Have you seen Goa!!
A beautiful tourist place GoaGoa lies on the western side of India. It has marvelous beaches and it provides wonderful scenic beauty. Many tourists who are sea beach lovers throng Goa every year. The best season to visit Goa is between October to January. During this period weather remains pleasant over there. However, during rest of the months, the weather remains hot and humid, which makes one feel uncomfortable, especially during day time. Goa is well connected with rail and air links besides roads and sea routes to the major cities of India.The major rail links run through Konkan Railways. It has one major airport viz. Dublin Airport, which is in the South of Goa. Its capital is Panjim.We visited Goa in January last. We reached there by train. We had arranged our boarding and lodging near one of the most fantastic beaches of Goa viz. Calangute Beach, which is in the North of Goa. It was night when we reached at Maposa town in Goa. From the railway station we headed towards our hotel. We were tired after a long journey of nearly 36 hours from New Delhi. We had our dinner in the restaurant of the hotel and then went to sleep in our room. Calangute Beach : Next day in the morning, after having our breakfast, we reached the magnificent Calangute Beach. The weather was sunny and bright. As we arrived at the beach, we noticed that it was a very vast beach. The water was deep blue and the sand was grey in color. It was crowded with many tourists local and foreigners. They all were enjoying themselves. We hired a big umbrella stand and long resting table. We were enthralled and delighted to see the furious waves coming back and forth. We changed our clothes and decided to drench ourselves in water. As we went near, we felt that waves were rising higher than our own height. Powerful, relentless waves were producing unending roaring sound. We found it difficult to stand against the waves. We held our hands together and then went some distance inside the sea. The waves just shooting over our heads. Soon, we were completely drenched to skin. However, the bright sun was making us feel comfortable. In between, we had a photo session too. We photographed each other to capture those unforgettable moments. We played with the waves for nearly two hours, before we were exhausted. We were feeling hungry and we came out of water and had a sumptuous lunch at the nearby restaurant. We spend some more time and returned to our hotel for rest.Wagator Beach : Next day, we decided to go to another beach viz. Wagator Beach. It is one of the most wonderful and beautiful beaches of Goa. One needs to go down through stairs to reach the beach. Its scenic beauty was eye-catching and a treat to watch. There were some hills in the background, few very long coconut trees were adding beauty to the beach. Few rocks could also be found on the beach. Here the waves were seemingly cool and gentle. Waves were gently coming towards the beach and just kissing our legs. They were at the most touching our knees. It was a great fun to play with the waves, we covered nearly half a kilometer inside the sea to feel the unending flow and dance of waves. We kept splashing water on each other, in between. Even after spending two hours, we were in no mood to come out of the beach; however, we had to come out to see other site seeing places.Aguda Fort : Next destination was an old ruined fort called Aguda Fort. It was on the side of a sea and furious waves were touching its one of the walls. It was in a huge area, however, we observed that only some minarets and walls were intact. We took some photographs before, moving ahead. Milky Water Fall : We came to know that there was a wonderful water fall some 35-40 Kilometers away from Mapusa town of Goa. The fall is known is ‘Dudhsagar Fall’, loosely translated it means ‘Milky water fall’. We made up our mind to visit the fall, despite the fact that we were told that it would take few hours to reach the place. We hired a taxi and started in the morning for the water fall. After few hours, we reached at the spot. The concrete and mettle road had ended. We were told that from there we had to board a jeep to reach at the base of the fall. We hired a jeep, which was capable of traversing through muddy road, boulders and water logged areas. We started our onward journey in the jeep. It was a real dense forest and no human soul was to be seen around. The jeep criss-crossed the forest on the uneven muddy road and we kept getting lots of jerks and jitters. We even crossed a small river on our way to the base of the waterfall. Finally, even the muddy road ended and we had to alight from our jeep. Thereafter, it was journey on foot with uneven rocky path and pointed rocks on the way. We moved cautiously step by step, holding each other’s hand and reached at the base of the fall. There were not many tourists. Most of the tourists were foreigners. It was awesome scenery. The view was breath taking making us feel spell bound. The water fall was coming from a very great height from a steep mountain and in the middle of water fall’s top and bottom point, there was a railway track. And while we were enjoying the beauty of the fall to our pleasant