Goa trip

Went this weekend to Goa - here is a short summary of what transpired.

It was basically Aparup's treat !
Along with me , Girish and Sreeni were also there : Jerry could not make it at the last minute ... (All these guys work with me and Aparup used to work with me - he left recently , hence the treat).
Caught the Vasco express from Yesvantpur and had a nice trip till Madgoan.
The journey was pleasent. It was very scenic when we crossed the western ghats to get into Goa.

From Madgoan to Calangute was a tough one hour or so journey - esp in the six seater which was jerking up and down most of the time.
The driver though kept the trip lively with his continous torrent of conversation (chatter ?!).

We were put up at the post office guest house at Calangute - thanks to Mr. Natarajan.
It was a very comfortable pad - and also quiet close to the beach : approx 0.75 km or so ...

Unpacked , freshened up and by about 4 went out for our very late lunch - it started drizzling slightly (which was to be the norm for most of our stay ) and the place we ate from was not that great ...
But the view of the beach was very scenic and I had my first taste of Goan cuisine.

Now , this last point deserves some explaination - I am from Kerala and fish , as most might know , has a very prominent place in my normal diet.
Staying in Bangalore for past 3 years or so has made me sorely miss this.
The 4 years before that at college , I had to forsake fish to keep my stomach in operational condition :P
Hence the delicious goan fish preparations were pleasing to my tongue , stomach and my heart :)
To say that I freaked out on fish in my stay at Goa would be putting it mildly !

That day we just spent time frolicking in the beach :)
Dinner was pleasent and again I had - yes fish ;)

Next day was a "tour day" - we went to see the "sights of Goa".
My roomie Rajat came down to Goa (he happened to be at Karvar - quiet close to Goa) with his friends and all of us went together.
Went to a couple of beaches , Aguada fort (awesome view !!) , Basilica of Bon Jesus and Palolem beach.
A very nice guide at the church gave us an interesting history about the basilica in particular and Goa in general.
This was the only day (afternoon) when I had veg food in Goa :P
We could not go for boating at Dona Paula but did have a nice time there - watching the sea :)
The trip back from Palolem beach - which btw is an amazing and extremely peaceful beach , was uneventful : maybe 'cos I was fast asleep the full 90 odd km back :)
Dinner was at a nice hotel called Midas Touch : it would be an understatement to say that Srini had a very nice time here :)

Next day - all of us woke up real late ... this was the day we were to head back - and this did not do much good to our mood.
I had started enjoying Goa by now and was sure going to throw a tantrum 'cos I was being forced to leave it :(
We were to catch our train from Londa , which is across the ghats - a good 2:30 hours or so away.
The journey was nice - though I slept off through most of the car ride - did manage to catch some extremely scenic views on our ride through the ghats.
We reached Londa at 5:15 pm or so - and then find out that Sreeni had misread the train timings - train reaches Londa at 8:00pm not 5:30 :D
The other three decide to take a stroll and explore Londa , while yours truely was emminently lazy and decided to laze it off in the station.
Ofcourse , 30 mins later I was regretting this ...
I met Monica on the platform who was also heading to Bangalore and spent nice time chatting with her until the train arrived.(Speaking of which - I forgot to get her contact number ...)
The train food , as usual , sucked bigtime ... after a long chat , all of us slept : to arrive at Bangalore - surprisingly on time !

Back to the grind ... though I wish I make it back to Goa real quick ...
I am quiet serious about making it there this nov/dec ... time will tell :)