Rafi Ali Khan

Well there are a million blogs out there talking about Goa and what a great place it is. This was my first trip (3 days - 2 nights) to goa (also this is my first ever attempt at writing blog as well - i am just lazy; people!) so will talk more about me coz its my blog and i want me in it from the start. Travelling is not my favourite past time, i dont want to see all the name-people-animal-things of the world. I dont want to feel the experience, i am better of lazing around where ever i am. And i think nothing can really be so fascinating to take my breath away (except members of the opposite sex). So this blog wont really talk about travelling and oogling at goa but more about lazing in goa. This blog is dedicated to all my fellow lazy bones and couch potatoes than the travellers out there.

So before i tell you about Goa, the fun and the beach i must tell you about the trips dos and donts. Well first of all, take as little clothes and accessories as possible so as to keep your luggage light and make sure your friends do as well, so you dont have to carry their luggage. Make sure you leave behind all your formal dress, shoes, jackets etc coz every day in goa is a sun-day. Carry a couple of shorts, boxers, t-shirts and sandals/chappel. (If you plan on clubbing, i dont know if there is a dress code, but you can buy the code in the Goa, so dont fret.) Dont think swim wear is very suggestive for a crowded beach except for the i-want-a-tan outsiders. (lets be modest and keep decorum). But do carry swim wear if the resort you are put up at has a pool (again skinny dipping is not advisable). What else? what else? hmmm advicable for the girls/woman folk should carry a lot of black shorts/black t-shirts as the water makes most clothes see through; so just to be on the modest side, you never know who is letching at you (incidently we guys did go top bare and gave our t-shirts) Thats it, you are ready to go-goa. Oh yeah, dont forget to take your friends, its no fun without them.

Why am i giving out gyaan here instead of telling you about my time in Goa, well i'm preparing you luggage and all to take you along with me, how else will you see what i got to see, if you dont travel with me. I dont want you to imagine things but rather would like to take you there and show it to you (but ofcourse, through my view point) But for the lazy bones out there, i am sure this is as best way to travel to goa. Had i read my post before, my trip would have been complete and i wouldnt have gone in the first place ;-)

Fly Down
Leave on a friday, take the day off if you must. Well how to get there? Fly down, i dont believe in losing valuable hours for a couple of thousand bucks. And if you are coming with me, then you have no other choice. After all time is money and flying down is money well spend especially with low fare airlines like Air deccan and KingFisher. (KingFisher is the better choice - love the hostesses). And be sure to fly back atleast, coz you are gonna be so tired after all the fun on the beach that you just want to get back home and a 12 hour drive back wont be really welcoming, but a 1 hour chilled flight with gorgeous hostesses is a welcome treat (I am talking KingFisher guys, all you on Air deccan can unbuckle and jump).

Stay
Now dont wait to get there to decide where you are going to stay. Best is to figure it out using online search (google duh!) local agents etc and actually do booking in advance so that you dont have to end up living out on the beach. We checked into a nice place called the Paradise Village (photo above), the outside is fancy but the rooms are basic, though it boasts of all the facilities. But all in all this place had an old Goa charm to it and i liked that about the place. The people were very friendly and the Calangute beach is just 200 ft away, so you can take an early morning walk (wake me up when you are back from your walk) on one of the two best beaches of Goa. (Calangute and Baga - according to me and everyone else who told me so).

Moving Around
Once in goa, you can either rent a bike for a day at (150-250 bucks for 24 hours) or spend a little more money if there are 4 of you or more and rent a car (800-1200 bucks for 24 days). If its a friday, they usually will try and hook you in for 48 hours at (2000 bucks) but you can always negotiate. Just check with the reception at the hotel/resort and they will have all the contacts. Car with an AC is best, coz it gets really hot in the afternoons and you can put on the AC for a while just as you get into the car. Plus, whats good about the car is you can load her up with your shopping, spare clothes, water and your friends. Also it helps when you want to go on long drives to various parts of the city which are tourist spots. And a car really carries you safely and comfortably than a bike, though bike is advicable for new couples who want to get cosier, i guess thats what they call it. (Shouldnt they just stay back in the hotel) Enough said on that, just get the car dude!

















