Finally! I’m back after a long break! I know its kind of weird especially when a blogger has a break of almost 3months from his previous post, but, couldn’t see much happening around me especially with the freaky recession monster luring around everybody’s life, haunting them from living a normal happy life!
So, i finally break free from work and all my worries, pack my bags and head off to Goa on the 20th of February, 2009! The journey from Udupi was very short or maybe i was so excited about the whole Goa trip that i never realized the 4hours train journey! The plan was basically with 2 of my friends from TO (this is how Fahad prefers to call it). So let me go on about the whole trip.
20th February, 2009 – Day 1
The train finally came to a halt around 21:40 at the Madgao Station. This is the main station in Goa where every train does stop. So, if your ever planning a trip to Goa, all you need to do is catch a train and just head off to Madgao station. That's your final stop for Goa! The station has almost 4 platforms and is crowded most of the times. I stepped off the train and gave a call to my friends who were waiting outside to pick me up from the station. Fahad sounded all excited and just screamed, “head straight to the main gate, i am right there!” i knew we all were excited, especially a vacation with friends whom i had not seen for almost 12years! I walked past faces with weird expressions, and there at the main gate i had my friend waiting for me eagerly! As brothers who had met after ages, we exchanged hugs and head straight to where his Uncle and Aunt were waiting for us. I have to mention this, Uncle and Aunt were the perfect example of how loving and special Goan hospitality could ever make you feel! And there i met Eric who had joined Fahad from TO (Toronto). Oh yes, we were for sure missing our good ol pal Daniel! But, he couldn’t make it. So, we head off to North Goa from the station, where Fahad had already arranged a place for us at Baga with his expert Goan Konkani and charm, at a very great price! The trip from the station took us around 1hour but that never crossed our minds as we were busy catching up on old memories, especially, when Uncle heard the word ‘Muscat’ he got all energized and started filling us up with all this old experiences! Which was really fun to listen to as that actually made us realize how Oman had changed drastically in the past few years! Aunty was so sweet, she had made the Goan specialty, ‘Sana’ which is actually made of rice, some sweet and shaped circular, giving you a real sweet taste but tummy filling experience with every bite. I really needed that after that 4 hours of just water journey. We finally reached our guest house called, ‘Larrisa’ which was a real neat place right near the beach! A spacious room with all that a human would need to survive, including a Tv, fridge and cupboards! The balcony had 2 easy chairs facing right out to the beach! WOW! That's all i said! We thanked Uncle and Aunty as it was already 22:00 which was pretty late. We freshened up and started off our vacation with the Goan delicacy, Cashew Fenny! Thanks to my good ol pal, that was my first experience of Fenny as i always thought it was some stinking drink which i would never try but at last i did! Not bad for a start as the drink was really good with some clear fizz mixture! We headed off to the shacks after some drinks to catch up on dinner. Shacks are these huge eat outs situated right at the beach! So your actually savoring on some Goan dishes sitting at the beach! We settled for some normal food and gulped it all down! It was pretty late so most of the places were closed. Took a walk down the road to our ‘home’ and crashed off for the day! We had plans for the next day!
