in the God's own country..

          The quarterly alarm started ringing in my head from the beginning of September as 3 months had elapsed since my last tour of Goa & as per my personal new normal, a holiday was due. So after exploring all the suitable options, a package tour of Kerala offered by Yatra was booked.

          The selection was done due to the variety of attractions available in the same trip - hill station of Munnar, Jungle safari at Thekkady, beach at Alleppey. This was my first experience of a package tour which was quite pleasant especially as all the daytime transportations were included - there was no night life to go for anyway.

Day 1 - Kochi to Munnar      

    

           About 100 km drive on narrow roads surrounded completely by trees takes you to Munnar from Kochi airport. As you get closer to Munnar, hills with tea plantations add to the beauty of the scenic route. Also, random water falls may come in the way to provide you an excuse to stop for drinks, tea or cigarette breaks.

View Point photography

        Tea plantations        

           The journey cum site seeing tour ended at the hotel in the evening of the day 1. Photos & videos capture it nicely but not exactly as we can't feel the hilly surroundings & atmosphere by looking at the monitor. Anyway it was time to freshen up & look forward to check out what the night in Munnar looks like. But only activity I managed to find was to have some drinks at the bar. Temperature starts to drop as soon as the Sun sets here & you can't move around without sweater/jacket during up to early morning.

Day 2 - Munnar

Before Sunrise I was out of the bed & ready for my morning walk in search of tea. I was wearing the jacket only till 9 in the morning as after that it starts getting hot as usual.

First destination was Eravikulam national park where I didn't see any animals at all. Highlight of the site is the bus journey through narrow, steep roads which can barely accommodate a bus & yet buses continuously keep going up & down on the same road. The 10 minute journey was the scariest of my life. After reaching on the bus stop on the hill, I immediately started worrying about the same scary road back to the park office.

Next came the tea museum where you can observe the making of tea from leaves & also know about the history of tea estates in Munnar. The museum didn't appeal me much just like the tea of Munnar which didn't suit my taste buds.

Today's story ends with the eco point photography & my attempt to combine 2 photos with the help of paint.

Eco Point

I captured above beautiful clicks at eco point instead of testing my eco & moved ahead towards rose garden on the way back to Munnar town. I noticed variety of cactuses were more than that of roses in the rose garden. And here I grabbed the opportunity to get myself clicked wearing a fancy new shirt & moved forward to have a fancy lunch at Alibaba & 41 dishes.

Rose Garden, Munnar

After the scary bus ride at Eravikulam national park, it was time for a hair-raising jeep safari in Munnar. The jeep safari takes you to the beautiful Ripple water falls, peaceful Eco point & historical hanging bridge & ends with a picturesque Sunset view amongst the hills of Munnar.

Sunset Point

The frighteningly descending narrow roads took me back to the starting point & then we got back to our hotel. Dinner was skipped as a rare occurrence but was justified due to the late lunch.

Day 3 - Thekkady

Morning rituals were the same on the 2nd day in Munnar. After checkout began the 90 Kms journey to Thekkady for the next leg of the tour. The famous spice garden tour was done on the way & somehow I ended up buying medicine for IBS.

Periyar river bank

Now a days nobody expects to see wild animals in national parks or sanctuaries & likewise I entered the Periyar tiger reserve just to enjoy the scenery it offers. A bus takes visitors to the river bank where you go for about one & a half hour boat ride with the view of a seemingly dense jungle all around. During boating, the bus staff armed with binoculars keep looking for wild animals on river banks to make your visit worthwhile. Here you will most probably miss seeing a tiger but you can surely enjoy the fascinating river with its beautiful surroundings.

Next was a glimpse of native cultural phenomena of Kerala - Kathakali showed the drama of life the dancing way & Kalarippayattu displayed the fight for life  spectacularly. The videos speak much better than words about these shows.

Somehow the day seemed tiring & hence we left early to retire at my hotel.

So it was time again to face the evening blues & having no clue to overcome it, I started searching a bar to pass thorough the evening. Bar was found about a kilometer away & there ended the day with one or two new drinks accompanied by a delicious Egg bhurji.

Day 4 - Alleppey

After the tiring day & exhausting evening at Thekkady, morning started late at around 6 am when the alarm bell started ringing. Memories of Thekkady will also include Periyar tiger cafe & restaurant for serving a tasty lunch on the previous day & nice breakfast before embarking on a 4 hour journey to Alleppey.

