Tuesday, October 12, 2004
Bombay To Goa And Back :: Tricia's Blog
--Day 1--
2nd October 2004 (Mahatama Gandhi's Birthday)
It’s just going to be the two of us after all. We set out after Anupam’s strong coffee & my tea, with only Alu Parathas to subside for breakkie, we were all set to go.
Cooler -> check
Ice -> check
Sunscreen -> check
Luggage -> check
Gas -> check
Perfect!
Headed on the expressway straight towards Pune… ummm Pune? Okay we only went off by 15-20 kilometers, but the road to get back wasn’t even a dirt road (from Khopoli to Pen)… It was made of fist sized rocks and over turned Lorries. I have no idea how they got going fast enough to overturn, but this is India after all.
No more hitches to our first stop. Anupam got some excellent pictures of the mountains. The view was amazing all the way. The weather was perfect this time of year. Not too warm and winter hadn't set in yet. The monsoon was on it's way out so, everything is green & lush along the way.
Once we were at the turn, off NH-17 (onto SH-106) we thought of stopping for gas, veggies, bread and other essentials for the next day and the night's barbecue. Naah... We should be able to get all that in Ganapatipule. Only problem was that, Ganapatipule didn't seem to exist! No road signs at all, if you are heading into G'pule from Bombay, but plenty of signs from the other direction. We took one turn and 40kms later, we found where we wanted to be. A nice secluded resort with our own cottage inches from the soft sandy beach.
We immediately took a walk down the beach and had 3 coconuts. Asked for some veggies/bread etc... NOTHING was there! No market and the only thing resembling bread, was pau, which they refused to sell to us unless we buy the "batata vada" too. So we say... Ok, no problem, how far is the closest market? 40KMS!?! I don't think we need bread after all! Back to the cottage.
Oops the lights were left on in the car! Damn car without a headlight buzzer! The engine would not start, sun had set & we were 40kms to the closest bread shop. Forget about mechanics and gas (The tank was on empty... No gas stations for 40kms either). So that's when I had a bright idea, since the engine was turning over, but just not starting, we decided showers were in order, then we'd ask for borrowing a battery (yup, still no jump cables!)
Post nap & shower, the car started, so we let her idle for a while and we headed back after that to work on our barbecue. We had 4 fuel cubes to help start the fire quickly. We also wanted to be sure that we could do a barbecue after Pia/Vicky joined us, so we decided to only use one cube. Only problem was that, since the coal was in a plastic bag (no paper bags around), it was getting lit, but no real heat. After much huffing and puffing, I got my second great idea of the day.
We were sitting under coconut trees and had a lot of twigs and leaves under our feet, so after an hour of hard work, we finally got the coal so hot that we could have fed an army if we had enough meat. We had a meal fit for Kings (and Queens of course). We had a salad with yoghurt and salt, garlic/hickory flavored meat and of course no bread.
Stats:
Over turned lorries: 1
Fun : 10
Kilometers : 700
Adventure : 7
-- Day 2--
3rd October 2004
Today we had all day to just float around G'pule and check out the scene, but we had managed that yesterday in under an hour (most of it on the beach). So, first things first. We headed towards the highway (Nivli) to get gas. We were literally running on fumes and hope by the end, with an almost dead battery. We gassed up and headed towards Jaigarh Fort.
It was an amazing drive through the villages and countryside with occasional glimpses of the ocean. The fort was completely abandoned. Many of the structures were overgrown with Ivy and Banyan trees. Amazing doesn't even begin to describe it! Anupam of course was multi-orgasmic with his camera in hand. After that we went to a temple, where we sat near a ceremonial bath and the crashing waves. I made some ham sandwiches for lunch. We sat there till it started to drizzle, when we packed up and headed back to our car. We passed the hot afternoon with a nap and woke up in time for the sunset at the beach. Anupam showed me how to build sand tunnels because I don't remember every having made any as a kid.