surprise, we spotted a train moving on the track and it appeared as the train was just cutting the water fall from in between. We just could not keep our eyes off the milky water fall. It was the most awesome moments to be very near to the God and nature. I felt for a moment the ‘time’ should stop for few hours, when we were there. There was a huge pond at the base of the fall, where some of the tourists were swimming. The gushing water was making a ceaseless roaring sound and was speedily coming down like a steady fall giving us the impression of milk falling down from the very high and steep mountain slope. There was magnificent and enchanting greenery all around with plenty of trees, plants and bushes. It was absolutely natural surrounding, which one gets to see very rarely. On touching the water, we realized that it was icy cold and we were wondering how some of the tourists were swimming and enjoying themselves in the chilled water. One very beautiful woman came out of the pond after swimming and changed her clothes, just covering herself with a towel, in full public view. We spent there few hours and every moment was worth remembering. We just did not feel like coming out of the extra-ordinary, magical and natural atmosphere. It was like a divine feeling. However, ultimately we had to leave, as every good thing comes to an end, so came our sojourn to the base of the water fall. Our way back, we walked across the rocky path and reached our waiting jeeps and returned to the main land. Cruise on the Mandavi River – There is a river Mandavi which runs across Goa. On the last day, we decided to enjoy the river cruise. We boarded a huge ship in the evening and it cruised along the length and breadth of the river Mandavi. Simultaneously, we were entertained with a cultural show with live music, dancing troops and songs on board. It was really an enjoyable experience. The sun was slowly setting into the horizon, as we were cruising along, adding charm to the beauty.People of Goa : Natives and local people who live in Goa are very nice and cooperative, they are down to earth. However, Goa being a hot tourist destination, tourists are sometimes fleeced by the taxi drivers and shopkeepers. You can get every type of food here from Continental to Chinese, North Indian to South Indian. Restaurants and food joints near tourist spots and beaches are bit expensive. Booze is freely available here and many kiosks and outlets can be found selling the booze, around the city. Many tourists visit Goa because of easy availability of alcoholic drinks at sea beaches and in the market. The soil and climate of Goa is conducive for growing cashew nut and it is one of major produce here and it is available at comparatively cheaper rates and in different varieties. We also bought few packets of fresh and crispy cashew nuts from here.It was an unforgettable visit to Goa, which we will always remember and cherish for years to come.
Monday, August 10, 2009
A trip to North Eastern States.
A trip to North Eastern States
Travelling to different places gives me a kind of thrill and it peps me up. Travelling to new destinations and exploring the new vistas is my one of the favourite passions, therefore, whenever I get an opportunity to travel or visit a new destination, I do not prefer to forgo the opportunity.Recently, I got an opportunity to travel to North Eastern State of India. People normally do no go our to North Eastern states, because of intermittent insurgency over there. We decided to visit Guwahati and Shillong, which are the capital cities of Assam and Meghalaya states in India. Guwahati is two hours flight from New Delhi. If one goes in train from New Delhi to Guwahati it takes 24 hours. We did not have many days at our disposal, therefore, we decided to fly by air. We got our tickets reserved in a National flight and reached at the airport. Air travel is still considered a costly affair, in comparison to rail travel, here in India, so one does not get many opportunities to travel by air. I was the only one, who had experienced air travel earlier, while family did not have the experience of air travel. The flight was to take off at 1130 hrs from the domestic terminal of New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport. Carrying our bag and baggage, we reached at the airport well in advance. We were informed that it takes considerable time for the various formalities to complete at the airport. We entered the airport at about 0930 hrs and had to undergo with all the security checks. When we proceeded for obtaining our boarding passes for the flight, I requested the manager at the counter to at least give us window seats. She obliged and allotted us two window seats. Then we approached the waiting lounge at the airport. There was considerable time left for the flight to actually take off. We were informed that the flight was on time. We kept chatting and just kept watching the various aircrafts moving across the tarmac through glass windows. Finally, our wait ended and the exit door of the waiting lounge was opened. We moved towards a waiting coach, which was to take us to the aircraft. We boarded the bus with much excitement. Seats were already full and we all