|
Our initial plan was to visit Om beach in Gokarna with my friend's family. Then it so happened, as it often happens, that "Our trip" turned into "My trip", as my friend's daughter fell sick, like it always happens :-) . Instead of heading to Om beach and meditate alone under stars, a solo bike trip along the Goa coast looked more appealing.
Nov 23, 2007 - Day 1 I hopped on to a evening Volvo bus from Bangalore to Goa and reached Panaji around 12:00 noon, the next day. Instead of a regular taxi, i took a bike taxi from Panaji to Calangute beach for a mere Rs 80. Bike taxis are a licensed form of transport in Goa. The bike driver persuaded me to head to Baga beach, adjacent to Calangute beach, as he said it was less crowded. Boy, was that the right decision !. Calangute today is a packaged travel mess. After checking into a hotel, behind the famed Titos night club and a stone's throw away from the Baga beach, it was time to rent a motorcycle. I tried renting it from a tout on the street, who got me an Enfield bullet, which certainly had some antique value. After expressing my irritation, i finally got a new Bajaj Avenger for Rs 300 a day. After a cool shower, it was time to head to the beach. Had a cold glass of orange juice in one of those nice looking beach shack, reserving the adult beverages for post-sunset.
After devouring some noodles, i took a walk towards Calangute beach, which was a veritable mess. Truckloads of people unloaded from the packaged tour operators had taken up every inch of the beach space, which would make Chowpatty in Mumbai blush in shame !.
 Looking towards Calangute from the Baga beach
Without any desire to venture out in the Calangute direction, i turned away from the maddening crowd towards the northern end of the Baga beach, which looked relatively less crowded. There's a headland on the nothern end of the Baga beach, which seperates the Baga from the Anjuna beach. Just before the headland, the Baga river drains into the ocean.
Since it was lowtide, i could cross the Baga river on foot and hit the trail which would take me to the top of the headland, offering some vantage views of the area. The trail goes around the headland leading to a small cove and then another steep climb leading up to the top of the headland. Even this small cove, with no road access, is not spared and has fallen victim to a beach shack. The foreign tourists' constant quest for privacy, to escape from the oglers have pushed them to seek these remote coves, which are quickly followed by the beach shack operators to cater to their needs. It's a pity. But it is what it is !
A quick hike down the headland leads to the Anjuna beach. After about 45 minutes of hike from Baga, i was finally at the Anjuna beach.
 View of Anjuna beach as i descend the headland
After spending sometime in the Anjuna beach, i hiked back to Baga. By then, i had built quite an appetite to spend the rest of the evening in one of the open air restaurants on the beach. It's a pleasure sitting in these open air restaurants and watch the sun go down, followed by a candle lit dinner under the stars. Not surprisingly, i spent about 3 hours at the dinner table.   Lovely open air restaurant on the Baga beach  A Paraglider crossing the sun
Nov 24, 2007 - Day 2 Today i decided to take a ride along the coastline to the north of Baga beach. As i crossed the Baga river bridge, i found this nice little restaurant called Lila Cafe, by the Baga river, where i had my breakfast. Just when i hopped on my bike again, my cousins Josna and Kusuma called me from the U.S. After hearing about my solo bike ride, they must have thought that they had lost their cousin to the hippie community !
Since i had already hiked down to Anjuna the previous day, i decided to skip that and headed to Vagator beach. Vagator is probably the prettiest beach area along the nothern Goa coast, pretty secluded, rugged and scenic. The beach itself has three sections - the Vagator beach, Little Vagator beach and the Ozra beach.
There's a small trail leading down from the parking lot which takes you to the Little Vagator. Little Vagator is well shaded with palm trees, but pretty rocky and not suitable for swimming. Further 10 minutes walk towards the southern end (towards Anjuna), leads to the Ozra beach. Ozra is by far the most secluded of the beaches in this area and a great place for swimming. It's no wonder the beach of choice for those who seek some quiet time and privacy. The seclusion, i was told by a beach shack guy, has attracted a lot of nudists to this area. I had a heavy lunch in one of those beach shacks, and slept like a log on one of those sunbeds, sheltered by a beach umbrella. After the nice siesta, i took a walk further down south, towards the rocky headland that seperates Anjuna from Vagator. I was surprised to see a sculpture of Shiva carved on one of those rocks along the beach. Now that was religion, not very far from the Nine bar overlooking the Vagator, the scene of the rave parties that Goa is famous for.
 Vagator beach
 Ozra beach - Yep, that's me !
 Sculpture of Shiva on the Ozra beach.
