I was very eager to write something about one of my most memorable voyages i.e. my trip to Goa. I had always heard great stories about Goa by whoever had visited it earlier. So the level of excitement was enormous and I was planning this since long with my cousin who lives in Nagpur and his friends from Nagpur and Mumbai. Thus, after a lot of brainstorming on our planning we finally fixed a date and booked our tickets to Goa. So as the planned turned out to be, I was to reach Goa directly from Chandigarh and my cousin and one of his friends were to join me there the same day. The only thing which I was worried about was that the time difference between the two parties reaching Goa shouldn’t be much. But sometimes all good things fall into place automatically, it so happened that my flight was to reach Goa via Mumbai and my cousin got the same flight from Mumbai to Goa, thus they boarded the flight when it landed in Mumbai. It was a blue coloured indigo but seeing the air hostesses on board was bit of a disappointment. The flight took half an hour to teach Goa from Mumbai.
The Goa airport which was in a place called Dabolin looked more like a mall and less like an airport. We waited for our luggage and once it arrived took a taxi to the most popular beach in Goa i.e. the Baga beach. The journey was really scenic with pleasant and memorable weather on the way. We saw huge shipyards and some really old ships on various ports. Shipping seemed to be one of the major bread makings for the people of Goa. It took almost an hour for us to reach Baga. The taxi driver took us to a really nice hotel cum cottage. It was run by a female who had come from somewhere near Russia and had opened the hotel 2 months back. There is something in the weather of Russia that they produce really beautiful women. As was the case with this lady who in spite of being in her late thirties could give our bollywood heroines a run for their money. We also visited a couple of other cottages in and around the beach but somehow the cottage and the Russian owner had clicked us, thus we decided to live in her cottage. There were total 3 cottages in that hotel. Each one had 3 rooms and in between was a swimming pool which was really well maintained. They served only drinks and tea in this hotel and food was not available to us at our room service.
We rested a bit and then decided to take a bath in our hotel swimming pool. One of the highlights about Goa is that you can easily get 2 wheelers and 4 wheelers on rent on a daily basis at a very reasonable price. I was more interested in taking a 2 wheeler rather than a 4 wheeler but from mutual consensus it was decided to hire a Wagon R on rent. We started roaming here and there in our Wagon R. The weather was great outside, it was not too warm and not too cold and a soothing cold breeze was flowing all over the place. Sitting in a car turned out to be boring and we decided to hire 2 wheelers instead from the next day. The fact about Goa is that there is nothing much to do there during the day time as most of the tourists are resting. The real fun starts at night when the entire crowd can be found on Goan roads, restaurants and clubs. There were a series of night clubs and bars around Baga beach. One of the main clubs was Tittos and Mambos where the cream crowd was, the only problem was that it had a couple entry and we were 3 guys so there was no scope of formulating a couple anyhow. One interesting place we found nearby was Kamaki. It was a small bar which attracted a lot of foreigners and to add to that it was a bit cheaper as well as compared to Tittos. The main USP about bars and restaurants in Goa is that more than 90% of them are open aired. We had a few drinks at Kamaki that day and really enjoyed the music. Also, we observed some of the foreigners who visited Kamaki. They generally came in groups and enjoyed each other’s company. As expected, there were many desis who try to mix up with them in Goa, some of them do succeed but a majority of them don’t.
The next day we woke up really late. One more of my cousin’s friend who lived in Mumbai joined us, so now we were 4 in total. We hired one Honda Deo and one Avenger in place of our boring Wagon R. We decided to go to Panaji which was the capital of Goa and the commercial head as well. Panaji was a different city altogether when you compare it with rest of the capital cities in India. The culture of Portuguese, who once ruled Goa reflected in every nook and corner of the city. I might be over exaggerating but Panaji looked like a little version of cities like London having a bridge connecting the city and hundreds of boats and ships all over the place floating in the sea. The architecture was also great especially the churches were one of the best I ever saw. There is a unique feature of every house hold in Goa that their roof is shaped in the form of a hut and this is true for each and every house and building even the new ones. We had our proper Punjabi lunch in Panaji and then headed to a couple of other tourist locations nearby. Travelling on two wheelers on the roads of Goa is really a pleasure because of the amazing natural beauty and the weather. We stopped at a lot of places in between for our usual photography sessions. I also noticed the parliament house in Panaji which looked more like a 5 star hotel than a parliament house. You will find bars and restaurants in every nook and corner of the state and some of the best food joints are actually away from the main city areas. We stopped on one such restaurant and had great food which included prawns as well which I had tasted for the first time.
Anyone who has visited Goa can never forget to mention the women there. Around 50% of the girls you see in Goa are foreigners but most of them come in groups with friends, boy friends etc. Some of the foreigners are no doubt really very beautiful but nothing as compared to our desi beauties. The Indian ladies who visit Goa not only see Goa as another tourist destination but see it as a place where they really open up since there is no one to restrict them there. Also, they also feel a sense of security since everyone around them is behaving and dressing in a similar manner. Anyhow, you get to see some of them most amazing Indian beauties in Goa and with the kind of clothing they wear you cannot resist looking at them. The Indian girls clearly overshadow the foreigners who generally don’t have anything apart from their white skin. I think I forgot to mention Aguada fort in Goa. There are two things very special about this place, one that you can see the entire Goa from that place since it is located on a hill and it is the same place where some of the most memorable scenes in Dil Chahta Hai were shot. Thus, this turns out to be a really popular destination for the tourists in Goa.
