Go Goa - Unplanned trip

This is cut-copy-paste/edited(by me) version of travel diary by Sundar J dev, who accompanied me to go out for a vacation of 3 days to Goa totally unplanned!

26th September 2009, Wednesay: Karthik pinged me casually on Wednesday night at around 10 'o clock asking what had i planned for the long weekend ahead. I had thought abt backpacking solo to kerala and told him that. he had planned to go to Kanyakumari I believe. so both of us hit off instantly. first we thought Kanyakumari. Then Karthik suggested Goa. this was more interesting and exciting and so we finally decided on Goa! we thought we should do the entire coast, rite from North Goa all the way to Karwar- a distance of around 130 kms, on bikes. so this was what got me going- the idea of riding a bike along the coastline!

24th September 2009, Thursday: Karthik booked a room for the 2 of us at Palm groove guest house in this place called Vagator in North Goa. I booked the bus tickets for the 2 of us. so we were now ready to go!

25th September 2009, Friday: the 7.30pm bus left Bangalore at 9.00pm :( it was a loooooooooong bus journey, with unscheduled stops in between for tyre replacement and so on, and we reached Panjim at around 12.30pm on Saturday :( :(

26th September 2009, Saturday: we had told ourselves that we are not getting into the cab or the auto to reach the guest house. but as we got down from the bus, we were forced into the cabs by the drivers there. we inquired the price after getting into the cab and the driver told us 400 bucks. we told not a penny more than 250. It didn't work out and we finally got off the cab. we then thought auto might be a good idea and asked a rickshawala there and he asked 300 bucks and we had lost our minds to actually agree to his price and get into the auto. I mean what crazy?! we were stupid enough to actually not walk into the bus stand right next to the auto stand and board a bus :( so here was our first stupid mistake(1st day in Goa) - spending 300 rupees instead of a mere 36 rupees had we traveled by the local bus :'(. Never travel in auto/taxi when you can catch a bus.

Anyway, we reached the guest house at around 2pm. we then got ourselves cleaned and had our lunch in the restaurant attached to the guest house. Then we asked the restaurant owner for a Goa map and 2 bikes for which he kindly obliged. The bikes, one activa and the other a hero honda glamour, were in very good condition as against what we had initially thought. so we were kinda happy.

We took our bikes and left for Vagator beach which was a short distance(1.5km) from where we stayed. the beach was calm and not crowded and stretched a pretty long distance towards the south. we walked almost till the end and found a few outsiders.. It was "interesting" :P

We then went to Calangute beach which was about 6kms from vagator. this was the most crowded of all the beaches.. actually both this and the one adjacent to it- Baga. The beach was a long one and stretched from Calangute on the south end to Baga on the north. we parked our bikes in Calangute and walked all the way till Baga along the beach (again in hope of finding what we thought baga was famous for). we did get into the water in Baga just for the fun of it. It was nice but was crowded and was always being looked over by the life guards. we then got out and started walking back to Calangute.

We then did window-shopping after bargaining with the wooden jewel box and chucking the idea of buying it and i did buy a bag. We then took our bikes and decided on going to fort Aguada and Candolim beach. The fort Aguada was accessible on bikes. It was pitch dark there. We parked our bikes for some pics. we then went to a small patch of beach adjacent to the fort. There was a restaurant on the top which had installed a high beam light bulb which was the only source of light illuminating this beach. This beach was full of crabs; tiny ones i mean. But nevertheless it was nice place. There was also another view point in the same fort. we went there as well. It was a beautiful setting for 9.30pm in the night.. No source of light, with the Arabian sea below and a row ships at a distance. After this we thought of going to Ingo's flea market that happens in this place called Anjuna on every saturday night. Devaki had told me abt this place. It sounded very interesting and we thought we should go there. but unluckily it happens only during nov-dec time we were told :( we then did the 2nd stupid mistake- went to a posh restaurant for dinner and paid 700 bucks for the meal which didn't even fill our stomach x-(. we had lost our senses that day i must tell u! we then returned to our guest house.

27th September 2009, Sunday: We got up bright and early only to find the rest of Goa still sleeping and there was no water in the tap and no one around to help us out either :( So we just brushed our teeth outside and thought we should go to Chapora fort next to vagator beach.. We went there, parked our bkes and went up. There were hardly 3 other ppl there and it was a very pleasant setting. This is the fort that is shown in Dil Chahtha Hai. We walked down the fort to this small hillock below. As we were walking we saw 2 peacocks run across our path!! Karthik did a good job of shooting one of them on his cam. It was indeed exciting to see a peacock in the wild and that too when we least expected to see them! After sitting/meditating on the top of the hillock, we started walking back and on the other side of the fort we saw 2 more peacocks- This time with their feathers open! what-a-sight! We jumped the fort wall and followed them into the bushes. But we were not able to spot them again :( we then returned back to the main entrance of the fort and then made our way back to our bikes. It was a perfect start to the day!

