[vnabhi]

Hey that looks like a decent joint---by the way, is the name Zinhos or Lara's?

The board says 'non-AC rooms', but your room has a split AC. The USP of that place seems to be proximity to the beach. I don't know if they have a pool and other facilities like Osborne.

[traveloholic]

Originally Posted by mobike008

One of our friends worked for some
time in Kolhapur and he said, keep a look out for a huge mansion on left side which was the house of 'Star Ghutka" owner.

Avi Bhai, you passed the palatial mansion of Sanjay Ghodawat. This guys got immense wealth of Exotic Cars in his stable. He actually wanted to get a Bugatti Veyron to India. But dropped his plans half-way through.

If you remember, on the way from Sangole to Kohlapur, you might have come across a couple of dozens of Wind Mills atop the hillocks. Those Wind Mills are owned by Ghodawat Engery. The whole strech of Jaisinghpur seems to be his with Ghodawat Energy, Ghodawat Engineering Colleges, Star Factories and etc etc etc. This guys got loads of monies in this pocket.

Instead of adding up a new thread for my pictoblog of my trip to Goa, I would love to add it up here itself, as a part of your thread. Hope its fine Avi

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by StarVegabond

Boss, Avi,

Vada-Pav ka photo dikha kar, aapne mujhe emotional kardiya re

One major thing i miss in Bangalore is Vada-Pav

Star, even i am big lover of Wada Pav having spent considerable time in Pune and being part maharastrian. They are just awesome

Originally Posted by akroy

Nice one Avi, Keep them coming. Excellent pics specially Amboli ghats.



Luckily in bangalore, I got vada-pav everyday in our office canteen and it used to taste very well too.

Abhi

Thanks Abhi. Ambholi is to be seen in monsoon. Heaven on earth.

You get wada pavs in your canteen? They don't serve it here

Originally Posted by vnabhi

Hey that looks like a decent joint---by the way, is the name Zinhos or Lara's?

The board says 'non-AC rooms', but your room has a split AC. The USP of that place seems to be proximity to the beach. I don't know if they have a pool and other facilities like Osborne.

Zinho is the name of the resort and they have a shack named Lara on Baga. If you read carefully it says AC and Non AC separated by an oblique

No, they dont have any fancy facilities like a pool et.all. Since it was raining heavily, we thought it would not be used and settled for this one.

Originally Posted by traveloholic

Avi Bhai, you passed the palatial mansion of Sanjay Ghodawat. This guys got immense wealth of Exotic Cars in his stable. He actually wanted to get a Bugatti Veyron to India. But dropped his plans half-way through.

If you remember, on the way from Sangole to Kohlapur, you might have come across a couple of dozens of Wind Mills atop the hillocks. Those Wind Mills are owned by Ghodawat Engery. The whole strech of Jaisinghpur seems to be his with Ghodawat Energy, Ghodawat Engineering Colleges, Star Factories and etc etc etc. This guys got loads of monies in this pocket.

Instead of adding up a new thread for my pictoblog of my trip to Goa, I would love to add it up here itself, as a part of your thread. Hope its fine Avi

True Nikhil, that stretch is like Sanjay Godhawat's territory, wherever you go, huge hoardings and name plates all the while.

Sure, go ahead and be my guest, look forward to your pictures and narration here.

[JUDA]

Great Pics Avi! For sure the roads earlier on look pretty bad. Would you happen to know if the road conditions have improved now. I intend to travel from Pune to GOA Via the Gadinglag>Ajra>Ambolie>Sawantwadi route.

Cheers!

JUDA

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by JUDA

Great Pics Avi! For sure the roads earlier on look pretty bad. Would you happen to know if the road conditions have improved now. I intend to travel from Pune to GOA Via the Gadinglag>Ajra>Ambolie>Sawantwadi route.

Cheers!

JUDA

Thanks Juda.

Well, as on Oct 4th the route was pretty bad due to consistent rain. This entire route is a equal mix of bad and good roads. However, nothing as bad that you should lose your sleep over.

Ensure proper tyre pressure and spare tyre ( in case of puncture) grit your teeth and you should be good to go.

[pulsar56]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Here are some more pictures of Amboli Ghat were we bumped into a group of pretty girls and some delicious authentic wada pav's which was a heady combination enjoyed by all of us.

Why haven't you elaborated on this?

