
2nd Oct, 2008:
We started around 2a.m. in the morning by car to Mumbai. By we, we mean the two characters Dimitar Kyuchukov and yours truly. The car ride was of course the same as ever. Nothing special. We reached Mumbai even before we could have a proper nap in the car. Man, the cab driver must've flew the car instead of driving it. True, the steering acted like a joystick in his hand. Anyways, reached Mumbai at about 4:30 when the 3rd character in the story made her entry. Deya came tugging along a huge suitcase in her wake!!!! We thought she probably was planning to go and settle down in Goa permanently. This was the first time we perceived how girls pack their bags!! Anyways, we reached the Dadar station at about 5:30 a.m., while Dimitar went ahead to the airport to catch his flight. Well, we waited for about an hour, before the train, Mandovi Express chugged into the station. The train looked clean and we occupied our berth. We had initially planned to stay awake and give each other company all the way. Well, let's just say we kept half the promise. Deya, true to her word, stayed awake, all the way. I felt sleepy, and just threw all cautions to the wind, and slept almost all the way through. Just managed to wake myself up near the end of the journey, and took a few snaps when it stopped for a few mintues at a station.
Please do not ask me to name the stations. Each looks like the other one, all of them alike, standing like a valiant warrior, alone but erect, in the middle of nowhere. The scenery from the train was awesome , to say the least. On both sides of the tracks, rose huge mountains. The train chugged through numerous tunnels, many of them huge in length. Also, it was so very silent. It seemed to be just like a snake wriggling along in a land which just waited to awake and suddenly come to life. One more point that I must mention about the train is it's excellent pantry service. All the food that came out of there was quite tasty!! Anyways, we reached Thivim at around 6:30 in the evening.
Just coming out of the station, the autowallas seemed to hijack us and made us take one to our hotel. So without much delay, and enjoying the daredevil act of the auto-rickshaw driver, who seemed to consider every other automobile near it's vicinity to be below him, drove us to the hotel. The hotel was called Royal Heritage Resort in Calangute. The hotel room was an a/c room with all the necessary amenities. We checked in, and freshened up. We were just getting acclaimatised to the goa atmosphere and culture. We decided to have a late dinner, and went out in search of food at 11:30 in the night. We expected every shop to be doing some quality business even at that time of the night, because, come on, it's goa after all!! It is just not allowed to sleep! Man, we were in for a shock. to our utter dismay, most of the shops seemed no better than Pune shops which just makes it a point to close down by 9 in the night. We started suspecting all the rumours of night life being out-of-this-world in Goa. Thankfully for our tummies, we found a place near the Calangute-Baga circle called David's Place, which was supposed to be good and reasonable. Well, the reasonable part was correct, but it seems to have worsened as far as it's quality is concerned, except for the chicken steak, which was quite good. After that, we thought of going to the beach for catching a sight of the sea, but decided against it due to the late hour. So returned to the hotel and acknowledged EOD #1.
3rd October, 2008:
This day, we woke up a bit late, and planned to spend the day leisurely at the beach. But while going to the beach, Deya suddenly had an idea that we better move to a hotel near the Calangute beach. When checked out several, and finally found a guest house called Popeye Guest House which provided us with a nice room with a private balcony overlooking some small alley which housed several liquor stores and a few buses!! Well, we decided to move to there, but the beach came first. We went to the beach, where Dimitar had a nice bath, while we walked on the beach, taking in the view.
We hired a bike for the rest of the trip, a 150cc Pulsar. It was a nice decision. We shifted our belongings, and then went for the bath in the sea everyone looks forward to when they think of Goa. Well, we had a blast of a time. I tried to drown everyone around me, without much success. Well, then everyone tried the same on me, and nearly succeeded!!! Life seemed so cool that we just were thinking of leaving everything and staying in there the rest of our lives!! Well, I could get all so very dreamy about my future life, but the truth was that no matter what I think, I had to crash down to reality at the end of the day! So I tried to pull myself out of the nice thought that was engulfing me, and we decided to go for a drink, my very 1st one this trip on the beach shack.
Well, the 1 drink was extended to a double white rum, and a beer. We even had a late lunch where we had Tuna steak!! It was delicious, to say the least. It was already sunset time, so we decided to stay back and watch the sun go down beyond the horizon. I ordered another beer, and that took me beyond the sunset. We then returned to our hotel. We had initially planned to go to Tito's Nightclub but gave it up as we were feeling a bit tired. We had a pizza from Dominos for dinner. We planned to go for a North Goa tour the next day, and we fell asleep dreaming about it. EOD #2 for us.
4th Oct, 2008:
This day we started the day with the North Goa tour at about 10 in the morning. On insistence of the driver, we got the ticket for the river cruise in the evening which cost 150/- each. The North Goa tour cost us 1100 bucks in total.
