Goa Fun!

Day 6 (2^nd October 2011) Sunday

Early Morning Train to Goa

We had great days in Mumbai. It was a lifetime experience for me. And the next chapter was about to begin, Goa. Had heard a lot but never had a chance to visit Goa earlier. I was excited a lot. We took an early morning train to Goa from CST, Mumbai.  I had thought that we would be able to see the sea all day long on the way to Goa because as per the map Goa is just at another end of the Arabian Sea from Mumbai. Contrary to this we happened to see the mountains and our train passed through numerous tunnels until we reached Goa. Truly saying my excitement was slowly going down as the train was passing through those dark, dusty tunnels.
 I was

Colva Beach

not liking the tunnel experience, dark, dusty and smelly tunnels. I must have felt such because we were travelling in Sleeper Class this time. Windows remained open all the time. Here I would like to request one thing from all passengers who travel by Train, not to throw waste and rubbish from the window. All of them were throwing the waste, plastics, and leftovers from the windows. I think only two of us were putting everything in a plastic bag so that we could bin it afterwards. The railway tracks looked so polluted due to all those plastic bags, wrappers and styrofoam plates.

Sand Cathedral

Finally, we reached Madgaon, Goa at about 8:30 PM. It took us about 14 hours to reach there. We happened to experience the same as in Kurla Railway Station in Madgaon, Railway Station. As we stepped out of the train, taxi drivers, auto drivers and bike taxi drivers swarmed up around us. It was dark already and on top of it, it was a completely unknown place, I was reluctant to trust anybody. We took some time to know about the rates and I was much concerned about safety. Taxi Drivers had an office outside Railway Station, we paid for a taxi and took a bill from them. We finally got into a taxi and the taxi driver, Babban, promised us to take to some budget hotels with good services and rooms. We took his mobile number too, in case of any chaos that would be helpful to us.
He drove us to the South Goa, which was nearer to the station and brought us to Hotel Vhailenkuti. The room looked okay and the rate was reasonable, so we decided to stay there as it was already 10:00 PM by then. We changed and went out for food. Surprisingly, most of the restaurants were open in Goa, I felt as if people all over India sleep only after midnight. We had good food in Panjabi Dhaba. Fish Curry and Rice were the best of all.

Day 7 (3^rd October 2011) Monday

Colva Beach

We woke up early morning and headed directly to Beach, Colva Beach which was just two minute walk from our hotel. I was spellbound as I saw the sea. It was a breathtaking view for me. I was in a great hurry to get into the water. I jumped into it and was screaming every time as tides push me back towards the beach.
We spent the whole day without caring for sunburn. We built a sand house, played hide and seek in the water, collected stones and shells and took photographs as much as we could, in total we enjoyed ourselves a lot. It was a lifetime experience for me. We returned back to the hotel only after the beach was closed.
What I liked the most on the beach in Goa was that there was a lifeguard looking after everyone on the beach, they were warning people from time to time when the tides were high or if anyone entered the water beyond the territory they had marked. We took shower, changed and went for dinner. This time a new restaurant, there were many restaurants nearby Colva Beach but the common food in all those restaurants were Fish Curry and Rice. I liked it the most. They cooked the fish with coconut in it; it was really an awesome recipe.
Each day Fish and Rice were made sure on our menu. ‘Fenny’ is another thing you must not forget to taste in Goa. It is a locally made alcohol either from Cashew Nuts or Coconut. Our Tour Guide told us that Fenny actually is also a medicine if taken in proper quantity each day. He also told us that we were allowed to take a maximum of three bottles of Fenny without paying tax to other states or countries. So we decide to take at least a bottle of Fenny with us.

Vagator Beach

Our Hotel Manager, a Nepali Guy, knocked at our door late at night to ask us if we were interested to go sightseeing the other day on Hotel Bus with other customers in the hotel. We agreed immediately and paid 750 IC each which included visits to- Anjuna Beach, Vagator Beach, Calangute Beach, a deep-sea Dolphin watch in Sinqurim Beach and finally a cruise on Mandovi River. We were staying in South Goa, a very peaceful and very beautiful Colva beach with fewer people, and the next day we were visiting North Goa.
Day 8 (4^th October 2011) Tuesday

Calangute Beach

We woke up early morning, had breakfast and reserved the best seat on the bus on which we were supposed to visit North Goa. Slowly other people came and occupied other seats. The driver of the bus was also the travel guide for that day. He introduced himself as Anil and was also instructing us about the rules and regulations to follow in Goa as a tourist as he was driving the bus. He told us that the police in Goa were very strict, unlike police from other states.
North Goa was crowded in comparison to South Goa, though very clean and tidy. They had fine roads and we saw many industries on the way to Goa.
Goa is not just a tourist area but also there are many big industries. It is the smallest and richest state in India. It is famous for beaches, a mixed custom of Hinduism and Christianity, Cashew Nuts and Fenny.

