Back to Goa

North Goa : 

Its been 3 years since our last trip to Goa and ever since we returned back we were itching to go back again. That's what Goa can do to you.  Since we covered the southern part of Goa last time this time we wanted to go north and we wanted to visit some not so famous and not so crowded beaches and of course have some nice food.

  

Day 1(5/11/16) :

 As per our usual practice, woke up early at 4:00 AM and started our journey by 5:10 AM.  Got stuck inside city for a while but once we hit the Tumkur road we could gather some momentum. Though we had quite a bit of truck traffic to negate with, we could manage it without trouble as roads are wide enough here. We stopped at a small tea stall on the road side and had a morning tea. Once we crossed Chitradurga, traffic was thin and driving was easy. We stopped for breakfast at Apoorva Resort just before Davanagere. We had been here in the past and didnt want to miss the Benne Dose here.

After breakfast we continued our journey. Road quality was bad near Hubli, once we crossed Dharwad, Bangalore - Pune highway was in excellent condition. We took deviation from this highway at MK Hubli towards Goa. This MK Hubli - Khanapur road is very narrow and was undergoing widening, so going was slow for this stretch of about 22 KMs. Then we entered the forest section and road condition improved too. We stopped for lunch at Delta Restaurant just before entering Goa at 1:45 PM. After lunch we crossed the state border and did what most people do as soon as they enter Goa, fill petrol, full tank.... From here journey slowed down considerably, partly because of narrow roads, speed breakers and too many two wheelers on roads and partly because we also had to absorb the beauty of Goa as we move along. We reached Rock Water Resort, Morjim where we had booked our resort for 2 days at 4:30 PM. 

After checking in, we had a coffee and went for a walk on the beach. 

After sunset we left our resort to visit Arpora Saturday Night market at 6:40 PM. Again got stuck in the traffic in narrow Goan roads and it took us 45 minutes to commute 14 Kms to reach the market area. We had disappointment waiting for us as we were informed that this market starts only in the end of November,  so we returned back to resort, had early dinner and called it a day.

Day 2(6/11/16) :

Woke up at around 6:30 AM and went for an early morning walk on the beach. Watched the sun rise  in the horizon. People were preparing for their day's work. 

Returned back to resort and had coffee and breakfast.

After breakfast we went to Ashwem beach at 10:30 AM. It is a short drive of 2 KMs. This beach is much cleaner but bit more crowded than Morjim. We clicked some pictures and also enjoyed a nice juice.

Ashwem Beach

We visited an antique shop and saw some real old furniture and home decors of yesteryear.  We did some shopping and returned to resort just in time for lunch. After lunch we rested for a while as it was too hot to go out. We went out for a walk on the beach in the evening. This time we walked all the way upto Ashwem beach again. Watched sunset and returned back to resort.

Rest of the evening was spent reading a book and listening to some music played by guests from Delhi who were also staying in resort.  Had a heavy dinner and went to bed by 11:00 PM. 

Day 3(7/11/16) :

 Woke up at 7:00 AM and went for a walk till Ashwem beach again. We had some early birds on the beach for company.

We had breakfast at Babahuts at Ashwem beach and returned back to room.

We left for Ozran beach at 11:00 AM. On the way stopped for some shopping and a visit to ATM. We reached beach at 12:00 noon. Here you have to climb down close to 100 very steep steps to reach the beach. But that effort is worth it as the beach is very clean and quite. We clicked a few photos here and did some more shopping.

This has been carved on the stone 

We had wonderful lunch at Oltremarino on the beach side and returned to resort by 2:45 PM. We recommend fruit punch and veg Skewers in this restaurant.

We took rest for a while and left for Charpora Fort at 4:15 PM.  It is a gravel filled narrow path to climb the hill to reach the fort and it is fairly steep climb (Wear appropriate foot wear if you are visiting this place) . But once you are on the top you get this mesmerizing view of the sea and the Vagator beach from here. This fort is famous for featuring in "Dil Chahta Hai"  movie as well. So it is common to see most of the visitors here wearing Amir Khan hat and posing for photos.

