The Journey to South Goa

  The Journey to South Goa

We began this journey on the morning of 4th October 2019. 

4th October 2019 (Friday)

I got up at 4:30AM. I brushed my teeth and got ready. We kept the dental kit inside the bag. We wanted to start before 5AM because it takes around 11 hours to reach Goa by road from Bangalore by car if you go via the Chitradurga- Hubli highway. It was 10 minutes past 5 when the driver showed up at the our house. His name was Ramesh. He was suggested by one of my mother's friend Mr  Toms. He used to work in the hospitality industry. Then I was told to get into the front seat because my father wanted to sleep in the back seat because he had not slept enough the previous night. It was a white Toyota Etios. Then we started the car and drove towards the national highway. The road looked very quiet because it was 5 in the morning. It was drizzling in the morning and because of that it was a bit wet and cold. Then we drove quietly till 6AM. By then we had passed Peenya and we were in the outskirts of Tumkur, a town near Bangalore. We were a bit hungry so we decided  to eat when we reach Chitradurga because we could not find any place clean or safe to eat between Tumkur and Chitradurga. It was 8AM when we reached Chitradurga. Then we spotted a good hotel and stopped there. The hotel's name was Kamath. There are many Kamath hotels on the highways of Karnataka. We ate food there. I ate dosa and my parents ate Idly. Sambar and chutney were not that good. But we ate because we might not get such a hotel in the following part of the journey. Then we went to see the sprawling and huge Chitradurga Fort which was seized from Tipu Sultan by the British.

It was very big and vast. We saw many parrots in the premises of the fort. We climbed the fort steps aiming to reach the watch tower  for about half an hour and then we gave up because we got tired. When we were climbing down the steps we saw a man climbing  the fort walls aiming to reach its top.

He was using some powder to climb the wall. When we asked him he told us that he used it for grip while climbing. Then we reached the exit of the fort and  we walked towards the car. This time  I got into the back of the car because I wanted to sleep. Then we started driving to Davanagere. I fell asleep for about 3 hours in the car because I got  bored of the same scenery outside. The road between Chitradurga and Hubli had the same scenery which had  maize fields, tolls, and rocky hillocks. I got up when we stopped for a break in a shop called Rajastani Dhabha located just near  the highway. It was very sunny and hot so I drank  lassi. Then I asked my father where we were. He told us that we were between Davanagere and Hubli. It was already half past 11 and we had to travel 350KM  more  to reach Goa. That means we had only traveled 200KM.  Then we again started traveling. It was 1PM by the time we reached Hubli. Then we had to take the diversion to the ghat section. We always have to cross the Western Ghats to reach the Coastal Plains from the Deccan Plateau. The only place you do not have to do so is in the Palakkad were there is pass like gap in the ghats where you can freely pass. My mother's friend told us that we had to travel  about 120KM  of forested Ghat section to reach Karwar from Hubli. He was also supposed to join us but he postponed his trip by a day because he had an important meeting that evening. Then we entered the forested Ghat section. It was called Hubli-Karwar highway. There was a connecting village called as Yellapur in the middle. It was a quiet and beautiful. 

After travelling for a long time in the uneven Ghat section we reached the coastal plains. It started raining when we reached the coast. When we reached Karwar it was already evening and we spotted a hotel which looked suitable for lunch. The hotel's name was Udupi Vihar. Suprisingly meals were still available even though it was  half past 4. When we were eating the rain became stronger. It was 5PM when we reached the Karnataka-Goa border checkpost. The Goa police forced us to pay 100 rupees without any reason. Our driver did not know that he had to take permit before entering Goa state. But the police misused the law. The law stated that anyone who entered Goa without permit should be punished with a fine of rupees 2000. But they charged us the fine even before entering the state. We paid up the money because we did not want to fight with them. Then we drove towards our hotel. My hopes were shattered when I saw the depth of the pool. The depth was just 3.5 feet. 

Then we were shown our rooms. It was an apartment hotel. It means Apartments were converted to hotels. The property was manged by Tubki Realtors. The official name of the hotel was Patnem Palolem Beach apartments. The advantage of staying in this property was that we had our own kitchen with utensils. 

The Kitchen

The drawing room

The view from our apartment. 

If you ask me to compare South Goa and North Goa, South Goa is far better than North Goa in terms of peace, quietness and cleanliness. After having tea in the hotel restaurant which was a great tragedy, I went to the swimming pool and swam for some time. Then I bathed. Then we went outside and had food. I ate roti and chicken curry. Then we came back. Before sleeping I took out the thriller book 'Unwanted Guest' written by Shari Lapena a Canadian author. After sometime I dozed off.

