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Sunday, October 11, 2015

October Trip to Goa

"Goa is not a State. Its a State of mind." 
It is virtually impossible to define Goa in a single sentence. Goa is different for every traveller. Its like the clear water that takes on the color of your mood.

It is adventurous yet peaceful, religious yet romantic, festive yet tranquil, desi yet foreign. From the dense western ghats to the endless beaches dotting its coastline, from the thundering waterfalls to quiet churches, it has something for everyone. And that is the reason it has carved a niche for itself in Indian tourism.
Goa :)
Goa is a veteran among all tourist destinations since long time back, even before IT industry was exploding with expansion, stressing out its professionals during the weekdays, and starting the trend of weekend tourism, sprouting quick getaways around metros.


 You find in Goa, what you seek. Come to find peace and recluse, you have the pristine beaches. If you yearn for adventure and thrill, water sports are just the answer. Maybe some party and booze, no dearth of that either on Baga Beach. You are a nature and wildlife freak, head straight to the DudhSagar falls and reserves. Or if you are on a break from your chaotic life, just laze around the water...like this kitty.


Garfield!
I remember our planning of family vacation in Goa when I was little. It used to come up every year during summer holidays but something or the other left it unfulfilled.
So finally, this October I visited Goa with some friends.


Day 1: Aguada fort, the Lighthouse and Sinquerim Beach:

Faced extreme weather on this day. Strong sun in the day and heavy rain in the evening. Aguada fort is quite spacious and provides nice view of the sea. Although, you might face some trouble trying to move over-zealous tourists from the view-points to get a decent snap.


LightHouse at Aguada Fort
Trying to bring it home.. Good luck Anita
Aguada Fort Entry
Sinquerim Beach

"Don’t grow up too quickly, lest you forget how much you love the beach." Michelle Held
Water sports @ Sinquerim Beach
Sinquerim Beach

Day 2 : Panjim (Panaji Church, Donna Paula, Miramar Beach) :

"2 October ko hum Panaji gaye the"....par humne Swami Chinmayanand ji ka Satsang nhi suna. Who remembers Drishyam dialog.. :)


Panjim Church
We started our visit with the famous Panaji Church on this dry day. White church against the blue sky is a sight to behold. But sight was all we got from it. Tourists were not allowed inside as a service was going on. So we headed to the Donna Paula Point. 
Donna Paula Point
 On the way back, we visited Miramar Beach. The weather had become awesome by now. The clouds and rainbow and sunset, all at once. We tried for some shadow photography against the setting sun and were quite pleased with our novice efforts.
Two suns..
A Full Rainbow!!
Barahsingha found on the beach!! :)
Up in the air.... almost
We spent the rest of the evening shopping for dresses and junk jewellery at the Calangute beach. Got a good bargain too :)


Day 3 : Water Sports at Candolim Beach 

Aaj kuch Toofani karte hain...!!! Water sports are a must on a Goa trip. We got a package for Rs.1300 per head at Candolim Beach. The package included Bumper Ride, Jet Ski, Banana Ride and Parasailing.
Green waters at Candolim Beach
Bumper Ride : It was a flat raft with two handles in front. One had to lie on their stomach and hold the handles tightly. The raft was then pulled for a bumpy high-speed ride over the waves, into the sea. One slip and you are in the lap of the sea itself. The whole ride felt like clothes being jerked hard to dry.

Jet Ski: This was a casual water-scooter ride.
Jet Ski
Banana Ride: This one is special and a must for the adventurer in you. Effect is more if you are a non-swimmer which we all were. All people are seated on a banana shaped raft one after the other and taken into the sea by a motor boat. Then somewhere the boatman says "leave" and takes a sharp turn throwing everyone in the water. It is very easy here to panic and gulp a lot of seawater. But keep calm and enjoy the sea. Life-jacket holds quite well if you do not panic or move around frantically. The boatman lifted us all up after a while.
Google search reference for Banana Ride
Parasailing: This one was also enjoyable. You get a bird's eye view from the top. For Rs. 200 extra, he offered to dip us in the sea a little. It was worth the money.




