Re: Goa - Kela Chronicles

As always, I and @plasmabhai (SP) discuss weeks in advance (if not months) about our upcoming trips.

This time, it was me who stumbled upon a lovely deal on OYO rooms in Goa and I asked SP if he was game for the long weekend in April (8-10). He replied in positive. I had been itching to take my car to Goa but a measly salary in March meant all my driving plans were ruined. Fret not! Heart said. We'll fly low, the mind said.
Welcome back - the bike said.

On SP's advice, we chose South Goa as our place of stay to avoid hooligans.

So, we were supposed to start by 3:30 AM from Ramaiah hospital front gate; which has been our fixed meeting point for years. I reached there by 3:25 and SP turned up in 10 min.

During the start of the trip.



Pleasantries exchanged, we moved on! We were prepared for a 10-11 hour journey at the very least.

However, within 5 minutes it started lightning and in a few more minutes it started raining cats and dogs. Heavy bullet like droplets! They hurt! We were shocked. We took shelter under Yeshwantpur Metro station and hoped for rain to subside. Half an hour went past and the intensity only increased. We had in the meanwhile taken out our cameras and were busy clicking pics of the dark (un)lit roads. I however had thankfully carried medium sized dustbin bags. Our bags were neatly wrapped within.







Rainfall subsided after 45 odd min and we were on our way. We were being extra careful on those wet roads but after 15 odd min, roads turned dry. Absolutely dry! Not a drop was seen. That meant it was a cloudburst in one part of Bangalore, but that meant we were behind our schedule by a couple of hours already.
We rode non stop for 70 km post which we decided to take a break at Tumkur toll gate. A syrup/sherbet type chai was what was needed and we got that in plenty.





Sunrise was approaching too and we decided to scoot further.

We saw quite a few accidents on our way. First one was, when a truck driver fell asleep in his truck on the middle of the road with his truck parked diagonally to that lane. No, he hadn't yet met with an accident, but he soon might have!
The second instance was more disturbing when a truck had rolled down the road and was crushed badly. The driver passed away.

Between these 2 incidents, we took a 2 min break to capture the sunrise.



The second break was taken just outside Chitrdurga few hundred meters from the truck accident spot.



We discussed the hardships in the lives of truck drivers, clicked a few pics and just mumbled few things incoherently. After wasting 20 odd min, we decided to move on.

I had informed SP that my bike was about to touch a milestone figure and I would stop to click a pic of the same. It happened in Davangere.



Luckily we found an authentic Punjabi dhaba just a km later and stopped for some yummy aalu parathas, dahi and egg burji.



There was a small confused shy turtle in an aquarium that gave us a hard time in clicking its face.



We took a solid 1 hour break here because both of us knew that the remainder of the journey would need a lot of energy in this heat. Also, we were running late. Once we left the place, we gunned our bikes at a constant 80-90 kmph for 2 hours with just a small break in between. We were in Bankapur and to be frank, quite surprised at covering ~160km in 2 hours flat! It was close to 12:30 PM now and we still had 175 km of state highways to cover which included ghats as well.



We reached Dharvad at about 1:15 PM, after negotiating ruthless overtakes and crazy misses by the oncoming vehicles on the Dharwad bypass road. We stopped at a bakery, to have refreshments and made smalltalk with the owner who claimed to have quit his job in Bangalore, then Dharwad to open his shop. Well, good for him!
He told us that roads from there to Goa were in good condition, but the heat would be oppressive. I made a call to our pre-booked hotel and informed them that I would be reaching by 5:30 PM. That done, we took our leave.

This portion of the ride was no less eventful, with another truck having lost its axle in the ghats and a motrcyclist on some commuter bike had gotten hit by someone and he lay there motionless. He was surrounded by a few bikers and thankfully they had intimated the police as well as an ambulance.

Apart from this, my backside had lost all sensation and I desperately wanted a break.I told the same to SP who was tired as hell, but wanted to cover some more and then some and then some friggin' more! I was on the verge of exploding when we saw the board welcoming us to Goa.



We took a very small break to capture the moment and that small break gave me much needed respite. Soon, we were back on the saddle and rode through the jungles and then through various parts of Goa to reach our destination near Kolva beach. The time was 5 PM.



We freshened up soon and hit the beach, but we missed sunset by just a few minutes. Colva beach has fine white sand resembling maida used for cooking. There are as many dogs on the beach as tourists, if not more. So, they effectively photobombed most of our pictures. Undeterred, we kept clicking.







We had fine dinner right at the beach at a seaside Rendezvous Restaurant. I hopped on American Chopsuey while SP relished Goan cuisine.
A shot from our dining table.



Post that, we simply retired to our hotel, 200 m away from the beach. Tomorrow would be long day. We would visit the fort shown in Dil Chahta hai and Basilica of Bom Jesus in Northern/Old Goa.

