Day 3

Morning on the beach 
It was an awesome feeling to wake up early in the morning on a beach. At around 7, the boat owner had returned and he started asking us money for using his boat. Somehow, we convinced him that we had sat there for just 5 minutes. Next, we went to the Sulabh Complex to get freshen up, filled our vehicles' tanks with petrol and decided to go to Wagator beach & Chapora fort (the same place where Dil Chahta Hai was shot) after all we had the vehicles with us untill noon.

Wagator beach & Chapora Fort

Wagator beach

It was fun riding up to Chapora fort's base from Baaga beach. Apurv had a slight idea about its location but we followed the sign boards and eventually ended up at the base. From there after a slight hike, we got in the fort to savor the fantastic views of Wagator beach on one side, Chapora Lagoon on the other side and the vast expenses of Arabian sea till horizon.

Dil Chahta Hai

Walking around the fort's wall 

Sapan-Kalantri ka Katta aur hum sab ko laga Chuna 
We had spent quite a lot of time at Chapora. Besides just when we were about to return to Calangute (for giving back the hired bikes), Sapan-Kalantri's vehicle got punctured and getting it repaired ate up a lot of our time. This was the 2nd time those 2 got screwed up in Goa. (earlier they were caught by Goa police for riding without license and had to pay hefty amount as fine).

Due to all this we got late in returning the hired vehicles and had a hard time explaining the mental rental guys who started demanding twice the rent. We finally ended up paying some extra money. The 6 other guys (the Royals) had quietly got their tickets booked for Bhadravathi and were returning by the noon bus.




Miramar Beach
After reaching Panaji Bus stand we too got our tickets booked for the evening bus.We still had some 3 hours with us and so after having our lunch at a Goa restaurant we went to spend some time at Miramar beach. We finally left Goa by the 5'O clock bus.


Goodbye Goa
In one and a half days we had covered quite a lot of ground. But that's exactly the nature of our non-luxury, fast-paced, backpack traveling with friends. 

I had very low expectations from Goa but I wasn't disappointed. Infact, the free spirit of the place had definitely impressed me. I identified myself with it.

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Other Posts

•   Fell in love with Kerala
•  Nilgiris & Wayanad
•  Trekking in Karnataka & the 1000 year old temples 

Day 2

A Long Day Indeed: May 29th

Candolim
We reached Panaji at around 7 am after a gruesome 8 hour journey. Soon after reaching there, Apurv took the charge as our chief Tour Guide and we left for Candolim in a rickety local transport. It was around 10-12 kms away and took about half an hour to reach over there.

As was told to us by the enlightened ones, Candolim beach was quite popular among foreigners and few people in our group had high hopes of spotting some eye-candies. Unfortunately, they didn't realize it was an off-season time and we found the beach deserted with very few shacks here and there.

moving on to the beach

Nevertheless, we enjoyed the beach immensely playing among ourselves











Bikes @ Calangute : Watersports @ Baaga
After having a good time at Candolim, we went to calangute and hired bikes for 24 hours. We got 7 activas and 1 motorcycle (as only one guy had Gear wala license). I was on Activa with Aayush(who didn't have his license with him & so I was driving). We went around the streets of Goa and spent the afternoon at Baaga beach.

At a beachside shack, Baaga

Gearing up for Banana boat ride

After Banana ride

it was fun riding water scooter

Dragging the boat for Parasailing

An Evening in Goa

After watersports and lunch, the 15 of us took our bikes and we rode towards Panaji in full speed. With Apurv(Santosh at the back) taking the lead, the rest of us followed them. By the time we reached Panaji, sun was setting and it was just the right time to visit Donna Paula.

View from Donna Paula

Some Villa close to Donna Paula

Issues to sort-out : Acco for the Royals

After the sunset, we visited Raj Bhavan beacuse it was nearby. Just when people were wondering where to head next, different issues started coming up.  Some people were concerned that since morning we were roaming from one place to other without finding a place to stay for the night. Few were concerned about trivial issues like bathing, brushing teeth, etc especially after full day spending in sea water. Whereas others like us were worried that time was less, so instead of wasting time to think about all this we must go on and enjoy Goa.

The Hippies & The Royals
So finally we got divided into 2 groups - those who wanted to have a night out roaming around the streets of Goa on bikes and sleeping on the beaches stayed with us (the 9 Hippies) and the 6 others (more of Royal nature)- moved on to find a room for themselves, somewhere in Panaji.

Hippies on bikes
After having quick snacks (Bhelpuri, paanipuri, etc), we moved on towards Miramar beach. We also came across a nice luxury toilet complex and so the 9 of us decided to sort out all trivial issues like cleaning, washing, bathing, brushing, etc then and there instead of getting a room for this purpose.

After everybody got fresh, we went to "Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception Church" which was close to that place. After the snap session we moved on our bikes to explore the city.