On our last day, we headed again to Panaji for some shopping. I bought some nice and famous cashew nuts for family and others did as well. My cousin and his friends had a train to catch to Mumbai and I had a kingfisher flight headed to New Delhi. The journey in Kingfisher was very memorable one especially because of the hot airhostesses on the flight. They really took good care of the passengers which included some nice food and some nice entertainment via their on air TV channels.
Thus, my journey to Goa ended and without any doubt I can say that Goa is the best place to chill out in India.
The Goa airport which was in a place called Dabolin looked more like a mall and less like an airport. We waited for our luggage and once it arrived took a taxi to the most popular beach in Goa i.e. the Baga beach. The journey was really scenic with pleasant and memorable weather on the way. We saw huge shipyards and some really old ships on various ports. Shipping seemed to be one of the major bread makings for the people of Goa. It took almost an hour for us to reach Baga. The taxi driver took us to a really nice hotel cum cottage. It was run by a female who had come from somewhere near Russia and had opened the hotel 2 months back. There is something in the weather of Russia that they produce really beautiful women. As was the case with this lady who in spite of being in her late thirties could give our bollywood heroines a run for their money. We also visited a couple of other cottages in and around the beach but somehow the cottage and the Russian owner had clicked us, thus we decided to live in her cottage. There were total 3 cottages in that hotel. Each one had 3 rooms and in between was a swimming pool which was really well maintained. They served only drinks and tea in this hotel and food was not available to us at our room service.
We rested a bit and then decided to take a bath in our hotel swimming pool. One of the highlights about Goa is that you can easily get 2 wheelers and 4 wheelers on rent on a daily basis at a very reasonable price. I was more interested in taking a 2 wheeler rather than a 4 wheeler but from mutual consensus it was decided to hire a Wagon R on rent. We started roaming here and there in our Wagon R. The weather was great outside, it was not too warm and not too cold and a soothing cold breeze was flowing all over the place. Sitting in a car turned out to be boring and we decided to hire 2 wheelers instead from the next day. The fact about Goa is that there is nothing much to do there during the day time as most of the tourists are resting. The real fun starts at night when the entire crowd can be found on Goan roads, restaurants and clubs. There were a series of night clubs and bars around Baga beach. One of the main clubs was Tittos and Mambos where the cream crowd was, the only problem was that it had a couple entry and we were 3 guys so there was no scope of formulating a couple anyhow. One interesting place we found nearby was Kamaki. It was a small bar which attracted a lot of foreigners and to add to that it was a bit cheaper as well as compared to Tittos. The main USP about bars and restaurants in Goa is that more than 90% of them are open aired. We had a few drinks at Kamaki that day and really enjoyed the music. Also, we observed some of the foreigners who visited Kamaki. They generally came in groups and enjoyed each other’s company. As expected, there were many desis who try to mix up with them in Goa, some of them do succeed but a majority of them don’t.
The next day we woke up really late. One more of my cousin’s friend who lived in Mumbai joined us, so now we were 4 in total. We hired one Honda Deo and one Avenger in place of our boring Wagon R. We decided to go to Panaji which was the capital of Goa and the commercial head as well. Panaji was a different city altogether when you compare it with rest of the capital cities in India. The culture of Portuguese, who once ruled Goa reflected in every nook and corner of the city. I might be over exaggerating but Panaji looked like a little version of cities like London having a bridge connecting the city and hundreds of boats and ships all over the place floating in the sea. The architecture was also great especially the churches were one of the best I ever saw. There is a unique feature of every house hold in Goa that their roof is shaped in the form of a hut and this is true for each and every house and building even the new ones. We had our proper Punjabi lunch in Panaji and then headed to a couple of other tourist locations nearby. Travelling on two wheelers on the roads of Goa is really a pleasure because of the amazing natural beauty and the weather. We stopped at a lot of places in between for our usual photography sessions. I also noticed the parliament house in Panaji which looked more like a 5 star hotel than a parliament house. You will find bars and restaurants in every nook and corner of the state and some of the best food joints are actually away from the main city areas. We stopped on one such restaurant and had great food which included prawns as well which I had tasted for the first time.
Anyone who has visited Goa can never forget to mention the women there. Around 50% of the girls you see in Goa are foreigners but most of them come in groups with friends, boy friends etc. Some of the foreigners are no doubt really very beautiful but nothing as compared to our desi beauties. The Indian ladies who visit Goa not only see Goa as another tourist destination but see it as a place where they really open up since there is no one to restrict them there. Also, they also feel a sense of security since everyone around them is behaving and dressing in a similar manner. Anyhow, you get to see some of them most amazing Indian beauties in Goa and with the kind of clothing they wear you cannot resist looking at them. The Indian girls clearly overshadow the foreigners who generally don’t have anything apart from their white skin. I think I forgot to mention Aguada fort in Goa. There are two things very special about this place, one that you can see the entire Goa from that place since it is located on a hill and it is the same place where some of the most memorable scenes in Dil Chahta Hai were shot. Thus, this turns out to be a really popular destination for the tourists in Goa.
On our last day, we headed again to Panaji for some shopping. I bought some nice and famous cashew nuts for family and others did as well. My cousin and his friends had a train to catch to Mumbai and I had a kingfisher flight headed to New Delhi. The journey in Kingfisher was very memorable one especially because of the hot airhostesses on the flight. They really took good care of the passengers which included some nice food and some nice entertainment via their on air TV channels.
Thus, my journey to Goa ended and without any doubt I can say that Goa is the best place to chill out in India.
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