My travel companion cum driver had already fixed the famous Kerala backwaters ride in a shikara but the surprise package was a simple yet tasty lunch on the backwater route. The boat ride could be an enchanting experience in the late evening but in the afternoon it felt quite dull & disappointing. 

Boating took time but it did end finally & there came the last evening of the tour. At last there was the Alleppey beach to make up for the disappointing Shikara ride.

The story ends here with my last click of a couple trying to capture their own memories with the background of the captivating sunset at Alleppey beach.

Go, Goa, Not Gone

               The trilogy that began with a Daman trip in the year 2019 - halted due to the Corona chapter in the year 2020 & achieved another milestone in 2021 with the Diu trip - was looking forward to its apt conclusion on the beaches of Goa & finally it did happen in the scorching hot month of May 2023.

May 5, 2023

           So, the month of May 2023 marked the much-awaited trip to Goa which turned out to be quite dull apart from the thrill of first flight of my life & first loss of bag at the ripe age of 43. Also, it was my first airport lounge access after years of having many cards with lounge access. The coffee was good but the flight timing was not right so once again there was no free lunch for me. The guest house booked for one day was quite close to the airport but to justify the taxi fare we took a longer route to reach there.

          My one-day stay was in a nice guest house barely 200 meters from a less popular but peaceful beach called Bogmala. Smirnoff vodka with cheese pakora got me through the evening. The holiday was actually planned to begin the next day at Calangute beach but the bonus evening at Bogmala beach happened as the waitlist was going nowhere & to save the trip I had to go by flight on the previous day.

May 6, 2023

     Early morning beach walk is such a wonderfully soothing experience that you want it to never end. But I had to start early to reach Calangute beach resort about 40 km away & especially as I was to change 3 buses to save taxi fare. It was a nice little achievement for the middle class man inside me but I could savor it only till the hotel reception when I realized that I left my shoulder bag in the bus.

          Naturally the day afterwards revolved around the bag. An old scooter was hired to rush to the bus stop rapidly but I hadn't noticed anything to recall the bus, only thing I remembered was the look of the bus conductor & I didn't find him there. So then I rushed to Panji to get his contact from central office. I felt really sad after maybe many years as the bus turned out to be a private one & no clue was found there. I then started moving around Panji to have lunch & to a buy mobile charger.  As usual I couldn't locate a restaurant for a regular lunch & ended up having some scotch with masala papad. Anyway it was already about 3 in the afternoon so I decided to forget about lunch, bought a charge & with a heavy heart started back towards Calangute. On the way back one vodka bottle to save some money as prices in beach area & bar drinking are mostly very costly.

    (P.S. Traffic police are quite active in Goa just like all Union territories so don't drive without helmet. I already had experienced this in Diu but this was a panic situation & the lesson had to be learned once again.)

          As luck would have it, it wasn't a complete bad day but just a few gloomy hours as I did find my bag at the Calangute bus stop & the beach evening suddenly became beautiful. Beach shacks have a minimum bill rule which I didn't find worth to pay so I chose the famous Souza lobo restaurant which provides nice view of the Calangute beach from a heighted platform. New vodka & scotch brands were tasted along with fried chicken & a magnificent view of Sunset in the late evening.

 May 7, 2023

          A new morning at a new beach started the day. As always, I was up around 5.30 in the morning & had an early morning walk at Calangute beach. Bread omelet or Maggie type snacks & tea/coffee are available at early morning in the market area if you can't wait till hotel's breakfast time like me. The hotel breakfast was quite late for my routine but there was nice poori-subji which I couldn't resist.

After the lunch-like breakfast I headed north from Calangute beach - according to youtube research done at home, one day was to explore all possible places north of Calangute, the next day was for southside attractions, the evenings were to be spent at beaches with beautiful sunset & the Goan night life was also to be checked out around Tito's lane.

          Chapora fort - the shooting location of Dil Chahta hai - was my very first destination which is right next to the beautiful & peaceful Vagator beach. Vagator beach is only 8 kms from Calangute beach but the narrow roads made me feel like it was 18 kms & that's true for all the beach side roads of Goa. So it took about half an hour to reach Vagator beach but the view was worth it & I had some nice clicks.

There is no parking charges at Vagator beach & also no beach activities so its a nice place to have some peaceful beach time. Although Chapora fort looks just beside Vagator beach, its a 2 km long drive to reach its entrance. The fort is not maintained like the Aguada fort I visited next day so the only ticket I had to buy was parking ticket. Things to do at Chapora fort - climb the 150 steps, click selfies & keep drinking water to counter May heat. That was all I did before moving onto my next destination - Anjuna beach. Here I started back in search of the Anjuna beach as the afternoon heat demotivated me from moving further to north. 

