Goa trip

Went to Goa and had fun for three days as I got an extended weekend due to Good Friday. It is a wonderful place if you can ignore the blatant commericalization of the place. The cheap T-shirts, the hawkers and their consistent perstering may get on your nerves. But the beaches are great and there are some lovely views that makes you forget all the ugliness of a tourist spot.

We started off on thursday afternoon on a KSRTC bus that left at 3.40 PM. After a long and arduos journey, we managed to get to Panjim on Friday morning at around 8 AM. I was a little surprised by the bus station where the bus stopped. It was unlike most stands I have seen. We did not stay there long as we needed a hotel and a guy approached us and convinced us to follow him for a hotel room. We were three guys with two more were coming from Mumbai and that made it a total of five.

I was there with my camera which had been unused for sometime now. I decided to go on a photographic mission and leave the guys to their beach. As impulsive as I am, I did not manage to stick to my resolution. I follwed them to Miramar beach, which was empty at that time in the morning. So, we decided to go to calungute beach. To get to that beach, we had to use a ferry and then a taxi on the other side of the creek. Calungute beach is the best beach of Goa (or so it is touted). It is the most crowded and has the most beach shacks (where the sinful-drink flows thicker than water). It also has a lot of foreigners, which might explain the high density of restuarants around that place. it is also a lovely place to be when the sun falls below the horizon and the era of the moon begins. Sitting on chairs by a condle-lit table by the ocean that roars away under the starry sky and smiling moon, it was a lovely experience... The next time I go there, I am going to spend atleast a week and stay every night on that beach.

I took a lot of pictures on the beach but was largely handicapped by the lack of a zoom lens and thus most of my subjects have come out tiny framed in a huge oceanic background. Some of them are nice but most would have been better if I had an zoom lens... :(

The next I decided to take a bus tour of South Goa. They took me to another place called "Dona Paula" where adventure sports is the primary attraction plus a great panaromic view. Then came the churches. The first is the Basilica of Bom Jesus which contains the preserved body of St Francis Xavier and is dedicated the figure of baby Jesus. It is a nice church but pales in front of the Se Cathedral which is across the Bangalore-Panjim highway. The Se Cathedral is the biggest chirch in India and I was struck by the size and the height of its ceilings.

The bus tour took us to two temples and Colva beach, the second largest beach in India. This beach is huuuuuuuuuuge! and I did not get to see much of it. Finally the bus left me back at my hotel. I went to Miramar beach which was nearby and had a look at a wonderful sunset! I took some pictures of the sunset.

The next day we could nto see much of Goa as we had to leave the hotel and catch our bus at 4.30 pm.

Frankly, three days was too little for a vacation in Goa. You need at least a week to enjoy the sights and sounds of Goa.
I will put up the pictures shortly after I get them scanned....