Anjuna Beach

At first, we were taken to Anjuna Beach, this beach was different from the Colva Beach in South Goa. It was rocky and had red sand. After the Anjuna, we went to Vagator Beach. Vagator beach had many attractions like motorboats, parachutes, water skiing etc. But we were warned by Anil not to participate in a card game where those people use black magic to loot tourists.
Then we headed towards Calangute Beach. We came to know that this beach was said to be the queen of all the beaches in Goa. It was much more crowded than any other beach and I found waves much more notorious there. I loved Colva Beach among all the other beaches I had been to in Goa.

Deep-Sea Dolphin Visit

We then headed to Sinqurim for deep-sea sailing to see Dolphins. We took our seats on the motorboat which accommodated the other eight people along with us. We put on a life jacket and the journey began. We happened to see a mansion of a diamond merchant from the sea, which faced the huge Arabian Sea to the front. It was elongated from the bottom of the hill to the top and could be accessed into the house on a motorboat under the hill. After about 1 hour of sailing, we happened to see a family of dolphins.
We hurriedly took some snaps. Then the last destination of that day was a river cruise. The cruise was on the Mondavi River in Panjim. We spent that evening on the top of the ship enjoying the sunset and Portuguese music.  It was really fun when I danced upon a call from the MC of the cultural program during the cruise. We returned back to the hotel by 8:30 PM. We changed and went out for dinner. Goa looked beautiful at night with all those lights and shops targeted at tourists, somehow similar to Thamel of Kathmandu.
Day 9 (5^th October 2011) Wednesday

Cruise on Mandovi River

Mahalaxmi Temple

The next day we decided to spend a day on Colva Beach and Madgoan. We also wanted to visit some churches nearby on that day. Actually, I wanted to see Shanta Durga Temple on that day, which was built much before the Portuguese invaded Goa and was destroyed by them and was renovated when they left Goa. But our hotel manager discouraged us to go there alone. So we decided to visit the nearby Mahalaxmi Temple in the evening. First, we decided to go to Mudgoan. We took a local bus from Colva, which is the most used vehicle by Goan People for day to day up and down. We roamed for some hours as we did not know where to go and what to do in Madgoan. Then we returned to Colva and went to the beach. We returned to the hotel after the beach was closed and then went to the Mahalaxmi Temple after a shower. We bowed our heads and bought two sarees for our mothers from Mahalaxmi Temples. Actually, those sarees are offered to Mata Laxmi by devotees and then the trust taking care of the temple would sell them at a very cheap price, the money went to the trust eventually.  As it was Mahanawami it was worth visiting Mahalaxmi Temple on that day. We had to catch the early morning train the next day. So we packed our languages and went to sleep early.

Day 10 (6^th October 2011) Thursday

We standing on Sea Shells 

Auto Driver came to pick up us from the hotel to the railway station at 5:00 AM. We had to catch a train at 6:30 am and it was about a 35-minute ride from our hotel to the station.  Auto took IC Rs. 250 of us. We reached there before the time. We were worried since last night thinking that if the train arrived late at Madgoan Station we could miss the train to Gorakhpur from Kurla Station which was timed for 11:30 PM the same day. Luckily the train was just 15 minutes late.
We were very happy that the train was not that late. We went in and took our seats. We reached Kurla Station on time. We had 4 hours of time to spend before our train would arrive at the station. This time our train was Kushinagar Express. We waited in the waiting room and enjoyed tea and other food available at the station. At 11:30 PM we boarded the train. Our travel agent Mr Mahesh had booked really nice seats for us. Each time we had a first birth ticket, which allowed us to enjoy the sceneries from the window. This time a Muslim family accompanied us, an old lady and her two granddaughters and son. We had dinner and slept on our berth.

Day 11, 12 (7^th & 8^th October 2011) Friday & Saturday

Classical Portuguese Dance

Early morning we wake up to the sound ‘garam garam chaye' of railway staff. We were nearby Bhopal when we opened our eyes. We had cardamom flavoured tea from him and ordered for breakfast, bread and omelette. We had to spend a whole day and night in the same compartment then. We reached Lucknow at around 8 PM. A gentleman entered our compartment, we had introductions and he told us that he also had been to Nepal many times for business. He knew about many places in Kathmandu. From him, we came to know that a place called Orai on the way to Gorakhpur was very famous for its Gulabjamun. It was so famous that even the trains stopped there for 2 minutes each time so that passengers could enjoy the taste.
We decided to purchase some. Orai arrived, we hurriedly got off the train and bought some and got on the train. It was hot and served in a mud bowl; it was giving out a very pure and delicious scent. We could not resist long and tested one each, it was amazingly tasty.  Our next stop was Kanpur, the train reached Kanpur around 12 AM, and the gentleman got off the train. He had told before bed that every Saturday night he would take the train to Kanpur to meet his wife who worked in Kanpur as a lecturer in a college. Actually, the railway in India is a boon left to them by the British. It is the biggest organization employing the largest number of people in the world.
Finally, we reached Gorakhpur, our destination at 8:30 AM. We took a car to the Nepal border and a direct bus to Hetauda, to get tika and blessings from our elders as Dashain was not over yet.

It was a wonderful stay in Goa. Fun and fun……………. Just loved it. :-)