After getting ready and having our free breakfast, we left for Dudhsagar falls on our bikes at around 9.30am. we had to travel around 75 kms from our guest house to reach the starting point of the trek. On the way, we were fined 100 bucks by the traffic police for driving without helmets x-( i mean, what rot?! so anyway, we continued on our journey from there on with the helmets on, always.

Just a few kms from the starting point of the trek, in this place called Molem, we went to a small restaurant to fill our tummies for the trek ahead. we inquired what they had on the menu and the hotel-keeper told us he could get us channa masala,rotis for veg. We settled for the same along with roti's. I must say the channa masala was indeed good! and moreover the hotel-keeper was very hospitable and kind! so we had a decent lunch at a lesser than low-budget price! After this we thought the Activa that i was using had done enough for the day and so thought no point in pushing it any more. So we left the activa in the restaurant after taking the matron’s permission. We then reached the starting point of the trek on Karthik’s bike.

We now had an option of either trekking or riding on bike for another 14 kms to reach the falls. we decided to try our own bike :D but we used the wrong road, the one along the railway track and it was just not motor able :( and so we had to give up the idea :( we then parked the bike adjacent to the railway track inside a bush and started walking. it was around 1.30 when we started. we walked and walked and walked for almost 2 full hours and no sight of the falls yet . We were misguided by almost all of them at beginning of the trek that it might take us around an hour on foot! but actually the falls is a good 14 kms into the western ghats! we encountered numerous small streams and waterfalls all along the trek route :) Imagine just 2 ppl in the middle of mountains and no sight of anyone else around. I was loving it! After walking for around 8 kms we reached this railway station called Sonalium. not a railway station as such, but just a signal room with a station master (for a crossing is present for Vasco trains). It is not accessible by any other means other than by train! i was seriously wondering what was the purpose of this station! At this station, we met this Navy family, or rather a group of 2 families. Karthik inquired with them about how far the falls was from there, for which we were told that it was a good 6-7 kms further up along the track route and could easily take another hour to reach on foot.. Off went our enthusiasm in a whisker :( it was 3.30pm already i think. and the idea of trekking another 1 hr was not very convincing, but at the same time very hard to accept too :( this Navy family also suggested that we cud indeed go there and supposedly there is another railway signal room rite next to the falls(Dudhsagar station) where we could spend the night and return in the morning! sounded very exciting! had we not got our bikes, i'm sure we would have happily done that. But stupid bikes prevented us from doing it x-( nevertheless, the trek was a unique one for me and different from the others i have done! so we decided it was better we return back :( now happened the most exciting part of the whole trek- hitching a ride back on a goods train!!!! I must tell you I was excited to the peak :D I mean, how many times do u get an opportunity to travel on a goods train?! It was one of those rare experiences! We got onto the last vehicle in the goods train along with the Navy family.. The Guard was a real nice person! all along the track, when we trekked, we noticed milestone plates marked something like 43/500 and 43/400 and so on. we were not able to figure out what the numbers meant. I asked the gaurd this and he clarified our doubts! you read it as 43kms 500 mts or 43.5kms and 43.4 kms respectively :) and yeah i forgot to mention- it rained while we rode back on the goods train :D and we were more than happy to get drenched! I always thought we could get to see such things only in Hindi movies!?! So finally we got down at the Colem railway station, thanked the guard for the ride (one of those ride-of-our-lives for the both of us!) and the Navy family for advising us and also for giving us biscuits and potato bonda(:D), and then we walked a small distance to the place where we had parked our bike. we then rode back to the restaurant to pick up my bike and started towards our guest house at around 6.10pm

We now had to cover 75 kms along NH-17 (the one that connects Bangalore and Goa) which was full of trucks and state transport buses. At one point I used all the expletives i ever knew for a NWKRTC bus driver who could have easily sent me packing that day, nevertheless we safely reached Panjim at around 8.00pm. We then went to this udipi veg and non-veg restaurant (:P), a very small and dingy place on the first floor. Our stupid acts of spending lavishly the previous day had indeed taught us some good lessons! :) We ate veg fried rice and had cool drink Mirinda - Our bill was just 120 bucks :D and just fyi, the whole day's food cost was a mere 300 bucks for the both of us!! as we munched on the food, we also planned for the next day. We then left Panjim for our guest house and reached at around 10.00pm.