We started off the day by visiting Anjuna Beach. It was a rocky beach, with rocks projecting into the sea. One can go in too far into the sea by walking carefully on to these beaches. It was quite enjoyable onto these rocks, although Dimitar managed to slip more than once successfully, yet that was hardly enough to contain his enthusiasm.
Next, we moved on. The driver stopped at an intermediate place where from we could have a good view of the mini Vagator beach. We took a few snaps, but decided against staying there too long as we were considering visiting more places than staying restricted only to a few. Next stop was the main Vagator beach. The beach looked like a very busy spot, with lots of people visiting all around. We decided to take a bath here. The sea was good for swimming. I managed to drag deya quite a few times beneath the sea before she got terribly afraid of me(nothing new, though, she is always afraid of me)!! Dimitar was diving into the waves, probably trying to push it back from where it came from!! We lost count of time in that activity. We were just refusing to come out of there. It was as if we found a part of our life that we never thought existed, the aquamarine part!
Finally, we managed to pull ourself out of the water, and got ready to continue on our trip. Feeling thirsty, we had a drink of coconut water, as it was healthy, and more important, the only available option on that beach. Next, we had a lunch, which for me, comprised of goan curry. The mackarel was good, but the rest of it was just not upto my liking, to tell you the truth.
Next, we continued on our way. The driver manipulated the route and took us to Baga beach, although that was not part of the initial plan. It was a calm beach with lesser activities. Water sports was going on quite well, although we did not take part in any of them.
Next, we went to Fort Aguada, or more popularly known as the Dil Chahta Hai Fort. It was quite as expected. We snapped a few photos here. Outside, I tried to do some shopping, without much success. The items were not good, neither was the price associated with them.
Anyways, next we moved on to the last ebach for the day, Siquerim. It was a small beach, rocky again, where water sports was abundant.
Next, we moved on. The driver stopped at an intermediate place where from we could have a good view of the mini Vagator beach. We took a few snaps, but decided against staying there too long as we were considering visiting more places than staying restricted only to a few. Next stop was the main Vagator beach. The beach looked like a very busy spot, with lots of people visiting all around. We decided to take a bath here. The sea was good for swimming. I managed to drag deya quite a few times beneath the sea before she got terribly afraid of me(nothing new, though, she is always afraid of me)!! Dimitar was diving into the waves, probably trying to push it back from where it came from!! We lost count of time in that activity. We were just refusing to come out of there. It was as if we found a part of our life that we never thought existed, the aquamarine part!
Finally, we managed to pull ourself out of the water, and got ready to continue on our trip. Feeling thirsty, we had a drink of coconut water, as it was healthy, and more important, the only available option on that beach. Next, we had a lunch, which for me, comprised of goan curry. The mackarel was good, but the rest of it was just not upto my liking, to tell you the truth.
Next, we continued on our way. The driver manipulated the route and took us to Baga beach, although that was not part of the initial plan. It was a calm beach with lesser activities. Water sports was going on quite well, although we did not take part in any of them.
Next, we went to Fort Aguada, or more popularly known as the Dil Chahta Hai Fort. It was quite as expected. We snapped a few photos here. Outside, I tried to do some shopping, without much success. The items were not good, neither was the price associated with them.
Anyways, next we moved on to the last ebach for the day, Siquerim. It was a small beach, rocky again, where water sports was abundant.
We were asked whether we were interested in parasailing or not, and was asked for 2000 for each person, which promptly went down to 1200 to make it more customer-friendly. Yet, after waiting a bit, and seeing the sunset imminent, we decided to go upto the Panjim Jetty for the river-cruise ride.
Next, and for the last item on our travel list, we reached Panjim jetty. The river cruise is called the Royal cruise. It was nice, the upper deck was the bar, and the place wherefrom you can enjoy the sorroundings. The lower deck had a dance stage where people were dancing and enjoying the cruise their way. We, being the intellectual type of people did not venture out into the lower deck, rather tried to enjoy the calm atmosphere and the Goa scenery from the upper deck, with a budweiser in hand.
We came back to our hotels at about 7:30 in the night. That night, we had decided on going to the Tito's nightclub, and freaking out like complete party animals. The dinner we completed at a small joint called Chic N Fish. We had Chicken Steak, and Cricken Kiev. Both were delicious, simply lip-smacking. After that, we ventured to the Tito's. The bloody entry fee was 800/= for couples and 500/= for stags. We were a bit shocked at this, but nothing could curb our enthusiasm at that point of time. We went in, and was not disappointed. Everything was just like it should have been. Beautiful and hot girls dancing away to glory at every inch of the dance fllor! At that point, I understood the meaning of heaven. It seemed as if I have accidentally reached there only, although going by the count of my sins, it is simply unacceptable that I will even find the path to there. Dimitar was out there to have the time of his life....drowing drinks after drinks, and even refusing to stop tapping his feet to the tunes the DJ was dishing out one after the other. Truely, it was difficult to hold one's self back. It was completely due to my enormous self-control, and the terrible mood of my girl-friend, that I could finally hold myself back, and act in a way totally un-befitting to the mood in there. But then, all is fair in war, wat say??
