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-   -   An incredible road trip to the “Pearl of the Orient” – Goa (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travelogues/95575-incredible-road-trip-pearl-orient-goa.html)

“We waited all through the year
for the day to appear
when we could be together in harmony

There's something about Christmas time
something about Christmas time
that makes you wish it was Christmas everyday….”

How true are these words crooned by Bryan Adams!

Christmas was just around the corner and the very word, brought joy to our hearts. We had made elaborate plans for Christmas and the New Year. We had to decorate our Christmas tree, do our Christmas shopping, buy lots and lots of chocolates and other goodies, buy presents for our friends and family, send greeting cards, etc, etc. The list was endless. Then later, our anniversary was coming up in the New Year. We had waited for more than five months to embark on our yearly road trip to celebrate that day.

We had celebrated our previous anniversary in the vividly gorgeous city of Udaipur. The days we spent in Udaipur were truly memorable and the scenes we witnessed there, were still fresh in our minds…

We had also paid a visit to the Queen of the Hills and her poor cousin, Yercaud, in mid 2010. After these trips, We had absolutely no doubt in our minds, that we would be heading to the “Pearl of the Orient”, The Land of Beaches, Goa, to celebrate our anniversary.

We were extremely delighted at the thought of spending some days amid the captivating, sun kissed beaches of Goa. Sun, sand, surf, tan, prawns, fish, guitar and fenny were all we wanted to find over there… Replete with swaying palms, food shacks, flea markets, water sports and nightlife, Goa beckoned us for the perfect holiday. What an awesome way to start the New Year…., right?? But we couldn’t wait that long….

We, being addicted to driving and touring the hills, couldn’t hold back our wanderlust any longer. My wife’s birthday was fast approaching and we desperately wanted to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city. So, off we went on a long holiday to Mahabaleshwar, which is our favourite getaway spot. We spent some peaceful days in Mahabaleshwar doing nothing, but relaxing and enjoying the cool climes. We had been to all the important tourist spots in Mahaby umpteen times. So we concentrated only on the town and market.

We spent some exciting days in Mahabaleshwar, soaking in the winter chill and enjoying the delicious food. Here are some pics of Mahabaleshwar….





































Finally, the spelling has been corrected!! First pic was snapped in 2009!

Glad that you are back and to Goa means it will be with a Bang, looking forward to another incredible one at that. A five star for sure. The Monday morning blues were cleared faster seeing the thread and I am happy to be privileged to see it first All the very best Chevy Lover

Hey. You are back.
Waiting for the Goan delights.

@mallumowgli started with Nelliyampathy and @CL with Goa. I am already getting nostalgic and thanks guys - I can do the virtual visit.

Looks like this was one long shopping & foodie trip!
Your anniversary trip TLs are becoming something to wait for every year! We are all marking our calendars!

Thank you Rajeev. I am really happy to be back with another edition of the 'Incredible Road trip' series. I hope to share some of our unforgettable experiences in Goa. :)

Thank you so very much Kumar sir. I am honoured! We have been doing a road/rail trip on each one of our anniversaries. We went to Bhutan & Darjeeling & Gangtok, Delhi and Nainital, Udaipur and Mount Abu, Mahabaleshwar, Tarkarli, Devbagh and Goa to celebrate our last four anniversaries. Let's see where God takes us next year! :D

Thank you, Lalu. It is a pleasure to be back. The travelogue will start shortly!

@Chevy Lover: 14th picture from Mahabaleshwar market, the person also has a Brother who is more healthy then him.

Had bought leather footware during my last 2 visits from him and they were really nice.

We saw some amazing scenes in the market. We saw a woman selling natural honey. She had a whole lot of honey combs with her and she carefully used her cloth sieve to extract honey from the combs.






I had bought a big bottle of honey from her in the year 2009 and had enjoyed it tremendously. There are no artificial additives in the honey and still the old honey is as good as new and we were still using it. I bought another bottle from her and the taste was heavenly! It was liquid gold!!! clap:

The honey was from the forests in Mahabaleshwar and she told me that it takes an incredible effort to pry it off from the trees. God knows how many times that poor woman was bitten by the bees!

By evening, we saw a huge pack of bikers descending in Mahabaleshwar. All of them rode imported superbikes like Kawasaki Ninja, Hayabusa, Ducati, etc. We also saw two riders on Harley Davidsons and those bikes were simply awesome! I managed to get some snaps of two Suzuki Hayabusa GSX 1300. Those bikes were so well maintained and I enjoyed the photo shoot tremendously. The owners graciously gave me permission to click away!!! Awesome ride, man!!!