5th October 2019 (Saturday)

We got up in the morning and then went to have breakfast. They only had idlis, sambhar and chutney. They served us very tasty mango juice. It tasted like drinking fresh Alphonso mango juice. Then my father asked us to go to Patnem beach. It was the nearest beach at a walkable distance. As it was very sunny we asked our driver to drop us near the beach. The beach was very quiet. It was very hot and sunny. We noticed a Foreign family most probably Europeans swimming in the beach. The family consisted of a husband, wife, and 5 girl children and one boy. Three girls and the boy were of the same age group. One girl was around 9 years and the smallest one around 5-6 years. I was surprised to see the freedom the 6 year old child's parents had given her. She was trying very hard to go deeper into the sea but everytime she tried she failed because the wave brought her back to the shore because she was very small. Her parents were talking under the shade of a pool umbrella. We observed them for sometime and then started walking towards the south end of the beach.

Then after walking for sometime we decided to take a photo of the cliffs.

Then we started walking back to the car. We saw a shop called Sumitra where we could get some ice cream. I bought a vanilla ice cream and a choco-bar because it was very hot and humid. Then we reached the hotel. We bought ice cream for my father and for me to eat at night. We could buy how many ever ice creams we wanted because we had a fridge to preserve them. Then we sat inside the hotel for sometime waiting for the sun to become a bit mild because it was very sunny. By the time my father finished his work it was already half past 2. Then we went outside. We decided to eat before sightseeing. We stopped outside a restaurant called Karmalghat. We saw many locals eating and leaving the hotel. We ordered local Goan meals. They gave us rice, Goan fish curry, dal, purple spinach and Cocum water. After having lunch we got into the car. As per the instructions of my mother's friend we were going to Colva beach. You know guys in the folowing part of the story we have to address my mother's friend many times so I am going to introduce him as Mr Toms. Toms was supposed to start in the morning from Bangalore to join us in Goa but he could not get up in the morning so he had just started at 1PM. He told us to go Colva beach and do water sports. After travelling for a long time we reached Colva beach. After walking in Colva beach we went back to the car. We saw many people doing parasailing but we weren't interested because we had already done it in Anjuna Beach last time.  Then we saw a malayali restaurant where it was writtten we could get good Kerala tea. In Goa it is always easier to get a bottle of alcohol than a cup of tea. Then after having a cup of tea we got into the car. My mother also bought an ear ring made of sea shell from a shop nearby the tea stall.

On the way we saw a nice old church. Then we bought Prawn fry for Toms because he told us to buy it. We went to high way Inn, a hotel near Karmal Ghat hotel where we had our lunch. My parents bought rice and squid for them and rotis and chicken curry for me.  We reached our hotel and had our dinner. Then I  went for a shower. After that I started reading  'Unwanted Guest' from where I stopped last night. Suddenly it started raining outside. Then Toms called us and said that he would not be able reach Goa that night because he was stuck in  rain in Hubli and  had to stay over in some hotel there. He said he would start for Goa next morning after having breakfast. Then the power went off. I decided to keep the book down and sleep because I did not know when the power was going to come back.

6th October 2019 (Sunday)

Then next morning I got up and brushed my teeth and rushed to eat at the breakfast counter as we were already late. It was still drizzling in the morning. After finishing the breakfast we came back to our room and called Toms to check on his progress. He told us that he was still in Hubli. It was half past 2 when my father finished his work. Then I called Toms  to check on his progress. He did not pick up the call and the mobile was repeating the recorded message in Konkani which meant that he had already entered the Goan state territory. Then we called him again and he said that he was still in Karwar but I knew he was just lying and trying to give us a surprise. Then he suddenly turned up at the door. He told us that he wanted to have a shower and then rest because he was very tired. Then we went to High way Inn and had Goan meals for lunch. Then as per Tom's instructions we bought a detergent bar to wash his riding gear which he uses whenever he goes for long bike rides like these. His clothes and bike was full of mud because he drove in the rain. Wherever he goes he takes his KTM bike with him. He loves it more than anything in the world. Then I climbed the stairs and reached our room  and gave him the detergent soap and ran back to the car. I was very excited because we were going to Palolem Beach. Then we reached the beach. Even though it was very crowded it was one of the most scenic beaches I had ever seen in my entire life. There we saw a dog and it looked like a student sleeping the night after the exams.

Truly South Goa was far more scenic than North Goa. We then decided to go for a Dolphin ride. My mother was literally crying to come with us because she was always very scared of boat rides. Dolphin ride was one of the things I enjoyed the most in this trip.

There were many beautiful islands near Palolem Beach like Butterfly island. 

A beach in Butterfly island

After the ride we went to have tea. It was almost 5PM. Then we went to swim in the beach. I went underneath the waves. It was very nice. It was a bit choppy but the rip currents were less unlike our trip during the summer before the Monsoon. Whenever the waves come you have to dive into the wave. Once the a big wave came and I dived into it. It was a very big one it took around 10 seconds for the water to come back to the normal sea level. By half past 6 we decided to stop swimming because the sun had already set. 

sunset in Palolem beach

The horizon of the sea was very colourful. Then after sunset I wiped myself with towel which I had brought. My skin had shrunk because of the exposure to salt water. Then I and my parents walked towards the car. The car dropped us in the hotel. Then I went and jumped into the swimming pool before bathing because my body was full of fine sand particles. Swimming in the swimming pool made bathing a lot easier. Then after bathing and getting dressed up we went outside to eat our dinner.  Toms said that good restaurants were always available only near beaches. So we went to Palolem beach area. I ate a lot because I was very hungry. I ate Rotis and fish curry. The restaurant was filled with foreigners especially the ones from Israel. Then Toms said that he was going to some place where he could drink and talk with someone and he would come back to hotel by around 2AM in the morning. I wondered what a free life he had. He decides where he should be present and who he should talk to. He does not have any planning. He was just going to some bar or pub and talk with somebody till late night. He does not plan anything but he is a free wanderer. Then we went back to the hotel and talked with Toms for sometime. Then he left for finding a party. After playing a mobile game for sometime I dozed off. 

