live life...my way !: The Goan Files : Part 3 : Day 1 Goa

DAY 1 ::

So finally after all the ups and downs we had and after encountering all types of weird people God could throw at us we made it to Vasco station and got down from the train and did a head and luggage check. The tour company which had organised our trip was expected to pick us up from the station and drop us at our resort and serve us for the day. Unlike our last IV where the bus kept us waiting for about an hour, this time the bus driver was already waiting for us at the station. Leading us outside we saw a row of tour buses standing in line. Moving from one AC coach to the other the driver stopped at the most rickety, old and broken down bus imaginable and announced that this was our bus. Spirits were high and we took all this in our stride and stuffed our luggage in and took our seats.

just to let the readers know, Panaji is about 30 kms far from Vasco Da Gama station and Calangute a further 15 kms from Panaji. Normally this distance would take about half an hour to about three quarters of an hour in a decent car or even a bus as the roads of Goa are mostly devoid of traffic and it seems like the Municipal Corporation does a good job maintaining the roads. But this was not the case with our bus, which on a level road had a maximum speed of about 30 km/hr but uphill it reduced to about 5-10 km/hr - just enough to counter Earth's gravitational pull and move ahead at snail's pace.

Lack of sleep, exhaustion and excitement added to the calm and quiet environs and soon everyone was asleep, but not before witnessing an awesome bridge and the breathtaking sight of a huge inlet of water flowing through; mostly a backwater or a lagoon. We all were jarred awake as the bus screeched to a halt and we were at our resort. Unloading our luggage we looked around to find the resort looked quite reasonable and had a huge professional looking football ground next to it. The only thing missing was the Calangute beach which was said to be 5 minutes away. Forgetting that for the moment we entered the gates of the resort with our luggage and Praneet, Hanumanth and Pradeep went into the reception to enquire about the rooms. In this "cycle gap" we looked around to find that the resort even had a pool, which had a maximum depth of 5 n a half feet and a length of about 10 feet, thus making it look like a small fountain instead of a pool. Anywayz, we soon got a room key and went up to the room and immediately made ourselves at home by opening our suitcases, pulling out clothes and other stuff, switching on the TV and throwing our slippers in some corner of the room.

Me, Prabu, Karthik and Pradeep had to share a room but RamIshwar joined us as one room was not free and would be given to us only in the evening. After we had settled down we realised we were so hungry we could eat a horse. On opening the Menu card we received the biggest shock of our life. The prices reads like this :

Plain Omlette : 65
Veg. Sandwich : 65
Pav Bhaji : 65
Cheese omlette : 75
Tandoor Dishes : 100-150
Butter naan : 35 each !!
Fresh juice : 100

And

Whisky : 25
Vodka : 20
Fenny : 20
ScrewDriver :120 (ONLY!!)

We decided to share the expense and ate something to fill our starving stomachs and then proceeded to bathe and dress for the day ahead. Once everyone was dressed we all congregated to find out the plans for the day only to find that there weren't any, so some of us proceeded on to find Calangute beach and then head back for an update. Walking for about 15 minutes bought us to a beautiful beach: sparkling sand, foreigners lying about in various states of nudity and clear and calm waters. After loitering about for a while we headed back with this news towards the hotel to find that finally some plans had been made. the plan was to utilise the bus to go to Colva beach (another awesome beach) as it was available to us for the day. On talking to the driver, the old lunatic refused to go anywhere except 3 places : Miramar Beach, Dona Paula and Old Goa.

Agreeing to his plans, we first stopped at a restaurant and filled up a bit before proceeding on to Miramar beach , which was nothing but an empty beach, where only fishermen boys used to play. Taking a few pics, we then proceeded on to Dona Paula, where we found out that we had to walk for about 2 kms to reach the spot. Shunning this place too, we then proceeded on to Old Goa to see St. Xaviers Church. I'm sure our driver was drunk as he hit the pavement with his wheels and gave us all a moment of panic. Finally making it to the Church, all of us disembarked and got ourselves some drinks to quench our thirst before actually going in and seeing the beautiful Church.

On returning the driver tells us that we need to catch the ferry ride which the Resort booked for us without even asking us and when we refused to go to the ride, he stopped the bus and started shouting at us. After a call to the Resort, which involved Praneet shouting at the Receptionist and the Receptionist shouting at the driver, things were sorted out and we stopped at a bar to buy some drinks for the evening as it was Hanumanth's bday the next day and the drinks were on him, we finally reached our resort. On hearing the Calangute reports from us , all of the others decided that the beach was worth checking out and so we proceeded on to the beach, where almost all of us go jumped into the water and enjoyed for about an hour before it became dark and it was time to head back.

Well, this was our first day at Goa. The night is a yet another tale and i shall tell you that in the next post. Till then, i leave you with some pictures of our resort, the beaches and the places that we visited on the first day.

~THE RESORT~