Goa – 2008

Finally we went to GOA…never thought that planning to visit a tourist place with friends would be so tough

Planning (etha pannalum our PIIILAAANNNIINGG-oda pannanum )

We first thought of going to Bangkok but unfortunately the timing and other things did not work out. So this year (Sandy would say no, coz he said let us go to Bangkok this year itself ) we decided to go to Goa and finally it came down to three of us. Sandy aka Santosh, Britto (Agnel Britto – AB) aka (always known as Britto) , and myself… Sara aka Saravanan.

The common weekend was decided and I was able to join only on a Sunday. AB and Sandy left on Saturday noon coz AB had some urgent work in office on Saturday also. So they landed in Goa on Saturday night and I joined them on Sunday by 2.30 pm. Check their blogs for more updates on what they did from Saturday night to Sunday noon

Sunday

I started at 11.05 am – Spicejet flight and landed at 01:20 pm. The flight journey was really awesome I had the feeling on Kingfisher (well if not the comfort, at least the service was equivalent). Luckily the Hotel Guys – Coconut Grove had sent me a pickup cab. (Sandy would go mad at this coz when they had requested for pickup on Saturday night the hotel guys said that they would provide pickup for them coz they provide pickup only for the person who has booked the hotel )

I reached the hotel at around 2 pm and found that these two guys were out on tour and they came around 3.30 pm to the room.

We had snacks and then moved out for a stroll in the Betalbatim beach (walkable distance from our resort – you can see the video below).

We started at Betalbatim beach and walked along the beachside to Colva Beach.

Spent sometime there had snacks and then walked back to the room. We thought we could settle in the swimming pool in the night but after coming back to the hotel found that the pool is closed by 7 pm itself.  So we just had our dinner (oh we went on an awesome off-season package – “Non alcoholic welcome drink on arrival, Book 2 night and stay 3rd night complementary on room and breakfast only, Airport Transfer, Breakfast and Dinner, Complimentary Tea / Coffee Maker in the room with daily replenishment, Complimentary cookies in the room, Complimentary wine in the room, One Half – day sightseeing by coach, Taxes”, and we ended up paying 9k only for three of us, for three nights it was booked through TravelGuru )

goa_at_night

We decided to stay in the room on Sunday night because we had no proper transportation While walking back to the room in the night we noticed the sands sparkle after we step on the sands AB says it is his discovery (invention) but found that it is because of Noctiluca. Quote from the source, “The creature responsible for this bioluminescence is a tiny, single-celled organism called Noctiluca”. Source – Google Answers – Luminescent Sand Particles. One more article here – Ernesto Glow or Alien Base Station? The Mystery Revealed!

Monday

As everyone plans, we also decided to wake up early and watch sunrise and kept the alarm, etc, etc… We woke up at 5.45 am and went back for a nice sleep Woke up at around 8 and entered the swimming pool, …

Swimming Pool @ Coconut Grove, Goa

We were there for an hour or so and then had our brunch and left again to Colva beach to get our BIKES – cruisers.

Waiting_for_Bikes

Video captured while waiting for the bikes…




We got two bikes – One Avenger and a Pulsar. Francis was the person who provided the bike for us. We paid 500 INR for one day.

This picture we took at the end while returning the bike to Francis. If you plan to stay in South Goa and you need a good bike do contact Francis – 9890030822

Francis_Bike_Lender

We took at 12.40 pm IST and he asked us to return the bike the next day, same time at 01:00 pm IST. As a norm they maintain the tank with very less petrol and it is the duty of the tourists to pour petrol…So we just filled one litre in both the bike, (strange to see that people pouring petrol in the 1 litre water bottle )

Straight we headed to Panjim – Central Goa  The drive was awesome one, driving in the mountains, etc…and it makes all the more wonderful driving in Avenger “God Like Feel”

Check the bikers …

Bikers_@_Miramar_Beach

Check some of the bikers videos HERE… (coming soon)

From there we went through Miramar Beach and reached Dona Paula beach. We got impressed by the tattoos that were made there and got one for us also

Dona Paula Beach - Got Tattooed

We had our lunch at Dona Paula itself and then straight headed to Calangute Beach, North Goa. We went there but was not good enough, so we moved from there to Baga Beach, North Goa.

Baga Beach - Boats, Fishes, Sandy

Spent some time in the beach and left for the Boat Cruise in Santa Monica. There is a very close attachment with Santa Monica. The first time I visited Goa was in 11th Standard – 1997. We came on a school tour – Chennai -> Bangalore -> Mysore -> Goa -> Bangalore -> Chennai. At that time me and Mani aka Maninathan had a blast there with all other students. We took the same Santa Monica boat in 1997 . So this time also…to maintain the tradition (what tradition???) we took the same boat. Since it was an off-season there was not much crowd but still we enjoyed

@ Santa Monica Cruise, Mandovi River

After the boat cruise, we headed straight back to our resort in South Goa for our dinner. We reached there by 9.30 pm (orders are closed by 10 pm). We had our final dinner @ the resort, and crashed on the bed

Tuesday

Morning woke up early, had our breakfast (buffet) and left for Old Goa. The food was really nice in the resort. We came out of our resort and it started drizzling…a welcome one of course. Driving in rain, in Goa…is a memorable experience On the way we got stuck in the railway gate for few minutes…

Railway_Gate_Shoot

We went to the biggest church in Goa (some even say it is the biggest in Asia) – St Francis Anthony church. It was really a great visit. In the Cathedral, they were performing restoration on the artworks. It was great to see how they did restoration. For all those Da Vinci Code fans, this is a nice place to visit. You can relate with most of the pictures

St Francis Church - Old Goa

While returning back to our Resort (oh by the way we need to return the bike before 1 pm to Francis ) we halted few times for a photo shoot…

On_the_way_back_to_resort

The main reason for me to go Goa this time was to njoy the water-sports (skiing, etc, etc) but after I reached, got to know that the season starts from next month only. So was very much disappointed. But on the way back from Colva beach to Betalbatim Beach (to our resort) we saw the skiing-boat used by rescuers (was remembering Baywatch serial ). So we took some pictures (for consoling ourselves).

On_the_way_back_to_resort

Well that was a very brief writing about our trip to Goa. Check here for the complete album – Goa – 2008 Picasa Album.

This was the third time for me in Goa, I had been there last year October 2007 for STC India Annual Conference. If you ask me, “will you go again?” the answer is “Of course”…we still have lotsa beaches to be explored, we did not see sunrise (though we saw sunset ) and did not go in any of the water rides. (just finding reasons to go to Goa again )

Some more videos to be added, keep visiting this blog for updated videos. Next trip might be Bangkok or maybe a place in India also Of course will blog about that trip too, so lemme know your comments…