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Published: March 18th 2007
Route Bangalore->(74km)Tumkur->Gubbi->Tiptur->Kadur->Tadikede->Bhadrabati->Shimoga->Jog->Sagar->Sharavathi Valley->Murudeshwar->Honnavar->Gokarna->Karwar->Palolem->Colva->Panaji->Old Goa->Fort Aguada->Baga->Anjuna->Vagator->Arambol->Terekhol->Parnem Tunnel->Belgaum(NH 4)->(70km)Dharwar->(20km)Hubli->(197km)Chitradurga->(160km)Tumkur->(74km)Bangalore
Day 1 Trip to Goa was during third year of college to celebrate New Year rave party was an exciting one. One of my college buddies possessed a car, Fiat Palio. We packed our travel bags and started off late in the morning from Bangalore. We shared our turn to drive the car every 4 hours. The drive was pretty exciting considering the fact that I was driving a car after a long time. We took the diversion to NH 4 and were heading towards Tumkur. The scenery was not that great as long as we were in Karnataka close to Bangalore. Most of the places were barren and rocky. We halted for a while at Tumkur. Some of my school friends were studying at S.I.T ,Tumkur so had a brief chat about their college life and life at Tumkur.
Jog falls From Tumkur we took a NH 206 and headed for Shimoga. We crossed small towns of Gubbi, Tiptur, Kadur and Tadikede. Tiptur was somewhat bigger than normal town though. There was a nice lake at Bhadravati close to Shimoga. Shimoga was approximately 200 km from
Tumkur. We turned on the car stereo and turned on the AC. In between encountered train crossings and tried to speed up at drove around 120 kmph and tried to race with the train. There was nothing special worth mentioning as the highway was dry like all other highways in the route. It was almost late in the afternoon when we crossed Shimoga and reached Jog. Jog has a beautiful waterfalls. The road was smooth and cruised with easy. Jog marked the beginning of Western Ghats. We parked our car there. We went around the waterfall to where water goes down. We had a great view as with little bend we can see the water falling. It was perfect time of the day to spot that the majestic falling waters from 900ft cliff forming a rainbow! There were actually four falls Raja, Roarer, Rocket and Rani falls. We spent about 30 minutes there, had our lunch and moved on!
Murudeshwar Our next destination was Murudeshwar which was 100kms . We passed Sagar from Shimoga. The route was awesome. There was a wonderful mix of dense rainforest, hills and valleys. In between we stopped in between at Vista Point
Sharavathi Valley. There is a dam at the end of valley to check the flow of water. The river is wide and lots of forests submerged. Sun was setting as we descended the Western Ghats and we got the first sea. It was amazing view as we see the sun set as we descended Murudeshwar. Close to Murudeshwar we met NH 17. Murudeshwar is almost like an island with narrow landmasses joining the mainland. Luckily the place is not overcrowded like other places in coastal Karnataka. There was a temple of Lord Shiva on a small hill. There, by the narrow landmass joining the mainland we have beaches on both sides of the road! We played some game Frisbee, walked down the beach and waited till sun completely set.
We left Murudeshwar and headed for Honnavar. At Honnavar we crossed last portion of Sharavathi river which drains into Arabian Sea. We decided to better move up to Gokarna which is just 11 kms from the place and halt there for the night. Heard the place to be good for bon fire and night stay. Luckily, we had an foldable tent. And as we reached we decided to camp at the beach. Bon fire was lit and mood was set for a beach party. The local policeman told us that camping is allowed at Om Beach in Gokarna but to take care of our belongings. There were lots of European tourists. I got the feel of the situation we might face in Goa! Anyways the tent served our purpose as we camped next to a small shack and had a fish platter and slept off.
Day 2 Gokarna, Coastal Karnataka It was a great idea to halt at Om beach. We woke up on the first ray of sunlight and removed our tent and placed it back in the car. We went to a near hut to freshen up and was ready to trek up Paradise Beach. After climbing the hill we found the beach was shaped like “Omkar” giving the name to the beach. We trekked through the beautiful landscapes and reached Half Moon Beach. Had breakfast. We did not lose our opportunity to jump in the water. That was as good as a private beach. The beaches in Gokarna has a different charm and reason being it is not yet that famous. We could hardly see an Indian on those beaches. We again we had our fish platter as lunch at Paradise Beach and after a nap we got a boat back to Om Beach.