Friday
Now part of the fun of Goa is the beaches, really?? Yeah wise cracks, it is!!! You know this blog is begining to get tiring, better hit the couch, its more thinking about the goa part as much as its about the getting to goa and having fun and now to write about it, its all tiring. But since i made that effort to get to goa, im going to make that effort to write as well. But maybe i should just fast forward and give you just snippets of details here. The food on the beach is awesome, loved the crabs and the prawn at Brittos (on Baga beach).

What else! Loved the beach and the time in the water, though i lost a perfectly good pair of shades when the wave splashed me face first into the water. I tried to dive to look for it, but the salt wouldnt let me open my eyes and it was vain hunting for it using my feet. I think the wave had already pushed me offset by a couple of feets before i got back on my feet. I am sure some dolphin or other sea creature is look cool wearning those shades now (ref. Shark Tales). What was i doing wearing shades on the beach? Isnt the beach a good place to wear one? One good place not to wear them is when you get into the water, but next time when ever there is a next time, i will get one of those strings to hold it to my head. :-) Never say never wear shades in the water. Its all part of the fun and most importantly my kind of fun. There are some water sports like a speed ski ride and parasending, banana rides etc at the beach, so depending on your budget (make sure you bargain) and want for thrill you can choose to hop on for a fun ride. Parasending has its own share of fun and for those who want to just get up and fly, there is no better alternative than this, though the rides are damn short. The strap that holds the butt, so that you can sit as you hover over the ground slipped and before i knew it, my ass was on the line. I had to use my arms to pull myself up, else the feeling was you are going to slip right through and fall, the landing part where you have to pull one side to bring the chute towards the beach is really tiring, but wow, you just learned navigating on air. For 1k its got its perks but i know you can get a ride at half the price but only if i had bargained, but didnt have time as it was almost sunset.

Get back to the room, freshen up (means take a bath) and relax for a while just to build your apetite again for dinner. Drive down to a nice restaurant for some goan sea delicacies. (We had a good friend who had recently shifted to goa for guiding us to the choice restaurant). It was a place called "Starlight" something. (I am telling you, i cant remember names) I had tons of crabs and i kept biting my teeth into crab shells after crab shells to get a little flesh. I must confess, its true, men do go to any lengths for a little flesh.

Well there you have it, then you get back and sleep it all off. What? Thats it. "I want my money back", you scream. Well thats it for the first day, remember you arrived around Friday mid afternoon in goa. Take rest, have a bath, go to the beaches then get some dinner before you sleep it off and promise yourself and everyone else that you will wake up early for a morning walk on the beach. If you are with friends who understand the meaning of morning, then you better take your ass out of bed by 6.00 am and brush up and fresh up for the walk. (And i call them friends :-( )

Saturday
Take a sleepy morning stroll on the Calangute beach which is fairly close to the resort and you build a perfect apettite for a sumptuous breafast (courtesy of the resort). Well this is the time when the fishermen who have gone into the sea early bring back their boats to the shore, and if you are in luck; as we were, we actually saw the painstaking task of hauling a boat bach to its resting position on the beach. They place small pieces of wood pipes on the sand and pull and push the boat back up. Infact they are open to helping hands. So go and go "hursa, hursa". (The photo is misguiding - as its an evening shot not a morning one but you get the picture right)

After breakfast, take a quick bath and you are ready for the next day. Are you ready??