In the evening we went for a walk to the resort's restaurant. We had the chicken and prawns made in the local curries. It couldn't have been a more perfect day.
Stats:
Gas mileage: 16.2 kmpl
Fun : 10
Kilometers : 150
Adventure : 5
-- Day 3--
4th October 2004
We woke up early enough to go for our usual morning run on the beach, before we packed up to leave. We left a little later in the day since we weren't expecting too long a drive today, on the way to sunny Goa.
The drive on the state highway back to the National Highway 17 was again filled with greenery and mountainous views. I'm getting very good with a car that has a manual transmission.
Anyways, Anupam was driving and it was just in time for lunch, when the rains started. Shortly thereafter, the windshield wipers of the car died. And I mean, in the middle of a complete downpour, they totally stopped. We were miles from anywhere! So we inched our way to the next village, where there was no mechanic... We kept inching forward. Thank goodness, there was barely any traffic (Monday, right?) till we hit the next village. The car doctor fixed the car. Apparently, this is a common problems with Esteems. The internal wiper arm slips off.
So we were off on our way again. A little bit of rain later, the link slipped off the wiper motor again! But we did not keep it on high he had told us not to. Okay, through more pouring rain. Another 22 kilometers with no wipers (the rain gods were REALLY not happy). In the next town of Kankavali in southern Maharashtra (150kms before Goa) we found a Maruti service center. The guys promptly started working on the car, but they did not have the part required.
Instead they said they can fix it by welding a nut and bolt at the end, so the wiper connecting arm will stay in place. They took the wiper motor to the welding machine and started welding it over oil soaked cardboard boxes next to a run down car. Well, the boxes promptly caught fire and as we watched from our parked 5 feet away, the fire was quickly going out of control. We a stream of fire snaking up the gas tank. I couldn't more since the fire was on my side of the car, right outside my door. Anupam was staring at the fire thinking about putting her in reverse and backing us to safety, but the hood was open with tools/parts on the engine. Finally I yelled at him and we scrambled out, but not without some yelling and scratching on the way. A few seconds later, one mechanic decided the quarter-full buckets of water weren't enough and he ran for the fire extinguisher on the other side of the place. The fire was put out and a blanket of while lay on the ground, all over the old car, over ours, all over the place. Close call! The part was fixed, except only one side worked, just like an autorickshaw. We set on our way to Goa.
It rained all the way to Goa. Amazingly we found our hotel in the first shot. An amazing one bedroom apartment with a kitchen and pool, near Benaulim beach.
Stats:
Fun : 10
Kilometers : 350+
Adventure : 9
Fires : 1
Wipers fixed : 01 set
-- Day 4--
5th October 2004
We slept later this morning than we had intended. Just exhausted from the evening yesterday, the fire, the long drive etc. We decided to skip our morning run, swim and instead head over to Panjim for a lazy morning.
We had found the hotel easily enough yesterday, but managed to get lost on the way out. We drove around for some time and finally found our out of Colva village. At the turn to the highway, we saw our second over turned truck (besides all the other trucks by the highway). He was blocking our way, but we squeezed past. It took us an hour to get to the Maruti Service Station near Panjim. Once there, they told us, we would have to replace the whole motor since the welding could not be undone. Anupam did not believe that. We bought the wiper connecting arm and decided to get the work done by our mechanic Younis in Bombay, who is a good man.
Next we headed off to Old Goa, where we parked our car and were chased by trinket sellers till I spoke to them in hindi, which had them over awed. Anupam had this book called "Walking in Goa", which looked promising, but had horrible descriptions of the direction we should be headed in. We got twisted and turned around trying to figure out where the hell the book was trying to have us go. Eventually we realised that we did the walk backwards... All this under the blazing sun of the afternoon. After that we headed back to the car for a spot of air conditioning. I was really hot.
We headed straight to Panjim to a place called George's Restaurant. It had closed for siesta (very popular here), so we spent some time looking for a yummy authentic Goan eatery. We found a place called Moti Mahal. The best option since we were smack dab in the middle of the famous Goan Siesta!
