Goa Chronicles

En route from Mumbai to Goa, we stopped by at a quaint restaurant 'Kshanbhar Vishranti' - great homely food, packed some for the road.

DAY 1 - Friday, 12th Nov

Reached Goa sometime around 10 am and met our hosts, Shanu & Christopher (of Hallmark Guesthouse where we'd be put up).

Quickly dumped our luggages and headed for Baga beach - a 2 minute walk!

Did an awesome breakfast on the beach by one of the shacks, Antonio's.

After a stroll by the beach and some shoe shopping, I headed back to Baga with Clyde.

Tried some body boarding and realized I almost had to learn swimming over again!

Back to the beach chairs and sipped on some beer at leisure.

All of us then had an early dinner at Britto's which is at the fag end of Baga beach. Clyde showed us the right way of having 'feni' - the local liquor - by burning it on a spoon! Then came a scrumptious seafood platter and lotsa desserts which didn't take much time to get exhausted.

Walked back to our guesthouse and I decided to retire to bed early after all the traveling and the long day. The others wanted to party and headed off to Tito's - the most 'happening' club around. Next day they all told me how bad an experience it was. I smiled coyly. Muahahahaha.

DAY 2 - Saturday, 13th Nov

Since I was fresh from a good night's sleep, managed to wake up the earliest and explored the beach road, most of which was just opening. Dropped in at a German-owned Mubli cybercafe and made friends with the manager there.

The gang was ready in an hour and we headed off for breakfast at Infantaria towards Calangute.

While I was gone there was apparently a big ruckus about our driver from Kent Cars who had gotten drunk and tried getting fresh with our chicks so we fired the guy and were promised by the company of a replacement vehicle and a waiver on payments.

By noon we were on our way to South Goa - Palolem beach. I was initially apprehensive about shuttling beaches and just wanted to chill out at just one. But after arriving at Palolem I took a deep gulp and thanked my friends - this was heaven! Rightly regarded as the most beautiful and virgin beaches of Goa, Palolem was a feast for the senses. White sands, clear(er) waters, a sparsely inhabited island in sight and a fresh water lagoon on the North end. Wow!

We settled down at Fernandes' shack further down North of the beach and had a quick snack before heading off for some fun in the waters.

Nick's devious mind had come up with an idea - to shoot a crazy video of all of us - he even had a hilarious script all worked out, made crazier by the madder minds of Sudi, Swati and Rama. I was the protagonist of the whole thing. Duh. I couldn't even protest! After a lot of masti and madness, we packed up and left back for Baga.

Picked up some desserts n snacks from Tito's - scrumptious bibinca, apple pies and more.

Since the gang had not experienced real Goan clubbing yet we decided to head off to Club Cabana - the haven for party goers in Goa (truly so!) - You can spot Club Cabana from pretty much any location around Baga beach - just look for 3 crazy searchlights which they cast into the sky. Hell you WANNA be there! The place is located on top of a hill - actually a mansion/bungalow converted into a club by the owners - a German couple apparently.

The deal was pretty decent - 600 bucks per person (Wednesday nites are free for the ladies) and an open bar - meaning you can drink all the Bacardi-n-Coke or Peach Schnapps as you can digest. The place was truly awesome - poolside, 2-3 areas with dance floors, 2 open bars and 2 paid bars, massage corners and verandas. My amigos put a bet on me that I couldn't down 10 glasses of B&C. Naturally I won in the end. Most others threw up on their pretty dresses.

DAY 3 - Sunday, 14th Nov

• Waking up early
• Breakfast at Antonio, chatting up Stella, Mubli cybercafe
• Superbreakfast at Britto's
• To Anjuna. The 'Cuckoo Jaws Thoopal?' character is born.
• Anjuna shopping, sharp, henna tattoes, cycafe and French
• Back to Palolem, checked into Fernandes' shack
• Thai dinner and UNO at Banyan Tree, sleeping under a canopy of stars
• Nick's muse, chats her up
• Plans for next day - Nick to shoot another 'planned movie'. I anticipate a no-shoot. Planned vidblogs don't happen.
• Off to bed in shack. Dogs chasing dogs and cackling women won't let sleep in!

DAY 4 - Monday, 15th Nov

• Woke up easy at 9
• Ladies already hit the waters; Nick, Sudi and me follow
• Quick brunch at adjoining shack. Just had some honey toast without honey.
• More beach fun, ladies do more shopping at a beautiful resort with outdoor library (insert name, contact)
• Shack checkout
• Lunch at Dropadi, shopping around markets
• Return to Fernandes, more food n beer
• Kaju shopping in Panaji at Royal Kajuwala
• To Mumbai
• Misty roads, off-track accident. Minorly hurt, all's well. Pathetic journey
• Home sweet home