Departure Day - 10 Dec, 2010
We hurried back from our work places/colleges to get our bags and report to the pick up point at about 20:00 The bus was thankfully on time. We had booked a semi-sleeper and it was pretty comfortable. Needless to say, the Mumbai traffic wasn't the kindest but the night fell in and before we knew it the next day we were trudging along the border of Goa
Day 1 - 11 Dec, 2010
We reached Mapusa bus stand at about 10:00 and proceeded to hail a cab. We were in luck as they had prepaid taxi services at the bus stand itself and the first guy to approach us offered a good deal at INR 200 for plying the four of us to Baga beach. The whole concept of prepaid taxis appealed to me because it challenged the notion of the locals gypping the tourists. Our parents, with total paranoia, hadn't forgotten to mention about this - so did our friends who toured there a couple of weeks before us. But Come prepaid taxis and bargaining is a thing of the past!
The drive from Mapusa to Baga was a treat to the eyes! The picturesque landscape of Goa - a narrow road cutting through golden grassed-lands adorned with coconut trees, a stray rivulet somewhere meeting thousands of birds, a morning school assembly with children dressed in blue pants and white shirts in progress... Ah! How I've missed Goa!
We picked our bags and proceeded inside the hotel, the reception was quite friendly and had our rooms ready. However we decided to have our complimentary breakfast before heading to the room. The beautiful scenes along the way may have been a treat, but our stomachs still cried out loud! The breakfast was simple - toast and jam&butter with tea/coffee.
We then proceeded to our rooms. We were assigned two rooms on the top floor the gave us a brilliant view of the swimming pool, amongst other brilliant views. The hotel had surpassed our expectations and most definitely my fears! The rooms were apartment styled - a large living room, a small kitchen with a platform and a big fridge (score!) and a decently sized bedroom with two cupboards and a washroom. The bedroom led to the balcony. The rooms were simple, yet tastefully decorated. White walls, wrought iron furniture and modern art paintings hung randomly. It had a small tv set with a tata sky connection, leather couches, bean bags and a dining table. The small table and the chairs in the balcony just gave us another reason to be happy!
Killing time, waiting for our friend, he finally arrived - frustrated and hungry! And that is a dangerous combination for someone who has bad temper! We went to 'Silent Palms' which had a big sign saying 'Grilled Peking Duck' at the insistence of Puru, It was apparently a chinese restaurant and the waiter had a bad put on accent.. The food was strictly okay and the service was bad, the prices however were quite high for the quality of the food. After this we headed back to the room and prasad was settled to!
It was Saturday evening and the prospect of the Saturday Night Bazaar was very tempting! The Bazaar was at Arpora but we were led to believe that Arpora is at a walking distance from our hotel, it wasn't exactly false. It was at walking distance - of about an hour and a half! The Baga-Calangute stretch was a shoppers delight to walk through but the Arpora-Baga bridge and hence - NO STREET LIGHTS! We held hands walking on the narrow edge of the road, very alert at who might jump out from the bushes that lined the road. We finally reached the Bazaar and it was rightly called that. Acres and acres of brightly lit stalls, foreigners and locals selling their wares alike, trinklets, artifacts, clothes, spices, watches, ask it and it was there! In the middle of the bazaar there was a band performing and the audience payed their homage by sitting in a semi-circle around the stage. Where there are people, how can food ever stay far behind? Pop-corn and candyfloss carts amongst others bejewelled this semi-circle. We bought some trinkets and bags from here and man! Our talent to bargain was put to test! We called it truce at half rate :) We weren't very surprised by how a tank-top which was priced at INR 200 for us was quoted as INR 600 for a foreigner.
Recommendations from the day : 1. Blueberry Cheesecake/Apple pie/Caramel Custard - Brittos
2. Kings' Beer (talking on the behalf of the guys)
Day 2 - 12 Dec, 2010
The day dawned pretty early - 10:00. We quickly had our complimentary breakfast, baths and spoke to the hotel manager who booked us a car (self-driven!) for 24 hours. It was a Maruti Swift, quite sufficient for the 5 of us and headed to pay our visit to the temples. Prasad, this we couldn't have done without you. The atheist in him helped us pay our visits. After an hours drive, everyone was dropped at their respective temples and he headed back to pick everyone up.
And soon we were hungry fish! We had planned to go clubbing that night too, as it was a Sunday and top on our list was 'Mambos'. We got dressed, let our hair down, the guys 'suited up' and we headed in the direction of Calangute this time to grab some grub on the beach. Exploring! Walking in high heels on the sand isn't easy and make sure if ever this bright idea hits you, you take off your heels and get your legs dirty. The inlet we took to beach landed us at the dark patch on the beach between baga and calangute and we started walking in the direction of the lights - baga! The first shack looked really disappointing so we moved on till we landed upon, atleast what seemed like, a happening place! They had a board written in Russian, which none of us could comprehend and its derriere had our saviour - English! 'Happy Hours - One on One Cocktail free'. A decision was made. We made ourselves comfortable one the easy chairs as the waiters ran around to get our table candle-lit. One of them told us about the freshly caught fish and their prices and the true fish-lover that Puru is, she headed to the table where all was displayed! She came back beeming, and we followed her advice - a foot and half long Pomfret, silver coloured, for about 750 bucks barbecued and flanked by - sauteed vegetables, mashed potatoes, rice and chips! In dire excitement we called up Manisha tai and told her about our latest finding, they were on their way to get dinner and they joined us! Having dirtied my feet by walking barefoot in the sand I was only hoping that there would be some way to clean it when a guy came offering foot massage. Normally it would've been a request that would've been rejected. But when you're sitting in the candlelight, facing the waves that splash rhythmically on the shore, staring at the galaxy which exposes itself in its entirety, a massage - no matter how crude- is a value addition! This place was almost like a 'wishing shack'. Little later that night, as we were half way through our meal, 3 boys came to us singing Christmas Carols - one was dressed like Santa. Well, if this shack was Santa's gift to us - we certainly have been good children along the year :) The owner was a darling and provided everything to us at subsidised prices because he said 'Indians propogate us'. You may have been wondering what this place was called - Xaviers' Shack!
