Hi folks,
Some of my friends from College days decided to go on an Excursion trip to Goa during the weekend before the Republic Day in India as that would have given 3 consecutive days of holiday. I was bit reluctant to join the trip. None the less after much coaxing and reasoning out with them, I decided to join the group as this trip was being touted to be the last of our trips as bachelors. What that meant to me? It meant that we could move anywhere, stay anywhere and do whatever in Goa :-).
We began planning and discussing with friends who had already been there . Reading blogs was another way of finding out what all places to visit and what could be done there in Goa. I told myself that this was going to be one of the most memorable trips and certainly it did turn out to be one hell of a memorable trip, as we all found out when the trip came to an end. We will come to know what happened, in the latter part of the blog. It all began with two sets of return tickets booked by us of which we had to cancel one with most part of the payment going to railways coffers. Nonetheless this beginning had set the ball rolling for us and everybody was gearing up for the excursion to Goa.
After much head-scratching we decided on the itenerary for our trip to Goa. The Itenerary
Day 1 - Arambol Beach, Sweet water lake
Day 2 - Baga beach, Calangute beach, Colva beach and Fort Aguada.
Day 3 - Palolem beach, honeymoon Island
Goa is well connected to major cities like Bangalore. Trains are available to places like Vasco, Panjim etc from Goa. Since we were late in booking the tickets we could not get ticket for Vasco or Panjim. We boarded Rani Chenamma Express at Bangalore City Junction at 9 PM IST and were to get down at Londa Junction next morning around 7.30 AM IST which is in Karnataka. Had our dinner in the train itself and were hogging it like had not eaten something in long time. One lady in the compartment was looking at us as if she had not seen anything like that before. For us, it was more of reliving the college days in chennai when Chicken would vanish out of the pressure cooker or kadahi before being served on the plate. It was fun.
Day 1
Next morning we got down at Londa Junction and were searching for options to go to Panjim as we had to go to Arambol that very day. Our plan was to rent bikes and move to Arambol and stay there that night. There is a daily train from Londa Jn. to Panjim everyday except on Fridays in the week around 10 AM, so that was out. Taxi drivers were asking exhorbitant rates for 100KM drive like 2000-2400 Rs. We were six of us and got three more people from other group there and booked a Tata Sumo and moved out of Londa around 9 AM. There is bus service as well from Londa to Panjim, Vasco and Margao till 6 or 6.30 PM and ticket cost is 56 Rs. per head to Margao and is around 60-70 Rs. to panjim. We had our breakfast at Ramnagar, hardly 1 or 2 KM from Londa. We reached panjim around 12 PM and rented bikes from there, cost 250 per day ( 9 AM to 9 AM , 24 hours ). Renting a bike provides flexibility to move around in Goa and it requires some ID proof to be submitted with the agents. I noticed that some agents were authorized and some were unauthorized with there shop on the street itself near the GPO in panjim. But there is no hassle as such. After having lunch in Panjim, we started for Arambol around 1 PM. We had to cross Zuari river and move north of Panjim as Arambol is one the northern most beaches in Goa. Its nearly 40 KM drive from Panjim. Roads are good and scenery is beautiful everywhere and one will love driving there. There are sign posts at cross-roads or at fork bends and one can not get lost there as people are really helpful. We reached Arambol around 4 PM as we had to go to hospital on the way. Why? One of our musketeer bent his leg at an unbelievably awkward angle while trying to reach top berth in train. While trying to do some unhuman act like that he fainted. Not out of sheer joy of achieving the unbelievable feat but due to sheer pain. How one can do something like that. One can, because another musketeer achieved even greater feat than this one. What? You will know.
When we got down at Arambol beach, it was a totally different experience than had been in Panjim. Panjim is like any other capital city almost and Arambol is like a very laidback place with a very not so laidback kind of lady in green bikini strolling in the market place. Our eyes gorged out and jaws dropped instantly. That was the first time we felt we were in Goa. A really hot welcome at Arambol took us by surprise. But I get bored with constancy and girls in bikinis started boring me. But Arambol, for a person like me who likes to be away from crowd, was like perfect fit. With the beach being very less crowded unlike other beaches in India for instance, it was perfect place to be there and chill out. There were many foreigners, looked like hippies or followers of Osho and were performing some acts with props which must be bringing peace to their mind, I guess, to me amusement. We had nice dinner by the beach side and being out with friends from college after long time was icing on the cake. Lying down there on the beach watching stars and listening to the waves breaking on the coast was very soothing. We didnt get any beach huts in Arambol as we reached there late. Were lucky to get a room for 600 Rs. and we all slept in that room in Arambol. It was really a memorable day 1 of our excursion.
Day 2
Day 2 started with a trek near the sweet water lake and it was realy good trek which we found out and reached banyan tree. Had breakfast in Arambol and left for Anjuna beach around 11 AM. Couldn't find much for myself in Anjuna except that I bought one Kurta with hare Rama hare Krishna print. We left for Bagha from there for our adventure sports day in Goa. If Arambol had a laidback kind of atmosphere, then Bagha was juxtaposite to that with a very vibrant and lively kind of feel there. It was like a beach right out of Baywatch, not for the bikini babes but for the hell lot of activities happening in the sea. Sky line was filled with parachutes , there were Water scooters zipping past here and there, people astride banana boat falling of it in mid waters, some one in an inflated mattress kind of floatable thing, tied to a racing motor boat (called bumper ride as your bottom will truly be bumping on waves) , was clinging on to it as if he was clinging on to his life. The beach had everything. I did parasailing and the bumper and found both of them boring. First one had no thrill as parachute was tied to boat and second one was more of strength training and i was sure , i would not be short of that. After our acivities at Bagha, we left towards Fort Aguada for the sun set. unfortunately we could not reach on time due to hassle over chicken biryani getting late in a restaurant Calangute and later one guy running out of fuel. The gates of fort Aguada close by 6 PM. So we decided to move on to Panjim. We searched for hotel room in vain that night as all the hotels were occupied due to the extended weekend and the stressed out crowd had hit Goa that very day (Saturday). Finally, we managed to get a lodge near the Zuari river with Rs 50 per cot and a very spledid view from the verandah.
Day 3
We started from Panjim towards Margao and it took 45 minutes and 22 Rs. bus ticket to reach there. Road was again pretty good. From Margao we boarded another bus towards Palolem. Arrived there by 10 something. Rented 2 beach huts for 1000 bucks for a day and played some cricket and football on the beach. Then we went to see honeymoon beach. No need to tell why. The ride in the boat was thrilling and felt more thrill while giving Titanic pose on a speeding motor boat mid sea. We saw dolphins and that was first time I had seen them live and in there natural habitat. Now, the time came for another musketeer to manage another feat of great excellence. The feat to fracture heel bone by jumping from a height of 4 ft. For what? For a snap ofcourse. How stupid. Spent the whole day after that in unbearable pain and had to walk with the help of a stick to return to Bangalore next day.
Was a really memorable trip with lots of everything. Lots of Sun, Sand , Sea and booze. Now I look at my fractured leg and thank god that something more disastorous did not happen like being thrown off the Speed boat doing titanic while not having a life jacket. So guys and gals, remember one thing Josh without hosh is disastorous. learnt it the hard way as always have been in life. So, All those who plan to go to Goa , have fun, every beach is different and has different character and to those who had been there with me , Guys lets plan next trip to Andamans on a Cruise liner.
