Jillus blog: Trip to Goa

We wanted to go somewhere special to celebrate our 5^th Wedding anniversary. We had selected Gir forest, Andaman & Nicobar islands, Mahabaleshwar, Munnar, the Backwaters of Kerala and Goa as our options. Gir and Andaman were ruled out due to the cost (Our budget was around Rs 50,000/- all inclusive). Munnar was ruled out as it we would have had to spend a lot of time travelling by road after reaching the nearest airport from Hyderabad. I cannot give a specific reason for ruling out Mahabaleshwar as by that time, Alappuzha and Goa had become frontrunners as a holiday destination. Between the two finalists, we thought Goa offered us more in terms of the number of activities and places to visit. So Goa it was!!

The trip was planned between 28^th January and 31 January. Our anniversary being on Martyrs Day!!. We booked flight tickets in Air Asia (3:55 pm departure reaches goa at around 5:00 pm and return flight was at 7:40pm to reach Hyderabad at 9:00pm) as the prices were comparable to bus tickets. We chose the ITC WelcomHeritage Panjim Inn, at panjim, to stay as it is one of the top rated hotels in goa. The hotel is centrally located and offers a glimpse of old Portuguese architecture. In retrospect, I feel the choice of hotel was one of the best decisions of the trip.

Day 1: 28^th January 2017

Amma and Appa dropped us at the airport at around 2:00pm. We had a pleasant surprise when the Air Asia lady at the check-in counter got a call that Shahrukh khan was in the airport. We had a fleeting glance at the Bollywood heartthrob. It was a few minutes before the lady could compose herself and check us in! She was also there when we boarded the aircraft and the poor thing was thoroughly embarrassed on seeing us!

Our flight to goa was uneventful, but we enjoyed the landing in goa, the plane goes into the Arabian sea takes a U turn and then lands at the Dabolim airport. The landing gives you a birds eye view of the various beaches and the Mondovi river. You can relish this in the return flight, when during take-off one gets to see an aerial view of the places they’ve been to.

Taxi Fare from airport

We had known earlier that taxi drivers in goa fleece the tourists by charging exorbitant rates as that is the only mode of transportation to your destination, but we also knew that the airport taxi pre-paid counter kind of socialises this menace. What we did not know that Prime Minister Modi was in goa for an election campaign. When we reached the taxi counter, we saw a long snaking line leading all the way to the baggage carousel. We were told that most of the taxis we stuck in a traffic jam. The line moved very slowly, but it was more due to people abandoning the queue rather than getting a taxi coupon. Luckily, I spoke to a hyderabadi couple who had come in the same flight, they had booked their hotel in calangute. The enterprising lady had found out a cabbie who was willing to take them for Rs 2000/- (Which is 40% more than the regular fare) and were willing to drop us en-route. The deal was that they pay the onward fare and we pay the return fare (They were returning in the same flight as ours). The journey took a good 1hr and 45 minutes.

The couple dropped us somewhere near the Bus Stand. We walked down to the hotel and reached at around 7:45 pm and checked in. The hotel had more of foreigners than Indians, the staff was courteous but they did not have uniforms as you would generally expect in an ITC hotel. Our room was just as we had imagined, the only glitch was that the bathroom was outside the room across a small veranda and we had to open a high security, three stage doors to access it! But it was fine.

Due to the inordinate delay in the airport and the traffic jams, we could not go to the Saturday Night bazaar at Arpora as planned. As an alternative we went to a beautifully constructed Maruti temple on a hill. The temple was nearby, but there were numerous steps to access the temple. After darshan, we sat down (or rather got stuck in the evening aarti!!). We reached back at the hotel at around 9:30 pm and sat down for a light but sumptuous dinner at the Veranda restaurant of the hotel. Tasted the local cuisine along with feni. The food was simple yet delicious. We signed off for the night at around 10:30 pm
Day 2: 29^th January 2017:

We woke up at around 7:30AM and had a nice morning tea at the balcony. The complimentary buffet breakfast was good, there was an assortment of Indian and continental dishes with fruits and juices. We got ready at 9:30 AM and went about looking for a bike.

The best part in goa is that, if you have a valid drivers’ license you can get two wheelers on hire. The rates vary seasonally, one should get an active for about Rs 300 to 400 in off season and about Rs 500 to 600 during peak season. We wanted an avenger but were promised that it would be available only in the evening. So we temporarily took a Honda activa for Rs 500 with a promise that we would be given the avenger in the evening for Rs 800 per day.

Our first stop of the day would be the famous calangute beach which was about 15 Kms from our hotel. On the way we purchased Hats as the sun was up. We reached the beach at around 11:30 AM. It was a feast to my eyes to watch the sun bathers. However after the initial euphoria of watching them faded away, it kind of became normal and the ugliness of the skin started becoming evident. We spent about 2 hours strolling and playing in the beach after which, we had lunch at Dominos.

