When the destination is same, you tend to meet people on your journey! On my journey to Goa, A Solo Rider met A Solo Wanderer. Their destination was same, so as their passion. Hence, the ride was no more solo.
 |
| Our ride companions |
When A Solo Rider met a Solo Wanderer, they planned for the trip and the plan was to go Goa, stay there for 3 days and 2 nights and then leave to Gokarna on the third night .
Friday, 25th of November 2016, four of us started our journey with great enthusiasm. The highway (AH 47) was as smooth as butter. We could touch the maximum speed levels easily. It was late evening and the after crossing Karwar, the forest area started. No street lights, scary roads, no mobile network, no internet connectivity and no other cars/bikes in a 1 km radius. Fear was at the peak as the other rider was also far ahead from us. Jackets were no longer helping us as the temperature was going down. Finally after crossing few kms, we found our fellow riders waiting for us at a tea shop. As soon as we saw them, a kind of relief was felt not because they are safe, just that the roads won't scare us anymore.
After crossing Karnataka border, the first job we did was to fill our bikes with petrol. Petrol in Goa is Rs.11 cheaper than Karnataka. As we all know, or might have heard that Baga beach is the most happening place of Goa. And I forgot to mention that all four of us are marwaris and we believe in "Jugaad". At the petrol bunk, we wanted to check the distance to our hotel and we found that the hotel is 40kms away from Baga. This pissed us off because we had booked the same hotel for 2 days' stay. We called Goibibo customer care but we couldn't seek any help from there. Then the last option left was to negotiate with the hotel owner. We reached hotel and we were able to convince the hotel owner to refund us 50% of the booking amount. Goibibo provides discounts to its customers but pays the actual price to the hotels and as I said we believe in Jugaad, one of our friend (Ashish Mehta) is a King of Jugaad when it comes to hotel booking. We booked the hotel for Rs.1300 and Goibibo generated the bill of around Rs.3000. Thus we got a refund of Rs.1400 for the cancellation of 2nd day's booking.
 |
| Looks scary right ? |
We had a great time here and the bed inside the tent was just awesome. The bed was so soft that we started playing on it. A video link has been shared below. Please have a look.
The next morning we left the hotel and dropped our luggage in another hotel which we had booked near Calanguete Beach. Calanguete beach is a place where you will find more of foreigners than Indians. Water sports like Parasailing, Banana ride, Jet Ski etc., happens there.
The next day was our last day in Goa so we thought we'll book a single room in a lodge for around Rs.500 and dump in our luggage and roam Goa because we were about to leave for Gokarna that night. While searching for a room we found an old lady who agreed to keep our luggage in her house for Rs.200. We kept our luggage at her place but we weren't able to trust that lady. We enquired about the lady from the nearby locals and got a negative feedback. The next moment we went to her, gave an excuse and took back our luggage and also the advance which we had given to her and we ran from there because the old lady demanded for Rs.50 for keeping our luggage in her house for five minutes.
Then we found a lodge on Goibibo and we thought we'll directly go there and try negotiating with the lodge owner and then book. The lodge was owner by two Sardar ji's and the name of the lodge was "White Pearl", located near Anjuna Beach. We explained them that we are leaving to Gokarna that night and we want to keep our luggage. They agreed to it and did not demand any money. We then saw Chapora Fort, the fort shown in Dil Chahta hai. Our next spot was Fort Aguada. When we reached the fort, we saw a notice board where it was written that there is view point near the lighthouse. That was the best place of Goa according to me. The sunset view was just amazing.
Then we took our luggage and finally we went to Baga. Baga, as I said is the most happening place of Goa where we can find more of Indian crowd. The ambience over there was just amazing.
We found one restaurant playing English music and another playing Hindi. We found a place in between the two restaurants and were dancing and having fun.
Soon it was 12 and we decided to leave. The route from Goa to Gokarna also goes through the woods. Good roads but very scary at nights. Then at Goa border, we took rest at a petrol station for an hour and reached Gokarna by 6:30.
Gokarna is a very peaceful and religious place with a famous Shiv ji's temple. We were disappointed reaching Gokarna because we were very tired by riding the entire night and getting to see nothing happening. We found religious people near the beach, cows roaming all over and complete silence. We decided to book a room for 4 hours and all four of us slept in one bed. At 12:00 PM, we headed back towards Bangalore. The last 4 hours, the journey was no more fun. We were waiting for Bangalore to come as fast as possible. With this, the trip comes to an end. I hope this article will be helpful for you, the readers.
Advice to riders:
1. Do not stop if anyone asks for a lift on a peaceful road.
2. Always prioritise Gokarna to be your first visit & then to Goa, to end the trip with excitement
3. Fix up your bikes to avoid accidents and break-downs.
4. Last but not the least, Happy Riding.
Amazing article.
ReplyDeleteThank You Kushal Mundra
Delete