We came back to the hotel by 3 in the morning, like good decent people. We probably realised by then that we were not cut out for a place like Tito's. Good realisation, though a late 1. Although, I somehow feel that we will commit this mistake again and again.
We did not probably even realise that we have almost ended our trip of Goa. It was the penultimate day that was coming to an end. I saw it off witha couple of vodka shots back at the hotel, the Smirnoff green apple twist.
5th Oct, 2008:
Our last day in Goa of this trip dawned ruthlessly, although we all willed it not to come. In the morning, we went for a bike ride to Candolim Beach, because we wanted to have a last ride before the beginning of the end starts happening. The beach was absolutely deserted except for the two of us, and an occasional fisherman.
Next, and for the last item on our travel list, we reached Panjim jetty. The river cruise is called the Royal cruise. It was nice, the upper deck was the bar, and the place wherefrom you can enjoy the sorroundings. The lower deck had a dance stage where people were dancing and enjoying the cruise their way. We, being the intellectual type of people did not venture out into the lower deck, rather tried to enjoy the calm atmosphere and the Goa scenery from the upper deck, with a budweiser in hand.
We came back to our hotels at about 7:30 in the night. That night, we had decided on going to the Tito's nightclub, and freaking out like complete party animals. The dinner we completed at a small joint called Chic N Fish. We had Chicken Steak, and Cricken Kiev. Both were delicious, simply lip-smacking. After that, we ventured to the Tito's. The bloody entry fee was 800/= for couples and 500/= for stags. We were a bit shocked at this, but nothing could curb our enthusiasm at that point of time. We went in, and was not disappointed. Everything was just like it should have been. Beautiful and hot girls dancing away to glory at every inch of the dance fllor! At that point, I understood the meaning of heaven. It seemed as if I have accidentally reached there only, although going by the count of my sins, it is simply unacceptable that I will even find the path to there. Dimitar was out there to have the time of his life....drowing drinks after drinks, and even refusing to stop tapping his feet to the tunes the DJ was dishing out one after the other. Truely, it was difficult to hold one's self back. It was completely due to my enormous self-control, and the terrible mood of my girl-friend, that I could finally hold myself back, and act in a way totally un-befitting to the mood in there. But then, all is fair in war, wat say??
We came back to the hotel by 3 in the morning, like good decent people. We probably realised by then that we were not cut out for a place like Tito's. Good realisation, though a late 1. Although, I somehow feel that we will commit this mistake again and again.
We did not probably even realise that we have almost ended our trip of Goa. It was the penultimate day that was coming to an end. I saw it off witha couple of vodka shots back at the hotel, the Smirnoff green apple twist.
5th Oct, 2008:
Our last day in Goa of this trip dawned ruthlessly, although we all willed it not to come. In the morning, we went for a bike ride to Candolim Beach, because we wanted to have a last ride before the beginning of the end starts happening. The beach was absolutely deserted except for the two of us, and an occasional fisherman.
We idled there for about 30 minutes before deciding to come back and start packing. After returning to the guest house, I went and returned the bike to the shop, and then checked out of the hotel. We still had about 5 hours to kill before we could start for the station to board out return trip. We had spotted an Irish pub very near to the Calangute cirle and Casa de Goa hotel. It was the best decision we took, of course second to the decision of coming to Goa. The food there was absolutely out of this world. Also, the Irish coffee at the end was real good. After that, with about 3 more hours to kill, we came back to the shack at the beach, and took a beer. The atmosphere there was too good, the nature at it's best. Life there seemed the way as everyone wishes it to be. It was really an uncomfortable thought that the very next day, everything will be over, everything will be back to the same boring life that we lead everyday, but dream of changing to something better.
Anyways, as always, time passed, and soon, we were on an autorickshaw on our way to the station. The station was kind of crowded since it was a big break, and many people used it for a trip to Goa, the place everyone wants to be at some point in their lives. The return trip was almost like the onward journey, so no details attached to bore you all with it again. Overall, it was quite good.
So that ended one of the best trips I have been to. I loved almost every moment of it. And I would give anything to go back to each and every moment that I described in this post of mine. Hope to have many such moments in my life ..... signing off!!! :)
Anyways, as always, time passed, and soon, we were on an autorickshaw on our way to the station. The station was kind of crowded since it was a big break, and many people used it for a trip to Goa, the place everyone wants to be at some point in their lives. The return trip was almost like the onward journey, so no details attached to bore you all with it again. Overall, it was quite good.
So that ended one of the best trips I have been to. I loved almost every moment of it. And I would give anything to go back to each and every moment that I described in this post of mine. Hope to have many such moments in my life ..... signing off!!! :)
1 comment:
Good one, Arghya :)))
Post a Comment