Surprisingly, the food at the Moti Mahal wasn't half as bad as we thought it would be. We spent a couple of hours there, drinking feni cocktails and beer, along with some decent Goan seafood.
Post lunch some shops had opened so we bought some postcards, a Goan cook book and some other stuff. Then we headed over to Dona Paula to watch the sunset. It is believed that a girl who was in love with a boy from a different community (religion? caste? state? don't know) had jumped to her death to the rocks from the cliff after her family forbade her to see the boy. Quite a tragic story for such a romantic setting. We sat at a bench at the memorial for the girl, and Anupam again got some great pictures of his favorite subject. Sunsets. Unfortunately, there were too many people there, but a beautiful place.
We went back to Panjim, shopped for booze, groceries and had dinner at George's. The place was seedy, but the food was amazing. Two dinners with lots of meat for about a hundred rupees.
Stats:
Gas mileage: 15.4 kmpl
Fun : 8
Kilometers : 100
Adventure : 4
Toppled truck : 1
-- Day 5--
6th October 2004
We were planning on waking early for a swim, but we over slept. I guess that's what a holiday is all about. We did another one of the walks, another disappointment. We are used to the level of detail in you average Lonely Planets. We headed off to Anjuna beach for the flea market. We got there and it was a huge disappointment. Only 7 stalls were set up. Then we realised that it was at the other end of the beach. This was just a teaser.. We drove us there. There were tons of stalls there. Only... Most of them had crap in them (Anupam said, I am spending too much time in the corporate lifestyle and brand name stores, so I kicked him). I did manage to buy some earrings though. One made of coconut shell, one was wooden and the last was silver.
From there we headed off to Fort Aguada's beach. Third day in Goa and first day on the beach. There Anupam decided to be designated driver (like he had a choice) and I had a few Feni cocktails. Feni is the local brew made of either Cashew or Coconut, two of my favorites without being turned into booze. Very yummy, but also quite strong.
Pia SMSed us around 1550hrs saying that they boarded their flight. Time to go pick up my nephew!!! We left for the airport assuming that it would only take an hour to reach... We were wrong since we got lost again. And then, because it was rush hour, we got there 5 seconds before they walked out.
Shay had a good first flight and we headed back to the resort. Pia made Shay's dinner in our hotel room's kitchen. After that we also headed out to dinner. A nice yummy place next to the resort. Fish and pork... Goan favorites!
Stats:
Fun : 5
Kilometers : 100+
Adventure : 3
-- Day 6--
7th October 2004
Got a bit of a late start this morning, but that is because we took Shay to the pool in the morning. I too got a bit of a workout. Then we headed to the beach close to the resort, but it wasn't as nice since the fishermen were pulling out their catch and the smell was quite over powering, plus there were no beach umbrellas for rent. So, in another hour or so, we were back on our way back to the Northern part of Goa.
We stopped for lunch at this yummy restaurant that Pia and Vicky had come to when Pia was pregnant. I guzzled down more feni cocktails (like Anupam says -- Think Global, Drink Local). We walked around some of the shops before going to the beach at Baga. A couple more Feni cocktails took me through to the sunset. No prizes for guessing who the designated driver was...
Just before the sunset, Pia, Mukti and I, took Shay to the edge of the surf where the water was just lapping at his feet. He got really scared, but I got some good pictures of Pia and Shay together.
After the sunset, we decided to go for Dinner near Margao. This was a secluded restaurant names "Nostalgia". They had a man on a Saxophone, playing quite well. This place had amazing food. Not to mention the ambiance. It was excellent. One more Pina Colada for Mukti and me, which lasted till we got home. Anupam stayed sober and sad ;-)
Stats:
Fun : 6
Kilometers : 130+
Adventure : 3
-- Day 7--
8th October 2004
When we woke up in the morning, Vicky had already arrived. Pia fed Shay and he was ready to head to the pool again. Anupam and I got our workouts and we got back to our room and made breakfast for everyone. Shay, Vicky and Mukti decided to take a nap, while the rest of us got ready for the day.
