Go Goa Gone!

For any college student, going to Goa with his/her gang is always a dream and in that list going on a bike trip is also a dream. For me both came together at once, a bike trip to Goa from Bangalore.

Sounds crazy, isn’t it? Yes, it does but then when 4 guys have 2 Royal Enfield, the word crazy has no definition and limit. With A Solo Rider as a companion, I knew there won’t be any hurdles while riding the bikes.

We were just sitting and randomly one friend said “Let’s go to Goa” and the wanderer in me said yes, even before I could utter a word. At first the plan was to in a bus/train but the this crazy thought came into our mind of going on bikes. 626 kms in bikes that also one way of the journey sounds crazy but trust me once you’re done with it you’ll have a memory for lifetime.

We started on 24^th of November, 2016 from Bangalore at around 5 pm. The plan was to ride while the moon shows us the way with few breaks in between whenever required.

The first stop was just to witness the sunset at the outskirts of Bangalore. With the moon rising, our excitement level was also at its peak.

While riding bikes at minimum speed of 80 kmph we reached top speed of 125 kmph at the highway.

Even if we were riding at that speed, we always kept safety in our mind. We were all cautious about the roads and other vehicles on the highway.

After riding almost 230 kms we stopped at a local dhaba for dinner. We had some food which a friend got from his home. we had everything we got and were all set to hit the road again.

At around 9 pm one of the bikes broke down, due to which we had to make a unscheduled halt at a toll plaza prior to Chitradurga and wait for road assistance. When we called the Royal Enfield toll free number, we got to know that there is a service center in Chitradurga. So, we planned to ride till the place and see what can be done next morning.

Our condition was such that wherever we got a chance, we laid down, even on the roadside.

    

We stayed at a hotel in Chitradurga and in the morning were all set to resume the journey. After almost 6-7 hours of bike ride and many halts we finally reached GOA.

We had planned our stay in such a way that with minimum budget we could enjoy the maximum of Goa. Our total staying plan was set up by A Marwari, so we knew we were getting the best deals.Hence, we decided to keep on changing hotels every day and save money by doing it.

Our first stay was at Down Da Village, quite place with good service. But the only disadvantage was that its almost 50 kms from Baga beach, the main attraction of Goa.

Next day we checked in to a different hotel, kept our luggage there and started exploring Goa.

First stop Calangute beach. We spent time there, witnessed the magical sunset and spent the evening doing nothing.

Next day was all about visiting the Chapora fort, Vagator beach and Aguada fort. But the only problem here was we had no bookings for the day and were in search of a place where we could keep our luggage. At first we found a place owned by a lady and had kept our luggage there but when most of the neighbours started saying something or the other negative about the lady, we decided not to keep our luggage with her and started finding a different place. While searching on the internet we found a place named White Pearl and decided to go there directly and talk to the owners. After reaching there we got to know that it was a hostel and the owners ( 2 sardar jis) after knowing about our condition allowed us to keep our luggage without charging anything.

As I had visited the place before, I insisted not to enter the Aguada fort instead we went to a place nearby to witness the sunset and click some pictures with the bikes.

These pictures will tell you how amazing the place is:

After the sunset, we went to Anjuna beach. Walked on the beach and headed back to the hostel White Pearl.

From there we took our luggage back, thank the owners of White Pearl and headed towards Baga beach.

One of us jokingly said “Why not stay on the beach for a night, it will be fun”. The idea was crazy but then our level of craziness was much higher. We decided to stay at the beach for the night and then leave for Gokarna from there.

We started at around midnight from Baga beach towards Gokarna. It had to be a overnight bike ride to save time and reach Gokarna before sunrise.

We stopped at a petrol pump to fill the tanks of our bikes. We decided to stay there for 10 minutes but ended up staying for almost an hour. The rest was needed not to us but to our bodies.

We reached Gokarna but were a bit late to witness the change of dark sky to a sky filled with sunlight. But we managed to click few pictures there.

After some time we decided not to leave for Bangalore right away but take some rest in a hotel so that we can feel refreshed and it would help us to ride the bikes again. After taking rest for a couple of yours, we were back again on the road only to head back to Bangalore.

After every 100 kms we had to stop to make sure our body gets enough rest. We sat ny the roadside, at the petrol pumps, at dhabas, at anywhere we got a chance. It was all about giving some rest to our bums, rest from the bike seats.