It was around 4 pm we left Gokarna and again driving for 2 hour we reached Karwar. Karwar has a small port. There were two small ships standing on the port. We decided not to spend much time here and moved on to reach Goa. We crossed Kali Bridge over Kali Nadi River on NH17 from which you can see the mouth of the river pouring waters to sea. As soon as we crossed the Karnataka-Goa border road turned bad. Anyways, we decided to halt at Palolem Beach in Goa as it was dark already and dude to heavy rush for the new year we thought it is easier to get accommodation here than the more crowded than places at Calangute or Baga Beach. But we were shocked as we reached Palolem. Palolem was very commercialized with huge number of foreigners. Luckily, after a lot of bargain we took a shack for rent. As far as I remember it was by name “Café del Mar”( not the one you encountered in Ibiza).Luckily there were some British tourists who were better than Russians. The place had a nice pub and music played was descent not like the crappy dance music. We decided to spend the entire next day before moving to north to see other parts of Goa.
Day 3 Palolem ,Goa We slept off well and woke up late in morning and decided to make rounds the beach. The beautiful palm fringed beach is a perfect arc with white sand and sea is full of crashing waves. There were lots of benches for sun bathing and shacks and restaurants all over the place. Palolem is undeniably beautiful but stray from the beach front and main road and you will see the bits they leave out of the holiday brochures. Enormous piles of litter, half rotten, being sifted through by chickens, cows and rats the size of cats! Basically the kind of thing ubiquitous throughout India but I suspect a nasty surprise to holiday makers who arrive after seeing pictures of the beach in off season. Problem is there were lots of Russian old guys with young looking (I guess under aged) Russian girls! Went on a boat trip to Butterfly Beach yesterday with a bit of dolphin spotting on the way. It is a tiny cove only accessible by boat so should have been very peaceful - if it hadn't been taken over by a load of naked raving Russians with their ghetto blaster pumping out happy hardcore! Absolutely off their rockers on god knows what!
During the day after we are through with Butterfly Beach we went Canacona Island. There are some small coves on the mainland just north of Canacona Island where some naked European chicks were sunbathing topless! First site of nude public women in my life! Anyways, we decided to go for trekking a bit. We were in confusion whether to visit Cola, Zalor (South of Varca), Agonda(quiet beach but having less cafes and joints) , Colomb(between Palolem and Patnem rocky beach, very quiet, couple of cafes and beach hut operations, lovely spot for a sun downer), Patnem or visit Colva Beach and Cabo de Rama. We decided to go Cabo de Rama and Colva Beach.
Colva, Goa Capo de Rama is a stretch of land jutting into the sea upon which lies the ruins of Portuguese Port. It commands a spectacular view of the coast line to its north including Colva Beach. By Hindu myths it is believed that Lord Rama and Siva lived here during their exile. But there is hardly any truth in it though. We leave the fort and continue to travel further up the coast to Colva the northern most beach on the southern side. We leave the fort and continue to travel further up the coast to Colva, the northern most beach of South Goa where two rivers Zuari and Mandovi divide into two. The beach full of white sand. The beach of white sand stretched for miles. But here we encountered more of Indian family crowd with fat old ladies and uncles along with the European tourists. There was a beach café. The owner sounded friendly. He even showed us some jumbo sized freshly caught crabs. We ordered a crab platter and spicy Goan sausages(chourico) and grabbed bottles of Foster beer. There were arrangements for beach volley ball next to the restaurant. We got the ball from the owner and played for about half an hour before food was served at the table. The beach of white sand was pretty good but not devoid of marine creatures. There starfish, shells and some unknown aquatic animals. So we decided better not swim there. We left Colva Beach in the evening and headed back to Palolem.
Palolem was all charged up for party during the evening. With the British tourists we met some of Swedish girls whom they met during their journey to India. A large table was set up for the evening dinner. We sat, had long stupid, naughty party talk and bits pieces of life and shared our travel stories. Gradually got drunk with the local liquor served and started talking shit! Soon the progressive trance music started and we hit the dance floor. I don’t remember next what happened next but woke up next day late in the morning by the side of the beach with heavy head. We were far away recovering from hangover.
