Trip to Goa...Paradise of beaches....

Started with 7 Steps...So fast Completed 7 years...

Loved this journey and all this is just a beginning ....

By reading this you would have understood it was our Marriage Anniversary and we choose Goa this time to celebrate it.

Here are quick info:

• Places: Only North Goa
• Number of Days: 3
• Mode of Travel: Took Seabird sleeper to travel to Goa and back in SRS sleeper couch
• Travel in the Goa: Rented a Bike. Bike is the best thing you should never miss to explore the goa in a great way. More tips on Bike rental in blog.
• Place of stay: Tivai Beech Cottages which is exactly facing the Calangute beach. (AC room - 2500 per day)
• Dress: Yes for Goa your dress code is very much important... Choose knee level or at least three fourth so that you can walk in beaches comfortably. I think shopping for dresses in Goa itself is best than in Bangalore, cost wise and also you get more varieties.
• Maps: As we have to go everywhere by our self...We used the maps in our Phone...Thanks to GPS and offline maps in Nokia...

Story begins....

     It was long time plan to see GOA with big gang...But everybody are busy in some or other way and not able to gather all for 3 days....Hence finally decided GOA to celebrate Anniversary. Choose the bus (For train you need to book very well in advance) to travel and wanted to avoid car drive as we were not planning to visit anything other than Goa. If you want to cover all places on the way to Goa then car is best.

Day-1:

    Started our journey at 10pm (bus was 1 hour late) and reached 10am at Panjim Bus stop. As soon as we get down, we rented a bike which is around Rs.300 per day. Weekend prices will be little more. No need to search for the one. As soon as you drop from bus, many guys will come and offer you the Bike. Bike is the best way to explore the city. Extra Rs.200 petrol is more than enough to cover all. We planned only North Goa this time. North Goa is full of life and fun...South Goa is very peaceful and less noise. Its all people taste to select. If you have more days then better cover both the north and south. Coming back to Bike rental, make sure you bargain well and check the vehicle condition and then rent it. Also take few pics of it so that he cannot cheat you later for any old damages of bike. We preferred Honda Activa as we get good space in front to keep all language. Then from Panjim, its about 12 KM to Cottage. Tivai Cottage is just in front of calangute beach. Beach is hardly 20 steps away. This is the best place to stay to enjoy the beach at max.

  Took some rest and got freshup and went to beach by 12. Its actually 4 beaches (Sinquerim beach, candolim beach, calanguta beach, Baga Beach) come side by side in the stretch of 4 KMs (Check out google maps).. And there is no difference between them...Its all the same. Had an hour walk on beach side and took boat ride to see Dolphins (Rs.350 charged per person). They take us some distance in the sea to the place where there are 2-4 Dolphins. We need to patiently watch and wait for them to come up. After 20 mins of wait, we spotted 2 and that to they just came little out of water and vanished. But the ride was good than watching Dolphins. Returned back to beach and had a lunch in one of the Shacks. Shacks are nothing but a small hut style hotels in beach where they serve everything. Things are overly priced but food will be good and you can enjoy the beach view and have food. After lunch we walked towards Baga beach which comes in the same stretch of beach after 2KM walk. In that beach we saw so many water sports activities. We opted of Paragliding. They Charge 650 per head - 600 is their charge and 50 is to take you to near boat where you do Paragliding. This is very very costly as hardly you will be in air for less than a 30-40sec. They Charge Rs.200 Extra again to make a small drop to water and again lift you back to top. But it was great experience...
  You can try out other water sports like Water Bike, banana ride, speed boat based on your patience/budget.

  We were very much tired by this time. Went back to hotel and had a bath to remove all sand and salt on our body. Came back to beach again and settled on one of the shaft and had snacks and enjoyed the sun set. It became bit cold and started feeling nice cool breeze as sun set. Went back to room and done for the day.

  Now if you are party guy then never ever miss Tito's Night club where there will be a party every day. And it goes till early morning. There is even club cabana which will a great place enjoy the night life...They all charge around 2000 per couple. By the way in Panjim there are few boats which take you to the middle of sea and have party at night. Make sure you book well in advance and be there by 5-6pm. Also all of these are very safe and you can travel whole night with out any issue... Never heard even single issue for travelers. By the way we didn't try them..

