Every journey teaches you something and this was no
exception, great adventure no doubt about it.
Goa becomes quite expensive around new year, and the obvious reason is people pouring in from all around the country and from other
parts of world, to celebrate the change and making it very crowded, as I don’t
really want to embark into full house, I would suggest to shift a week
up and down to avoid that if you also feel like or have tight budget or boys
only. But yes we were in Goa on New Year :P and my friends love (read hate) me
for that.
Goa is a great place, I have always been fascinated with beaches, I
just love it and being brought up in Delhi, you are nowhere near to the
mesmerizing view of land meeting the waters, you tend to became more excited than others.
Bare foot walk on the sand, and the sun melting into the
waters, its kinda romantic, and ya of course psycho mentality of seeing Girls
(Read in Beach wear, this should actually be the first point for Goa :P)
We all like to keep things Sorted, decided and planned in advance, but yes
in real world we don’t do anything of this sort, well pro and cons, It can land
you in front of toilet in general compartment of train (its India) Or ( a big
OR) you get to be in the most amazing party in town for free. Well I have been
part of both, will write something about it later, great story.
We disembarked at around 8 in the morning (Welcome to Goa, me
welcoming me),I missed to tell, we were five and two more gonna join us later.
(Read All boys, count not required)
With no place to go and no plan to follow, the best thing
one can do is JustDial, we got some resort’s numbers, and the response was
great to our surprise, in single word “NO”, No rooms available.
It was 30th Dec and everything was Jam packed or
out of our budget, so instead of taking the decision now of whether to stay in worst of the rooms for triple the price or not, we decided to get the Ride first.
(TIP: Always decide on ride first, better hire one you can
drive, it will gives a freedom on the move)
But as everything, it was also at whooping prices. As it's impossible survive without it, we hired a wagonR which fitted in all five of us and simultaneously killed our
Bullet Dreams.(Read Dreams and only planned part)
After checking out few places we finally decided to stay as paying guest, Yes in the peak season local’s convert their homes into PG’s and
make some extra bucks, it was also very cheap option when compared to others
(Win Win situation). The locals are helpful and warm.
Rooms were clean and furnisher was bit old as expected, bed
with long woods on corner, if one wants a mosquito net in place, like one on TV
when they portray some old house.
Not a feel one want at a place like Goa but that gives you a
sneak peak of the everyday life of locals, apart from the fun which we look at.
In the afternoon, we marched (read drove) to the main Calangute
and Baga beach stretch, the most famous in Goa, I have mentioned these two
together as one can’t figure out where one ends and other starts. It has got
some great market and road side cafés and restaurants on beach along with
all the adventure water sports activities.
A must visit destination, if you are visiting for the first time.
There are some great club’s on Baga street of course including the
most famous Tito’s. If you are in mood to relax and take it easy don’t
miss the foot massage at Sukho Thai; they have multiple outlets on Calangute
baga stretch, we took one on first day of year when we revisited the stretch
costing around 1000 bucks to start with, it was amazing, my feet felt rejuvenated
;)
It was bit too crowded as one can expect on 30th
with all the jams and mst of the human race jumping in party mood. So we
decide on fastrack (it’s time to move on from calangute baga) and headed towards the Morjim beach,
which was not much crowded but still was quite full; as we were feeling hungry
so we bump into the very first shack on the beach, had some snacks with drinks,
it was fun, I loved it, watching the waves come and go; you just sit
back and relax. We were short of time, as we also need to enquire about new year
parties, with a tight budget and all boys, you can guess how difficult it is to get into a good one . We checked few but were out of our
reach, some for the former and some for the later reason.
Search left us tired and disappointed, now
our only wish was to find great food and peace. And guess what, this is what we got, on
the way back from Morjin we stop by to this pretty looking restaurant “Jardin
d’ulysse” , one can feel within, yes that is what I wanted. Kinda romantic and
calm, got the best place on machan, with floor seating and lots of cushions
for comfort, with great food and drinks it was the place to be at; prices
bit high when compared to other’s in Goa but still worthy.
Next day 31st, we were late again, so finally in
the afternoon, moved our steering towards Arambol beach, to have a new year
blast. It was actually the best beach we had visited, as expected not a full house, with
calm and relax environment and great shacks and market to add on to it. I
bought one blue flowery shorts (don’t laugh its Goa dude) also had a dip in the
waves and had fun with water on a sunny day.
After that the usual Beer ( Read beeeer :P) and chicken and
prawns, we sat back and relax and saw the red ball going down, and decided on
to stay and see the ball rise back as we soak in the beauty.
But just then cupid (read devil) of big party (read adventure)
stuck our group with his arrow. With just 3 hours to new year we headed to the party on the Bogmalo
beach (read from north to south) at John Seagull ( On our first trip we had
amazing night there but one can’t repeat but still).
(Tip: Enjoy what is in hand don’t run for something better,
first fill in what you have)
We hit the road and it was 11 in no time, stranded in the
heard of cars, trying hard to reach on time to celebrate the change.
As we welcome the year 2013 we opened are arms and took a
deep breath, fire crackers filling up the sky with bright colors, and we smile
in our 2x2 car. Yes still in the car, all the New Year adventure on the road
nowhere close to something amazing. (Actually a adventure)
But yes it’s not over finally we broke in to John Seagull,
the party was average, but this time we were not in mood to leave it, we
danced, sang and lots and lots of alcohol.
(Moral: You are the fun don’t search)
Missed to say, Welcome to no tax land, you never gonna ran
out on money because of alcohol and for foodies, great place with lots of
variety and cuisines, food prices are reasonable in Goa, with adventure water
sports and wonderful beaches , it has something to offer to everyone.
One request when you visit, keep it clean, LOVE GOA Muahhh.