Day 4 Panaji and Old Goa After having some breakfast consisting of French toast we decided to visit Panaji(Panjim) capital city of Goa. We heard that visiting Vasco City and Marmagao are waste of time and avoided the place. The road was pretty good. We passed by the local football clubs and Goa University to reach Dona Paula beach. Dona Paula is a village named after Dona Paula de Menezes, the wife of a noble man Antonio de Souto Maior, who died as a young woman in 1682. This place is called the Lovers Paradise due to a myth that the Viceroy's daughter after facing objections from her family about her love affair with Gasper Dias, a poor fisherman jumped of the cliff. Another legend says that punished for captivating Francisco de Tavora, the Count of Alvor with her charm the Viceroy's daughter was pushed off a cliff to drown in the waters below. Now Dona Paula is very commercialized and it is not an ideal spot for bathing or swimming. But there were lots of water sport activities there like speed boat, cruise boat. I felt it was more middle class family tourists to enjoy the sport. We climbed up the hill to the Dona Paula viewpoint. And enjoyed time relaxing on a seat under shades. We left after half an hour and passed Miramar beach, the most average and worst beach in Goa and is situated close to Panaji city. We passed by the big Panaji fish market took a turn at the crossing and passed by the roads surrounding the Portuguese style buildings. We did not want to be on our car for remaining trip. As we reached the private bus service stop at Goa we found a guy named Marco who was willing to lend his bikes for just 300/- a day! We checked the bikes and papers and headed towards Old Goa. The road by the Mondovi river led to winding streets and old Portuguese style colored buildings to reach Old Goa Center. As we reached Old Goa again we found our self in the midst of a large group of young Russian girls. St Francis church of Assisi is an very old building in a compound shared with Cathedral of Saint Catherine and largest church in Asia and built during renaissance time. The Basilica of Bom Jesus is another such magnificent cathedral where the mortal remains of St. Francis are kept. It is the best example of Baroque architecture in India and is very old and colored red. After the visit to the museum there we headed back and took the ferry crossing with our bikes from Panaji to Betim across the Mandovi river and after small drive came back to Panaji. We booked a hotel Panaji somewhat inside the city. But it was the worst hotel we had stayed and it was expensive too due to peak season! We had booked for a river cruise in Mondovi river by night(which was also not a good idea but we thought it to try out once). Anyways, we came back to the city and had our lunch late in the afternoon at an air conditioned restaurant “Mum’s Kitchen” with Goan “Pork Vindaloo” , “Squid Peri Peri”, some rice and Port Wine. There was not much to do and decided to chill a bit and returned to hotel to take a nap. As sun was about to set we walked up to Miramar beach close Kala Academy to sit by the deserted rocks where Mondovi River meets the sea. It was nice to watch local fishermen fishing. There style of fishing was quiet unique one I have encountered. Fishermen first will swing the hook attached to thread in high velocity and throw it to the river and sharply pull the fish from the river. There was no fishing rods nor any fishing nets, very simple but yet very effective!
As we already mentioned we made a mess while deciding to take boat cruise by night. It was not that bad but problem was it had lot many cheap crowd turning up. It began with Traditional Goan Dance( a mixture of Portuguese and Indian Dance) , music and songs. There was a big Bengali family turned up. The older male members of the family got drunk after two gulps of fenny and started misbehaving with other tourists and not to mentioned tried to shake his legs with all and almost stumbled in front of the stage. We came back to our hotel with mixed feeling took light dinner but no alcohol and slept off.
Day 5 Next day, it was the big day. It was new year day and everyone is gearing up for the party. So we decided to move to most happening party center in the town. An early morning sandwich and we are off en route to Calangute. We crossed the bridge over Mandovi River, passed by Goa Assembly Complex and took a diversion right towards Calangute. The drive was amazing! Small villages, farms, paddy fields, old Portuguese buildings, forests winding to gentle slopes. At the end of the road by a church we took a diversion right to go to Fort Aguada. The road was however showed first picture of commercialization. As we passed by the sea side we did not even get a glimpse of sea. All covered by five star hotels, resorts who drew their private share of the beach. We reached the outskirts of the deserted fort and made our entry in to the jail. Fort Aguada is the largest and the best-preserved Portuguese bastion in Goa and was built in 1609-12, to control the entry into the river Mandovi and to protect Old Goa from potential enemy attacks. A freshwater spring - from where the fort derives it's name - within the fort provided water supply to the ships that called there. Ringed by thick battlements, the heart of the fort was protected by two hundred cannons and a deep dry moat, which one still has to cross to get inside. On climbing up the step we could get a spectacular vista of central Goa. There is an old deserted lighthouse painted in white in contrast to red color of the fort. We did not spend much time there though and started our vehicles.