Anupam and I decided to rent an extra car since we were going to do highway driving and we wanted Shay to sit in the car seat in our car which is a 4 seater. So we rented a little Suzuki Zen hatchback that Mukti and Vicky used.
We headed off to Britto's, one of the most famous restaurants in the Bartez area. The restaurant is right on Baga beach. I took one look at the Menu and decided that I absolutely HAD to have the lobster. I asked the price. I was... ummm... well, nice and pricey, just how I like it. Anupam immediately turned 3 shades of green and spluttered... Finally giving him some of my puppy dog faces (Anupam loves puppies), he agreed and I thoroughly enjoyed the arm length crustacean.
After that we headed to Fort Aguada where we rented umbrellas and beach chairs. Shay played on the cushioned beach chairs with Anupam and Vicky watching over him while Pia, Mukti and I plunged into the waves. Anupam got some good pictures of Shay and Vicky. The sunset was spectacular, after which we headed back to the hotel for dinner. Anupam and I cooked some spaghetti, salad, goan sausages and some Feni drinks... I was drinking a lot of Feni in Goa. We made some sausages and bacon too, for Mukti. Turned out that Anupam ate Goan sausage 3 times today. Poor chap.
Dinner ended on a somber note. We got news that Vicky's mom was admitted to the hospital, since she had a clot in her brain. Vicky was going to fly back the next day.
Stats:
Fun : 4
Kilometers : 85
Adventure : 3
-- Day 8--
9th October 2004
Anupam and I woke up earlier today for the usual swim. Everyone joined for breakfast and then Anupam and I headed over to Mayem Lake. This was much further than any of the earlier drives we had done. When we got there, we rented a boat and quickly found the closest tree for shade at far end of the lake. It was scorching!
After that we met up with Pia, Shay and Mukti (they had dropped Vicky off at the airport). We met them at a restaurant called "6Pack". We had wanted to go to some other restaurant, but all of them were closed. Season will start in another 2-4 weeks. The food at the little restaurant was very good and the service was spectacular.
From there we headed back towards Aguada Beach, for the sunset. This time Pia took Shay in her arms to the sea. He was so fascinated by the water lapping at Pia's feet, he couldn't contain himself. He loved it!
We decided to visit the Saturday market. Anupam wanted another tattoo, but that was not to be. The market had not opened for the season. We headed back to the hotel.
That night everyone was quite exhausted, so we ordered food from the hotel and called it a night.
Stats:
Fun : 6
Kilometers : 150+
Adventure : 3
-- Day 9--
10th October 2004
We had a longish drive so we headed out pretty early. We dropped of some things with Pia, like butter, oil, wine etc. We loaded our cooler with ice and drinks for the journey. Then we were on the way to Ganapatipule. Anupam did quite a bit of the driving. We reached the cottages late morning.
We went for a walk. This time the Indian Navy was performing some joint maneuvers with the US Marines, so there were all sorts of soldier boys around, including some American ones.
We opened a bottle of Australian Sparkling Shiraz (Champagne) for the sunset. The hotel had set up a table and chairs for us on the beach, so we had an uninterrupted view. An amazing way to end the holiday.
Stats:
Fun : 6
Kilometers : 400+
Adventure : 3
-- Day 10--
11th October 2004
We left early to make sure that we avoided the rush hour when we entered Bombay. The soldiers were just in the process of waking up when we were pulling out. Anupam did the first shift driving for the first time during the holiday. We took turns driving till we got to Vashi.
By then we were so exhausted, we just needed to stop for a few minutes. We went to this big mall on the highway, just after the Panvel check post.
We had lunch, a sizzling brownie, iced tea and head back home. I had to work the next day. Anupam had a day off till he had to leave for Hyderabad, to get his work/clothes/life organised...
Thus ended our holiday. A very good one at that. Minor hiccups, but nothing that the two of could not fix together.