It was about 2:00 pm, before i proceeded with my bike journey further north towards Mandrem and Arambol beach. It was a pleasant drive through lush green fields as i left Vagator. After driving through crowded streets of the Arambol village, i reached the Arambol beach, also known as Harmal beach. To me, the beach looked pretty uninspiring. It neither had the postcard beauty of Palolem beach or the rugged beauty of the Vagator. If budget and seclusion is a factor, then maybe Arambol fits the bill. South of Arambol, is a couple of miles of pure white sandy stretch, with a backdrop of palm trees, all the way to Mandrem. This part of the beach is devoid of any development and looked very pristine. I was told, it's about an hour hike from here to Mandrem. I wish could hike this stretch, but was strapped of time. So, i instead decided to reach Mandrem by my bike.
 Arambol beach
 Pristine stretch of beach between Arambol and Mandrem
I caught the above view of the beach between Arambol and Mandrem sitting at a teashop along the highway, which made even the characterless tea taste good. As i headed back towards Baga, it was time to swing by the famed Nine bar. Nine bar has a beautiful and vantage view of the Vagator beach. I spent some time watching the ocean from here, as folks went wild to the trance music.
Nov 25, 2007 - Day 3
Now it was time to head towards the South Goa beaches. I strapped my baggage to the back of the Avenger, rather clumsily. Thanks to my planning, i had got a nylon rope for this purpose. As i headed towards towards Panaji, i had to let go of my bohemian freedom of riding without the helmet, a helmet which looked so fragile and it's strap so loose that i had to constantly keep pushing it up to avoid it from blocking my eyes - Well, so much for the safety it offered ! Once i crossed Panaji, i moved off NH 17 and hit the coastal road.
Until, i reached Colva beach, it never occurred to me that i had to unstrap my baggage off of the bike, everytime i had to go and visit a beach. The knots were such a tangled mess, that i thought it was less painful to loose the baggage to a potential theif, than me trying to solve the knot-puzzle ! I picked up some valuables from the baggage and took a small walk along the beach to capture this wonderful picture.
 Colva seemed like a tale of the desis reclaiming the territory from the phirangs !. I remember this beach, when i visited it as a 10 year old kid and i was prohibited by my parents to even get down from the bus. The hippie stuff and nudity is all but gone from this beach. The packaged tour desi crowd have sucessfully ogled the nudists, the semi-nudists and even the non-nudists out of this beach, it seems. Now here's the more surprising stuff. I come back to my bike to still find my baggage uncompromised - Whew !
Back on my bike, i drove to Benaulim beach, a twin joined at the hip with Colva. Now i knew where they had driven all the foreign tourists from Colva !. My next destination was the Varca beach. After a bit of search, thanks to the confusing direction given by the locals, i reached this desolate stretch of a beach, with not a soul around. Frankly, this place looked a bit shady - beach without a beach shack in Goa !. One can see miles of unspoilt beach here all the way up north towards Banaulim.
From here i drove to Cavelossim, to the beach where Leela Goa is located. There's public access to the beach which goes around the Leela hotel. You may even spot some bollywood stars hanging out on this beach, for those obsessed with such lowly interests. Leela sports one of the prettiest and cleanest strech of beach among the Goa hotels and resorts. It certainly looked secluded and private, despite the public access to the beach. But for how long?
  Leela's pride !
From Cavelossim, one has to either cross the Sol river estuary by a ferry or get back to the trafficky NH 17 to reach Palolem, which was my next destination. I chose the former, as it was more fun ferrying my bike across the river and continuing on the quiet and scenic coastal highway. I finally reached Palolem around 5 in the evening. Now it's an understatement to say it was a surprise to find my baggage intact and uncompromised while i hauled it all along south Goa, leaving it under the care of my bike as i visited a host of beaches. Where have all the theives gone !?
My first impression of Palolem was that it did not look like the typical goan beaches. For one, Palolem is a crescent shaped beauty unlike the straight long stretches, characteristic of other beaches in Goa. Then there's these beachfront bamboo cottages, which is also unique to Palolem. I only wish they had not painted these bamboo cottages in blue - Yikes !. I can assure you this will be the next beach to be assaulted and abused by the charter tour Ninjas. Visit it before it starts resembling the Calangute beach. Add this beach to our endangered species list !
I found a nice bamboo cottage facing the beach. I quicky showered, and hit the beach, just in time for the Sunset. It was the best sunset i watched in Goa. I took a long stroll along the beach towards the northern end of the beach, as the sun slowly went down.
 Nov 26, 2007 - Day 4
Palolem is a beauty, no doubt. But this beauty is today marred by a barrage of fishing boats catering to boat rides for tourists. While it's understandable that this is one of the sources of livelihood for the locals here, it would not that be a great difficulty to regulate and restrict the launch area for these boat rides. Otherwise, sooner or later, as the demand for these boat rides goes up, there would be more surface area occupied by boats than by the sand. That would be a downright ugly day to witness !.
I spent about half day on the beach. Then it was a straight dash to Baga on NH 17, return the rental bike, and head to Panaji for my night bus to Bangalore.
|