Re: Goa - Kela Chronicles

Good going Bhai! Bring on the rest.. Excited to see that dil chahta hai fort..

Re: Goa - Kela Chronicles

wonderful pics Waiting for more.. Bring em on

Re: Goa - Kela Chronicles

Absolutely lovely account of the trip bhai... And fantastic pictures - the rain pics at the very start are particularly beautiful..!!

Re: Goa - Kela Chronicles

Thanks Sanjay! In the next installment.

Thanks. Most probably tonight.

He he thanks. I'm waiting for pics from your end too.

Re: Goa - Kela Chronicles


How do you find these restaurants..or do they have any specific "signs"..that people understand ..forgive me..But I am totally a dumbo in finding food joints..

Re: Goa - Kela Chronicles

Just keep an open eye.

Google maps Co-ordinates -
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The plan for today was to visit the beach early morning and take a few snaps. Then head back to the hotel and swim in the swimming pool, have breakfast and leave towards Chapora Fort (Dil Chahta Hai fame) and Basilica of Bom Jesus in Old Goa.

If time permits, we would see places around Panjim too.

So, we freshened up early and hit the beach even before sunrise. And we were glad that we did, because we found great opportunities to click pics.

Below are the pics that we clicked on the beach in the morning (in no particular order).

First glimpse of sunrise.



Domrod and its anchor.





Photobomber.



Used to be a ball.



Reflections.





How dare you enter my territory?



Managed capturing a duck.









A jet ski.



A pond heron in flight.

Re: Goa - Kela Chronicles

A Road Trip to Goa...Awesome...

I've got the 'Dil Chahta Hai....' tune stuck in my head now! .... 'kabhi na beetein ...'

Re: Goa - Kela Chronicles

Wonderful pics and awesome narration.. Bring it on bhai..

Re: Goa - Kela Chronicles

'.....chamkiley din'

Dammit. STILL can't seem to get the tune out of my head.

Might have to watch the movie tonight then!

Re: Goa - Kela Chronicles

Wow Divya great weekend

Re: Goa - Kela Chronicles

Beautiful captures brother. Keep going.

Re: Goa - Kela Chronicles

Amazing pics Divya Bhai!

Re: Goa - Kela Chronicles

After spending a couple of hours on the beach, we returned back to our hotel. It was almost 9 by then and then we saw that workers were almost done cleaning the swimming pool. Now this was something that was definitely on our agenda since we had specifically carried swimming glasses. SP had swimming trunks and cap as well. I simply jumped in my shorts.

45 min later, we were done swimming and retired to our room. Changed into dry clothes, had a light breakfast and head towards North Goa.
We were heading to Chapora fort, which is very close to Vagator beach. Traffic had already piled up in places, but being on a 2 wheeler has its own advantages.

There was no dearth of idiots on the road though! One of them is here - captured in my helmet cam.



After some 1.5 hours of starting from the hotel and getting slightly lost midway we reached the place marked as Chapora fort. However, it was not at all like what we saw in the movie. There were no people there which was a good thing, but it wasn't maintained at all which was a very bad thing.
Plus, there was a permanently padlocked gate at the entrance to the fort. We had to jump through a hole in the gate to make through.

In reality, the place was very underwhelming and spoiled the tone for the day a bit.

A selfie opposite the fort near a jetty.



The jetty with a cool police vehicle.



Views from the fort. (SP has few more shots)





This was simply not done. I was not happy at all. But SP said Basilica of Bom Jesus will have tourists in good measure. He had been there in an earlier trip.
But we were getting hungry. So we found another authentic punjabi dhaba in Goa and had aalu parathas and naans with lassi and chicken.

An hour later, we set towards Old Goa. Pretty straight forward and no issues on the way. Paid 10 rupees each as parking charges and entered the huge building premises.

Just outside the gate.



An old rustic charm to the place.









The preserved body of Bom Jesus.





We were extremely sapped of energy since it was very hot and our water supply was over. We cherished on sugarcane juice, lime juice and SP had a gola icecream after it as well. I was happy with plain water. Not once did we pee.

It was 4:30 PM by then and we decided to head back to the hotel. Seeing the sun set at the beach was the target and we reached well in time.






[MENTION=42765]plasmabhai[/MENTION] was here









He prolly realized late that he had a cellphone in hand.



Mermaid, eh?













Using SP's awesome laser light.





In the meanwhile, I took a short timelapse video.



We then returned back to the hotel and continued our bakar.



Some fun and frolic later we went to bed and prepared to face the daunting ask of returning home next day.

The return journey was hot and tiring, which almost no pics to share.

We left at 9:30 AM after a good rest at night and reached Bangalore after 11 PM.

At a railway crossing in the ghats.





Sunset at Chitradurga.





Home sweet home!



Mileage obtained was 49 kmpl for the overall trip.

Now I request SP to add his share of pics and text too.

Thanks for reading.