Weekend Getaway from Bangalore

GOA - Poor man's Ibiza

Bangalore- Belgaum- Jamboti ( Belgaum - Goa highway)- Keri(querim)-Bacholim- Mapusa- Panjim - Old Goa- Baga- Calangute- Vasco- Verna - Palolem- Gokarna -Hubli - Gokarna - Bangalore

Day 01

Pic Courtesy:RB

Last minute plans, last minute ticket booking, last minute rush..this is what is expected when you go for a trip with friends, that too with crazy friends like mine. I became a part of this journey unexpectedly hence they booked ticket for me in the end. We started off by 10:15 p.m from our place to catch 11:30 p.m bus. As expected we had to ask the cab driver to return midway to our place . And the reason for this: Our very good friend forgot to take his camera and once he got the camera in his hands, he realised that it doesn't have a memory card.

This led to the inevitable result, we got stuck in the traffic. The traffic hardly moved for 15 minutes and we thought we would have to photoshop our pictures into goan beaches to show our friends. After all, some of us boasted to others about our impending exciting weekend adding that we pitied their boring plans. Fortunately, our driver rode through all the inner roads and evaded the traffic so we reached on time.

As soon as we reached,I received another jolt. Since my ticket was booked in the end, I got seat in a separate bus. My bros were really concerned about this. They talked with the travel operators but they dint allow the swapping of buses since mine was a ladies seat. They agreed to make arrangements to let us all travel together. Unfortunately there were two buses and many people travelling to Goa, so had to breakaway from the gang and travel solo. The agent assured that the buses are going together along the same route.

Day 02

The next morning midway through the journey, I realised that my bus was taking an entirely different route than the other. Sigh, these people!

Though a bit hesitant at first, I started enjoying the journey. Finally time for myself- away from the familiar faces, away from the exploding thoughts , away from the digitally connected world. The beauty of sitting near the window of a bus as it traverse through town after town, hairpin curves , misty mountains and never ending greenery is indescribable.

Isn't it magical  to witness mist turning into tiny water drops as it kisses the window? It was sheer joy travelling alone to a place that I have never been before. Since my bus left me with the only option of getting down at Panjim, my gang of brothers also agreed to come all the way to meet me so that our travel gang is complete.

Plan got revised a bit in the end. I enjoyed my solo trip so much that I ventured to get down at Panjim and find my way to Ponda on my own. I asked a policeman for the bus stand and found a bus to Ponda. It was too exciting.

The roads were so narrow, it reminded me of my hometown. The buses were smaller and could hardly accommodate 30-35 people. Nevertheless, what better way to start knowing GOA.

Pic Courtesy:RB

I got down in Ponda bus station and waited for my friend to come and pick me up. And finally we reached home and had some yummilicious food.After the lunch, we headed to St Francis Xaviers( Basilica of Bom Jesus) in old Goa where the remains of Saint Francis Xavier was kept. It was pretty crowded and if you intended for a quiet prayer time, this was not the place for you. But the church is magnificant. After seeing the remains of another old church, which is a shooting destination of many films, we headed to Panaji, a scenic drive along the Mandovi river.

After second guessing about the beaches we want to visit, roaming around a bit and many wrong turns to the wrong route, we finally arrived at the tourist's paradise: BAGA beach. The pumping music and the teaming crowd welcomed us.

I loved the feel of water on my feet and the sand beneath my feet. After walking to and fro on the beach, I sat on the beach alone while my friends went for a beach run.  The sound of the waves , the blasting music, nature at its splendor on a lovely evening took me back the memory line, sea of emotions, swarm of familiar faces that are unfamiliar now and all those wonderful moments that are just memories.

It was getting darker and finally after hours, my friends came back after their short turned long run from Baga to Calangute beach.We had light but tasty appetizers for dinner overlooking the beach .The music was blasting from the various shacks but I felt it was really quiet. Something kept brewing in my mind.

We scurried across the narrow paths guessing our way back to the car. For some reason, we never felt like asking someone for the route. But, our wild guesses led us to the right place. I remember getting in the car and closing my eyes. When I opened my eyes, we were home.

Day 03

When in Goa, no one sees mornings. But we thought of starting our day at the earliest . We broke conventions. One of our friends who worked in the outskirts of Karnataka , also joined us. So our gang became " the not so famous FIVE".  Our guide cum friend cum driver took us to an unexplored view point from where we could see beach line. " If you are silent; you can hear the waves talking to you". We tried it but we understood that our non stop chatter made the view more pleasurable to the eyes.

Pic Courtesy:RB

Then we proceeded to the heart shaped Blue Lagoon in Vasco , nestled on the exteriors of a mini forest. There was a narrow path leading to this wonderful place, a perfect getaway to swim and relax with a couple of beers. Those who don't swim like me, can sit on the ledges and watch the waves crashing against the rocks. We went when the sun was burning upon us but this did not steal the thunder from this magical secluded place. Special mention to two of my bros: One had enough and more Fenny and other had a big bottle of wine by this time and both of them were in the highest spirits. Fenny man called himself a dragon on fire and kept asking for ice.