Baga, Calangute and Vagator Next stop, Baga beach. There was one straight road back and reached a junction where there are diversion for Calangute (Vagator) and Baga. We turned for Calangute .Just around the corner of the junction lots of tourist lodges and restaurants surrounded and almost covered the streets. The lodges had completely European look and restaurants too were serving mostly European cuisine. We climbed down the steps to Calangute beach. I must admit it was one of the dirtiest beach I have encountered during the entire trip. All empty bottles, plastics lay in the beach and we were surrounded by local hawkers. We quickly left the area and headed for Calangute. In between we decided to stop by Titos Disco and enquire about the party for new year. Titos has both open air and closed disco but it was a bit congested and small. Anyways, the person in authority said a straight ‘no’ for stag entry and so also manager at “Mambo” Disco nearby. Disappointed we left the disco, though we got a tip from some friends we can enter after mid night. But why take a risk! I was sure there got to be more discos in the area and better place to celebrate new year. The way from Calangute to Baga looked even more commercialized and selling anything and everything. There were foreign tourists everywhere and it was actually difficult spot an Indian there. The Baga beach was expectedly overcrowded. I imagined Baga beach had it been little less commercialized and less popular. The place would have been paradise with golden sand, some palm trees a narrow river flowing on the side next to a cliff. Instead the place looked almost like street in Barcelona! The benches were occupied by really obese white elderly men and women wearing bikinis or G-string. There were hawkers and beggars everywhere and bugging every tourist on the beach. The place was all messed up. Not the ideal place to bath in peace but still we felt that it will be late to search for a dream beach to bath now. We left Baga and passed by the narrow road by small villages towards Anjuna.
Anjuna Anjuna Beach was one of the popular destination for the Hippies from mid 70’s and till now considered Hippie capital of Goa. Anjuna market is situation on a shallow hill top overlooking rocky Anjuna beach. The market is occupied by hawkers, temporary shops. Predominated mostly by girls from Rajasthan, foreigners also found a way to sell items like colorful handicrafts, spices, clothes, beach wear. Anjuna was a place that sells everything under the sun from Porcelain, candle work, Turkish hookahs, mojris, ancient artifacts, religious deities, Pashmina shawls, G strings, trance compact discs, Mesopotamian and Sumerian beads, Quartz and Calcite crystals, uncut gems, Sitars, Guitars, African Calimbas and the list continues… There was also a budding or a struggling DJ playing slow progressive music but nobody was listening to. There was also a body piercing and tattoo artist who were doing good business. As we were checking out so club t- shirts a bus full of girls arrived there. The girls looked quiet pretty and sexy. I spoke to one of them and learnt that they came for an excursion to Goa and belongs to NIFT(National Institute of Fashion Technology), Mumbai. One of them even curled her hair Caribbean style. It did not look that pretty but still everyone I guess wants to be like Hippie there. We climbed down the rocks to get a close look at the sea. We left the Anjuna headed to check out the clubs out there. As we decided not to go back to Titos or Mambos. We learnt there were some good pubs and clubs operating there. Nine Bar was one overlooking little Vagator Beach further north. But it was open from 5 pm and 10 pm and remains fully packed.
Club Paradiso So we went to Club Paradiso. According to Lonely Planet it was considered largest night club in India. the entire place is sculpted out of clay, set in a natural cave with special florescent tribal art highlighted by strategically placed UV Lights. The clay also provides the most effective acoustics and absorbs sound ensuring that the village is not disturbed by the music that normally lasts all through the night. Scandinavian dancers, Caribbean concert crew and cage dancers are some of the acts planned along with a host of international DJs were going to perform along with one of the undisclosed best DJ in the world will be performing. I thought that may be personal favorite DJ Tiesto will be performing here leaving Ibiza! Anyways, as we passed by Starco Hotel and decided to get some bread and butter to eat from the nearby bakery. I met one guy by the name Shiva who asked if we need any pill. We were not sure of what it was but one of my friends were clear about it. He asked for “Butterfly”. Then I realized it was Ecstasy pills they were talking about. The guy left us and said they will be back with the “stuff” in an hour. We mentioned we were going to Hilltop Disco and he said it will not be a problem to find us there. We left the place and searching for discos there. The stretch from Anjuna to Vagator have discos at every corner of the street. Bamboo Forest, Disco Valley, Shiva Valley, Temple Race. We enquired about most of them and found they play psy trance and smell drugs in the air. Actually do not blame them as the recreation drugs ecstasy, LSD, ketamine, GHB, Rohypnol can make you forget the world and dance nonstop for hours till you pass out. We reached Hilltop Disco around 4 pm. It was close to Vagator and party scene was just gearing up.