21st February, 2009 – Day 2
Now this is something i really hate, i just cant sleep even if i am on vacation! I woke up like an early bird at 7a.m. and freshened up. Took a nice easy chair in our balcony and sat facing the beach. This is what i call a nice vacation. Gulping down on some ice cold water, trying to flush off my hangover of the good ol fenny! I was wondering, what would life be, living in Goa, doing this every day! but then when you actually think about it, you realize, you might get tired of it! Fahad woke up and took his bottle of water to flush his sleep off while Eric continued to dream of naked women! It was my best friend Leonelle’s birthday, so picked my phone and gave her a call! And she actually did pick up! which she rarely does as a very busy lady! All excited to hear her and she was actually shocked that i was in Goa, which is obvious because i never take a vacation. Sounds sad? but that's me with my hectic work life! She was busy preparing her own birthday cake which i found pretty right especially when you wouldn't want to spend on an expensive cake! After our call, we three sat and planned our day, oops sorry Fahad and me, because Eric was still snoring. We had time to ourselves till noon as after that it was one of the best times of Goa. The Carnival at Panjim! The Carnival is basically a tradition from the time of Portugal rules in Goa. People from different parts of Goa display their talent and culture through floats. This takes place every year in the month of Feb for almost 3-4 days at the most important cities of Goa. Panjim, Madgao and forgot the rest places. I’m really bad with my memory. We were wondering where we could actually grab a quick bite before we head off to Panjim and there it was!!! SUBWAY!! finally! We could see ourselves rushing in and ordering our favorite sandwiches. I settled for a nice Chicken something. We were busy enjoying and sandwiches and watching a couple fight. Gosh, i wanted to so get up and ask them to get a life! But it was Goa and i was not going to spoil my vacation! We gulped our quick good and rushed off to catch a ride to Panjim. We reached Panjim in the very popular ‘Auto-rickshaw’ in time to catch the start of the carnival! The sun was blazing hot but that wouldn't stop us from experiencing the Carnival! My digi cam battery was kind off low but i did manage to capture a few shots. The rest was all bliss and excitement! People displayed different themes, from the culture of Goa to the anti-terrorist slogans especially after the Mumbai 26/11. The carnival went on till 17:00 which was a real long stand. Mirella’s was on the plan too, an old friend of ours from Catechism Days! She did manage to meet up with us and had a few words. We were exhausted completely! We popped up the plan of getting some pizza back to our place to gulp along with our drinks. So we again head off back to Bagga. We got off at Dominoes which was actually right near our place and we never knew about it! Ordered large servings of Pizza for each and we had 15mins to kill! We took off down the street to examine and see what we could do. And wow, there we had tito’s and mambo’s. But when we looked at it, i felt kind off weird because i was not ready to pull on jeans and a t-shirt and look all high class and fun, sit inside there and listen to some music which i could do on my iPod anyway. I wanted to be in my shorts and my t-shirt! not jeans! We picked our pizza’s up and walked back to our place. Along with some delicious we started off relaxing our muscles, which we for sure needed especially after the straight 5hours stand in the sun! After that i don’t remember a thing because i was way beyond than being in my senses!
22nd February, 2009 – Day 3
Another day, and a bad hangover! This time it was really bad but i could sit up and actually drink more water! We thought of taking the day easy and just visiting Fahad’s aunty who was at Calangute. All i could think of was some real nice Goan hospitality! That's the best! Now we had the morning to kill, so we decided to catch up some breakfast and head off to the nearest Net center to check our mails while Eric was still snoring off. We walked off and found a Cafe Coffee Day right near the net center. So that was our plan after we finish checking our mails. A few minutes of emailing, posting and we were sitting at Cafe Coffee Day chilling over some cool coffee while Fahad was enjoying over ‘Devil’s Own’. We were actually waiting for Eric. We suddenly realized the place had WIFI!!! Fahad made a quick call through Fring to Fedora who was on Gtalk. Like always she just enjoyed pulling my leg and went on chatting up with her brother while i was sitting and enjoying the sight of beauty! Eric comes over to Cafe Coffee Day and gets himself a Cold Coffee. We walk off to Calangute and finally found Fahad’s Aunt place. A very homely Goan house with a beautiful Shrine in the compound. We got a warm welcome by all and there we got to dig on some nice Goan food! They had a small farm with some animals which was really nice to see. After a few chats we went off to the nearest church to attend the Sunday Mass service. That was really refreshing and different! The day was just normal and we walked back to our place. Oh yes, we did check out some shops on our way back but actually never bought anything. Reached our place and changed to head off to the shacks and a stroll at the beach. Oh and this is the best part! i beat Fahad over a race at the beach!!!!!! finally my revenge after he really got me back at the steps on his visit to Mangalore! We stopped over at St. Anthony’s Shack where they had a Karaoke session going on. Trust me, i have not seen songs get ripped so bad as i had seen them there! Our last day in Goa………..
23rd February, 2009
The day we left Goa. Packed bags. Had our last breakfast at the shacks. Cleared our stuff and took a cab to the Airport. Fahad and Eric would be in Goa for a few days while i had a flight at 15:45 to Mangalore. We big goodbye and i head off to the Dabolim Airport. Not something i was looking forward to.
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