-- Tricia
2nd October 2004 (Mahatama Gandhi's Birthday)
It’s just going to be the two of us after all. We set out after Anupam’s strong coffee & my tea, with only Alu Parathas to subside for breakkie, we were all set to go.
Cooler -> check
Ice -> check
Sunscreen -> check
Luggage -> check
Gas -> check
Perfect!
Headed on the expressway straight towards Pune… ummm Pune? Okay we only went off by 15-20 kilometers, but the road to get back wasn’t even a dirt road (from Khopoli to Pen)… It was made of fist sized rocks and over turned Lorries. I have no idea how they got going fast enough to overturn, but this is India after all.
No more hitches to our first stop. Anupam got some excellent pictures of the mountains. The view was amazing all the way. The weather was perfect this time of year. Not too warm and winter hadn't set in yet. The monsoon was on it's way out so, everything is green & lush along the way.
Once we were at the turn, off NH-17 (onto SH-106) we thought of stopping for gas, veggies, bread and other essentials for the next day and the night's barbecue. Naah... We should be able to get all that in Ganapatipule. Only problem was that, Ganapatipule didn't seem to exist! No road signs at all, if you are heading into G'pule from Bombay, but plenty of signs from the other direction. We took one turn and 40kms later, we found where we wanted to be. A nice secluded resort with our own cottage inches from the soft sandy beach.
We immediately took a walk down the beach and had 3 coconuts. Asked for some veggies/bread etc... NOTHING was there! No market and the only thing resembling bread, was pau, which they refused to sell to us unless we buy the "batata vada" too. So we say... Ok, no problem, how far is the closest market? 40KMS!?! I don't think we need bread after all! Back to the cottage.
Oops the lights were left on in the car! Damn car without a headlight buzzer! The engine would not start, sun had set & we were 40kms to the closest bread shop. Forget about mechanics and gas (The tank was on empty... No gas stations for 40kms either). So that's when I had a bright idea, since the engine was turning over, but just not starting, we decided showers were in order, then we'd ask for borrowing a battery (yup, still no jump cables!)
Post nap & shower, the car started, so we let her idle for a while and we headed back after that to work on our barbecue. We had 4 fuel cubes to help start the fire quickly. We also wanted to be sure that we could do a barbecue after Pia/Vicky joined us, so we decided to only use one cube. Only problem was that, since the coal was in a plastic bag (no paper bags around), it was getting lit, but no real heat. After much huffing and puffing, I got my second great idea of the day.
We were sitting under coconut trees and had a lot of twigs and leaves under our feet, so after an hour of hard work, we finally got the coal so hot that we could have fed an army if we had enough meat. We had a meal fit for Kings (and Queens of course). We had a salad with yoghurt and salt, garlic/hickory flavored meat and of course no bread.
Stats:
Over turned lorries: 1
Fun : 10
Kilometers : 700
Adventure : 7
-- Day 2--
3rd October 2004
Today we had all day to just float around G'pule and check out the scene, but we had managed that yesterday in under an hour (most of it on the beach). So, first things first. We headed towards the highway (Nivli) to get gas. We were literally running on fumes and hope by the end, with an almost dead battery. We gassed up and headed towards Jaigarh Fort.
It was an amazing drive through the villages and countryside with occasional glimpses of the ocean. The fort was completely abandoned. Many of the structures were overgrown with Ivy and Banyan trees. Amazing doesn't even begin to describe it! Anupam of course was multi-orgasmic with his camera in hand. After that we went to a temple, where we sat near a ceremonial bath and the crashing waves. I made some ham sandwiches for lunch. We sat there till it started to drizzle, when we packed up and headed back to our car. We passed the hot afternoon with a nap and woke up in time for the sunset at the beach. Anupam showed me how to build sand tunnels because I don't remember every having made any as a kid.
In the evening we went for a walk to the resort's restaurant. We had the chicken and prawns made in the local curries. It couldn't have been a more perfect day.