Hilltop, Vagator Party has just begun! Hilltop was an open air disco with DJ playing a psy trance at the back. The whole place was like exploding. Tourists from all over the world from South-East Asian countries to East European people were having a nice time dancing to tune and few doing drugs along with the Hippies. As we were about to leave the place to visit Vagator we met up with Siva and he handed over the pills and disappeared. Vagator was all geared up for the party. The beach was full with party animals and there also an DJ trying out his luck in spinning. The entire stretch of little Vagator from the coconut and palm tree covered hill top to the beach looked like an party destination. I wanted to try out parasailing. I had to stand in a long queue and rate was also high. But it was once in a life time experience and I did not want to miss a chance. It was a great experience to I was definitely missing a girl friend!
Club Cabana After the sunset we just sat down on the beach and watched the pretty crowd a bit and decided to relax a bit before plunging in for all night long party rave. We moved to one of the shacks a little inside and had some Tiger Prawns, fish platter and some beer. We then headed back and moved back to Arpora to Club Cubana, situated on top of a hill in the village of Arpora, with laser lights that split the night sky wide open. Club Cubana was undoubtedly the best Disco I had encountered in Goa. Problem is I definitely miss a girl friend! Charge for stack entry was 700/- but if you know a girl it goes down to 500/-. The best thing about this disco is all drinks we included. So we did not have to worry much about boozing any long. The only thing was to spot some chicks to get in. Anyways we did not have to wait long though met an Australian girl(name I do not remember) and brief conversation she agreed to accompany me to get in passing the huge bouncers with dark glasses. Anyways, the number girls outnumbered the guys in that disco. This is the only nightclub with a swimming pool and soon enough I encounter the enchanting sight of three sexy sirens peeling off their clothes and diving into the pool to cool off from the exhaustive dancing. I have heard many celebrities flock the area during the new year but I guess I got too drunk to care about the presence of Hollywood and Bollywood celebrities! We popped the pills and got in the groove with rave music. I did not have much idea what happened next much though as we danced till morning till the sun rise and then passed out exhausted on a couch.
Day 6 I was again woken up at around 10 am in the morning I remember by friends and drowsily and still under hangover to Vagator Beach found a shade under umbrella and slept off again. I decided restrict the consumption of anymore alcohol for some days and had lunch with Goan Fish Curry and steamed rice in the shack we had lunch the previous day and decided to move to Arambol in North Goa. We went back to Panaji and handed over the bikes back to owner and took a lazy drive to Arambol. I, still in hangover of the night before was too tired and senseless to look at the scenery outside and just slept in the back seat of the car.
Arambol and Sweet Water Lake Arambol, on contrary to Palolem which predominantly had British, was full of Israelis. As soon as we reached Arambol instead of going to the beach we kept looking for a place to stay overnight. We went to a local restaurant and enquired if any house was for rent. There we found a villager who gave a small room for rent and it was only 200/-. But it did not have running water though. There was a water well which served our purpose though. Then we headed for the beach. There are two beaches here. The main beach is lined with cafes and is good for bathing. The smaller and less populated beach in the north is more scenic and is a good place to swim. This second beach has white sand and is flanked by steep cliffs on both sides. Behind the second bay is a freshwater lake fed by a small stream. The sulfurous mud of the lake is said to have a healing effect if you cover yourself with it and let it dry on you. Most people walk along the path for a few minutes back into the jungle behind the lake and take mud from the stream there. It was a rocky way down the hills to Arambol beach. Without mention there some light party going on but intensity was less than that of the ones we encountered at Anjuna-Vagator stretch. After sunset we visited the restaurant had a light dinner and slept off early. I was having an headache.
Day 7 Morning I got up late and did not feel like eating much. We headed north and passed by a jungle next to the a remote beach location. It was a kilometer north of a brackish lagoon at Arambol. Along beach lies a freshwater lagoon and well known for occasional rave party in rave party circuit. The place has become popular these days and lost its charm after gaining popularity. We went there in late in the morning though hence there were no party freaks down there. But there were some more European ladies in their bikinis and some nude girls again! Anyways ,we had a swim in sea and cleaned ourselves in fresh water lake and came back to our rooms.
Journey Back
Later that afternoon we started our journey back to Bangalore. Even the drive back was good. Most of the drive was thru a lot of greenery. After half an hour or so, we entered the Western Ghat region and started steep and curvy climbs. The picturesque drive lasted for nearly 45 minutes when we reached the planes of Deccan. We drove on continually for 4 hours and arrived near Hubli. We had to pass via Hubli-Dharwar bypass road that seems to be a newly built toll highway. The road was surprisingly good, wide, away from villages and was almost deserted. We got a chance to put the car on a stress test and managed to reach speeds as ahigh as 150kph, very safely. The road was pretty decent all the way till Bangalore.
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Ollie Tong
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great storys mate, will have to come to party sometime