28th September 2009, Monday: We got up as per our schedule and got ready and checked-out of our guest house after thanking the matron there for all the nice facilities at the guest house. And btw, I would recommend this place to anybody heading to Goa. It was dirt cheap (1320 bucks for 2 days with breakfast. remember this was peak tourist season) and had ALL the facilities like hot water, attached restaurant, and even cable tv. we then got into a local bus to go to Panjim via Mapusa where we had to change buses. we reached Panjim at around 9.30am. We were right on schedule till now! We then bargained with a local person there for a bike and got one for 250 bucks as against the 300 bucks he first quoted. The bike was in a horrible shape(Fuel tank of hero-honda splendor was shaking as if it would fall off!!) and We only later realised that we should have bargained for even lesser :( nevertheless, after finishing our breakfast in a nearby restaurant, we left for Vasco which was a good 30 kms from Panjim and we reached there at around 11.30am. In Vasco there was nothing much to see apart from the harbor, which we tried our luck to enter but were driven away by the CRPF gaurds at the gate :( we also went into the railway station hoping to see the end of the track as Vasco was the last station for trains headed there. We didn't realise that the harbor was further down the station and that goods train ply all the way into the harbor. So after walking some distance out of the station, on the tracks in the hope of finding the end, we returned without finding one and realizing that the tracks led to the harbor :( by now we had given up the idea of going to Margao and Cape De Rama, both of which wud have taken us a good 5-6 hrs to cover to and fro and we didn't have that much time with us and also the bike we had with us was just not worth relying on to cover that kind of distance! We then spent our time going to Baina beach in Vasco where there was some life-guard training/conditioning camp happening. After spending somewhere like 30 mins there, we headed back to Panjim from Vasco. And yeah, we also had our lunch on the way back in Vasco and the bill: just 100 bucks. we were improving!!(But the Chapati's were really good!)

On reaching panjim, we thought we should go to Dona Paulo view point. This place was the one we “least” liked of all the places in Goa. It was crowded to the brim. There were speed water bikes here, but we had exhausted almost all our money to even afford 200 bucks for a ride :P We left this place heavy hearted and went to Miramar, which was a small distance from here. this place was very calm and hardly had few people. and this was where we saw the beach sand shifting due to strong winds like the sand dunes u see in deserts! both of us sat there for some time as we had a lot of time and nothing else to do for the day before we could board our bus back to Bangalore. It was here that Karthik got this crazy idea of getting the bike inside the beach and riding it! cheers to Karthik x-( luckily it never worked as he was not able to find a way to enter the beach with the bike! I'm sure we might have ended up getting kicked out from there by the locals had Karthik's idea worked :)

We then got back to Panjim and returned the bike and collected our bags from the shop where we rented our bikes. We then went to this restaurant near the bus stand for snacks. Had masala pav and coffee; bill - 96 bucks! We then reached the bus stand at around 5.10pm and our bus was to leave at 6.15pm. So we had a lot of time which we spent sitting on the side wall adjacent to the road and opposite the bus stand, watching all the girls there! It was here that i spotted this really pretty girl. She was with this guy x-( here started our story-making session where the main character was this pretty girl, the guy with her- we called him kuruda (as he was wearing those dark glasses at 5.40pm in the evening!), then there was this another person whom we had met on the day we landed in Goa and who was responsible for us spending 300 bucks on auto- we called him chombu (u know why J) and then there was this aunty character who was the pretty girl's acquaintance from god-knows-where and her father and mother(i think), who were ajja ajji in our story! This story had so many twists that we were back to square one in figuring out how kuruda was related to our heroine. The sequence of events suggested that he was her boyfriend :( but then there were a few things that made us think that he cud be her brother as well ;) we were too good in this! and the best part was when we realised that this girl's seat was rite next ours in the bus! I was more than happy to let Karthik take the window seat this time :D anyways, she looked very pretty and that was the point and that was what made our return journey rather interesting! We reached bangalore the next day at around 10.00am, rather early and much against my expectations, and thus came the end of our “unplanned” Goa trip! A very memorable trip it was!

3 cheers to Karthik for this! Maga, u rock, seriously kano!! J

Photos @ http://picasaweb.google.com/karthikhb/GoGoaUnplannedTrip?feat=directlink#