  Day-2:

   Woke up early in the morning 7pm and came to beach and enjoyed a nice climate and hardly few people around. Spent some time and took snaps. That's the best advantage of taking hotel on beach where you can jump in to the beach anytime. Got fresh up and started our Journey to Anjuna Beach by 8pm. Had breakfast in Krishna Udupi vihar. Ate heavily priced idly (Rs.55) and Dosa (Rs.80) with poor taste. The bike ride to Aunjuna is again was really good. You pass through small villages. On shores of Anjuna beach you can see Anjuna Flea market place but its only on Wednesday and we missed it. But we heard that there is nothing special you get there. Reached Anjuna beach by 10am and again its the same beach what saw in Calangute...But there were few coral rocks where we took some snaps...myself again jumped in to the water but Vandana stayed on Shack to watch me. After a few mins of fun, I also joined Vandana on Shack and where we spent almost 2 hours in listening the songs from our ipod and enjoying the beach view with cool breeze and drinking liters of coke together :).
 
   Got out of beach by 1pm and back to Calangute..Had Lunch on the way...Now the question is...what to do next? Then we found a small amusement park with some water games... Spent there till 4 have fun in sweet water (yaa fed of salt water)....And back to room by 5pm.
 
   Left room by 5:30pm to Agonda Fort. Reached there by 6pm but it got closed by 5 itself. But it was a nice drive and a nice place to be during evening. You get a great view. There is a light house and with Rs.40 per head and they allow you to go top of light house...Again spent there with breath taking views for till 7pm. Back to room and done for the day....
 
   Day-3:
 
    Today our first plan was to for Agonda fort as it was closed yesterday. So started early and was there by 8am. It was really a cool place and the way to this place is awesome... You will surly enjoy the drive...Took lot of pics and then spent an hour resting in fort by listing songs...Then there is a central jail very near to this fort. Make sure you never miss that. They will not allow in side the jail...Just in front of jail, to the left there is a small path down to sea...We got down there and there are few rocks...It was amazing hidden place. Took lots of pics... Back to room and we checked out of it by 11 as we took for 2 days only.

We are done with Beaches and our next plan is to see Panjim city and Old Goa.

Started by 11 from room and reached Panjim bus station by 11:30. Kept all our luggage in clock room. It's not official bus-stand clock room, but maintained by some shop...Just ask some body in bus stand. Reached old Goa by 12:30. There are few great churches built on 16'th Century by Portuguese. This was their capital and this was the place where early churches built for the first time in India. In Basilica of Bom Jesus Church you can find a body of  Francis Xavie that was kept from 1552. Still the body have not decomposed and people say the nails grow till today. You can still see people talk Portuguese and their culture... Enjoyed the churches...It was too hot...Left old Goa by 2pm and reached Panjim bus station where we had our lunch in Kamat.

After Lunch, our next stops to cover some pending beaches on Panjim... We were already bored of beaches but nothing left to do...Went to Dona Paula beach and spent there till 4pm. There is nothing much to do here..But a nice city and beach views...

Finally done for the day and trip...Came back to bus stand by 5pm and called bike rental person. He came near the bus and picked up his bike. Finally we jumped in to our bus and slept... Back to Bangalore...Back to normal day to day life....But with a great memories .....

Hope you all enjoyed it...Back soon with nice trip...and a nice blog...

Trip to Bhadrachalam, Vishakhapatnam, Araku

Hi I am back with a new trip... Below are quick data before we go to story...

Places Covered: Rajahmundry, papikondalu, Kolleru, Bhadrachalam, Dwaraka thirumala, Annavaram, Vishakhapatnam  Shimhachalam, Araku valley

Number of Days: 10 days (27^th Dec 2012 to 5^th Jan 2013)

Journey With:  My parents, Vandana and our 4.5 years old son Srujan.

As usual spent many days in RnD by asking many people and reading few blogs about the places and charted out a plan. As we are travelling with my parents, Trip has to be well balanced with fun and also religious to make all happy. Also not to make too much packed to make my 4.5 years old son Comfortable.

As this is 10 days trip, Blog will be little big… Enjoy reading…Story begins now.... 

Day-1: Journey Started

  Started our journey to Rajahmundry sharp 1:20pm from Bangalore Railway station.

Day-2: Vysya Penugonda, Dhraksha Ramam.

