Go Goa....

Reader P.S "WE" here is for me and Rishi in this post (Unless otherwise mentioned)

Well I know this post should have come some time back....it has been more than a month now....Anyway....
The PLAN: Like all other plans this one was also a great time pass ( most of the times it is the PLAN which is more fun than the action itself, not this time though).......all those mails with travel checklists, route maps.....and as always the actual trip was nowhere close to any of these PLANS!!!
Train, Bus or Bike: We started of deciding the mode of transportation....and since both us wanted to avoid Mumbai-Pune travel we came up with our ideas....the options under consideration were to take a train but was ruled out since we knew we wont get any tickets....then it was Bus, which meant an overnight journey, which in turn meant just sleeping all along the way....and since we both had been to Goa before, we were not so much keen on spending lot of time in GOA...we actually wanted to have a nice time en route to Goa....well then we decided that it was time for my sweet and sexy FZ to have a nice outing at last (long after the first small ride to Lonavala).... Then we started of with the checklist and realized that the stuff that we were planning to carry had to be cut down drastically as there was no place to keep it on my SEXY (read naked) bike.....knowing that we will definitely require all that stuff we came back to square one just few days before our scheduled TRIP!!!!
Well FZs loss was ZENs gain....we wanted to be sure that the poor thing (10 year old car) wont ditch us midway and hence a thorough check up was done before we finally decided to take the BIG RISK.....so ultimately it was "WE" and the ZEN which were going to be tested.....

THE GUIDE: Even though a whole lot of Google maps were printed, a whole lot of people were asked about the route we still were sure that we would need a guide (as by now we were not even sure if we were going to Goa, or just going to any place on that route).....in came the magical GPS navigator, magical because it ensured that Rishi reached my home (from Mumbai).....and to be honest it really was a great tool all the way along...on the highway showing every curve, getting us out of Pune, making sure we reached our Hotel in Goa each night(though it made us go round and round one night), and ofcourse making sure that Rishi reached Mumbai from Pune....
Oh yeah the fun part was when we had to take a small 50kms bad road after leaving NH4....poor GPS aunty got confused and started talking rubbish..........

The Journey Begun: I dont remember when was the last time I got up so early when I had the option to sleep.....anyway we got up early and started off with lot of stuff to eat and drink....surprisingly the car was running smooth (much to my pleasure and Rishis disdain)....since it was early morning the drive from Pune city to Highway flew off pretty fast.....and on the highway it just got better.......the weather Gods were happy too......
we took turns to enjoy the drive, and with lot of stuff to hog we did not stop over till the time we reached the dreaded beginning of road after the Highway......we stopped at Nippani, refuelled the back seat of car with lots to drink and started again.....although the condition of the road was bad the scenic view running alongside did not let us bother abut it.....then came the twists and turns of the hill(around 30kms)...and ofcourse there was a lovers point(or was it suicide point)....we had planned for an over night stay at Sawantwadi which was at the end of the hill.....well by now we realised that we were running atleast a couple of hours before time....our scheduled arrival at Sawantwadi was around 6 and we were there by 4...we still decided to stay there, and hence went to a DECENT hotel....we did a whole lot of TP(looking at different roams, yapping with the manager and other staff, bargaining for the room)....once we were sure that there was not much to wander around we decided to hit the road again and reach Goa the same day itself.....as it turned this was the best decision we took (secondly only to not riding on bike) on this trip .....when we were about to enter Goa, I just crossed a bridge and the end of it a traffic cop stopped us,the best part is I had taken off my seat belt around 5-10 kms back. Well it turned out that it was a no overtaking area with speed limit of 40, I was at around 70 and did overtake a car. Out came the tried and tested CARD from Rishis wallet(that CARD is a secret weapon and hence the details cant be disclosed in a blog) and we were asked to just leave without shelling a penny. We reached Green Park hotel before dusk....Rishi showed his negotiation skills and got the room at a cheaper rate than the Sawantwadi one......this place was in Mapusa which was not exactly the happening part of Goa.........
We went searching for a bike for rent or a rick and finally trusted the GUIDE and took the car out; went to the beach in the night where I had fish curry and the idiot along with me had TANDOORI CHICKEN (No comments!!!!).....the whole ambience was sooooooooo amazing.
While walking around we came across lot of Ravan like structures, and finally the curiosity got better of me and I asked a local guy as to why they were having Dusshera at the time of Diwali ( oh this reminds me to post that it was Diwali time)!!!! the guy told us that it was "NARKASUR....Another roop of Ravan" and that it was a big day in Goa and that next morning they were going to have these competitions of NARKASUR DAHAN (similar to Dusshera).....we were moving around BAGA BEACH and reached MAMBOS. We were following a few FIRANG Babes from baga to Mambos, because if in case we felt like going to Mambos we would have required Women ( GAY couples are still not considered COUPLES in India, not even in GOA!!). But looking at the fact that not even decent music was playing at 11:30 pm we decided not to go to Mambos ( P.S: I have never been to Mambos).
The next day we went to Auguda fort where we clicked classy pics....and yeah how can I forget that for the first time I saw a firnag going to PEE in the bushes (that too a WOMAN).....Auguda fort reminds of my profile pic on Orkut with my red t-shirt(that was more than 2 years back) and on this trip Rishi wore the same t-shirt (same as in same, not similar) and got a same snap at that very same location......then a trip to Panjim where we bought beach tees and shorts....the market was almost closed.....Oh did I not mention that this morning a bomb had exploded in Goa and one was deactivated before it went off.....Thank God that it was Diwali and television sets at home were closed.....
We went back to the happening beaches, got a tatoo, tasted lot of sat water.....then went and bought a couple of JHINTAAK t-shirts(GLOWING ones, still waiting to go to a disc to test the GLOW). That night I remember I had something with mixed sea food and Rishi had his usual north Indian food....
Next day early morning we started on our way back; we stopped at the same tapri on the lovers point (in the hilly road) and had Omlette.Our next stop was Mcdonalds at Kolhapur, where we emptied our tanks and then hogged Burgers.
The drive was really the most amazing part of this trip!! The strange part is that the worst patch of road was the best drive....
Waiting eagerly for the next ROAD TRIP.....destination???????

Special note of thanks: Dear Zen, Thank You!!!!