After this , we went for a stomach filling lunch near the Verna Industrial Area. The sea food meal( Portugese seafood Thali) had a wide variety of delicacies of fish, shell fish, crab and it blew away my mind completely.  " Wine man " and the guide had prawn allergies, Still they went ahead and feasted on the spread. So the outcome: Wineman felt the break of an allergic reaction,  had a glass of salted lime water and proclaimed himself " fine as butter" after self treatment. The guide drove us and himself to a hospital because he felt a stronger allergic reaction to prawns. Dragon man was completely sloshed and passed out in the car, claiming " he was fully conscious inside."

Pic Courtesy:RB

Guide got an injection for his allergy and we continued our Goa expedition. Our next destination was Chapora Fort. It was a long drive and Dragon man started being his normal self again. To reach the Fort, we climbed a small hill and the final view was worth every penny spend on the travel. The remains of the fort walls stretched across miles and served as the seat for sea-watching. The hill with the fort on top, was covered by evergreen meadow on all the sides interspersed by small rocks and beyond this was the sea. The sun was setting , the breeze was cool and after a while, It started drizzling a bit. What more do I want in life?

I felt all the bruises within me starting to heal. If I had the option of building a small house there and stay forever, I would do it. Every minute spend there, was worth it. Till it grew dark, we stayed there and had to use the mobile torch to trek down the hill. On the way back, we got in a resto bar and sat for sometime listening to music. I loved that place with soothing music and beautifully decked interiors. The crowd was classy and it felt good.

After a long drive to Panaji, we had our dinner at the Ritz , a well known place for Goan cuisine. The food was good , ambience was good and we topped this off with quality time near the waterfront facing the Casinos. It was midnight when we reached home , just in tine for a sound sleep.

Day 04

This was our last day in Goa.We continued our tradition of starting early. We headed southwards to Palolem beach. The beach, somehow did not seem to attract many Indian tourists, but could spot lot of foreign tourists. It was quieter and we pretty much had the beach to ourselves. Dragon and Wineman went to the sea to cool off and became a darker version of themselves. I loitered along the beachline letting the water kiss my feet, listening to the waves, talking to the sea god and collecting the perfect gifts from the sea- sea shells.

Pic Courtesy:RB

We spend half the day in that quiet beach chilling in a shack, and then proceeded to Gokarna. Our first pit stop was Om Beach that was pretty famous with hippies. There were trees on both sides of the small path leading to the beach and small steps to climb down to the beach. It looked more and more beautiful as we climbed down one step at a time. There were big rocks jutting into the sea giving it the shape of Om. Even though these rocks added charm to the beach , it made the beach dangerous. There were warning signs everywhere asking people not to venture into the waters because of whirlpool. Did the beach mesmerise me? I would say ," No" but the drive to the beach was exhilarating.

Pic Courtesy:RB

Like Goa, Gokarna is known for its beaches. We drove to the top of a hill facing the beach and watched the sunset. It was not crowded but there were people smoking up here and there. We started off to our last stop for the night- Hubli. The drive to Hubli was through miles and miles of forest. Night was falling and the road was deserted, it was scary yet thrilling. Deep inside I knew that, if the car broke down somewhere, it was dangerous. The fact that the chances of going for a trip like this was almost nil in the future, strengthened my will to overcome my fears.

We reached Hubli by 9:30 and had the tastiest dinner at "Bougainvilla"- a cosy , homely , well furnished, artistically decked restaurant. I felt like eating and not stopping. After a heavy dinner, we crashed at our friends place and I was in deep sleep within seconds.

Day 05

The final stop before heading back to Bangalore was Dandeli. The road from Hubli to Dandeli was not well developed and it slowed our journey. In addition to that, the delay in finding a petrol bunk and ATM further hampered our pace.

Finally when we reached Dandeli, we asked a traffic police for directions to rafting area. He directed us to a Tours Operator who told us that rafting was not permitted because of bamboo shafts falling into the waters and these will be trimmed only by November. So we decided to try our hand at kayaking. The operator gave us a package of Rs 250 per person for 1 hour. I was scared of deep waters, but my inner voice urged to conquer my fears.  

The Bison Resort which had facilities for water sports was further 25-30 km from the town, deep inside a forest. It was difficult to find the resort with no mobile network  and we heavily relied on the judgement of human civilization we met occasionally on the way. Trust me, when I say that if someone tells you 2 kms, it means five times more distance.

Finally we arrived at the resort. Here we got to know that, generally Kayaking was for just half an hour. Wineman bargained a lot and they extended our time to 45 minutes. As soon as they saw the small boats, bros jumped in and started clicking pictures. They kept going beyond the boundary set for us and really made use of the 45 mins.We had a guide who kept a watch on us. I was scared of deep water so I hardly rowed far from the guide. I kept calling out to him to keep a watch on me .

My muscles started hurting so I retired from the waters well before the allowed 45 minutes. After this, we started off to Bangalore by 3 p.m. We were singing on our way back and the drive through the golden quadrilateral road from Dharwad to Bangalore was amazing. The blue skies, green earth and a straight well tarred clean road, it was bliss. Since I was the centre of entertainment, I had to talk non stop when bros started feeling sleepy. In between, we stopped to have food from KFC in Davangere and this was the only break we took. By the time we reached Bangalore, it was after midnight. This brought the end of a memorable trip.