I must say trip to Goa is best enjoyed with like minded people or to say whoever wants to freak out and shed their inhibitions, so you also need to have a good company along. Goa is very seductive with its Sun kissed and white sand beaches! I’ve been there four times now and almost know pretty much about most of the places there- in and out, every nook and corner, every road or gullies 
. First time I went by bus, then train and in the recent past, took road in my car with my pals, and the last trip was in Monsoon, which was by flight! Each trip was unique; but by train is a too good experience, with twists and turns on the hills and tunnels, and by water falls, but only after the train enters Goan region and you wish to capture all the beauty of nature at very instance, which is too gud and gone too soon!
The road trip is also amazing and the experience is too gud to cherish. We took road maps and travelled to differnt places all the way in and out, with songs playing on the deck, stopping in between, taking pictures at good locations. The ghat road is awesome! and terrifying too; it took almost 20 hrs to reach there and is truly an experience. Hitting Goa in Monsoon is total different experince since it will be turning into lush green everywhere and the sea is on high… it’s like refuelling itself and if you are a nature lover, you would fall in love for it’s greenery, waterfalls, sea and everything about it!
The season starts right from October through February ending, December is kind of peak season with many tourists. Its chilling during evenings and nights, and hot as the day goes on. Feb is still good but it gets hot during the last week. I have been to several beaches; some are similar, and some are unique and differnt, vary with water color, sand and crowd. The roads are good, and there is lot of greenery, rivers, valleys and of course sea! and not to forget, the bikini babes! One can treasure more than their eyes can see as the beaches are full of foreigners who enjoy sunbathing and tanning their bodies, lying down and reading books for hrs together.
Goa has two zones, North and South. If you like to party and freak out, North Goa is the place to be and if you wanna relax and stay away from crowd, its the South Goa. The beaches at South are less crowded and are very tranquil! They are very pleasant. I enjoyed walking from one beach to another while the water kisses the feet every now and then, picking shells and spotting crabs and other creatures, writing and making forms on sand.
A boat trip into the sea from one of the south beaches is worth and amazing, as you go into the sea losing the sight of beach and land! There is water all around and only the sky above, you would only hear the sound of waves hitting the boat and you can spot dolphins hop and swim around! We can go fishing while sipping beer or a drink and then taken to a beach, untouched, isolated with white sand, leaning coconut trees and its the place like heaven on earth, so tranquil and peaceful. Food is cooked under trees and served with drinks, while couples enjoy roaming around the rocks, kissin’ n swimmin’ in waters, and some foreigners going topless! with total carefree attitude make guys like drooling and get restless at such a calm and isolated beach.
And if you are in North Goa, its a different experience altogether. Some too crowded beaches with all kinda people, mixture of localites and foreigners, and at times sea is rough with big tides rushing to shore at some places. There are endless parties around and at shacks on the beach, there are beach parties usually during nights, and one can find oneself ending up in a Rave party with Trans music and people dancing all through the night. Usually its foreigners who crowd in on rave parties, booze, dance and get into trans, rather carefree attitude. I especially liked the music played by Digeridoo, an australian bamboo instrument. The sound is stirring and music is enthralling- you would never know how time passes by at such parties.
I’ve savored different liquors: like Red and white wine, vodka, rum and am good at preparing some cocktails. My pals liked when I tried some cocktails and served them with different tastes. One can get liquor anywhere, from a small grocery store to a mall. Its available everywhere and its rather inexpensive too. You can also savor sea food with varieties of lobsters, fish and prawns. Well, I’m a vegetarian. Still, I enjoyed veg dishes. Of course tried little bit of fish but don’t like it much.
While you are at Goa, its total party environment everywhere. At nights you would hear music at every shack and food outlets/ restaurants. Apart from sights and sounds of beaches, there’s a lot about Goan culture and one gets to see by visiting old Goa. There are old churches, especially St. Xavier’s, his body still can be seen in this church and there are many good temples like Shanta Durga and Sri Mangesh. One can visit these places and still recognize the religious values; we don’t loose sight of spirituality while enjoying and relinquishing the other side of Goa!
Wait for my next post on the details of places and destinations as a checklist. Everytime I go there, I discover something new. On my 3rd trip we have been to Palolem beach, which is far south and the drive is about 30 min, truly exciting with small ghats and forest kinda environment. Palolem beach looks like half moon and it’s total flat beach. There is a hillock in between, and we can walk through to the hillock! The beach is adorned with all bamboo shacks. People can stay back in nights or for a day renting them for Rs. 200 to 500, a stay with 2 or 3 beds included. The amazing thing is that one wouldn’t be able to locate and find the beach until we get past those shacks and suddenly we end up at the edge of the beach, which opens wide and we’ll mostly spot only foreigners at this place. We guys were awestruck at the attitude of people there; for instance, we’ve seen a woman getting total naked, feeling the lovely evening breeze off the sea at sunset! As long as we don’t oggle at them it is fine. We just need to be ourselves!
…to be continued.
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hmm.. saucy…
Why Ravi why you did not guide us???
Oh!! thers much more than what you’ve learned now! For all the four trips i made, discovered a bit on each trip. Each day new experience and total fun!! Bharani, am sure u love to go there again! and I hope the experience i shared here will pretty much be useful for your next trip and you too will come up with new things yourself.. you just need to go around and explore..