Go-Go Goa and the Spine-tingling Trip
to Dudhsagar Waterfalls.
(12th
Oct. to 14th Oct. 2013)
(Day: 1 – 12th Oct.)
To be in
Mumbai and not to go to Goa doesn’t make a sense, does it? Lol. Goa trip had
been planned a long time back, but forget about planning, for we go to a place
when it gives a call itself. Isn’t it? So Goa called me this time, along with
my friends; Dev and Deepali.
We left for
Goa on 11th Oct. after office by Mangalore Express, which left at
10:15 pm from CST. I was quite excited as it was my first ever travel by a
train. So, the sights at station and the way seats had been arranged in the
train, made my journey quite interesting. Dev and Deeapli teased me a lot, by
giving me ulta-fulta minor details of the train, its compartments, berths and
seats. LOL. It was fun:-D
The train
was quite slow, and being on single lane, it had to stop at every crossing for
hours, so we reached at Goa by 11:00 am though its expected timing was 8:50 am.
On reaching
Madgaon, we hired two bikes and rode to Kalangute which was 60 kms far from
Madgaon. By 1:00 pm we were in Kalagute. We booked rooms in a guest house, got
fresh, had our lunch and set out for Kalangute Beach.
The beach was
clean comparatively to any of beaches in Mumbai, so did the sand shone so
cleanly and brightly under the piercing heat of the sun.
We played
with water, made sand pyramids and didn’t bother about the prying eyes on us.
One of the Indian tourists came to me requesting to take a picture of me, which
I denied. So rude of me han! Lol.
Later we
walked up to Baga beach, where we sat with our drinks at one of the
restaurants. It was fun to sit there with a can of beer in your hand and look
around; gazing at people, all so different and occupied in their own fun
worlds, forgetting and letting go of so many frustrations they had left back at
the places they came from, and becoming one with the sea waves, sands and Goan
delights and drinks. Hmm.
We were
back to our rooms by 6:30 pm, and after washing the sand clean and getting fresh,
we went to explore the market, which was same as many of the markets in tourist
places of India. So we didn’t do much of shopping and had our dinner and got
back to our rooms, as we were quite tired by that time. Moreover we had to plan
for the next day trip.
(Day: 2 -13th Oct.)
It was the
most thrilling and adventurous day of my life. My eyes opened at 6:15 am. I
went outside and it was raining. As my friends were fast asleep, I took out my
diary and sat outside to write. The rain stopped meanwhile, but small drizzle
was still there. The mosquitoes kept me busy for a while, dragging my attention
from my diary, which I eventually closed. Deepali also came out in few minutes,
and then we wake up Dev too and got ready for ‘Mission Dudhsagar’ at Kollem in Goa-Karnataka
border. By 8:00 am we were on roads.
We kept
googling, tracking GPS and asking people on the way about the direction. One
man was just surprised, when he said,” it’s more than 100 kms from here!”
The
direction was; from Kalagute to Panaji – Panaji to Ponda – Ponda towards NH-4 A
– then to Mollem- Kollem route.
At Ponda we
stopped at a fort, the name of which we couldn’t know, though it had a statue
to Shivaji in it. My mobile GPS helped us a lot until the phone went out of
battery. Lol
We reached
Kollem at Dudhsagar Waterfall trail at around 11:30 am, and there we came to
know that the way to the Waterfall for four wheelers was closed due to overflow
of water in rainy season. The alternative was to hire bikes with expert riders,
which they would charge Rs. 600-800 per person. We decided to hire one bike for
one of us, and two of us were to ride on our own bike.
So, we were
there; all set for the adventure of our respective lifetimes; Dev’s being the
most memorable; for he dared to drive it himself.
And oh
Ghosh, the Roads, not actually roads, but rather narrow lanes, that to just fit
the two wheels of the bikes, were quite muddy, stony, clayey, bumpy, lots of
potholes full of muddy waters; you’d lose your balance and you can’t imagine
where you would end up. Hah! Those narrow lanes extended upto, I guess some 2-3
kms, and hats off to Dev, as he did not lose courage.
After the narrow
lanes ended, we crossed a bridge; Deepali and I walked over the bridge on foot,
while Dev and the bikewala drove the bikes crossing the water under the bridge,
which Dev later told was the hardest one. And from there started the broad
roads, which was the entrance to the waterfalls area, as we were charged Rs.
160 as entrance charge.
From there
though the roads were broad, but it got more muddy, bumpy with huge ups and
downs, making the wheels skid at places, and slippery and clay filled potholes
became common. Oh God! I have never imagined that kind of track and normal
people with big heart driving through them in full speed, as a little slow down
of speed could take you to a nearby gorge. And to make it more thrilling, it
kept raining in between and we had to cross some overflowing streams too. We reached
the waterfalls after 5-6 kms ride from the broad roads. But that was not the
end. The waterfall looked beautiful from where we were, but if we wished to
experience the beauty from more close, we had to trek upwards.
So, we
trekked through the steep hills, rains pouring on us, and making all our
belongings wet, including my diary, few pages of which became illegible
now. Hmm, but never mind, it was fun.
We reached
up in about 15-20 mnts, and from there we had to walk through a railway track,
crossing two tunnels; and there it was after the second tunnel, the real beauty
of Dudhsagar, Milk like water flowing incessantly from above and the lush green
forest below, and in between the beautiful railway track through which we were
walking beautifully. J
The
troublesome adventure was worth it and we all were awestruck. We loved the
beauty and felt its warmth in that rainy season.
We stayed
there for another one or two hours admiring the beauty and of course taking
picture that too struggling to take care of the camera lest the rain water
shall damage it. We came back with lifetime of experience.
We reached
back to Kalagute by 9:00 pm. We went to a nice restaurant to dine and then sat
the the beach till 2:00 am until it stated raining. We all were just quite,
lost in our respective thoughts and conversing with the sea waves and the
beautifully shining moon above. The beach looked more beautiful and serene at
night.
The second
day was A-Awesome!
(Day: 3 – 14th Oct.)
I’ll keep
this short now; not going into too much of details.
So, on day
3rd we checked out of our guest house by 9:00 o’clock in the
morning. First we went straight to Aguada
fort, and then on the way back from there, we had our breakfast at a
roadside Restaurant. Then we went to Anjuna
beach, which was a coral reef beach and it was beautiful to sit and watch
the view than to jump into the water and play. Our next destination was Fort Chapora, the famous Dil chahta hai
shooting site. Then we went to Vegator
beach where we had motor boat ride. We were free by 4:00 pm. Then we
started packing up for our return tour to Mumbai, gathering courage to get back
to routine.