  Reached Rajahmundry 7 am. We have planned to visit Vysya Penugonda which is about 45km away. This was Vysya community Holy place where Vasavi kanyaka paramershawari (Our Community Goddess)  born. Mom wanted to visit this place from long time and hence planed this for first day. Cab picked us from Railway station directly and dropped us to hotel Nirmala Grand. This hotel is just few steps away to Godavari river banks. Took an hour to fresh up and started our first side seeing. Reached Penugonda at sharp 12pm and temple was about to close. Luckily came on right time just before closing. After lunch, reached next place Dhraksha Ramam at 3pm which is one of the famous Shiva Temple. Temple was good.  We skipped few places which can be covered are Palakollu and Bhimavaram. Finally reached back to Rajahmundry hotel on 6pm and took rest. Spent few hours on river bank with a great view of Rajahmundry Bridge and river Godavari.

I guess many of you can skip this day as other than Vysya's its nothing much about this temple.

Dhraksharamam Temple

Vasavi temple

Day-3: Papikondalu, Kolleru Huts stay

  We booked a package for next 3 days with Sri Krishna Godavari boat tours and travels (www.papikondalutours.com). Cab picked us at 7am and dropped us at Purushothapatnam which is around 50KM away. From here actual boat journey starts. Water level at Rajahmundry is less and hence boats cannot come there and hence they pick us from Purushothapatnam. There were many boats already waiting for tourists. We found our boat and checked in to it. 

Boats waiting for pickup

Boat journey started at 9am. We were already very hungry and waiting for breakfast. Boat was not that great. About 50 people were there in that boat and the boat had 2 floors. Second floor is open to sky and ground is an AC cabin. Almost all will be in second floor only to enjoy the views during ride. After all we came for that only not to sit in AC room and sleep. Breakfast severed at 10am. Our next stop was Kolleru huts where we night halt. On the way to Kolleru they showed Gandi Pochamma Temple, Pattiseema, papikondalu,  Polavaram, Devipatnam (We can see a police station which was attacked by freedom fighter Alluri Sita Ram Raju), Perentapalli Tribal Village ( to visit Rama Krishna Muni Vatika which was creation of Late Poojya Swamy Balananda Sarswati in 1927, followed by darshan of Swayambu Lingakara Sri Veereswa Swamy ).Crew arranged some dance shows. Even they pulled many people among us to dance. Had a great journey with breathtaking views and nice entertainment. At 2pm Lunch is also served in the boat only and food was good.

Temple that comes on the way in boat ride

Reached Kolleru huts 4pm after long journey in boat. There were lots of huts built using bamboo. This entire place is on sand and exactly side by Godavari River. Check out the pics below. Don't expect a highfy rooms. They were plain huts and even doors are also not there :( and common bathrooms for all. Rooms were allotted properly to separate bachelor gangs and family people (You know why right). But the place is very safe and no way can others come except by boat. One side a nice view of Papikondalu, other side River Godavari and other side a small lake by name Palamaneru Lake joining the Godavari. We cannot swim in Godavari as water force is too high and too deep to swim and very dangerous. But the small palamaneru lake which is joining the Godavari is just a knee deep.

As soon as we checked in to the hut, we jumped in to Palamaneru Lake and had a great bath in that beautiful, wild place. Took some rest till 8pm spending some time with neighbors. Had dinner at 9pm and fire camp started. All family people sat circling the fire camp and played dumb-chards till 10pm. Other side bachelor gangs played cards, beach volleyball, had drinks (You know what), Full of dances. Had a great time and finally gone for sleep. It was very scary at night as all lights go off after 11pm. Entire place is supported with solar energy only and they cannot put lights after 11pm. Center of wild jungle (Of course no animals), with not even single mosquito, listing to the sounds that small bugs make during night, with the full moon light, with little fear in mind, With great joy, slipped in to the deep sleep.

Full view of Kolleru huts

Huts where we stay...Awesome place!!! is't it...

Day-4: Kolleru huts, Bhadrachalam

This is the Moon set at 6am that I told about.

                Woke up at 7am but my wife woke up at 6am and saw the Moon Set and captured below pic to show what I missed. 