Stats:
Gas mileage: 16.2 kmpl
Fun : 10
Kilometers : 150
Adventure : 5
-- Day 3--
4th October 2004
We woke up early enough to go for our usual morning run on the beach, before we packed up to leave. We left a little later in the day since we weren't expecting too long a drive today, on the way to sunny Goa.
The drive on the state highway back to the National Highway 17 was again filled with greenery and mountainous views. I'm getting very good with a car that has a manual transmission.
Anyways, Anupam was driving and it was just in time for lunch, when the rains started. Shortly thereafter, the windshield wipers of the car died. And I mean, in the middle of a complete downpour, they totally stopped. We were miles from anywhere! So we inched our way to the next village, where there was no mechanic... We kept inching forward. Thank goodness, there was barely any traffic (Monday, right?) till we hit the next village. The car doctor fixed the car. Apparently, this is a common problems with Esteems. The internal wiper arm slips off.
So we were off on our way again. A little bit of rain later, the link slipped off the wiper motor again! But we did not keep it on high he had told us not to. Okay, through more pouring rain. Another 22 kilometers with no wipers (the rain gods were REALLY not happy). In the next town of Kankavali in southern Maharashtra (150kms before Goa) we found a Maruti service center. The guys promptly started working on the car, but they did not have the part required.
Instead they said they can fix it by welding a nut and bolt at the end, so the wiper connecting arm will stay in place. They took the wiper motor to the welding machine and started welding it over oil soaked cardboard boxes next to a run down car. Well, the boxes promptly caught fire and as we watched from our parked 5 feet away, the fire was quickly going out of control. We a stream of fire snaking up the gas tank. I couldn't more since the fire was on my side of the car, right outside my door. Anupam was staring at the fire thinking about putting her in reverse and backing us to safety, but the hood was open with tools/parts on the engine. Finally I yelled at him and we scrambled out, but not without some yelling and scratching on the way. A few seconds later, one mechanic decided the quarter-full buckets of water weren't enough and he ran for the fire extinguisher on the other side of the place. The fire was put out and a blanket of while lay on the ground, all over the old car, over ours, all over the place. Close call! The part was fixed, except only one side worked, just like an autorickshaw. We set on our way to Goa.
It rained all the way to Goa. Amazingly we found our hotel in the first shot. An amazing one bedroom apartment with a kitchen and pool, near Benaulim beach.
Stats:
Fun : 10
Kilometers : 350+
Adventure : 9
Fires : 1
Wipers fixed : 01 set
-- Day 4--
5th October 2004
We slept later this morning than we had intended. Just exhausted from the evening yesterday, the fire, the long drive etc. We decided to skip our morning run, swim and instead head over to Panjim for a lazy morning.
We had found the hotel easily enough yesterday, but managed to get lost on the way out. We drove around for some time and finally found our out of Colva village. At the turn to the highway, we saw our second over turned truck (besides all the other trucks by the highway). He was blocking our way, but we squeezed past. It took us an hour to get to the Maruti Service Station near Panjim. Once there, they told us, we would have to replace the whole motor since the welding could not be undone. Anupam did not believe that. We bought the wiper connecting arm and decided to get the work done by our mechanic Younis in Bombay, who is a good man.
Next we headed off to Old Goa, where we parked our car and were chased by trinket sellers till I spoke to them in hindi, which had them over awed. Anupam had this book called "Walking in Goa", which looked promising, but had horrible descriptions of the direction we should be headed in. We got twisted and turned around trying to figure out where the hell the book was trying to have us go. Eventually we realised that we did the walk backwards... All this under the blazing sun of the afternoon. After that we headed back to the car for a spot of air conditioning. I was really hot.
We headed straight to Panjim to a place called George's Restaurant. It had closed for siesta (very popular here), so we spent some time looking for a yummy authentic Goan eatery. We found a place called Moti Mahal. The best option since we were smack dab in the middle of the famous Goan Siesta!
