Travelogue - Go Goa

As always, going by our tradition, the campaign was code-named
"Go Goa". And the onus of preparing the travelogue was vested upon
me, again, as per the tradition. Here it is:

Goa trip got over very soon.
But then, the 25 odd hours spent in Goa was utilised to the best, as
far as time management is concerned.
Visited all the landmarks and important places.
Thanks to John, our omni driver-cum-guide.
Goa is all omni ! Wonder how omni became so popular here.

In one word, goa is a compressed-kerala.
U can see hill-tops like in malappuram, coconut grooves everywhere,
no "luxury" of footpath on the roadsides, narrow roads, lotsa paddy
fields, backwaters along roadsides (as in thalasery kannur road),
bridges in plenty...

And epic-wise, the origin of the two states is very similar. Lord
Parashuram used his axe to create Kerala.
The same person, used an arrow to make Goa! That is one good reason,
why the two states have striking similarities.

Reached Goa at 9AM Sat, in Volvo. Headed straight to Colva hotel. Refresh and off we went for sight-seeing.
Covered the following areas from sat noon to sun noon:
1. Aguada Fort (DCH was shot at a fort near this place)
2. Aguada Beach
3. Calangute Beach
4. Baga Beach (this place is the best to get into water, and so we
did, baring ourselves to the bare minimum :-)
5. River Cruise (a 1hr trip on a cruise, with cultural programs on
board. Danced our heart out)
6. Colva Beach(This was an early morning -8PM- walk from our hotel.)
7. Old Goa
8. St Francis Church(a beautiful church, with a Cathedral on the
other side of the road)
9. Mankesh Temple(birth place of Latha Mangeshkar, they said.)
10.Shanthadurga Temple(strikingly similar to Mankesh Temple. Ganesh
remarked "Is this a photo copy?")
11.Museum(the only place which demanded entry fee. But then the guyz
enjoyed, coz they got to know how Fenny is made!)
12.Panaji City(is same as Panjim. Our bus destn was Panjim, and we
were worried how to go to Panaji from Panjim! In the end got down
at Margao, 40Km from Panaji, coz that is where we booked our
hotel)

At the end of the expedition, finally, we were dropped at Dabolim
Airport, the only airport in Goa.
Flight delayed by 30mins, and the AC at airport not working, and
India putting up a dismal batting performance.
Bad news one after the other.
Finally boarded the flight at 5PM.
Landed in Blore at 6.22PM, after quite a few 'roller-coaster' jerks
in the plane*.

And to call it a climax, an acrobatic auto drive(dive), on the way
back to home ! The auto skidded and toppled onto its side, in an
attempt to avert a head-on collision with a Maruthi800. None
injured. The auto was in bad shape. We just jumped out and fled :D

One of the most memorable weekends in my life.
Snaps attached. The filename tells the story.

Rat

Characters:
Rat - Ratheesh
Sand - Sandeep
Gan - Ganesh
Dipu - Dipu


* - Air Deccan had the honours to deploy Fire Service, on its Inaugural flight itself! The flight caught fire just b4 take-off