Later that night, we were in for a big surprise. It was my wife’s birthday and we saw two of the most famous directors from Bollywood. Yes, it was Mr. Abbas and Mr. Mustan Burmawalla. They were visiting the hill station with their families. I enjoyed seeing Mr. Mustan use a white blackberry!!

I introduced myself later to the director duo and requested for a photograph.



Mr. Abbas and Mr. Mustan were very friendly and graciously posed for a snap with me! This pic was clicked by one of his family members.



Thank you very much, Abbas Ji and Mustan Ji! I loved meeting you!

Once we returned from Mahabaleshwar, it was time for us to get our Christmas tree all decked up and prepare for Christmas. We decorated our tree a week before Christmas and decked up our house as well! Decorating the Christmas tree and the house has been a custom in our families since generations! Finally we were ready to welcome infant Jesus to our hearts and to our home!

Our Christmas tree… :D

The preparation for the journey ….
We had a gala time during Christmas and the New Year. We had planned and decided that we would be leaving for Goa on the 7th of January 2011. We had left on exactly the same day in 2010 and reached Udaipur after driving 960 kilometres in just 15 hours. To reach Goa, we had to drive only about half the distance we covered till Udaipur. We were waiting eagerly for the D-day to come….

As I mention everywhere, I give utmost importance to Chevy baby’s condition. I had some bad experiences in the authorized service centre, Pashankar Auto, and had a major tiff with them. They cheated me by not changing the old coolant and probably the engine oil too. I have written about it clearly in my Chevy’s ownership thread.

To cut a long story short, I changed the engine oil of Chevy at Bosch service centre and also did a de-carbonizing treatment which was from Wuerth of Germany. My Chevy was back to his roaring best and I breathed a sigh of relief only after I accelerated to 145 kmph on the NH4. I knew then that Chevy baby’s condition was back to his immaculate best!

There was a small starting trouble with Chevy and the culprit was the 5 year old AC Delco battery. I had an inkling that the battery might give up on me any time. Chevy always used to start on the first crank itself, even when we went to Mount Abu and experienced minus 2 degree Celsius temperature. I got good advice from Team BHP member Khoj and others and decided to go in for a battery replacement. I bought and installed Amaron Black 65Ah battery. Here is the link; Amara Raja - Automotive - Black

After the new battery was installed, I noticed that Chevy’s pickup also increased marginally after cold starts and the lights had become much more powerful. I was finally at peace. The risk of my vehicle stalling and having to push start it was finally averted. I was smiling again…..:-)

I then went to my trusty MRF dealer in Pune and had Chevy’s wheel alignment checked and adjusted with their state-of-the-art machine. I feel that those guys are the best mechanics I ever dealt with, in terms of wheel alignment and related work. I also balanced and rotated all four of Chevy’s tyres and was extremely satisfied with their professional service. I have done wheel alignment for my Chevy in many different places. Never have I been so satisfied with my Chevy’s handling!!!

I got the nitrogen levels in the tyres checked from MRF. I also adjusted the focus of all my projectors as we would be on the road all night! My Hellas were terrific!!

I returned home with a huge grin pasted on my face. My wifey instantly knew that finally Chevy baby was indeed back to his best!!!

I had rewarded Chevy baby with five brand new Goodyear Assurance tyres during our trip to Kodai and Ooty. The events which led to two sidewall tears are cheerfully described in my travelogue on Ooty and Kodai!!! In fact, losing two tyres due to sidewall tears was so funny, that it brings a tear to my eye whenever I think about it!!! That incident could have ruined our entire trip and even put our lives at risk!

Now, after 25,000 kilometres, the Assurance tyres were still as good as new and they were much better than Goodyear GT3. So I had absolutely nothing to worry about in that department also. But still, I always keep a spare tube in my Chevy. I love to drive with a calm, unstressed mind! I planned for hours, to make our trip worry-free! Being prepared for the journey is often given least importance. But for me, this part is the most important.

My second task was to chalk out the routes perfectly. As always, HVK sir helped me sincerely. It was at this time that I got a bright idea to add Tarkarli to our itinerary. My wife grudgingly agreed. But she wasn’t entirely pleased with the sudden change in plans. I got the precise route details from HVK sir and I instantly felt a huge load lifting off my shoulders! We were finally at peace. Now all we had to do was fill up Chevy’s tank and sleep.

We finished our packing well in advance. We packed a big VIP suitcase full of clothes and towels and packed a bag full of cosmetics and sunscreens and what not!!! Our travel kits were always ready. So we did not lose any time in packing. We specially remembered to stock up lots of filtered water, snacks and juices. My wifey did not forget her favourite Toblerone chocolates too. I filled up Chevy to the brim and finally, he was fully geared up for the trip.

