The western ghats have their charms, for be it the breathtaking view from the top or zig zag snaking road curves through the greens overlooking the valley.Amboli ghat is no different where the drive gave us plenty of body roll, scenic view & spots to stop and snack.
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| The View |
Resuming from a snack pause, we had to stop the car dead at its track as the road ahead was CHAKKA jammed by an army of monkeys. It took us few minutes & lot of car honking for them to clear off.
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| Monkey Business |
I'm sure about 89.5% out of 90% in India would agree to a 'YES' if asked 'Does fuel or alcohol price hike affect your psyche, budget, lifestyle etc?' (10% I accounted for the rich & uber rich who would not even keep a tab on what type of fuel their cars run on or wont budge down from their daily dose of Glenlivet or Macallan to Chivas if the taxes on alcohol rise 1300%)
The cheap 'Daru' and cheaper petrol price (Rs 68 in Mumbai compared to Rs 56 in Goa) is also what 'DRIVES' one and all to Goa. The 12 Rs difference due to state taxes cut is happily negated when one reaches Dhargalim toll plaza where any small car of other state licence plate apart from the local 'GA' have to shell out Rs 250 entry tax. Few toll attendants were sitting at leisure collecting toll while we entered a Que on the extreme left where only one car was ahead of us.Waiting, as no one was 'attending' us, we decided to move ahead when I heard a whistle but we were already speeding away. Pondering over the incident I realised we actually had bunked paying the entry tax as we had entered the local car Que!I'd say the toll attendants come running at you with hammer & tongs if you miss paying Rs 35 at any Mumbai toll plaza, Goa was kind & welcoming I guess ;-).
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| Dhargalim Toll Plaza |
The final leg of journey was to cover 90 Kms travelling North to South Goa on Edapally-Panvel highway in 2 hours as 1 PM was the check in time at the hotel.But almost 2 hours & counting later, we barely managed to cover 43 Kms as it was a busy tourist Saturday rush on Edapally-Panvel highway. A lunch break was looking appropriate as it was no cross state marathon drive, we started looking around for a good restaurant serving local cuisine.I took a short detour on a small by lane under a bridge as I saw a house with FC Goa, the Goa football team flags & decor."This could be our spot to have a lavish Goa'n lunch", I proclaimed, but as we got closer we saw few huge men sitting in a dimly lit shack like covered roof with a lady chip-chopping meat with a big cleaver."Damn, that looks like the Adams Family in a slaughter house", said Kaustubh.Well, that was enough for me to picture if we'll be having lunch or we'll be what's for their lunch scenario.Avoiding their gaze, back to main highway in a flash, we moved on.
We stopped for lunch at Quatro restaurant, which had lovely garden patio seating. The hunger siren was off the hooks, so we quickly ordered my tried & tested, any place any season favourite dish chicken chilly and main course of Goan cuisine Chicken Xacuti & Chicken Cafreal along with 10 rotis.The food was good & place definitely recommended for people travelling towards south Goa as its just on the highway.After taking few customary selfies and some matrimonial up loadable pics of Kustubh we moved on.
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| Chicken Cafreal & Xacuti |
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| Funky Glasses |
At around 3 PM we reached Palolem, sure we had overshot our target to reach hotel by 1 PM but hey, why not go with the view what came our way is what we thought.
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I had booked 2 different hotel rooms for our 2 day stay in Goa. Plan was to stay 1 day at South Goa in Palolem and next day head North Goa to Baga, on the way exploring different beaches & sample local culture.
We checked in at the Tubki Resort around 3.15 PM, which I'd say is a superb & a comfortable stay. Goibibo is a very good & convenient platform to book flights, packages, hotels etc as time and again they offer discounted rates on hotels up to 60% on festive & non festive seasons as well.
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| Exterior View |
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| Pool View |
The hotel room was huge spacious with hall, bedroom, washroom & balcony.A mystery I could solve, the bathroom was 2.5 times bigger than the size of bedroom which had no bathtub at all!As my good friend Fredun later explained, "Maybe the Goa'ns crash land in bathrooms rather than bedrooms at night after long daru session!"After taking a tiny power nap of 2 Hrs, I tried making coffee which spilt out of the coffee maker due to over boiling, nevertheless having as sip of what remained we hit the pool.Few somersaults & pathetic attempts trying to swim & float later, we made our way to Patem beach which was 200 meters from our hotel.
It was a late October evening but the sun had already wrapped up work and left office, as at 6.15 PM it was pitch dark. Walking the narrow street we saw what Goa is famous for the Hippie culture, shops, people etc. Streets lined with shops showing off their colourful wares to entice customers to buy & buy more.Thumb Rule-Know Bargaining is Thy Right!
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| Fashion Street all The way! |
South Goa is particularly known for its peaceful & quaint beaches. So there we were at Patnem Beach, which was well, really quiet & its night life as fast paced as that of a snail making a 100 cms dash.We picked one of the few colourful resto-bars to have few starters and drinks. I am not much of a sea food person but my friends were inclined to have lots of sea food. Here we met, who I call the Fish DJ, Mr Lal who's has been BBQ'íng variety of fish for eternity.His knowledge about different fishes was really the talking point as he mentioned how he gets up really early mornings to go fishing at particular spots to catch particular fish.
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| The Fish DJ |
Around 9 PM we were driving towards Palolem beach which had more hustle bustle than Patnem beach. We tried to park at a designated parking circle where cars were parked in a very disoriented manner looking as if the drivers must have been a quarter or 2 down.When we came out of the parking circle, few local lads were rushing to the spot hurling abuses and saying "yecha Gadicha tire ani window fodun udoi" (break their windows, puncture the tires). Realising it was our car they were referring to we tried intervening and overheard the 'Locals' who were actually a group of tourist taxi drivers saying that our car was parked blocking the 'EXIT'.We tried reasoning and pointing out that no where a single car was parked in a sane manner in the jungle of cars but the locals were hell bent on smashing & puncturing. Not wanting to escalate the issue, we asked the *goons*, drivers to assign a spot where we can park and leave.
It was a starless, Moonless night with no breeze as Palolem beach lived up to its repute of being a quiet & beautiful beach.We picked out Big Bamboo shack to entertain our minds & stomach for the night as Mr Nubu, the Local helper/waiter offered to serve us his special Tandoori Red Snapper with the works.
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| Tandoori Red Snapper |
Before cooking the snapper, they show different sizes of which you can take your pick ranging from Rs 550-1000.A snapper, few biryanis & drinks down, we started walking up the beach where shacks playing music(from munni who is badnam, Jawani of Sheela to Cold Play's Yellow), people chilling or even making out in nooks & corners of the secluded side of the beach.While walking, we came near the coastal end of the beach where we could see some fancy white lights,some Russians walking back from the other side of the curve which was bordered by rocks.Hoping for a rave party, me and Kaustubh tried to push Ashish so that we could walk further and try exploring what that was about.Tired, lazy, drunk, all 3 or just an early sleeper, he opted out saying we head back to the hotel and doze off as we had early start next morning.It was 1 AM and there was an eerier silence and some smoke around our hotel which would have given Ramsay Bros and ideal backdrop for their B grade horror movies.I expected staying up late which was not to be as grabbing some ice cream we shut out for the day.The last thought crossing my mind before sleeping was about not exploring the lights on the other side of the beach, what we found out next morning left us kicking ourselves/each other if we were donkeys!