Vagator Beach from Charpora Fort

After the sun set we left from the fort, did some shopping and returned to Morjim by 7:00 PM.  Had an early dinner and ended a wonderful day at 10:00 PM. 

Day 4(8/11/16) :

We woke up at 6:30 AM and went for a morning walk on the beach. We again had few birds for company.

Returned back from the walk, had our breakfast and we checked out of this resort at 10:45 AM. We had booked Reva Resort in Mandrem for next 2 days.  We went to a beach called Querim which is about 16 KMs from Morjim. Road is wider in this part of the state and drive was a pleasure. Beyond Querim Mahrastra state starts, so this is the state border.  There were hardly any people here and it was very hot as it was nearing noon. We spent most of the time clicking photos in the shade. Ice cream guy from whom we bought an ice cream informed that this place is not safe late in the evenings as there is hardly any people on the beach.

Querim Beach

We left Querim after an hour of stay here at 12:30 PM to Keri beach which is 2 KMs from here. Even this is a quite beach with lesser people, since it was very hot, we didnt spend much time here and left quickly.

Keri Beach

A temple on Keri beach

We reached our resort in Mandrem by 1:30 PM and checked in. Had lunch and took rest for a while. Evening was spent walking on the Mandrem beach and watching people have a gala time as the sun set.

Did some shopping in the evening and had our dinner by 8:30 PM. Then DEMONETIZATION happened. And rest of the night was spent on WhatsApp discussing this news and passing Information and jokes in different groups till the mobile battery drained off.

Day 5(9/11/16) :

Woke up at 6:00 AM and went for a morning walk on the beach side. Returned back to resort and had a breakfast buffet . Heavy breakfast made us lazy, so spent time in the resort clicking some pictures, eventually got bored with that too.  At 1:00 PM we decided to go out but didnt know where. Previous day we had seen a old and narrow bridge on our way back from Keri beach. We decided to check where it leads to.  We drove and crossed this bridge and found ourselves in state border and entered Maharastra. Guard at the border suggested us to go to Tiracol Fort. Google map was not working so had to follow the instructions provided by the guard and locals whom we met on the way. Eventually we reached this fort at 1:45 PM. This fort is converted to a heritage hotel now, but visitors are welcome to visit common areas.

This fort is in Goa, so you go out of Goa to Maharastra and come back to Goa to visit this place. This hotel comes with the best view of the Querim beach from the top of the hill where it is located. We had or lunch here and left in an hour.  On our way back we took a different route as suggested by hotel staff.  Here we we dont cross back to Maharastra, but cross a river in ferry to reach Querim beach. 

So Czech chick had her first experience of ferry ride and we returned back to resort by 3:30 PM. We rested for a while and left for Arambol beach at 4:30 PM. We stopped for a coffee on the way and reached Arambol at 5:00 PM. This beach is more crowded and reminded us of Palolem. 

We got to see some sparrows here, they have almost become rarity in cities now. We went in search of the sweet water lake here. It is about 1.5 KM walk on the beach where you have cross a lot of food joints and shops to reach this place.  An amazing place and not known to many.

Arambol Sweet water lake

We waited for sunset and did some shopping on our walk back to the parking area. We reached resort at 7:00 PM. 

Arambol beach 

After dinner we decided to sleep early to recharge our selves for return journey the next day.

Day 6(10/11/16) :

We woke up at 6:00 AM and got ready for our return journey. Resort staff was kind enough to serve breakfast ahead of schedule. We finished our breakfast, settled out bills and left from Mandrem at 7:45 AM. Google maps and Map My India were suggesting 2 different routes. We decided to follow MMI as this was suggesting a route which we always wanted to take  ( Mandrem - Madgaon- Karwar - Kumta - Jog - Shimoga - Bhadravathi - Tumkur- Bangalore) .  We drove through entire length of Goa from north to south and exited Goa after Canacona and entered Karwar. 