[traveloholic]

Yeah! The road is a proper mix of Loose Gravel + Pot Holes + Craters + Clean Roads. So better be careful and make sure that your maintain proper tyre pressure. If possible, carry an extra spare tube with the spare tyre. Been to goa the last fortnight and special thanks to the mix-and-match of loose gravel, road conditions and bad luck, had to change the tyre twice. Wasn't lucky the second time.

[andyrain]

Hi Avi,

A lovely travelouge, keep it coming. We haven't reached to the girle gang climax as yet. Hoping you would have some details on it soon ;-)

The pictures and the way you have keyed in the details are great, also makes a lot of us feel as if we were folllowing you there.

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by pulsar56

Why haven't you elaborated on this?

Details have been explained offline

Originally Posted by andyrain

Hi Avi,

A lovely travelouge, keep it coming. We haven't reached to the girle gang climax as yet. Hoping you would have some details on it soon ;-)

The pictures and the way you have keyed in the details are great, also makes a lot of us feel as if we were folllowing you there.

Thanks for your appreciation. The girlie gang details will follow shortly, unfortunately I don't have any pictures since they were surrounded by hordes of people

Story contd......

We quickly took showers and headed out of the hotel around 8pm. Since it was too early for any night to be lively we decided to simply drive around and made a quick visit to Calangute beach and then headed out to Sweet Chilly near Fort Aguada for a light dinner that would give us energy till wee hours of the morning. On the way, we passed through the villa owned by the King of Good Times.

I remember that we had a small TBHP meet in Sweet Chilly with most of the Goan gang like Rohan Fonseca, Dinar etc present in Feb 2008.

I like this place, it usually lively with fire performers, live orchestra playing but heavy rains had dampened its spirits as well.

There were hardly a few tables occupied due to the blistering rain continously. We settled down their and were approached by a Himachali Maitre de who understood our spicy palate and customized our food excellently to our taste.

We ordered Paneer Tikkas ( One guy was veggie), Fish Fry, Prawn Vindaloo. Prawn Vindaloo was excellent and we ordered the same in gravy based along with typical goanese fish curry with plain rice.

Overall, even without the usual hullagulla, it was still a pleasant experience as we sat by the roadside and enjoyed our meal watching the rain.

[mobike008]

After finishing out dinner, we headed out to Mambo's and as expected there was no entry if your not a couple. So we decided to spend our time in another small but happening place called " Kamaki" which is right next to Tito's.

They charged us Rs.300/head only for entry and the place was pretty small. This makes me wonder these folks are damn lucky to use some run-down family property as a pub/resturant. What they did? Nothing, they just happen to own property at the RIGHT place

We partied till 4am that night. Rains hadn't stopped since we reached Goa. It was terrible in one way and good in another ( atleast it cooled down the humid temperatures of Goa)

Next day, we got up liesurely at 9am and around 10am headed out to "Infantaria" for breakfast. It was jam-packed and we got a table after 30 minutes and we ordered for Mushroom Omlettes, Grilled Toast with Cheese and Coffee. We were told firmly our order will take 30 minutes

So we got some chicken pies from their bakery downstairs and happily munched on them till our breakfast arrived.

After the breakfast, we decided to head to Panjim and went to Miramar, i have seen the heaviest rainfall in my life here, we had to stop the car since we could not see anything. Saw a Cafe Coffee day outlet and decided to take shelter with a Hot cuppa till the rain subsides.

[traveloholic]

Avi, waiting for more, this travelouge is like Mozart's Symphony. Slow, Sweet and Melodious.

[mobike008]

After spending an hour at CCD, we decided to head out to Fort Aguada where I bumped into Traveloholic and we spent a few minutes talking in heavy rain and here is the begining of my camera getting into issues.

I spent a good 30 minutes near the gate of the Taj property as there was no shelter from rains anywhere for a few kms.

Later on, when it stopped went up to the beach to find my friends drenched to their bones,shivering, big smiles on their faces, said with their teeth chattering " We enjoyed it"

We even spotted a few people fishing from the top of that Fort area. The weather was simply beautiful, we had a great time out there.

[contactme27]

very nice snaps.. It is always fun being in Goa during Rainy season. keep going..

[pulsar56]

Originally Posted by mobike008

we spent a few minutes talking in heavy rain and here is the begining of my camera getting into issues.

oh oh!

Does that mean end of pictures in this travelogue?

[traveloholic]

Avi, as far as I remember, it was just drizzling lightly when we were chit-chatting on the road. As we were slowly walking towards Sinerquim Beach, it started raining heavily. I thought your camera was pretty much safe in my car, when we kept it there. I never knew it was already drenched in rain.