Part 8 - Bangalore to Goa, road trip, Calangute beach to Fishland Dhaba

After coming out of Calangute, we headed towards Karwar, it was already 9 pm and we had no idea about where to have dinner. All of a sudden Dr Nag got an idea. He was aware of a Dhaba near to Karnataka border on the Goan side. It was Hotel Fishland Dhaba. He told food was excellent.

But by the time we reach there, it would already have shut shops. Luckily Dr Nag's relative who had arranged for our accomdation in Karwar, had the Dhaba's number. He told the Dhaba owner, who happened to be from Kundapura, about us. That we were on our way to the Dhaba and to keep the Dhaba open for us, sometime extra !

It worked, we ended up at Hotel Fishland Dhaba and had some yummy food. You never know, wonderful things happen when we are with wonderful people! Thats true in case of Dr Nag's company.

Finally around 11:30pm we reached Karwar, to our guesthouse.

Cheers to Dr Nag.

Part 7 - Bangalore to Goa, road trip, St Xavier's Museum to Calangute Beach.

After visiting St Xavier's museum, we had food at a neighboring restaurant and headed towards Calangute beach. It was around 3 : 30 pm when we reached over there and once again we guys lost ourselves. not once but twice within a span of 3.5 hours.

When Arvind was looking for a place to park his car near Calangute beach, me and Dr Nag got down from the car with our camera and stuffs. Arvind and Prashanth got ready to park the car. We were left behind and started to walk towards Calangute beach. There was a huge crowd but it was wonderful. The feeling was awesome. We waited at the beach looking for Arvind and Prashant but they were no where to be found.

After 15 mins, we figured out they were sitting close to the beach and they were waiting for us. The wait thus ended. I had missed out a chance of entering the water on couple of occasion and Dr Nag was worried that we were not enjoying his company!.

This time, I was ready to dive into the water. I had a great blast along with Dr Nag, in the water. We were there so much amount of time atleast close to 2 hours, I spent jumping in the water, trying to avoid the waves carrying me to the shore. Alas the evening came to an end and the Rescue guards started sending the crowd back. Me and Dr Nag spent some more time in water while Arvind and Prashant were sitting by the beach side. In between I took some pictures as well.

At around 5 45 PM when me and Dr Nag returned from the waters, we could not find Arvind and Prashant nor my camera/clothes. Fully wet, we decided to look out for them on the road. It was a crazy scenario. Everyone walks out of the beach after changing their clothes, we were walking with wet clothes on and water dripping and worried !. Alas we found Arvind and Prashant along side the road. They had changed their clothes and were headed for a casual walk towards Baga beach.

Somehow they cancelled their plans as soon as they saw us and we changed our clothes quickly. It was already dark and we started walking by the road, looking at different shops. There was a Tibetian market over there and Arvind decided to pay a visit. Arvind and Prashant ended up buying some stuffs out there. Me and Dr Nag did not. After an hour over there we returned to the main road to have Sugar cane juice. And thought lets head home. Remember we did not have an accomdation in Goa and had to come back to Karwar !

It was another long drive, but full of fun! In the mean while Arvind brought some cashews !

The day had not yet ended we still had not reached Karwar, wait for the next piece of adventure !

Cheers,

Part 5 - December 25, Goa Christmas Celebration.

On the way back to Karwar, we stopped at some place, where there was a phenomenal christmas decoration. Not sure which place it was, it sure was Colva.

Here are some pictures of the awesome piece of art !

Part 6 - Bangalore to Goa, road trip, Karwar to St Xavier's Museum

The next day we planned to visit St Xavier's museum. It was good day with bright sunlight. We had our breakfast in Karwar and headed out towards Goa. Once again crossing the Goan checkpost, we landed at the same junction which had led us to Canacona beach!

We then asked for directions and headed towards, St Xavier's museum. Arvind was once again arrogant and took a turn which made us drive through narrow country (like) roads! We got to have a good look at Goan culture, some backwaters.

I think we went through the narrow road which had one of the ancient bakeries of Goa. On one of the television shows, they had aired a bakery which would prepare fresh bread everyday and deliver to it households on a bicycle. I think it was the same road we went through, and if my eyes were not wrong, I think I had a glimpse of the bakery.