Karwar naval base 

 We stopped for a coffee at Kumta. Road condition was average till here, no where close to the 6 highway we had taken on our way to Goa. Once we took deviation at Honnavar to Jog, road condition worsened and going became very slow. We reached Jog at 1:45 PM and stopped for lunch. Visited falls after lunch. It was dry even in in mid Nov.

We started from here in 30 mins and drove and passed Shimoga and Bhadravathi. Road condition was better than what we encountered to reach Jog, but we could never gather momentum. We stopped for a coffee at 5:45 PM and we still had 1/3rd the distance to cover. We finally entered Bangalore at 9:45 PM and reached home by 11:00 PM. This route was just 60 KMs longer than our onward journey route but took massive 15 hours compared to 11 hours to drive. Thus ended my toughest drive ever. 
Goa was as fun as it promises to be, we thoroughly enjoyed everything we ate, drank and every photo we clicked but the itch to go back to Goa as not subsided. 

A trip to Masinagudi

Masinagudi :

Masinagudi is one of the most beautiful wildlife sanctuaries in Nilgiri District. It is a part of the Mudumalai National Park and is a wonderful tourist spot. Masinagudi is one of the  five ranges of Madhumalai Nationanl Park (Masinagudi, Thepakadu, Mudumalai, Kargudi and Nellakota). With so much of vegetation and wildlife to see here, the place offers incredible natural beauty. It is located at a distance of about 120 km from Coimbatore, 20 km from Mudumalai National Park and only 29 km from Ooty.

Day 1(1/10/16) :

 We thought we had set an alarm for 4:00 AM, but it wasn't the case. But the excitement of the trip woke us up at 4:45 AM. So we had a delayed start than what we had planned for. We left home at 5:50 AM. Kaveri water issue was not settled yet and we were expecting some agitation in Mandya area, so we decided not go via Mandya instead we took the route of Bangalore - Kanakpura - Nanjangudu - Bandipur - Masinagudi instead.

Road was in bad shape towards exit to Kanakpura because of Metro construction.  But we were on Kanakpura road crossing the city by 7:00 AM. Road quality from here is excellent and also very few vehicles, so were munching up miles fast. We stopped for breakfast in a small hotel on the road side called Shanthi Hotel around 8 :00 AM. He had just opened the hotel and still setting things up for the day and the Thatte idlis were still being cooked. ( We had been here for breakfast in our previous trips on this route) .  We waited for them to be cooked and filled ourselves to the brim. Delayed start, waiting for breakfast had slowed us down, but we were in no hurry as there was nothing planned as such for the day, so we took things as they come and went along.

We again stopped for some photo shoots on the way multiple times, but the highlight was the marigold flower fields on the way. They were in full bloom and beautiful to look at.

Our next pit stop was at CCD Nanjangudu for quick refresher. We entered Bandipur at 12:10 PM after multiple stops.  We started driving slowly following the laws of the jungle and respecting the nature and nature thanked us back by proving sighting of umpteen number of deer herds and elephant and calf.

We reached Karnataka border around 12:45 PM and we had a rude shock waiting for us. At the border we were asked to turn back and return as the vehicles from KA and TN were not allowed to cross respective borders and enter other states to avoid any confrontations till the water issue is resolved. We were not aware of such situation and even the resort people had not informed about this possibility in advance.  Clueless about what the solution could be, we ringed the resort owner and explained the situation. He asked us to wait and made few phone calls and called us back with an arrangement. So we had to drive back to Bandipur, pickup a fried of resort owner who is staying in Bandipur, return to the border with him in our car. Once we came to the border, resort owner came with his jeep which we boarded and his friend took our car back to Bandipur. And as per the plan same sequence of events be followed in reverse order when we come back. We reached resort at Masinagudi at 2:00PM leaving behind our car with resort owner's friend at Bandipur.  We had lunch at around 3:00 PM and rested for a while. In the evening we went for a walk around the resort premises and clicked few pictures of birds.

A curious visitor at Bandipur

Red Vented bulbul

Brahminy Starling

Had dinner at around 9:00 PM, sat out side the room listening to the sounds of jungle till our eyes started to shut and went to sleep. 