Day 4 : DudhSagar Falls, Old Goa (Basilica of Bom Jesus) & Baga Beach

Dudhsagar Falls are a beauty made famous by various movies like Chennai Express. These are among the tallest falls in India and in monsoon season are quite gigantic too. Our initial plan was to trek along the railway tracks to the falls. But due to lack of time and energy, we chose the comfortable jeep ride to the base of the falls through Mahavir Reserve. There is a morning local train from Madgaon to Kulem. At Kulem, one can hire jeep to the falls or embark on a rail trek of 12 km. 
DudhSagar falls
Jeep trail crosses streams
Stream in the forest
 The jeep ride turned out to be equally exciting. The jeep took us through dense forests, over the streams and finally to the falls. It was fun swimming in the pool formed by the falls. Life jackets are a boon to non-swimmers.


Base of DudhSagar falls
A boat afraid to leave the harbour... :)
This area is very rich in flora and fauna. Jeep driver showed us cashew trees on our way. Many species of beautiful butterflies are also found here. One of them became friends with my sandals.


On the way to the falls
Same pinch!!
On our way back, we visited Basilica of Bom Jesus in Old Goa. This church preserves sacred relics of the body of St. Francis Xavier(1696). It is one of the oldest church in India.
Basilica of Bom Jesus(Old Goa)
Front View of Basilica
Relics of St. Francis Xavier

Day 5 : Anjuna Beach, Vagator Beach , Chapora Fort

The last day was mainly spent on beaches. But the harsh sun made it a little less fun, and a lot more tan. We visited Anjuna and Vagator beach. From the Vagator beach, the nearby Chapora fort is a mere 1.3 km. Famous Goa scene of movie "Dil Chahta Hai" was shot here.
Anjuna Beach
Every dog has its day..  Vagator Beach
View of Chapora Fort from Vagator Beach
View from Chapora Fort
Thus ended our first trip to Goa. We came back happily with lots of pics and a lot of tan. Now our web searches have changed from "Places to visit in Goa" to "How to remove tan quickly".


Life sahi hai, tension nahi hai :)

Tips:
1. Sit back and relax. You are in Goa.
2. Carry light clothes. Temperature is usually warm.
3. A good sunscreen is a must. Don't forget to use it though.
4. Try hiring scooty/bikes on a weekday for your whole trip. Weekend charges are high.
5. Jeep trail to Dudhsagar falls is closed during monsoons. Water sports too. They both start from October.

Monday, September 28, 2015

Once upon a time in Mahabaleshwar...

"Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather." - John Ruskin
Western ghats are at their enchanting best during the monsoons. One can easily fall in love with all the eye-blinding greenery, caressed by waterfalls and streams of all sizes and sporting the ever present canopy of fluffy dark clouds that threaten to play holi with you any second.
Nonetheless, those few among us (yes there are quite a few), who would for once like to enjoy a view of green valley from mountain tops undeterred by the incessant rains, must consider planning a visit just as the monsoon slows i.e. in September.
Arthur Point, Mahabaleshwar
Splendid view of valley
So around last week of September, when my sister was visiting, I quickly came up with a plan to visit Mahabaleshwar. My friend Nikhil also agreed to join us. The only drawback was that it was a same day return trip, much to my displeasure. But that makes it a handy guide for  a quick one day visit to the place.
Pune-Bengaluru Highway
Photogenic highway
We booked a full day cab and left Pune early on the Sunday morning, at around 6 am to avoid weekend rush. Taking the Pune-Bengaluru Highway NH4, moving towards Bengaluru. Small hills started pretty soon and my sister was getting more and more impressed by the fact that I live in such a beautiful place (as if my office was somewhere on the hill top).
I clicked pictures for a while and then settled to complete my nap.

Mahabaleshwar valley
One of the valley view
On the way, we fueled ourselves with Maharashtra's most loved breakfast i.e. kandha-poha with chai and continued our journey. After travelling for 2 hours and about 105 km, we reached Panchgani. Here we paid an entry tax and moved forward towards the Table Point. It was practically empty as we were quite early. It is a vast expanse of flat top surrounded by lower valley area populated with some villages.
I could imagine the magnificence of this place in monsoon.