Once we reached St Xaviers's museum, we took quite some time, having a look the church museum. There was a big crowd, but it was fun indeed.!

Cheers,

Part 4 - Bangalore to Goa by car - Canacona beach to Colva to Karwar !

After spending few hours at Canacona beach, we headed towards Colva beach for the evening. I really did not know how many kilometers we travelled, but very soon we landed at Colva beach. Once again the beach was packed with people and somehow managed to find a parking spot.

I did not dive into the waters in the Colva beach, do not know what really stopped me from doing so, but I stayed away but, in the end got few pictures to cherish !

One bizzare incident happend at Colva beach. We lost Dr Nag in the process. Arvind and Prashanth came back from swimming and we grouped near the beach, but Dr Nag was missing in the process. Suddenly the crowd at the beach became lesser and all of a sudden, we saw the sun setting and things getting dark. Arvind told me he would go into the parking lot to check if Dr Nag was somewhere near the car. We had left our belongings in the car, hence had no mobile phone to call out. In the mean while me, and Prashant waited at the beach for Dr Nag. After 20 worrisome mins Dr Nag came out of nowhere, and to our surprise he told me he was searching for us, for sometime, but could not locate us. Things quickly fell into place and we visited the market near the beach. Time was already 8 :30 PM and we had to return to our guest house in Karwar, yes, we had to drive all the way back to Karnataka.!

Since it was too late, for any restaurant in Karwar to be open, we decided to have food at a Udupi Hotel along Colva beach!.

Before we left Goa, we stopped at a petrol station for some re-fuelling. Around 11 PM we reached Karwar.  So end of another exiciting day!

Cheers,

Part 3 - Bangalore to Goa by car - Karwar to Canacona beach !

Continued from Part 2 -

After few hours of sleep, we were awake around 5 AM in the morning, hoping to catch sunrise. We planned to travel to the nearby Rabindranath Tagore beach. The feeling was excellent, an empty beach, open stretch all for ourselves where we could watch the waves, nearby mountain, and enjoy early morning weather !

Its such a wonderful feeling to be part of a town which wakes up late, and takes to life slowly. After being part of  Bangalore, taking slow approach to life has never been possible. After spending an hour and half at the beach we headed back to the guest house, and got ready to have a first glimpse of Goa.

Before that, we took a ride into the heart of Karwar town, for breakfast.

On the way, we went to a Lord SiddiVinayaka temple.

After breakfast, we met our fourth companion for the journey Dr Nag, who in real life is a tremendous personality, thoroughly entertaining, yet humble and down to earth!. It was his presence that added a new dimension to our trip. Throughout the journey Dr Nag and Arvind were involved in heavy debates on Human Psychology spreading across various topics, which ended only when we reached Arvind's home on Monday morning. Without him, our trip would have been ADHURA (incomplete)!

So we headed towards Goa Checkpost! Though Arvind was driving, Dr Nag, got down and wrote vehicle details / DL Number at the checkpost. It was already 10 :45 AM, but with Dr Nag as company, it was never too late. We had no clues where we were heading, but Dr Nag clearly knew which beach to visit. He immediately told Canacona beach. 

We reached Canacona beach , there was heavy crowd and found very difficult to park the car. Arvind managed to squeeze the car somewhere on the road side and we were off to Cancona beach!

We spent a good 4 hours on the beach. Arvind, Prashant and Dr Nag got into the beach, but somehow I did not get into the water. I really missed it, which is one of the biggest blunders I have committed. One more bigger blunder was I did not enter the waters even that day evening. I really missed it, but I got some pictures, which I might not have, if I had taken a plunge.

Part 2 - Bangalore to Goa by car

continuing from Part - 1 -

Around 9: 15 am we reached Chitradurga, in my mind, I was telling myself, one more time to Hubli/Dharwad within a month ( a month ago,  I had been to Hubli / Dharwad). But things took a different turn no sooner we crossed Chitradurga.