Surprisingly, the food at the Moti Mahal wasn't half as bad as we thought it would be. We spent a couple of hours there, drinking feni cocktails and beer, along with some decent Goan seafood.
Post lunch some shops had opened so we bought some postcards, a Goan cook book and some other stuff. Then we headed over to Dona Paula to watch the sunset. It is believed that a girl who was in love with a boy from a different community (religion? caste? state? don't know) had jumped to her death to the rocks from the cliff after her family forbade her to see the boy. Quite a tragic story for such a romantic setting. We sat at a bench at the memorial for the girl, and Anupam again got some great pictures of his favorite subject. Sunsets. Unfortunately, there were too many people there, but a beautiful place.
We went back to Panjim, shopped for booze, groceries and had dinner at George's. The place was seedy, but the food was amazing. Two dinners with lots of meat for about a hundred rupees.
Stats:
Gas mileage: 15.4 kmpl
Fun : 8
Kilometers : 100
Adventure : 4
Toppled truck : 1
-- Day 5--
6th October 2004
We were planning on waking early for a swim, but we over slept. I guess that's what a holiday is all about. We did another one of the walks, another disappointment. We are used to the level of detail in you average Lonely Planets. We headed off to Anjuna beach for the flea market. We got there and it was a huge disappointment. Only 7 stalls were set up. Then we realised that it was at the other end of the beach. This was just a teaser.. We drove us there. There were tons of stalls there. Only... Most of them had crap in them (Anupam said, I am spending too much time in the corporate lifestyle and brand name stores, so I kicked him). I did manage to buy some earrings though. One made of coconut shell, one was wooden and the last was silver.
From there we headed off to Fort Aguada's beach. Third day in Goa and first day on the beach. There Anupam decided to be designated driver (like he had a choice) and I had a few Feni cocktails. Feni is the local brew made of either Cashew or Coconut, two of my favorites without being turned into booze. Very yummy, but also quite strong.
Pia SMSed us around 1550hrs saying that they boarded their flight. Time to go pick up my nephew!!! We left for the airport assuming that it would only take an hour to reach... We were wrong since we got lost again. And then, because it was rush hour, we got there 5 seconds before they walked out.
Shay had a good first flight and we headed back to the resort. Pia made Shay's dinner in our hotel room's kitchen. After that we also headed out to dinner. A nice yummy place next to the resort. Fish and pork... Goan favorites!
Stats:
Fun : 5
Kilometers : 100+
Adventure : 3
-- Day 6--
7th October 2004
Got a bit of a late start this morning, but that is because we took Shay to the pool in the morning. I too got a bit of a workout. Then we headed to the beach close to the resort, but it wasn't as nice since the fishermen were pulling out their catch and the smell was quite over powering, plus there were no beach umbrellas for rent. So, in another hour or so, we were back on our way back to the Northern part of Goa.
We stopped for lunch at this yummy restaurant that Pia and Vicky had come to when Pia was pregnant. I guzzled down more feni cocktails (like Anupam says -- Think Global, Drink Local). We walked around some of the shops before going to the beach at Baga. A couple more Feni cocktails took me through to the sunset. No prizes for guessing who the designated driver was...
Just before the sunset, Pia, Mukti and I, took Shay to the edge of the surf where the water was just lapping at his feet. He got really scared, but I got some good pictures of Pia and Shay together.
After the sunset, we decided to go for Dinner near Margao. This was a secluded restaurant names "Nostalgia". They had a man on a Saxophone, playing quite well. This place had amazing food. Not to mention the ambiance. It was excellent. One more Pina Colada for Mukti and me, which lasted till we got home. Anupam stayed sober and sad ;-)
Stats:
Fun : 6
Kilometers : 130+
Adventure : 3
-- Day 7--
8th October 2004
When we woke up in the morning, Vicky had already arrived. Pia fed Shay and he was ready to head to the pool again. Anupam and I got our workouts and we got back to our room and made breakfast for everyone. Shay, Vicky and Mukti decided to take a nap, while the rest of us got ready for the day.