Day 2(2/10/16) :

Our original plan for the day was to have a quick drive to Ooty and finish some shopping, but with car left behind in Bandipur, that was out of question.
 We woke up around 6:00 AM and the surroundings were very foggy. But once the sun came out around 8:30 AM or so, fog disappeared and even the temperature rose and soon enough it felt like summer.

 We had breakfast and lazed around a bit. We were still unhappy about not able to go to Ooty. Eventually we decided not to bother about what can not be done, got ready, went out for a walk to Masinagudi town. Its about 15 minutes walk from resort to town and have to take a shortcut that passes through a stream, foot ball field and narrow by-lanes in front of houses. We looked for home made chocolates, didnt find any good quality, so decided not to buy them. We walked back to resort just before lunch.

After lunch, found an Indian jujube tree ( ಬುಗುರಿ)  and found a couple of ripe fruits as well. Ate few to bring the memory back of my childhood. My wife had never tried this fruit before and she didnt like the taste as it tastes a bit sour. You really need to eat couple of fruits before you get used to the sourness and start enjoying the fruit.

Evening was again spent clicking some photos of birds around the resort campus.

Green Bee-eater

Golden Fronted Leafbird

Small Minivet

White Browed Fantail

Just before dinner we had a surprise, resort owner's friend who was caretaker of our car came to the room and handed over the car key to me. He had used his connections in the border, altered the number plate of the car using black insulin tape and converted KA to KL and drove past the border in the night. Though it was a relief to see our car safe in resort the next question in front of me was what about next day when I have to return. After dinner, i slept thinking about next morning's border cross.

Day 3(3/10/16) :

 Woke up around 6:30 AM still unsure about what should I do with crossing of TN border. It was much clearer day with no signs of fog. This made me wonder how 2 consecutive days could have so difference in terms of weather. I again examined the alteration made to the number plate, it was very poorly made, but worked in the night.  Resort people suggested us to drive back with modified number plate and remove the tapes once I cross TN border. I didnt want to risk it and didnt want to be caught for forgery in the state border. More over TN police didnt want KA vehicles in their state for safety reason, so they would have been happier seeing KA vehicle leaving their state.  Eventually everyone agreed that this is the best way to deal with situation and I removed the insulation tapes from the number plate.
  After breakfast we settled our dues and left by 8:30 AM. We saw peacocks, deer herds and wild boar in Madumalai forest. Border crossing was as smooth as a hot knife cutting through cheese. We were not even stopped to question how did we enter the state, a big relief. We saw some more deer, peacocks and a family of Indian Gaur in Badipur. We also saw a big herd of elephants crossing the road; half the herd crossed and rest half waited on other side. This herd had more than 15 elephants. Didnt want to stop for photos and risk being sandwiched with close to 10 elephants each on either side and few calf with them as well. 

Our first pit stop was CCD at Nanjangudu. After this we missed the bypass because of the road repair  work happening and entered the Mysore city. However there was not much traffic so didnt waste much time there. We stopped in few places on the way to pickup some fresh vegetables and fruits and followed the same route which we took while going.  Entered Bangalore at 2:00 PM and stopped for lunch. After lunch at Adigas we reached home by 4:00 PM negotiating thickening evening traffic. All in all 2 well spent quite days close to nature.

Review about Resort :

We stayed in a place called Secret Ivory Guest House in Madumalai. Few of my friends are regular visitors here and speak very highly of this place. And they were pretty much right. A perfect place to get away and literally do nothing and live in peace. This place is reasonably priced. Though the name suggests that this is a guest house, it is much more than that though not comparable with luxury resorts. Rooms are clean and surroundings are well maintained. Owner and staff are very friendly and polite. Everyone working here has respect for nature and it shows when you interact with them. Food is of decent quality and not expensive at all. Once you take deviation from main road, last 1- 1.5 Km drive towards the resort needs cautious driving as road is very bad and narrow here. 

 All in all I would rate this place 4 out of 5.