had to stand holding the rod. The coach started soon after and it was just 5-10 minutes drive to the waiting aircraft. Kids got excited to see the aircraft, as they were witnessing the same for the first time from the close quarters. There were two entry points through stairs to get into the aircraft, one was from the front side and the other was from the rear end. Kids hurriedly clicked some photographs of the plane through their mobile phones, before entering into the plane. Crew staff greeted as we boarded the plane and we were guided to our respective seats. Though the seats were comfortable yet there was not much leg space in between the seats. We came to know that the flight was full and it had total capacity of 210 seats. Ours were rear seats so we could see the entire seating plan and interior of the plan from the rear end. The air hostesses were moving back and forth to make the passengers comfortable. They were looking very young, may be in their twenties and wearing mini skirts. They were looking beautiful and nice; however, there were shades of heavy make up. It appeared to us that they have just come out of a beauty parlour. Air hostesses demonstrated their usual security and emergency drills for the benefit of all the passengers. After few minutes the announcement regarding taking off the plane was made and we were requested to fasten our seat belts. The Captain of the flight introduced and briefed us on the public address system about himself and the journey to Guawahti. The plane started to move slowly on the runway and gradually its speed got accelerated. For some moments we felt that we were travelling on a very fast moving bus on a very wide road. And as we were thinking, there was a sudden jerk and we realized that plane had actually taken off from the run way and was heading towards the sky. It was an awesome feeling and we had butterflies in our stomach, when it took off. Soon we all transfixed our eyes to the windows and could see that building and roads were getting tinnier and tinnier. It was magical and mesmerizing moments for all of us. Great highways were looking like thin lines on a surface from the sky. The aircraft gained height gradually and we started flying above clouds. Mid way our flight the captain of the flight announced that we were flying over the great Himalayan ranges of mountains. It never felt that we were flying in the sky the aircraft appeared stationary to us. Before reaching our destination we were told in the mid sky to fasten our seat belts as the aircraft was getting turbulence. We were told that this kind of phenomenon happens when air packets come in between the aircraft, clouds and sky. In between we had some snacks and coffee on the flight. It was a unique experience seeping a cup of coffee in the sky. Finally, the announcement of landing was made. Soon thereafter, the aircraft landed with thud on the runway. Guwhati airport was not as huge as New Delhi’s airport. We alighted from the aircraft and proceeded to the arrival lounge to collect our luggage. The weather over there was warmer than New Delhi. As per the prior arrangements cars were waiting for us outside the airport to take us to our guest house.We headed for the famous temple in Guwahati i.e. Kamakhya Temple. As we started moving we found that the roads were deserted and shops on the road side were closed. Soon we found out the reasons, it was a holiday over there on account of colorful festival of Holi (I may add here that Holi is an Indian festivals which is celebrated with throwing colors and water on others with fervor and gaiety). We were informed by locals that the festival of Holi is celebrated for two days in that place. When we reached the holy temple, it was devoid of any pilgrims on account of holiday. It is a very old temple and many pilgrims and devotees visit this place on a given day. We were told that had it any other day, it would have taken 3-4 hours to reach sanctum Santorum. However, we could see the sanctum Santorum. It was dark inside the main area and only few earthen lamps were illuminating. We bowed our heads to deities and took some ‘Prasad’ and came out. In the courtyard of the temple few of the devotees were playing ‘Holi’ and were throwing colors on each other. There faces were unrecognizable as it were covered with red, blue, green, black and silver colors. They were local people, who were enjoying themselves. Thereafter, we headed towards our guest house, which to our surprise was on the bank of the river Brahmputra. It is the main river of Assam state in India. The scenery around the guest house was really fantastic. There was a beautiful temple inside the river on an island. River was flowing at a slow pace. It was evening time when we reached there. We just unloaded our luggage had some light refreshment and just rushed to enjoy the river beach. The evening sun was about to set in the river, turning crimson red and looking like a ball. It slowly descended into the river on far end of the river. We just roamed around and tried to submerge ourselves in the serene and calm atmosphere of the river side. We walked slowly on the river band and returned to our guest house. Our next destination was Shillong.
