Holiday in Goa

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25 Feb 2010: 10:00 PM IST
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I started to Goa by the Konkan Kanya Express from Mumbai. I rushed to the Mumbai CST in the night as the train leaves by 11 o clock in the night. I had reserved for a sleeper class for myself and my friend and all we got was that our tickets were not confirmed but only had a RAC and so we need to wait until we get some luck with us. Almost at midnight we got the berths and I was feeling damn sleepy that I picked up the upper berth and I slept. It was like 7 in the morning when I woke up and we learnt that the station Thivim will be reached at around 9:30 AM as we need to get down at Thivim which is in the north goa and that the hotel we booked had a pick up from that station. We had booked the hotel Ticlo Resorts through the makemytrip package and as I reached the railway station I had called up the resort people to send me the driver and he came in ten minutes. Then we reached the resort. The resort was nice though small, and we got a double room with a hall, balcony and a separate bed. The room was clean and nice and the balcony was viewing some sort of a garden area which I like the most.

The resort was situated in Calangute beach and is walkable distance to the beach and also to the nearest market place. It is also close to the bus stop so that we can take a ride to Panjim or Mapusa from there. It is centrally located. Just that the hotel service was a bit slower and the laundry was costlier for its standard. As we both checked in and took a while to rest, I got ready to go to Panjim as I had some work to attend to. So I took a cab which costed exorbitantly like INR 300 to reach Panjim, later I learnt that a bus ride to it costs just INR 12 per person. I reached Campal in Panjim next to Kala's Academy and finished my work and then later in the evening me and my friend was walking to the market place. The Panjim market was smaller though as I expected Panjim to be a city but it is kind of a small town. One thing that made me wonder there was that the fruits are expenseive especially the mangoes. But good news is that the cashews are so cheap that one kg pack costs just INR 250 max. I learnt in other parts of India (including Mumbai) it costs like INR 400 per kg. So if you are going to goa, make sure u buy some cashews packets with you. Good margin.

Later in the evening, me and my friend took a local bus from the Panjim bus stand to go to Calangute and it was the last stop we had to get down. The travel takes almost an hour by bus. The Ticolo resort is just walkable from the Calangute bus stop as I said earlier.

26 Feb 2010: 7 AM IST
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I woke up

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