Arvind, saw a signboard to the left which said "Mangalore" to the left. He soon started thinking about going on a coastal drive. It came out of nowhere and he was pretty adamant on taking the left turn and so he did!
At that moment, I really did not know where the road would take us ,or whether we could land in Mangalore and then come back to Karwar, because both places were in totally different directions. But I had nothing to say because we had already taken a deviation and had proceeded in the road which said To Mangalore.

The first place which came along the way was Channagiri. We stopped for tender coconut for the first time and for the second time stopped in front of a Sunflower farm. Not sure whose sunflower farm it was, but gatecrashed into it for few photos.

After taking few pictures, we proceeded along the same road. We had realized by then the road would lead us to Shimoga. So Arvind had a place in Shimoga where he wanted to visit, badly. So he ensured we had a mandatory pit stop at Shimoga, and the chosen place was PanchaTara IceCream parlour. He told me this place is so so famous and he ordered an ice cream or rather, Anamika.. I am guessing what was it !

After Arvind had his icecream, we proceeded towards Sagar - Jog Falls. Well no.. Anyone would think, we would have gone that route and then gone towards Murudeshwar and then Karwar. But no, all of a sudden Arvind told the road leading to Jog falls was in a bad state (not sure whether it was really!) and instead took the road to Agumbe. And we ended up in Agumbe Sunset point which was our next pit stop. And by the way to reach this place, we drove all the way through Thirthalli Forest which was kind of a breeze, I enjoyed the road to every bit!

Since we had proceeded towards Agumbe, a guy at the hotel told me, the only way to go to Goa now was via Kundapura / Murudeshwara and then Karwar. It was already 3 pm in the afternoon, the distance was huge and the time was very less, we proceeded towards our next point Kundapura. Upon reaching Kundapura we proceeded quickly towards VarahaAnjaneya temple right opposite to the Marvante Beach.

After seeking blessings at the temple we saw the beach. First sight of a beach after such a long drive. Marvante beach was excellent, we had less time, could not spend much time over there. But whatever we spent was excellent!

After Marvante beach we proceeded towards Murudeshwara, we were very tired and Arvind was still more tired because, he had driven most, so we tried to enquire about rooms for halting in Murudeshwara. Since it was December and that too Christmas time, one place told us about Rs 2000 for one night's stay.

Instead Arvind told we could proceed towards Karwar and halt at the designated place. Finally around 11 PM without further stops, we made it to Karwar where a guest house was booked for us. So after seeing so much one single day, we safely had made it to Karwar.

What happened over the next couple of days is just as exciting as this one.

Cheers,

PS:Below is our route for the day !

Part 1 - Bangalore to Goa by car

This trip dates back to December 2011 !

It had been three months since I had joined my new organization. I needed a break. I had been to a fairly long drive to Hubli-Dharwad-YellamanaGudda-Dharwad-Bangalore a month back. (1050 kms approximately). But still I felt I needed another break. So when my friend Arvind called me and told that he was planning to go to Goa for Christmas, I immediately told him, I was interested and to count me in!.

The plan was three people would start from Bangalore by car (Arvind's Honda City) and one more person would join in Karwar. The accommodation was arranged in Karwar. You might be wondering, we are visiting Goa, how could we end up staying in Karwar? But it was one of the best decision ever taken. We crossed Goa / Karnataka border 4 times in total. It still is one of the more memorable trips I have ever had. I plan to write in detail as much as I remember.

So we start right on the journey day, 24 December 2011, early morning 3 AM. I planned to wake up early and drive to Arvind's place. As I woke up and got ready to leave, it was already 4 10 AM. And by the time I found out Arvind's place, it was around 5 AM.

We did pooja to Arvind's car and then started to pick one of his friend who was waiting at a neighboring locality. Arvind's friend was waiting and then we proceeded towards Tumkur. Our initial plan was to travel along Tumkur road all the way to Dharwad and then directly to Karwar where we would make a night halt.

Along the way, we stopped for Tea somewhere after Nelamangala and then for breakfast and Sira, Kamat Upachar restaurant. We then cruised along NH4, to reach Chitradurga around 9 :00AM. After Chitradurga, what we did is one of the most memorable and sweetest blunders we have done till date!

All of that in the next post, below are few pictures till this part of the journey !

Cheers,