          Anjuna beach is a narrow beach matching with the roads leading to it. It is similar to Vagator - beautiful & clean beach free from water sports to spend quality time with loved ones. The cost of engaging beach shacks is the only thing that is almost constant at each beach otherwise they all have their unique characters. About half an hour was spent at Anjuna beach enjoying above beautiful view & also some cute little girls playing at the seashore.

          That almost brought me to the lunch time so  I headed back towards Calangute looking for a good restaurant on the way & I did keep looking until I reached my room ! Somehow no restaurant on the way could attract me to enter so it was once more up to Zomato/Swiggy to fulfill my hunger. Eating at or ordering from an unknown restaurant is always an experiment. This time I experimented on Dhaba style dal from a costly restaurant which turned out to be dal makhni but anyway it felt good to have a real lunch after 2 days.

           

           Evening happened quite soon & again I was on road riding the old fascino to explore beaches of north Goa. Candolim beach looked identical to the Calangute with all the crowds gearing up for an evening of beach sports. I shot a small video of surging sea waves & left in few minutes to capture the Sunset at the Sinquerim beach.                                                                                           The beauty of the sunset is equally matched by the shape of the Sinquerim beach. Its a delight for any photographer & I too captured the mesmerizing Sunset.                                                                                             How nice would it feel to have a romantic partner to share this enchanting evening - that was my parting thoughts. Anyway having no other plans for the day I headed back to my hotel & converted the sad evening into an intoxicating dose of vodka. Later on it was a zinger burger from KFC which further soothed my pain of loneliness.

 May 8, 2023

            So here was the last day of the much hyped Goa trip. I was up at my usual time & had my morning beach walk on the Calangute beach followed by tasty Meduvada in breakfast.  

              Parra road was my first morning destination which is famous for movie shootings. I took some time to find it as the picturesque site is very well hidden inside a rural area filled with narrow roads. I didn't find it as beautiful as it looks in the movies. Maybe it was due to the summer season that the greenery & palm trees didn't appeal much. Anyway I did capture the memories with some selfies & moved ahead towards Bagha beach.

Bagha beach is famous for the night life but as I wasn't much eager to go out in the night I decided to check out the beach before lunch. As expected there was nothing special to tell or remember about the morning scene of Bagha beach. Now as per the planned North Goa itinerary, Aguada beach & Casino visit were remaining.

Aguada fort is almost at the south end of the north Goa. About 9 kms drive from Calangute beach gets dangerously steep & curvy for the last 1 or 2 kilometers. The thrill of driving on a steep road is the only excitement you get in this trip.

Goa Jail

Now there came a surprise twist in the day as I approached my hotel to rest for the afternoon. A cruise trip was offered by the same person who provided me the scooty & as I had no destinations remaining to explore, I just grabbed the opportunity. The little cruise ship & biryani packed from road side hotel justified the cheap price of the trip. The package included 2 bottles of beer to shoo away the boredom. Anyway it was better compared to passing time in the room.

Thus ended the ambitious Goa tour & the Diu, Daman & Goa trilogy. The casino experience was skipped in the first Goa trip mostly because of the long distance to be travelled in the night & also to avoid drink & drive. Return journey in first class train compartment & onward journey in flight - both firsts achieved in this trip. The most memorable episode was to get back my bag & maintain my lifetime record of not losing things.

 May 9, 2023

Lastly, the 45 km journey to reach Madgaon railway station proved to be a tense one as expected. Train journey was quite smooth but boring as internet was mostly not available on the route.

Beaches with their unique scenery & enchanting sunsets with exhilarating drinks, cheap but refreshing cruise & long drives on narrow roads were the memories of North Goa I came back with & started to look forward to the South Goa trip in the future.

Walkathon 2023

                This little story is about the first marathon I took part in my life which actually turned out to be a walkathon of a sea of participants jamming the roads leaving no space to run at all & anyway I couldn't have finished it if it involved actual running for 5 kms.

Nyay Mandir

             The name of the category was Fun Run & it did complete justice to its name as nobody had any stress of the race at all & plenty of musical & dance groups were there to entertain us on the route. The collective excitement & spirit of hundreds of participants got me through the chilly winter morning without my jacket. The only pain point I faced was the parking which was at least 1 km away from the event ground & so the year 2023 began with a new walkathon record of 7 km for me.

Mandvi

Lal court