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Travelling to different places gives me a kind of thrill and it peps me up. Travelling to new destinations and exploring the new vistas is my one of the favourite passions, therefore, whenever I get an opportunity to travel or visit a new destination, I do not prefer to forgo the opportunity.Recently, I got an opportunity to travel to North Eastern State of India. People normally do no go our to North Eastern states, because of intermittent insurgency over there. We decided to visit Guwahati and Shillong, which are the capital cities of Assam and Meghalaya states in India. Guwahati is two hours flight from New Delhi. If one goes in train from New Delhi to Guwahati it takes 24 hours. We did not have many days at our disposal, therefore, we decided to fly by air. We got our tickets reserved in a National flight and reached at the airport. Air travel is still considered a costly affair, in comparison to rail travel, here in India, so one does not get many opportunities to travel by air. I was the only one, who had experienced air travel earlier, while family did not have the experience of air travel. The flight was to take off at 1130 hrs from the domestic terminal of New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport. Carrying our bag and baggage, we reached at the airport well in advance. We were informed that it takes considerable time for the various formalities to complete at the airport. We entered the airport at about 0930 hrs and had to undergo with all the security checks. When we proceeded for obtaining our boarding passes for the flight, I requested the manager at the counter to at least give us window seats. She obliged and allotted us two window seats. Then we approached the waiting lounge at the airport. There was considerable time left for the flight to actually take off. We were informed that the flight was on time. We kept chatting and just kept watching the various aircrafts moving across the tarmac through glass windows. Finally, our wait ended and the exit door of the waiting lounge was opened. We moved towards a waiting coach, which was to take us to the aircraft. We boarded the bus with much excitement. Seats were already full and we all had to stand holding the rod. The coach started soon after and it was just 5-10 minutes drive to the waiting aircraft. Kids got excited to see the aircraft, as they were witnessing the same for the first time from the close quarters. There were two entry points through stairs to get into the aircraft, one was from the front side and the other was from the rear end. Kids hurriedly clicked some photographs of the plane through their mobile phones, before entering into the plane. Crew staff greeted as we boarded the plane and we were guided to our respective seats. Though the seats were comfortable yet there was not much leg space in between the seats. We came to know that the flight was full and it had total capacity of 210 seats. Ours were rear seats so we could see the entire seating plan and interior of the plan from the rear end. The air hostesses were moving back and forth to make the passengers comfortable. They were looking very young, may be in their twenties and wearing mini skirts. They were looking beautiful and nice; however, there were shades of heavy make up. It appeared to us that they have just come out of a beauty parlour. Air hostesses demonstrated their usual security and emergency drills for the benefit of all the passengers. After few minutes the announcement regarding taking off the plane was made and we were requested to fasten our seat belts. The Captain of the flight introduced and briefed us on the public address system about himself and the journey to Guawahti. The plane started to move slowly on the runway and gradually its speed got accelerated. For some moments we felt that we were travelling on a very fast moving bus on a very wide road. And as we were thinking, there was a sudden jerk and we realized that plane had actually taken off from the run way and was heading towards the sky. It was an awesome feeling and we had butterflies in our stomach, when it took off. Soon we all transfixed our eyes to the windows and could see that building and roads were getting tinnier and tinnier. It was magical and mesmerizing moments for all of us. Great highways were looking like thin lines on a surface from the sky. The aircraft gained height gradually and we started flying above clouds. Mid way our flight the captain of the flight announced that we were flying over the great Himalayan ranges of mountains. It never felt that we were flying in the sky the aircraft appeared stationary to us. Before reaching our destination we were told in the mid sky to fasten our seat belts as the aircraft was getting turbulence. We were told that this kind of phenomenon happens when air packets come in between the aircraft, clouds and sky. In between we had some snacks and coffee on the flight. It was a unique experience seeping a cup of coffee in the sky. Finally, the announcement of landing was made. Soon thereafter, the aircraft landed with thud on the runway. Guwhati airport was not as huge as New Delhi’s airport. We alighted from the aircraft and proceeded to the arrival lounge to collect our luggage. The weather over there was warmer than New Delhi. As per the prior arrangements cars were waiting for us outside the airport to take us to our guest house.We headed for the famous temple in Guwahati i.e. Kamakhya Temple. As we started moving we found that the roads were deserted and shops on the road side were closed. Soon we found out the reasons, it was a holiday over there on account of colorful festival of Holi (I may add here that Holi is an Indian festivals which is celebrated with throwing colors and water on others with fervor and gaiety). We were informed by locals that the festival of Holi is celebrated for two days in that place. When we reached the holy temple, it was devoid of any pilgrims on account of holiday. It is a very old temple and many pilgrims and devotees visit this place on a given day. We were told that had it any other day, it would have taken 3-4 hours to reach sanctum Santorum. However, we could see the sanctum Santorum. It was dark inside the main area and only few earthen lamps were illuminating. We bowed our heads to deities and took some ‘Prasad’ and came out. In the courtyard of the temple few of the devotees were playing ‘Holi’ and were throwing colors on each other. There faces were unrecognizable as it were covered with red, blue, green, black and silver colors. They were local people, who were enjoying themselves. Thereafter, we headed towards our guest house, which to our surprise was on the bank of the river Brahmputra. It is the main river of Assam state in India. The scenery around the guest house was really fantastic. There was a beautiful temple inside the river on an island. River was flowing at a slow pace. It was evening time when we reached there. We just unloaded our luggage had some light refreshment and just rushed to enjoy the river beach. The evening sun was about to set in the river, turning crimson red and looking like a ball. It slowly descended into the river on far end of the river. We just roamed around and tried to submerge ourselves in the serene and calm atmosphere of the river side. We walked slowly on the river band and returned to our guest house. Our next destination was Shillong.
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