We loaded our luggage in Chevy and retired for some well deserved sleep by 8 pm on the 6th of January. I planned on starting our journey the next day at 4am.

Day 1 – The journey starts…

We woke up on the 7th of January by 2:00 am and freshened up. We were in a very jovial mood and were raring to go! My wife was really excited as she is a complete water baby and she can spend hours in the swimming pool or the sea.

Let me narrate a funny incident which led to a startling discovery. During our courtship days and even after our marriage, I never had even a faint idea that she could swim. I just assumed that she did not know swimming and she did not speak much to contradict my view.

During our last visit to Goa, which was after two years of marriage, we stayed in a resort in Calangute, which had a great swimming pool. One morning, my wife asked me to accompany her to the swimming pool at 7am. I was still very sleepy and absolutely refused to leave our AC room. But I told her to go ahead and also warned her to stay away from the deep region of the pool. She left our room shortly and I went back to my beauty sleep. After about an hour or so, I suddenly woke up and realized that my wife hadn’t returned. I rushed to our room’s balcony, which was directly above the pool and what do I see??? My wife was swimming ecstatically in the pool without a care in the world!!! :Shockked:

I was so utterly shocked that I couldn’t believe my eyes. Convinced that I was seeing things, I went inside, poured some cold water on my head and went back to the balcony. Then I saw my little mermaid again, swimming, blissfully unaware of a pair of shell-shocked eyes watching her in awe!!!

I came back to my senses after an eternity and ran downstairs to the pool. I asked her when and where she learned swimming. Guess what her answer was!!! She was taught swimming when she was studying in the 1st standard in a primary school in Cologne, Germany, where she was born and brought up! She added that she never knew that she hadn’t forgotten swimming!!! I was speechless for the rest of the day!!! :D

Now that I knew how much my dearie enjoys being in water, I make it a point to take her to the sea whenever possible.

Finally, we were ready and good to go by 3 pm. We carefully kept our camera on the second row floor. I wanted my wifey to try out lowlight action photography. That was one area she never got the opportunity to try!

After a short prayer and a photo session with our beloved Chevy, we hit the road at exactly 3.45 am. My Odometer read 98,131 kms.






We had the entire road for ourselves. I took the road via Katraj towards NH4, avoiding the ghats and taking the longer route. I switched on the first set of my Hella projectors as soon as I hit the highway. I did not switch on the second set of Hella, because there was no need for it. I could maintain speeds of about 80 -100 kmph on that road. There was very heavy truck traffic on the NH4. But ALL of them were very well behaved and gave me ample space to overtake. The only guys who gave me a hard time were the MSTRC buses on their way to Kolhapur and beyond! I was driving at 100 kmph most of the time and used my horns extensively because of the buses.

We enjoyed the early morning drive immensely. I maintained a steady 100 kmph and reached the first toll plaza, Hedshivapur, at 4.15 am after covering 29 kms. The toll was Rs 60. The drive was super smooth all the way and we soon reached the Khambakti ghat. There were some trucks keeping us company uphill. They drove in a very orderly way, keeping to their left. I never faced any issue because of truckers.

The only imbecile I encountered in the ghats was a Wagon R guy, who tried to overtake me from the left side! Normally, I wouldn’t have cared about it! But the fact that I was overtaking a truck from the right side when this primate attempted to overtake me, made me furious. I have noticed that guys driving smaller cars have a feeling that they can squeeze in anywhere! I have also noticed that most of them have graduated from driving bikes, but still drive their cars, just like they drive a two wheeler!!! What the Wagon R guy tried to do was an unbelievably stupid maneuver. The trucker, whom I was overtaking, cut off the gap between our vehicles and this Wagon guy had to brake with all his might. Shortly afterwards, I saw him speeding off at high speed downhill. A bit later, I saw him again at the foot of the ghats, opening his bonnet and checking his car’s engine!!!

We reached the Mahabaleshwar turn off junction at 5 am. We had covered 83 km from home. Our average speed was superb and I was sure that we could reach Kolhapur by 7 am. I had planned my journey stops meticulously.

I wanted to stop for our first break in Kolhapur, just in time to catch an early breakfast and then attempt the dangerous Gaganbawda Ghats before bus and bike traffic picked up. Till that moment, my plan was working to perfection. I was happy and my wife was watching the road like a hawk and helping me navigate around trucks moving in the right lane @ 30 km/hr.

We reached the Anewadi toll plaza at 5.20 am. Our Odo read 98,233 kms. We sped off after a short delay there because of heavy traffic and soon reached Taswade toll plaza at 6.15 am. Now our Odo read 98,298 km and we had covered 167 km from home sweet home, The Oxford of the East!