Recommendations from the Day : 1. Prawns fry/Shenane Fry/Fish Plate - Tilve
2.Barbecued Pomfret with accompaniments/Long IslandIcedTea/BacardiBlastSangria /Cosmopolitan at Xaviers
3. Tequila Shots/Blue Margarita - Mambo's
Day 3 - 13 Dec, 2010
The day began pretty late as we had slept only at 3am ! The day's breakfast was at Infantaria, whicih Prasad had been raving about even before we had arrived at Goa! We had Infantaria Super Sized Breakfast which turned out quite small but delicious. But what grabbed our eye was the last piece of a certain 'Russian Chocolate Cheesecake' sitting in all its glory in the pastry counter facing us. We called for it. 5 spoons dug in simultaneously. BEST. CHEESECAKE. EVER. Unfortunately, it was reduced to crumbs so quickly that I couldn't get a picture of it! Puru and I stuck to fruit juices while the others called for tea. The Bacon was fresh and nicely done. Thank GoD! We made a trip to Infantaria.
Before we knew it, it was time to meet Manisha tai and family at a Mexican restaurant we'd decided upon for lunch. We hailed a cab and moved to Poco Loco at on the Arpora-Baga stretch. The food was good, but the ambiance was better. It was their last meal before they flew back to Mumbai and we realized how much Arshaya was going to be missed!
Post lunch, we bid em good bye and started walking towards Baga. There we ate desserts at 'Casarid' next to Brittos. They looked good, but were quite passable. Decently priced. Then we headed to the beach from the inlet next to Brittos. What we didn't know was that evening to follow would be one of the most memorable in the days to come! Purva and Sumedh were both very keen on indulging themselves in water sports, despite the fact that none of em were carrying a change! I didn't like the idea of walking back wet.. Shruti and Prasad decided to just sun-bathe on the decks. A few people came advertising their water sports and Purva and Sumedh landed with a very good deal of doing Bumper Ride+Banana Boat Ride+ Water Scooter at INR 500 per person. Adrenaline junkie that I am, the temptation was too much to resist. I bought an overpriced tshirt from the nearest shop and joined them! The water scooter was exhilarating! It was followed by the Bumper ride - which is basically a tube meant for seating two in its depressions that is fastened to a speed boat and is pulled along the sea. It was quite ok, nothing challenging about it.
But what took the cherry, in this case the banana, was the Banana boat ride. Although we'd seen it a coupla times before I didn't know that the banana boat ride involved dropping us into mid-sea! It was what I always wanted to do! The banana boat is a banana shaped tube, which is fastened to a speed boat and pulled along. Given its' structure when the speed boat turns, the banana boat topples, throwing off its riders into the sea! It was awesome!
Dripping in sea water, we headed back to the decks where Shruti and Prasad were resting. Local boys offering to paint 'temporary tatoo' approached us and I gave in! Took ages when choosing the design, and finally to the relief of my friends I zeroed down on one. Purva also got one. We got them for INR 70 each, on our ankles. We then walked back to our room as no taxis were willing to let wet people sit in them :(
After washing off all the salt and changing into clothes more dry, we headed to Xaviers' wishing for many more surprises! We asked for Sheesha and called for sizzlers that night because the fish was overpriced. It was like the place had changed colours in a night!!! The Sheesha came in after the food, and sizzlers were strictly ok. The portions were small. Disappointment creeped in. But the ambiance in a way compensated.
On our way back we entered this bar called 'K.C.'s' which reminded all the HIMYM of 'McClarens'. The place is quite nice and is extremely affordable. It lies on one of the inlets to the beach opposite Union bank. We called it a night early that day because Sumedh had to rush to the airport as early as 5am the next morning.
Recommendations from the day : 1. Russian Chocolate Cheesecake/Bacon/Masala Omlette/Pineapple Juice - nfantaria
2. Burrittos - Loco Poco
Day 4 - 14 Dec, 2010
After saying good-bye to Sumedh in my midsleep, it was morning around 10ish for all of us. We quickly got ready for breakfast, which was at our hotel that day - being our last day. We then went SHOPPING!! We brought hats for friends and family, lots of necklaces for me, jholas made out of saris and satin dresses and skirts. Bargaining is an essential tool! The sharper your tool is, the more you will carry home! After 3 hours of window-shopping, bargaining and shopping, we found ourselves at Infantaria for an early lunch. We called in for a couple of breezers, King's beer and a seafood platter. The seafood platter, though petite-ly portioned, was a delight to the tastebuds. Shrimps, Squids, Kingfish - it had it all! We then called for a Strawberry Gateaux which was easily the best dessert on the trip. Imagine three layers of nothing but white cake, fresh cream and sliced fresh strawberries. Their melange was such a taste that we shall never forget. We quickly called for a second serving of it!
Recommendations from the day : 1. Seafood Platter/Strawberry Gateaux - Infantaria
2. Omlette-Pao from the stall next to the Petrol Pump at Mapusa Busstand.
The trip was one of the few where we did almost everything we had thought of. There is nothing like exploring Goa on your feet and we made the most of that! The trip was indeed one of the best I've had and Goa in December is a place like none else!
awesome Tanu, u remember each n every moment of it!!
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