      Had breakfast at 8am and started the trek in Village area. Basically they took us inside the Kollur village. All these villages are very remote and have less access to our world. Saw their village and trekked further more to reach a point of Palamaneru lake to swim. We can swim in this lake right behind our huts only but they took us this trek path to reach the place where it’s very suitable for river bath. Water was freezing cold. Took a deep breath and dipped in to it and almost freezes out my blood and adjusted with in few mins. Later Vandana, Dad and my son also entered the water. My son played in water for some time and cried to get out of it. But I enjoyed the river for almost 30min more and we all returned back to huts at 11am. Packed all our languages and had lunch at 1pm in hut.

Enjoying the river

Palamaneru River

Then our boat has come to pick us at 2pm. Entered the boat and journey started. This time we are not excited of boat as yesterday as we are seeing the river and boat from yesterday only. After about 2 hours journey they dropped us at Pochavaram. From there again a Cab picked us and traveled about 60km to reach Bhadrachalam at 6pm. They gave a room in Sudharshan Hotel which is exactly in front of Temple. Took some rest and visited the Sri Ram temple which is one of main purpose of the entire trip. Temple was very good and peaceful. Completed dharashan in free queue with in 1Hr. Had dinner in the restaurant opposite to the hotel and slept.

Day-5: Bhadrachalam, Parnasala, Dwarka Tirumala (Chinna Tirupati)

                 Woke up at 5am and went to Sri Ram temple for second Dharshanam. Temple opens at sharp 6:30. Sat in temple for an hour early morning in a peaceful environment. This time we took Antharalayam Dharshanam where they take us very near to GOD (I mean Idol). Came back to hotel and packed our language and started the journey at 8am.

Bhadrachalam SriRam temple

First place to see is Sitammavari Vaagu. Ram, Sita and Lakshmana actually lived in a place called Parnashala during their Vanavasam which is on banks of river Godavari. But they used to come to this place and stay for 5 days in a month. They said that Lakshmana using his bow and arrow created a small lake so that Sita can use it. This is the same place where Lakshmana cut the nose and ears of Demon Surpanaka. This place is just 30 min journey from Bhadrachalam.

Next place is Parnashala which is just 5 km away. This is the main place where Ram, Sita and Lakshmana used to live. This is the same place where Ravanasura took Sita. I told the sri ram story to my son and finally he liked the Ravanasura character a lot and impressed by his magical powers and even posed like him. 

There is a boat ride in river but we were not interested in that and started our journey from there.

My son posing like Ravanasura!!!

Visited Dwaraka Thirumala 1pm which is also called as Chinna Thirupathi. It was very big temple and good to visit. Almost went at closing time and luckily managed to have dharshanam. If not we have to wait till 4pm. Purchased prashadam and started the journey again. Reached Rajahmundry at 6pm and checked in to the same hotel, Nirmala Grand and had rest.

Finally ended 2012 with a great trip.

Day-6: Annavaram, Vishakhapatnam

                Started journey through Bus at sharp 6:30am (from 5am, every hour there is a bus to Vishakhapatnam). On the way to Vishakhapatnam we dropped at Annavaram (~2.5 hours journey). Booked an auto that will take us to Sri Veera Venkata Satyanarayana Swamy Temple and return back to bus station. With his help, we dropped all our language in some shop (up course there was nothing imp in those bags) and our auto journey started. In this trip we almost covered all modes of transports. With just 150Rs he took us to the temple and helped in dharshanam with in 20 mins and came to back to Bus station. Bus to Vishakhapatnam was ready and we got it at right time. Again Started 2013 in a nice way.

Reached Vizag (the other name of Vishakhapatnam) around 12pm. Took an auto and reached the hotel (APTDC Yathri nivas hotel...More details at the end). Had Lunch and took a nap. Evening went to VUDA Park which was very near to our hotel. Not a great park compared to what we see in Bangalore. But beach was there adjacent to park. Spent evening in Beach and returned to hotel. Had dinner and slept.

Day-7: Vishakhapatnam City tour

            We have booked the city tour from APTDC only which took us to most of the important places. The city tour started at 7am.

Place-1: Shimachalam which is a famous Narashima Swamy temple.

Place-2:  Kailash giri hill. Had a ride in cable car traveling up and down of the hill.Also,enjoyed the ride of small train which took us one complete circle of hill. You can get nice views of Vishakhapatnam city and beaches.