Anupam and I decided to rent an extra car since we were going to do highway driving and we wanted Shay to sit in the car seat in our car which is a 4 seater. So we rented a little Suzuki Zen hatchback that Mukti and Vicky used.
We headed off to Britto's, one of the most famous restaurants in the Bartez area. The restaurant is right on Baga beach. I took one look at the Menu and decided that I absolutely HAD to have the lobster. I asked the price. I was... ummm... well, nice and pricey, just how I like it. Anupam immediately turned 3 shades of green and spluttered... Finally giving him some of my puppy dog faces (Anupam loves puppies), he agreed and I thoroughly enjoyed the arm length crustacean.
After that we headed to Fort Aguada where we rented umbrellas and beach chairs. Shay played on the cushioned beach chairs with Anupam and Vicky watching over him while Pia, Mukti and I plunged into the waves. Anupam got some good pictures of Shay and Vicky. The sunset was spectacular, after which we headed back to the hotel for dinner. Anupam and I cooked some spaghetti, salad, goan sausages and some Feni drinks... I was drinking a lot of Feni in Goa. We made some sausages and bacon too, for Mukti. Turned out that Anupam ate Goan sausage 3 times today. Poor chap.
Dinner ended on a somber note. We got news that Vicky's mom was admitted to the hospital, since she had a clot in her brain. Vicky was going to fly back the next day.
Stats:
Fun : 4
Kilometers : 85
Adventure : 3
-- Day 8--
9th October 2004
Anupam and I woke up earlier today for the usual swim. Everyone joined for breakfast and then Anupam and I headed over to Mayem Lake. This was much further than any of the earlier drives we had done. When we got there, we rented a boat and quickly found the closest tree for shade at far end of the lake. It was scorching!
After that we met up with Pia, Shay and Mukti (they had dropped Vicky off at the airport). We met them at a restaurant called "6Pack". We had wanted to go to some other restaurant, but all of them were closed. Season will start in another 2-4 weeks. The food at the little restaurant was very good and the service was spectacular.
From there we headed back towards Aguada Beach, for the sunset. This time Pia took Shay in her arms to the sea. He was so fascinated by the water lapping at Pia's feet, he couldn't contain himself. He loved it!
We decided to visit the Saturday market. Anupam wanted another tattoo, but that was not to be. The market had not opened for the season. We headed back to the hotel.
That night everyone was quite exhausted, so we ordered food from the hotel and called it a night.
Stats:
Fun : 6
Kilometers : 150+
Adventure : 3
-- Day 9--
10th October 2004
We had a longish drive so we headed out pretty early. We dropped of some things with Pia, like butter, oil, wine etc. We loaded our cooler with ice and drinks for the journey. Then we were on the way to Ganapatipule. Anupam did quite a bit of the driving. We reached the cottages late morning.
We went for a walk. This time the Indian Navy was performing some joint maneuvers with the US Marines, so there were all sorts of soldier boys around, including some American ones.
We opened a bottle of Australian Sparkling Shiraz (Champagne) for the sunset. The hotel had set up a table and chairs for us on the beach, so we had an uninterrupted view. An amazing way to end the holiday.
Stats:
Fun : 6
Kilometers : 400+
Adventure : 3
-- Day 10--
11th October 2004
We left early to make sure that we avoided the rush hour when we entered Bombay. The soldiers were just in the process of waking up when we were pulling out. Anupam did the first shift driving for the first time during the holiday. We took turns driving till we got to Vashi.
By then we were so exhausted, we just needed to stop for a few minutes. We went to this big mall on the highway, just after the Panvel check post.
We had lunch, a sizzling brownie, iced tea and head back home. I had to work the next day. Anupam had a day off till he had to leave for Hyderabad, to get his work/clothes/life organised...
Thus ended our holiday. A very good one at that. Minor hiccups, but nothing that the two of could not fix together.
-- Tricia