Well if so let me continue, i hate unsatisfied readers. Well if you have come as far as goa, you must visit the Aguada fort, its a nice historic structure and the view of the water is splendid. Though if you reach there in the afternoon, the hot sun will scorch down on you, but the lemonade stalls outside will put some spirit (non alcoholic - dont get excited) back into you. Then as you head back, you stop by at this small boating dock and at 500 bucks a boat, they take you into the ocean and show you the dolphins. Er eh ok dolphin; ok the fins of the dolphins. Well, whatever, you get to see something fishy creature break open the water and dive back in. Ofcourse they dont jump into the air and dive back in like you see on tv. But the dolphins are known to do so only in the morning told the boat guide (Guess there are other species who appreciate a morning walk/dive). You get to pass by the Aguada jail and see quite a bit as the boat ride last almost 30-45 mins, then its back to the shores. Its more fun, if you and the gang have your own boat and dont have to pile on with other wannabe dolphin seekers. Most importantly, keep shouting out to the dolphins thats the only way they surface. (atleast it worked for us ;-))

Another place you can go down to is Panjim or Panaji as its called. Here you find one of the most polished and (irnonically) most deserted of beaches, the "i dont remember its name" beach. Ok ok, i will find out the name for you, let me google it. Aaah yes, the Miramar beach and what i like about it is that is a good stretch of driving and on the right you get to see the beach through out. They use this location in movies and song videos i was told, but then again, only managed to see the shooting for some telugu song album even though we were told Ajay devgan was in gao and staying at the marriot. Then off to dona paula, why? coz you want your money's worth right. There is not much here, but then again, goa didnt promise you a whole load except a lot of water. But still places you must atleast stop by for what its worth, the name tags that these places have earned over the years! And one more such beach is the anjuna beach which is a good visit if you just want to see for yourself what all the hue and cry is about.

If you visit Goa in the off season, be sure not to hope for many party scenes happening or migrating foreign birds to feast your eyes on. So evening time, get back to the beach and just enjoy the water yet again. Go back to the rooms, freshen up for a quite evening dinner. The evenings are best spend at beach side restaurants having sea food delicacies. Shrimps, prawns and enough of crabs i had to tell myself. Now where are we? We are at this lively place called the something "Lobo" (i am so bad at remembering names) ok ok, will google for it. Couldnt find it, but this is somewhere on the beach, so if you stroll from one side to the other, you cant miss it (its less than 5 km i promise you, hee hee.) Anyway, they had a live band playing some interesting songs and also took some request from the diners. Most of the crowd sang to the theme music of pehla nash; me too, i sing well especially in a crowd O;-). It was a cool windy night, so good for a long stroll and better still to sit back on the beach and just talk (not lazy, tired here). So that was the choice thing to do. So sit around, look at the moon over the waters and just talk about whatever comes to your mind. Doesnt need to make sense coz you will forget anything sensible later anyways. In a way its a bit romantic as well (in a pictorial way), but then its all about the company i guess. When you have good friends with whom you bond well, it makes it better and you dont feel left out even if you just sit and not say a word.

Back to the resort, back to the room all tired and ready for a good night sleep after taking promises from everyone that there is not going to be any morning walk the next day and you will only get up only just in time for breakfast.

Sunday
Well have your breakfast, pack your bags, return the keys, return the car and you are ready to leave by around 10 am coz the flight is usually around 2 pm and the airport is a good 1 hour drive from Calangute to Vasco da Gama (its where the airport is, wow i remebered the name, does Goa have natural healing for forgetfullness?).

Its good to have someone with a car in goa to spend the last few hours in goa. Incidentally our old friend (the one who shifted to goa and the one who has promised me tons of on-season photographs) was all ever-willing to show us around the last bits of goa we missed out on. (But only after his bhaiya told him to change the battery of the car that was otherwise dead for the 2 days we were there).

Then we drove to some places and then some more places. (How do I know the names, "mein tho goa mein naya hoon". Ok so no healing powers in Goa). After which we were on our way to the airport that we decided to head back to Brittos (on baga beach) to meet some relatives of our friend. Luckily when we sat down for a quick sip, we were told by the airlines that the Kingfisher flight would be delayed by 2 hours. So we had time for lunch, no crabs please, but prawns are still welcome. After a long lunch, we headed back to the airport.

The airport has a white smoke lounge, so cool huh! I havent seen that in any other airports across India. The kingfisher experience deserves another blog (especially because of the hot hostess) but you know when you go up in the sky you usually come down to earth in a short time. So landed back in bangalore soon enough; cab home and just hugged the bed straight away.

Good night. Back to office on Monday morning.