Table Top, Panchgani
@ Panchgani
It was sunny so we clicked a few pics and continued to Mahabaleshwar.

Mahabaleshwar tourist map
Mahabaleshwar tourist map
After paying entry tax in Mahabaleshwar as well, we made our first stop at Venna Lake. We were so early that boating had not yet started.
The weather was perfect with clear blue sky and bright sunshine. The lake looked a sapphire blue color, totally in love with the sky. It seemed nature was grinning at us.

Venna lake
Venna lake

Boating at Venna lake
Venna lake after sunset
At 10 am, the boats became ready for us. One boat ride costs Rs. 300 total and maximum capacity was 6 other than the boatman. So we chipped in with a family of 3.


Boating at Venna lake
Sis & me

There were plenty of stalls selling roasted corn, carrots, mulberries, strawberries etc.


Carrots and berries
Lots of vitamin A in single pic

From here we headed on to various view points. There are quite a few in Mahabaleshwar like Echo Point, Savitri Point, Arthur Seat, Malcolm point, Elphinstone point, Marjorie point, Kate's Point, Needle Point.
So the afternoon was spent hopping from one point to the other while the sun was hopping between the clouds that had appeared out of nowhere. The valley looked so beautiful covered with greenery and floating clouds and mist of the river beneath.

Echo Point
@Echo Point

Arthur Point

Named after a British officer who lost his wife and son in a ferry accident in Savitri river.
At some places, we were not able to see the view because of the clouds. Instead it became a perfect white background to take a passport photo. It looked like little clouds were floating up above and among us. Ethereal.

Clouds at Arthur Point
Heavy clouds over the valley
The surroundings had become cooler due to the clouds. I could enjoy sitting and watching the view forever but we had many points to cover yet.

Clouds at Arthur Point
Yup, the background is perfect..
Clouds at Arthur Point
@Arthur Point

Savitri Point

Here you can see Savitri river at the bottom of the valley. But due to clouds and mist, the river was playing hide and seek with us.

Sidewalk at Savitri Point
Near Savitri Point

Now this is some scenery. Who would say it is in India.
Savitri river valley
Savitri Point
Yellow flowers
Vying for attention!
Best point to get poetic or philosophical. (Not to be confused with suicidal :P)
Savitri Point valley
Absorbing the melancholy @Savitri Point :D

Back from Savitri point

Panchganga Temple

Source of five rivers namely Koyna, Venna, Gayatri, Savitri and Krishna. Photography inside is prohibited.

Panchganga temple
Panchganga Temple

Mahabaleshwar Temple

Lingmala Falls


Lingmala falls
Lingmala Falls
Now this is a gem which is surprisingly lesser known. Three tiered falls created by Venna river before continuing in the long valley are a sight to behold. I will have to visit again in monsoon sometime to see the falls in full vigour.

With a major help from GPS, we were able to find our way to the falls.

The falls are nearer to the Venna lake. The road till there is narrow but beautiful. Also, the site closes by 5.30 pm in the evening. Not recommended for people with joints problem as there are many steps followed by about 1 km walk to the point where you can see the full view of falls.
Smaller falls are also there which form a pool in front where you can have fun in water if you take a change of clothes.





Lingmala falls Doh
Smaller falls or 'Doh '

Venna Valley
Venna valley
Now it was starting to get dark, so we said our goodbyes to Mahabaleshwar and headed back home, only stopping to make a customary stop at Mapro gardens which are famous for their strawberry farms, fruit crushes, jams and everything sweet. There were so many varieties in fruit crushes and you can taste the flavor for free before buying.


Mapro gardens
Diabetics stay away!
Although the trip had ended, we were truly content with what we could make of it in a single day. The place really deserves about 2-3 days of stay to soak in the beauty it offers. The standstill views of the valley and clouds and mountains should not be hurriedly seen.

Maybe it was a good thing. Now I will have to visit Mahabaleshwar again some time. Looking forward to the next trip. :)