7th October 2019 (Monday)

I got up in the morning and brushed my teeth. Then I asked my mother where Toms went. My mother told me he had gone to the workshop to clean his bike. Then we went and ate breakfast. After breakfast we went back to the room. Father was very busy with work and there was no way of him coming with us to Palolem beach for swimming. After cleaning his bike Toms arrived and I told him that father was very busy with work and could not join us for swimming in Palolem. So myself, my mother and Toms left the hotel to go to Palolem beach. When we reached the beach it was very sunny. But still I was scared if it rains this evening I may not be able to swim. So I decided to take a dip. I and Toms uncle went deep into the water. He taught me how to dive into the waves irrespective of its size. After swimming for half an hour we decided to  stop because it was very hot and easy to get dehydrated in such weather. Then we got into the car. Our driver Ramesh dropped us in the hotel. Then we bathed and got dressed up. We decided to have lunch and go to Polem beach a secluded beach 21KM away from our hotel. It was near the Karnataka border. We then decided that we will have lunch at a restaurant near Polem. We had very tasty fish curry meals. I don't know why in Goa fish does not smell like it does in Kerala. I ate King Fish fry. After eating we drove to Polem beach. It surely was a quiet and secret beach.

Nobody except a foreigner swimming in the deep sea was seen around. We did not see anybody in the beach. The beach was very quiet and clean. There was only one shack and one small resort in the beach. Then we decided that we would go to Patnem beach the nearest beach to our hotel and swim there instead of going to Palolem beach. Before going to Patnem beach we drank tea from a tea stall where we could have nice biscuits and tea. Then we told our driver to go back to the hotel as we decided that we would walk back to the hotel. Then we walked to Patnem beach. When I was beginning to remove my shirt to start swimming in the beach, it started raining. Then we ran into the shack for shelter. We then ordered some juice. It began raining heavily. 

After some drizzling

When the rain subsided we went to the Sumitra shop to get some ice cream. I again ate choco bar. When we reached the hotel I buried the choco bar stick under the coconut tree near the hotel for fun 😆.  Then we again went to same area where we ate the previous night. But this time we tried a different hotel because the hotel we ate last night was very expensive. We ate many tasty dishes like oysters, Goan special Chicken Xacuti etc. After eating we were walking towards the car. We had to cross a large herd of cows. Stray cows are a huge problem in Goa. There was also a cultural program going on nearby where locals were performing. We wanted to watch it but we were too tired by then. We reached the apartment and discussed the best route to take while going back to Bangalore. After a lot of research and discussion we came up with the conclusion to take the Hubli route. Then after bathing I slept.

8th October 2019 (Tuesday)

 Next morning I got up at half past 7. Then we had breakfast and we came back to the room. We packed our bags and got into the car.  Then we began our journey back to Bangalore. 

While going back Toms was so fast with his bike that he had already passed the Goa border and was waiting for us in Karwar. Then we saw a good temple on the way. There I picked a laterite rock for myself.

We refueled in Goa because diesel was cheaper in Goa than in Karnataka. When we reached the checkpost, the police man checked the car for liquor bottles and then told us to proceed. Then we drove without any break till we reached Yellapur where we stopped to have a cup of tea. After 10 minutes we again started. Then we reached Hubli after driving for 2 hours. From Hubli we took a different route by going to Haveri instead of driving through the highways. We saved around 30KM in this way. Then by 2PM we stopped in Haveri for lunch. We had meals in Kamath Hotel. Toms ate curd rice because it was light. He could not afford to eat heavy food because he would fall asleep while riding. After paying the bill we again started the journey. I was already very tired of road travel. By 4PM we reached Chitradurga. We could distinguish Chitradurga from other places because of its rocky geographical features.

Between Chitradurga and Tumkur we stopped in another Kamath restaurant. They charged us 20 rupees for one tea which was not even the size of half a glass.  That too the tea was very dilute. We then got into the car to continue the rest of the journey. By 7PM we had reached Bangalore and were stuck in the traffic. Toms bid us goodbye and we took another route to avoid the traffic. We reached our home by 8PM. We settled the dues of our driver and then he left. It was really a wonderful trip for me as well as my parents. I took two things from South Goa for remembering this trip life long- A bottle of sea water from the unpolluted waters of Polem beach and a laterite rock from Canacona. 

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Author:Rodger Bloor