Place-3: Next stop to Thotlakonda is the prominent location for Buddhism and Buddhist studies in Visakhapatnam. The Hinayana Buddhist Complex dates back to the ages of 300 - 200 BC. Guide explained us about this place and how Buddhist monks studied here and how they leaved.

Place-4:  Rishikonda beach. Played in beach for some time and had lunch in APTDC Rishikonda beach resort. This resort was really nice and nice view of beach. 

Place-5: After lunch visited Visakha museum. The museum is all about Navy. Can see different kinds of ships models, how they function and what is used for wars. Ummm, got some interesting stuff.

Place-6:  Submarine. Yes they have placed a real used submarine on land which worked for Indian Navy for 30 years and retired. You can enter in to that submarine but of-course it is not inside the water but on land. The guide explained 7 compartments of submarine and gives all details how submarine works and how 40 people work there. It was really really a worth watching. I was amassed by the technology, robustness, highly planned submarine. It was the first time ever in my life I saw the submarine in real.

Place-7: Took us to the port where we can go for small ride on sea in APTDC boat. The place was stinking and a foul smell of fishes. It was really a pathetic place but it’s a worth visit if you want to see how fishing ships looks like, what they do in port once they get fishes, how they sell, how the fish market looks like. For Pure Veggy guys it’s a must place to Skip.

Finally they dropped in RK beach where we can spend some time in beach and return to hotel by our own. But we were too tired and returned back to hotel. We were completely tired to cover so many places and badly need some rest and slept early.

Day-8: Tyda Jungle bells resort.

              Woke early in the morning 5am and catched the train to Tyda. The train starts at 6:30am and goes to Araku valley. This journey is a most suggested one rather taking road. In entire 4 hours journey to Araku, train goes on deep valleys and you can see nice views. Around 50 tunnels will come during that journey. On each tunnel everybody on train shouts and enjoys the ride. Tyda comes half the way to Arakku. Around 8:30pm, we dropped at Tyda station. This was a remote station and there is no proper road also to this station. Now we have a big issue… How to reach our Jungle bell resorts? There were no cabs, auto and not even people. Sadly no signals also in mobile. We managed to walk sorry trek with our big language for some time and found the road. And from road we got lift from some taxi to our resort. I was really scared and this was the worst planned one for entire trip. I thought of taking some auto to reach hotel but not even people are there in that station.

             Checked in to our cottages and got fresh up. For some time walked and explored the resort. This was amazing place and a great resort I have ever seen.  Full of trees and very very less rooms and hardly you can see other people. Looks like very much a private place. Enjoyed the place and spent good time till night. And there is no phone signal in this resort and also TV. It’s actually good that you spend some time in walking and talking rather just getting glued to TV.

This Cottage called as igloo ... Where we stayed

This is where my parents stayed

Day-9: Arakku side seeing

                    In Vishakhapatnam only I booked the cab who supposed to come today and pick us and show all places in Arakku and drop us back to Vishakhapatnam railway station.

Cab guys came at 10am and we packed our language, checked out of hotel and started out Journey to Araku side seeing.

Place-1: Tribal Museum: Here we can see how tribal’s live and learn their life styles. Got many new things about them.

Place-2: Padhmawathi Gardens: It was a small park nothing much special. But my son liked a lot as he enjoyed a ride in toy train.

Entrance to garden

My Son Enjoying toy train

Place-3: Borra Caves: This was another super place.  The Caves, one of the largest in the country, at an elevation of about 705 m (2,313.0 ft). There are many shapes formed due to the salts in the water. Check our few pics below...

          Finally around 4pm we completed all places and started our journey back to Vishakhapatnam. Reach railway station around 7pm. But our train is at 11pm. Hence dropped all luggage in clock room and went to Vishakhapatnam Central shopping mall which is near to railway station. Spent some time in shopping and eating. Then came to back to railway station at 10pm and got in to the train.

Day-10: Nothing… Reached Bangalore around 8pm and home by 10pm.

It was a long trip and everybody enjoyed every part of it. Below are few bests of trip from my side.

-          Boat ride in Godavari.

-          Kolleru huts stay.

-          Bhadrachalam temple

-          Submarine in Vishakhapatnam

-          Jungle bells resort in Tyda.

-          Borra caves

Ok friend’s thanks for reading. I know many people will stop in between only as it’s too lengthy. Please post your comments and questions if any.

Meet you soon with new journey.