[V-16]

Hi guys. Im sure you guys are wondering "Oh no not another Travelogue on Goa."
I know its a been there done that destination. I have done Goa many times with friends, as friends usually do (HIC!!)
This was an impromptu programme and with the whole family. Owing to our line of work, we all never leave the house empty and business unattended unless in times when it is not unavoidable. (the last time all of us left together woaul dbe two years ago to bangalore for a day for my niece's wedding wherein I returned in a day)
Well for me this is special. Im not a loner. I am a kind of guy who likes being in company of family and friends and would hate to be alone even for a minute. In fact Family and friends is my security blanket. So when the entire family decides to make this their family holiday, Im thrilled.
Enough about me, lets get on with the goa trip.
It was supposed to be just my wife, me and my two kids off to Goa for a few days but im glad i could convince my Dad, mom brother, sister in law, nieces and nephew fro this trip. Its now become like a family trip for us.
The first hurdle was to find a hotel with rooms for all of us (14 including my niece's cute 8 month old twins). Initially I was looking at North Goa as thats where the action is as we were planning to wander out every day and night but when its so many people, north or south Goa is not important, being together is. The property had to be a decent one with cottages or villas and we had already visited the Leela or the Taj and a few others so we sought a new location. With a stroke of luck we found ourselves checking into the Intercontinental Grand. They have the best Villa's one can imagine. Its like coming home. The Villa is a ground plus one storeyed, self contained four bedroom luxurious accommodation. That means it has a very well appointed kitchen too. Its like your own little bungalow..well not so little. It has a lawn with a private swimming pool and a two car garage parking with two servant quarters. You will get the picture when I post pics tomorrow.
The harrowing part is the hour and a half 's drive from the airport but once you see the accommodation you think its worth it.
Day one or rather evening one started with us taking a dip in the pool. Some family bonding and then off to a nearby beach for dinner. During the evening my nephew requested that a cake be bought in for my birthday (which was a day earlier)The Place we ate was called "Cuba'', for reasons best known to the owner. The Shack serves all kinds of cuisine which includes Indian (read Moghlai), Continental, French and even Israeli (for heaven's sake, some one tel the owner that Lebanese food cannot be passed off as Israeli)...but no Goan Food?? What? But we still ate there as it was almost time for the restaurants to shut shop. One advice, Never visit the so called five star shack. Bad food, worse service and unfriendly staff.
Tomorrow I will post pics which I will take tomorrow of the place and our escapades. Im sure this will be different from the north Goa travelogues.
Good night

[vikram18]

Don't order any room service either; the kitchen sucks bigtime! I had ordered a fish fry and the damn batter was like concrete! i was literally banging the damn fish on the plate to get the covering off. Gimme the Taj Exotica ANYDAY!
Can't remember any shack that stood out at Palolem, but a bit of a drive to Martins Corner is definitely recommended.

[speedzak]

Let me first thank you for sharing this family trip with us!
I've been to South Goa few times and I stayed in Club Mahindra on these occasions. More than the resort, I was simply happy and satisfied with the chilled out and relaxed atmosphere in south Goa than the north.

Now with all the air stocked up in our lungs, let's wait and enjoy our own Gogi's travelogue unpack slowly. If anybody complains of me as missing, just come here.


Edit: So, that's the sound of waves on your signature, Gogi! I thought it to be a .....

[viper]

Gogi,

If you do go near Martin's Corner also visit Samantha's next door to Haathi Mahal. Has excellent Pizzas's & Pastas made the american style.

Viper

[normally_crazy]

Viper,

Pizzaz and pasta are for the tourists, thats what I feel. Go to Goa and eat pasta - bad idea I feel. Just my feeling.

[viper]

Originally Posted by normally_crazy

Viper,

Pizzaz and pasta are for the tourists, thats what I feel. Go to Goa and eat pasta - bad idea I feel. Just my feeling.

Don baba,

Remember he has kids travelling with him hence my suggestion.

Viper

[Dippy]

Are wah now we have a Gogi blog . I guess you will be reporting live like you usually do in your travelogues. Let the pictures flow in . I'm sure you know you have to head to Goa once again after this trip

[iraghava]

Very good, very good!! Looks like it's gonna be a real fun trip for the family Gogi bhai!

Now waiting for the pictures Gogster-X !!

[V-16]

Originally Posted by vikram18

Don't order any room service either; the kitchen sucks bigtime! I had ordered a fish fry and the damn batter was like concrete! i was literally banging the damn fish on the plate to get the covering off. Gimme the Taj Exotica ANYDAY!
Can't remember any shack that stood out at Palolem, but a bit of a drive to Martins Corner is definitely recommended.

Now you tell me!! Aready had a taste of that. Firstly I think the villas are a bit further than the rooms so the room service is delivered via a golf cart in about 2 hours. So if you want dinner, call them up at lunch time.
Palolem, ah yes thats what its called. You will be surprised at the amount of shacks there are here and all filled by Foreigners. There was a place called Dropadi which my cab driver was recommending. Maybe ill try it
I will definately go to Martins but frist things first, will desperately search for the restaurant that you say, stocked J&B 15 years special reserve and finish the stock they have.

Originally Posted by speedzak

Let me first thank you for sharing this family trip with us!
I've been to South Goa few times and I stayed in Club Mahindra on these occasions. More than the resort, I was simply happy and satisfied with the chilled out and relaxed atmosphere in south Goa than the north.

Now with all the air stocked up in our lungs, let's wait and enjoy our own Gogi's travelogue unpack slowly. If anybody complains of me as missing, just come here.