The sun rose shortly afterwards and my dearie immediately sprung into action. The sun was still playing hide and seek with us. But whatever little light was filtering through the trees was enough for my wife and she managed to capture these pics.

@Chevy lover - Glad to see that you are back with your TL. Your superb narration along with the brilliant photos makes your TLs a real treat to read. Here's to more TLs from you.:thumbs up

Wow interesting travellogue for goa :). The real treat is the NH4, and once Karnataka Begins the roads get even more attractive. Waiting for more pics.

Thank you, Nutty Nair. I loved reading your comments. Thanks again!

Oh yes! The natural beauty was fantastic. But we did not enter Karnataka. More on that coming up!

The drive continues…

We were enjoying the final few kilometres to Kolhapur tremendously. The road condition improved a bit and I was able to speed up in stretches. There were lots of stretches where the road was concrete and I could maintain high speeds. Except for the occasional trucker who refused to give me side, the rest of the drivers were courteous and the drive was butter smooth. There are some dangerous curves on the road, so I had to be doubly careful, and at the same time maintain good speeds.

We reached Kini toll plaza at 6.50 am and paid a toll of Rs. 52. We had covered 220 kilometres from Pune. Chevy was running at peak speed and we soon left NH4 and entered Kolhapur city. The time was 7 am sharp and we breathed a sigh of relief. A major part of our journey was over and I could relax a bit over a cup of coffee!

We had covered 239 kilometres from Pune to Kolhapur city in approximately three hours of driving. Once we entered Kolhapur, we encountered some of the worst roads I have ever driven on! Road widening and concretization work was going on. Sadly, we had encountered these same terrible roads in May 2010, when we were on our way to Ooty. Nothing had changed!!! :Frustrati

We drove through the city leisurely. We were surprised to note that none of the hotels were open. We drove a bit farther into the city area, passed the railway station and asked a man on a bike to guide us to a good hotel. The Good Samaritan guided us to Hotel Prarthana, a pure-veg hotel. I parked Chevy baby near its entrance and let the engine idle for a minute and then switched it off. We were amused to note that we had travelled 7 kilometres to find this hotel.

When we got out of our Chevy, we were really taken aback by the weather in Kolhapur. It was very very cold there!!! We were driving very comfortably, with the AC on in Chevy. The temperature in Kolhapur had to be below 10 Degree Celsius!!

The manager of the hotel was busy with his morning prayers, but quietly guided us inside. We ordered Idli and Coffee, which were the only items available. The waiter told us very politely to wait till 8.30 am to order Dosas!!! We quickly finished our meager meal and went back to our Chevy by 8 am. I quickly cleaned Chevy’s windshield and side glasses and mirrors. I also checked the coolant and clutch oil level. Everything was perfect. Since we would be driving through the ghats, I had to be absolutely sure about my Chevy's clutch. Fully satisfied that Chevy was in pristine condition, we decided to start our drive without any further delay.

We restarted our drive by 8.10 am. The Odo read 98,377 km. We quickly made our way towards Rankala Lake and took the right towards Gagan Bawda. The road was very narrow and because of the presence of a bus stand there, hordes of people and buses were jostling for space.

We soon reached Rankala Lake and were surprised to see fog rising from the lake. We quickly bid goodbye to Kolhapur city and speeded towards Gaganbawda. The road was in pretty good condition. But I had to be on my toes because of suicidal two wheeler riders. We carefully drove towards Gagan Bawda.

Brick Factory






Superb State Highway. It was so very beautiful...















My favourite shots!







Any idea what is happening here? A factory?

Sugarcane everywhere….


It was the start of sugar cane harvesting season in Kolhapur. We saw thousands of tractors, Sonalika and John Deere were the most popular I guess, laden with tons of freshly harvested sugar cane making their way to Kolhapur city. We enjoyed seeing sugar cane carts pulled by stout oxen. We felt sorry for the beasts though! The load must have been so very heavy!



The natural beauty we saw all around us was simply out of the world! The highway was so very beautiful, with huge trees on both sides! clap:





A cousin of Harry Potter???














After the harvest, new crop has been planted!






The road was bumpy in stretches. There is no tar on top of the metal!!!









Irrigating the farm land...





He is going to burn all the leaves...













A cute little house!




A hard working farmer!





A small temple!

Finally you are back! I was reading but did not comment. Amazing preparation for both self and the car!

A Question: Why you chose the Gaganbawda option but not the one via Radhanagari? The lake view would have a good see on the way. Are road conditions from Kolhapur not good?

Though I have never visited that place, but I read in the Malwan TL that its a very nice location.