Soon it was dinner time and so we went to Domino's  and had some great Pizzas & drinks at Cafe Cofffee day(for free but that's another story)

Haunted Church

It was around midnight and we were still loitering in the streets of Panaji. At that time we decided to get back to Calangute/Baaga and explore that part. 

On the way we came across a somewhat haunted Church that was closed. Few of us were even getting goosebumps due to the eerie feeling all around, but we decided to check it out. And as usual, we didn't forget to have a snap session over there

We simply passed the night by roaming around on bikes on uncharted routes in North Goa, did weird stuff on ghostly paths and trekked onto a hilly cliff(projecting into the sea) near Baaga.

Goa Police
While coming down the hill, we found Goa police waiting for us at the base. They were standing near our vehicles and were ready to take us into their custody. Before we could understand the situation, another police van came and all of them started asking weird questions. Eventually we figured out that someone had seen us going up the hill in the dark and had tipped off the police. Climbing up that hill in the darkness wasn't allowed and the police was concerned about our safety. They even checked our bags and after verifying our identifications we were let off the hook. We finally got back to Baaga at around 3 or 4 in the morning & came across numerous fellow BITSians (who had their PS in Goa) enjoying on the beach side shacks. 

After chatting with them and enjoying with the crowd, we got tired and finally laid down in a boat on the beach under the starry sky. 

A perfect ending to an awesome day!!!!!!!!!

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Prologue & Day 1

Hectic schedule and Pissed off interns

Kalantri and Tayal Stressed out after a hectic session

During our 1st week at internship, we were kept immensely busy. What with 8 to 5 schedule and visit to different complexes within the plant, things were too tiring and hectic. After 5' O clock in the evening we would be too hungry to think of anything else and would set out to explore eatery joints in this sleepy town of Karnataka. 90% time we were disappointed by what the town had to offer us for dinner. Eventually we developed bonding towards South indian stuff like Idly, dosa, Uttapam, etc because North Indian food that we found there was simply inedible.

Especially when we would hear about the easy internship schedules of our friends at other places, our blood would start boiling with rage. And so were eagerly waiting for the Friday evening, when we would escape the torture and hard work.


 



 Sapan & Abhay wondering when will this all end, yet smiling (perhaps Jeena isi ka naam hai)



Planning  for Goa (Akshat & Apurv at the forefront)
Due to popular demand we had decided to visit Goa during our first weekend. Many people in our group like Akshat (Tayal) & Amaan had gone there previously and so they were holding the fort of planning. Whereas others like Jagadish and Abhay were building up the enthu for the trip. I had my faith firmly placed in my roomy Apurv (after all he was from BITS Goa) and so I didn't interfere at all in any of the planning sessions.


Day 1 : May 28th, 2010

Journey begins (15 bonds) 

Bhadravathi champs(Jagadish, Santosh & Thakela not in d pic)

By Friday evening, 10 of us from SAIL(Myself, Apurv, Jagadish, Amaan, Akshat, Abhay, Sapan, Pratik, Thakela - all from BITS Pilani and Santosh from BITS hyderabad)
 and 5 from MPM (Aayush, Bisen, Chiraag, Nilay, Aaditya)
gathered at VISL executive hostel. There was a lot of commotion, with some people in favour of getting cabs, while others in favour of Public transport.




Nevertheless, after having dinner at Padma-Nilaya(the most happening eating joint in Bhadravathi), all of us reached bus stand which was at a stone's throw away distance from our hostel, waiting for the Mysore-Panaji bus that would pass through Bhadravathi.

Confusion and Mistake
Unfortunately, all the names on the bus were written in Kannada and it was impossible for us to decode them. There was so much confusion that for every bus that would come, people in our group would start jumping with enthusiasm, asking everybody around if the bus was Panaji bound.

Eventually, amidst all this commotion,  it so happened that because of some fool in our group, we got into a bus and  later found out that the bus was not going to Goa. After this shock, as a remedial action, we got down at Shimoga bus stand, where we were fortunate enough to get exactly 15 seats for each one of us in a Goa bound bus (following NH 206 & NH 17). Soon I fell asleep and got up only in the morning when the bus reached Margao (Goa).

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Go Goa

I had chosen a remote place on the forested slopes of Western Ghats (that is Bhadravati in Karnataka) as my internship centre primarily with the aim to travel across entire South India in a backpacker style with friends.

Goa was never my priority but it was on top of everybody Else's agenda. So I bowed down to their wish and we decided to go to Goa during our 1st weekend at PS.

• Prologue & Day 1

• Day 2 (Beaches, watersports, bike and hippies)

• Day 3 (Pananji and back to Bhadravathi)

Other Posts

• Fell in love with Kerala
• Nilgiris & Wayanad
• Trekking in Karnataka & the 1000 year old temples 
• Coffee @ Coorg  

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