Edit: So, that's the sound of waves on your signature, Gogi! I thought it to be a .....

Ah someone at last realised what my signature means

Originally Posted by viper

Don baba,

Remember he has kids travelling with him hence my suggestion.

Viper

Jiggy's absolutely right Goti. My kid lives on pasta with just plain cheese sauce (YUCK)

Originally Posted by Dippy

Are wah now we have a Gogi blog . I guess you will be reporting live like you usually do in your travelogues. Let the pictures flow in . I'm sure you know you have to head to Goa once again after this trip

You bet dippy sir, you bet!!

Slept well last night.
Today's activities:

1) take pics and post
2) have fun.....

[suren181]

Waiting eagerly to check out the pics Gogi.

OT: My interpretation of your signature was: I thought you had picked up one of those steam engines of the railroad fame and were in the process of restoring it. Sigh! that wasn't meant to be so eh.

[vikram18]

Originally Posted by V-16

will desperately search for the restaurant that you say, stocked J&B 15 years special reserve and finish the stock they have.

No need to search. When you're at the entrance to Colva beach, facing the little bridge you need to walk over to get there, Kentucky will be to your left. Enjoy cheers:

[nilanjanray]

South Goa is amazing! I have great memories of Palolem - fantastic beach, nice bars, and decent crowd.

But when in Goa, I prefer staying on the beach in a bamboo shack rather than in a good hotel - and renting a bike rather than driving around. Makes one experience the on-ground flavor of the place. However, with kids that kind of roughing out will not be possible.

Next time I am in Goa, now that I am a dad, I guess it will have to be a sanitized trip.

[V-16]

Day two Report:

Day one was good and chilled. The night was not. There was apparantly some sort of power cut (the villas have individual generators) so the tripping made the A/C in my room trip and shut off. The fan was switched on immediately
but the placement is such that the wind does not reach the face of the bed. So spent an almost sleepless night.(was awake till 3:00 typing) As a result slept at 6:00am and was up only at 11:00am
Was hungry so I ventured into the kitchen and made myself a three egg cheese omlette, the way an egg omlette should be made and eaten, folded and moist inside and firm not burnt outside.

Now for the pics I promised;


The pathway leading to the Villas:



The Villa where we are staying:



Our private pool at the rear of the Villa....



...comes with its own private attendant and swimming instructor



Room service arrives in the golf buggy with raw materials for Caipiroshkas and Mohitos




The belated birthday cake



A little later I decided to venture around the hotel and see what the 80+ acre property was all about.
It is a wonderful place with the river on one side and the sea on another.

The river just next to the accommodation



And the Sea on the other side





Passing through the property in a Golf Buggy we see the Golf course that envelopes the property alongside the sea,



Well manicured gardens and a few pools

[V-16]

I bet the hotel attracts a lot of Russians!!




To me, the see has its own unique charm. I could sit all day (in shade) on a clean beach and listen to the waves coming in. This is true music to me.
Coming from a city like Bombay, the fascination for the sea is both natural and unwarranted. Also the beaches and water in southern Goa are cleaner and much more inviting than the Northern side. The sand is more pale, in some areas even close to white, while the water has a distinct Greenish Blue hue. Now I know where the colour "Sea Green" gets its name.

The evening I spend just loitering about on the beach. Alternating between the beach/Deck chairs with a straw covering and wading through knee deep, clean pure water. High tide has set in. Perfect for a little wading in the clean waters. The violent tranquility (Kya Oxymoron mara hai boss!!) of the seas never stops enchanting me.

As usual, loved watching the waves roar in noisily...




and receding quietly reaching a certain point. The sight is pure magic



Hey!! I can see my feet through ankle deep water.





In Bombay I would not even venture into the sea water anywhere. Sad but true. The waters in my city are dark brown to black, so is the sand.
Here the sand can be played with.


So with my sons in tow, we first frolicked in the waters and finally settled down to making sand castles. The winner would be treated to fresh wood fired Pizza



This was the winning entry. Later we treated ourselves to some good Peperroni Pizza



A little further we stroll down the beach to find that at a certain point it almost meets the river.



On the river, we find a Yatch and some jet skis berthed, belonging to the hotel




By now it was almost dinner time. After last nights fiasco, we decided to go to Dropadi restaurant as that according to our taxi drivers was the place to eat Goan food. reaching there we found these guys made no Goan food. They were happier trying to sell us Chicken Korma or any kind of seafood. Can you believe it if I said we scouted all the restaurants in the area and none served Goan or local food.
Where was i going to get my sausage chilly fry and fish curry???!!!

I did what I normally do in a situation like this. Ask the cabbie to take us to a place he would eat. 15 minutes and 4 kms later we arrived at "Karmalghat Restaurant", a pure dhada styled restaurant at ...er....what was the place...Ghelim?? I dont remember perfectly. This place is at Canacona.
The food is great and the owner very courteous and is open 24 hours.
Various things were ordered like Goan Fish Curry, Prawns sukhe, Tisrya sukhe, masala chicken (not recommended) Butter chicken (for my sons, a definite no no no!!) wild boar served as sukhka mutton (owing to the legality of serving it i guess.) dal tadka, fish fry etc etc.
Except the chicken and tisrya, everything was damn good. One always gets great earthy food at small joints like this.
We left, thanking the owner and leaving him to his other guests
Tomorrows...another day. So much to do...so little time to do it!!
Good Night folks!!

[CorsaLove]

V-16 - Very nice pics...I tried staying at the Grand once before but dropped it at the last minute as my favorite Taj gave me a very beautiful offer (which i was waiting for)

Please keep em coming...!!