We then saw the Upper and the Lower Aguada fort. The fort was simple and elegant; entry to the fort is free. The climate was hot and humid, we were lucky to fill our water bottles at the dominos restaurant to keep ourselves aeriated. One sore point was there was no restroom near the fort. The area near the lower fort is occupied by the Taj hotels & resorts and looks good. We drank coconut water at the fort, which was refreshing but costly @ 50 per person. We saw the aguada beach from the fort but chose not to go down.

We started back from the fort at around 4 pm did a bit of shopping on the way back, withdrew money from an ATM (We actually had to check out 6-7 ATMs before finally getting to a functional one). We then went back to the bus stand, exchanged the activa for the avenger and reached the hotel at around 6pm. We quickly had a shower and changed to go to the casino.

Casinos in Goa are of two varieties land based and river/sea based. We chose Casino pride2, because @ 2000 per person, it offered us Rs 1000/ worth of playing coins and buffet meals. They don’t allow shorts/flip flop so be suitably attired. After completing the formalities where they took our ids and tagged us, we went on a boat to take us to the casino. It was astonishing to watch people lose thousands of rupees and not be worried about it. The casino staff was friendly and explained us how to play the games. We placed a few bets at the Casino war and Roulette and won Rs 1000/. The wife kept it safely with her so that I don’t lose it!. After playing we went for dinner where live shows were playing. The dinner was ookk with a few vegetarian options. We then came back to the shore and went for a long drive on the avenger, but unfortunately got stuck in a huge traffic jam @ 1030pm!!, on the way back due to election related checking. We finally reached the hotel @ 11:00pm.

Day 3: 30^th January, 2017:

After breakfast at the hotel, I wanted to buy a pair of sunglasses. What should have ideally taken 45 minutes took us almost 1.5 hours due to the stupid GPS. Our plan was to go to the Sahakari Spice farm. We started at around 11:30 and reached the farm at 12:45 pm. We did not expect so many tourists at the farm. After buying tickets for Rs 400/- each, which included lunch, we were ushered into a waiting area where other tourists were also waiting. Here we were served lemon grass tea with ginger and cardamom which is supposed to be good for cold. After waiting for about 10 minutes we were met by guide, who took a group of about 10 people around the farm. We were shown various types of spices which were grown there along with their uses. It was really an enlightening experience, we thoroughly enjoyed. After the tour which lasted for 30minutes was over, the guide poured some medicated water down our spine; it was supposed to refresh us!. We were then treated to an organic vegetarian lunch (Non veg was also available) on areca leaf plates, the best part of the lunch was the spicy kokum juice. After lunch we purchased a few spices and oils from the farm (though I found it to be a bit costly).

We started back at around 2:30pm, on the way we went to Shantadurga temple (a beautiful temple with a long history) after which we saw the famous churches of old goa. A wedding was going on in one of the churches. We were kinda bored at the churches and decided to go back to the hotel.

After a quick change we went to the Miramar beach. I would rate it as one of the best beaches to spend a quite evening with loved ones. The beach is near the meeting point of the Mondovi river and the Arabian sea. It is a walker’s paradise as the waters are a bit shallow. In fact we liked the beach better than the calangute or the aguada beach. This beach is devoid of foreigners and annoying agents trying to sell you beach rides. We watched fishermen catching fish and selling them fresh to customers. We were there in the beach till it became very dark.

After the beach we went to the panjim market to buy gifts for folks back home, but were too tired to continue, so we had dinner at Navatara veg restaurant and went back to the hotel at 10:00 pm after a very long day.

Day 4: 31^st January 2017:

We packed our bags and left them at the reception. After having breakfast, we went to the Panjim market and spent about 2 hours shopping. Wanted to buy local handicrafts, but ended up buying perfumes, T-Shirts, hats and cashew sweets instead. We then kept the bags at the hotel and went to Donna paula bay. The road to the bay is very nice. Donna paula bay reminded me of the hindi movie ‘Singham’ where Ajay devgan bashes up the bad guys. We spent about 40 minutes at the bay, had lunch and returned to the hotel at around 2:30pm.

As the couple from the airport told us that they would pick us up at 4:30pm we went to the spa. Wife had a pedicure, while I went for a back massage (It was back breaking than comforting!!).

The couple picked us up and we reached the airport well in time. We exchanged reviews about the places we went, to our surprise in a way they were following us wherever we went.

I found the airport to be a bit disorganized and bland. It does not have many shops was dimly lit and boring. The return flight journey felt quick, we did however enjoy the birds eye view of the places we went earlier. Appa picked us up at the airport and we had a hearty dinner at home.

Some pointers about goa:

Traffic rules: The local population in goa make an effort to follow traffic rules and when we were caught in a traffic jam the second day everyone followed lane discipline and nobody honked. The only people who were breaking rules were us Indian tourists!!

People: The people here are very polite and make an extra effort to make you comfortable. Probably they know that tourists are a very important part of their economy.

Price: Certain things that we usually by on MRP are sold at a higher price near the tourist centres. Public transport is less and erratic.

Pictures