Goa - Oct 2009

This is our first official trip to Goa! (doesnt mean that we havent gone to Goa earlier or its something related to office!) Rains are at its peak and an evening start through Shimoga route isnt a good idea..but we are going through! The constant drizzle irritates till Shimoga. Once past and towards Sagar, the road was all for us..ofc, you cant expect any other ghosts to drive at 1am in that part of the world! The drive was just pleasant with all those good old hindi songs. In fact, the songs kept the rhythm nicely throughout this trip..like when in good mood, all the latest tamil/hindi/kannada songs.. in the calm night, classic old songs ..and when the conditions are irritating like rain or traffic, Eminem will give a moral support and keep our spirits at level.. :D ..and then while entering Goa, it has to be 'jing-jaka jing-jaka' !

ok..we reach Honnavar at around 3:30am..rain still blasting and we find a place to catch up some sleep. Morning after the breakfast at Kamat, we head towards Karwar..and its still raining. The blasting rain in that coastal stretch and sitting dry inside a car is somewhat weird..generally if it rains, we get wet. With only 3 more hours of drive left, playing all the new songs, and thinking where to have lunch in Goa, we are optimistic on the proceedings. But Murphy's law says "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong" and it did!! Land slide & road block! Come on, i am not driving towards Leh..but the fact is that, Karwar is close to hills and it seems like nonstop rains have created quite a few major landslides and blocked the path in several places..and the hot news is that there is no hope that it will be open by today.



With the mind game going on, we take the diversion for Yellapur thinking either to take Kaiga route or Dandeli route. Kaiga route again goes into remote ditches and with these landslides around, it will sure ditch our Goan hopes..so we head for Ambiga nagara!(doesnt mean that actress Ambiga was born here or something!) This route goes never ending with irritaing pot holes thrown generously! By now i have given the wheel to PKM and i am watching movies in his laptop! (dont ask me which movie etc!) PKM manages to clear the interior roads and reach the belgaum/goa highway and gives back the wheel to me. Now this particular infamous stretch of the road is keeping its prime condition. The combo is , Trucks+Red slush+pot holes! ,and you get this for 20 odd kms taking an hour and half with Eminem trying hard to keep up the spirits! Everything is Red.. the trucks/plants/trees/my car/road or track whatever you call that its all painted Red! You get out of the car to pee or something, they will paint you too!



We are out of the ghat section..still the road is twisting. Its 7:30 pm and it starts raining.(it doesnt mean that it wasnt raining in the recent past hours) Initially i was little down as its unknown road/rain/oncoming traffic etc..but you go as closer to Goa the road gets as better. Now i could see the rush of cars & SUVs entering Goa as its long weekend. Pumping music..blasting rain..zip/zap overtaking..the fun is back for the day! At some moment, overtaking long trucks & volvos together at one shot..and then at one point, 4 lengthy vehicles tailgating i dont know what they were..one shot overtaking with water splashing both sides raising above the car.. damn..we enter Goa! I have to thank that Vista guy who kept a nice company ripping all the way from Ponda till Calangute..till the cross where our resort located..! :D If not, we would have ended up stopping/asking in many places in that rain! I didnt see any other vehicle ripping like that in that condition and i was convinced that he is our breed entering Goa and WILL enter Calangute! :D



The resort guy had already made several calls in doubt..with his utter disbelief, we enter his place! Still raining and he went himself and gave what & all we wanted!
We see around his place..few cottages..a garden and swimming pool..all glowing in the rain! Beautiful place it is! We go out to the calangute market..stroll around a little..and pack our food and back!

The next two & half days we spent in Goa. I am going to finish it short on that and its just the usual customary stuff everybody does in Goa! You got to be there to feel it! :-) The next day we had a late breakfast..and spent most of the time in the pool. The pool water was recycled and getting cleaned as our entry to the resort marked the beginning of the season. In the afternoon, we went out to wash the car. and then went to calangute beach to have a walk around.



In the evening, we went towards Chapora fort. This is supposed to be a famous tourist spot with thousands of people coming down here. There are lots of movies shot here..the most known got the name 'dil cha tha hi' view point..and even the recent Golmaal 3 has a nice shot here with all especially Kareena showing the back! :D
But all said & done, this fort has its own uniqueness..you stay back for sunset..and stay even later..every single tourist leave the place and the whole fort standing on the hillock next to the sea shows its another face! Its so unique experience that i have always gone there and stayed back late. We even reached this fort by 9pm in one of our later trips and stayed there under moon light..its so wonderful.

Later we came back to Candolim beach and found a lone but happening shack on the beach. All the lights & music up and the firangis having their day. PKM is very satisfied to have the beach side dinner and i too enjoy the same. Post dinner, we got into beach in dark and had a mission to reach the view of the abandon ship! :D We did see it before we turn back! ..and it was around 12:30 AM.. if you think the day is over, you are wrong. We then head to our next destination..Sinquerim fort..supposed to be another famous touring spot but at this time of the day, you could expect only ghosts. All those lights from the Taj hotel nearby gives a night life to the fort. I dont know whether the fort is built little inside sea..or later sea came in.., but its so fantastic now. You sit on that 30 feet high fort wall..and still get drenched by the waves occasionally. Later we drive back to the resort but not really in a mood to go & sleep. PKM was on wheel, and the hindi songs are going on and we come across this batch of guys & girls tracking back after party all tired! The song goes in the car is 'Sohniye' and when we cross the girls the same stanza comes and we scream out of the window 'Sohniye..ohh Sohniyeeee'.. :P couple of girls were in all smile and one of them i could clearly see blushing! probably in their high school days they would have got this treatment..and now and in a place like Goa, i am sure they wouldnt have expected!

Ok..we are back to the resort and it must be around 1:30 am now..and do you think our day is over? No! we get into the pool!! The resort guy has installed a mechanism like if someone walks in the night near garden/pool, the light comes on..and after few seconds it goes off..and we were trying to walk like aliens to beat the system..in pool dress that is..god knows if he had a camera too..he would have had life time fun then!

The next day it was almost lunch time we had breakfast..and went to Calungute beach for lunch. A stroll around baga and we were back to the pool in the resort. Most of the evening was spent in the pool. In the night we again went to Anjuna & chapora..did some offroading with Activa trying to climb the hill.. :D on the way, we saw a church and spent sometime trying out night shots. Had lunch at Calangute and the trip was over. But not before getting into pool again by 1am before going to bed!

Next morning had a late start to Bangalore..pretty eventless..tired..except for the last stretch 'chitradurga to bangalore' between 2am to 4am ripping to glory.