On 28^th November by midnight we were back to Bangalore with little bit of body ache and lots and lots of memories.

Its not easy to describe the entire trip in a blog but then by reading it one can get a fair idea of thr journey. That’s what I’m here about.

You can visit my Facebook page for more updates of my blog by clicking HERE. Photos of the trip will be shared on the page.

Few locations where we stayed, click to explore:

Down Da Village 

White Pearl

Banyan Shade ( you can get some good food here)

So, here ends my post with another experience. Will come up with another post, another experience soon.

By visiting Goa my friend got a chance to experience One life at many locations

Till then Happy Wandering J

The Royal Mysore

The Wanderer in me have been waiting for a long time now to write about my experience of visiting Mysore (Mysuru). This was my second trip to the place and coincidentally on the same occasion i.e. Dussera.

Just like the previous trip even this was an unplanned one. A night before Dussera the Wanderer in me thought to visit Mysore with my camera to capture the city palace with the extravaganza of the occasion.

As the travel was totally unplanned, I thought it would be better if I take a train from Bengaluru. Unlike last year the rush this time was way more, maybe because I took an afternoon train this time. Half of the journey was covered standing as I didn’t get a seat. The latter half of the journey was way more comfortable.

The weather in Mysore was amazing, was comfortable enough to walk. A little bit of drizzling with cool breeze. 

As the weather was too pleasant, was not at all in a mood to sit in a closed restaurant have my lunch. So thought to try the roadside eateries.

 

For some it might be unhygienic but I would like to ask them one simple question “How many have died after eating from road side eateries?” It’s one’s own perspective so I think it’s better not to discuss that here. May be that I will write a blog only related to roadside foods I have had in different parts of the country.

After having rice and dosa, I headed towards the nearby Mc Donald’s for some dessert as there no other shop seen nearby.

There was an auto driver whom I approached to take me to the palace but he advised me to walk down till the palace as the roads are too crowded. Taking his advice seriously, I took the road for the palace and after seeing the sea of people I thanked him for his advice.

I bet no one can count the number of heads in this picture :P

I had never seen this many people at one place for such a long time. It reminded me of Kolkata’s Durga Puja.

The moment I reached the palace, I was told by the palace guards and the police that the entrance is closed for today for any tourist. I was disheartened as I really wanted to witness the illumination of the palace that I missed last year. But then another police officer suggested us to go to the next gate as there management might allow the tourist to enter the palace.

Just after listening to it I almost ran to the gate where I found few people standing near the barricades. I decided to stand there till the palace gets lit up and if I’m lucky I would also get a chance to enter the palace.

The police kept on saying that this year unlike last many years, people won’t be allowed to enter the palace as results in chaos but still many people like me stood there and kept waiting.

Finally the clock showed 7:00 pm, the time when the lights of the palace is turned on.

One thing that it was in my mind for a very long time was to shoot a video where the palace gets lits up. And coincidently I was able to capture it when I just started shooting the video right at 7:00:31 in the evening. The short video can be seen here.

Then after a couple of minutes the gates were open and the wait was finally over. Everyone was allowed to enter the palace and then only I understood what chaos the police and the management were talking about. Hundreds of people trying to enter the palace from a gate where only 1/2 can enter at a time. It looked like all are running for their lives and unfortunately even I was one of them.

The view of the palace was amazing, almost 10,00,000 bulbs lighting up a palace, something that you don’t see every day.

The following pictures are few of those of the palace which was clicked on my visit.

After the visit, returning to Bangalore was also an adventurous event.

I had in mind to catch a train at 8:30 pm because right after that the next train was at 10:30 pm. Hired an auto near the palace and asked him to rush to the station. To my surprise I made it on time for the 8:30 pm train but to my shock it was full over the maximum capacity. When I asked a police officer regarding any train prior to 10:30 pm, he asked to me board this train and see if I can get any place to seat. Third advice of the day to me.

After thinking for some time, I finally decided to board the train and manage till Bangalore. But then I noticed there was no seats available and also there was no space to stand in the coaches. But I had to travel in that train itself as it had already left the station.

So, the entire journey was spent by sitting at the door (yes, the door was closed).

An hectic day came to an end when I finally reached the Bengaluru Station and finally I reached home at around 12:30 am.

Here i'm, A Solo Wanderer signing off.

Next, i will be sharing about my trip to Goa, a trip where i met another blogger The Solo Rider.

Till then keep exploring :)

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