Motorcycle diaries Part 1.2: Discovering Goa on Royal Enfield

Discovering Goa on 2 Enfields

In our earlier post, you came to know how the wolf pack of Joseph, Jason, Nathan, Chinmay and Winner decided to travel to Goa from Pune on two-wheelers. The obvious chariots of our choice were 2 Royal Enfields, but unfortunately Jason opted out and declared that he would prefer discovering the coastal state on his 4-wheeler ( such a weenie ).

28th December

Anyhow, after taking a tea break we entered Goa at 4.20pm and the board was a sight for sore eyes. It said, Goa 0 km.

Goa milestone

After driving for 30 km, we reached Mapusa. The area was jam packed due to the peak season and most of the streets were blocked or had been marked as one way. We rode for another half an hour until we reached Parra. As the trip was an unplanned one, we started looking for accommodation facilities. We asked a number of places, but the hotels were either pre-occupied or we demanding excessive amounts. After cooling down, we finally found a small one room house ( which was sort of a resting place for a watchman ) and started unpacking our bags. The owner was quite friendly and lenient and allowed us to do whatever we wanted during our stay there.

A Chick Posing at Parra

At that very moment, we came to know that Jason was about to reach Goa on 29th December & had a place of his own. So we booked the place for only 2 days. After having a bath, we laid down and started planning our days. But as none of us craved alcohol, cigarettes or any other substance ( complete teetotaler ) hopping across bars and pubs were out of the picture.

At 9 pm we got dressed, left our belongings at the apartments and saddled our respective Royal Enfields. We started riding for Baga, and after numerous police checkpoints and one way roads we realized that we had absolutely forgot our way back to the apartment at Parra. We stopped our bikes and evaluated this gravely serious situations by laughing out loud and rolling on the roadside with feats of laughter. We decided, while in Goa we should keep such serious things at bay and carry on with wherever the road would take us. We reached Baga at 9.30, parked our bikes and sat at a nearby shack. We could barely hear the thundering sound of the waves crashing as it was completely overshadowed by the loud trance and dub-steps that were being played at every single shack there.

After trying a few delicacies, we left the beach only to indulge ourselves in a pool session in Titto's. There each one of us had a Shwarma, packed a few Rum balls and continued our search for our apartment. After a few wrong turns and a great ride, we reached our apartment by 11.45 pm.

29th December 

All of us woke up at 8.30 am and pampered our Thunderbird and Electra with a good wash. Had tea at a local stall which was really appalling, and headed towards Palolem . Palolem attracted a lot of tourist and was situated in South Goa. As we were in North Goa, we had to cross a stretch of 90 km to reach there. First we went to Mapusa, then rode to Panaji and had our lunch at The Great Punjab. The food of simply awesome and so was the capital. It clearly reflected the heritage of the state and the Portuguese influence present till this very day. From Panji we travelled to Margaon, and found out that we had missed Palolem by miles. Hence we resorted to the nearest beach, i.e. Colva. We reached Colva at 4 pm. Parked our bikes and sat at a shack. We walked for a few minutes till we found a quiet shack and listened to the roaring sea. The view was simply stunning, so was the breeze. We stayed there for 4 hours which seemed like few minutes and had Shawarma at a local food truck and left at 8.30 pm.

Relaxing at Colva

 We reached home at 10 pm, and were really tired. Nathan and Joseph had a bad headache and decided to stay inside the house. Chinmay decided to grab a bite at a local hotel, which was the perfect example of disgusting food, while Winner gathered his energy to meet Jason, who had arrived in Calangute and was struck in traffic. After meeting Jason at Baga and having a great meal at one of the shacks, Winner returned at 4 am.

Serine and secluded ambiance at Colva

30th December

We woke up at 8am and bathed, got dressed and left the room at 12pm. We called Jason to meet up at Mapusa, so that we can store our bags in his car. After keeping our belongings we kept the basic necessities with us and had a sumptuous brunch at Navratan. We left at 1 pm and went straight to Vagator, the home of Sunburn. We found a lot of hippies there and most of them had come there after partying at Sunburn. We sat at one of the shacks and had a few glasses of Mocktails. Then we headed for a local restaurant and had a aloo paratha to fill our bellies.

Then we left for Morjim, which is known for its seclusion, peace and solace. We reached Morjim at 5pm and stayed there till 11pm. We found a few guys who also hailed from Pune, but all of them were heavily intoxicated. And believe me its funny to chat with a guy who is blurred out of his senses. The beach and the local ambiance was so serine we thought of spending the complete night there at the beach. But the local attendant from the shack said that a foreign marriage was scheduled for 31st, hence they would be closing the beach and start decorating. Am sure the wedding is definitely going to be a memorable one.

Morjim at night

It was 11pm, and we decided to leave and meet up with Jason at Mapusa. It was really dark at some places, but thanks to the projector lamps of Royal Enfield Thunderbird, it made it felt bright as day. Jason mounted the Thunderbird with Joseph and Nathan, and myself (Chinmay) & Winner rode alongside on the Electra. We reached Jason's house at 12.30 am after a chilly yet rejuvenating ride.

 

31st December

After a tedious journey, all of us were completely beat up. So we woke up at 11 am, and headed straight towards Navtara at Mapusa to fill our hungry bellies. After a sumptuous meal we decided to head towards Candolim. The traffic that day was intense. But thanks to our agile bikes, we were able to cut through traffic past the huge rows of cars and reached the beach at 2.30 pm. On arriving there we were surprised to see the wave of people coming in and out of the beach. We tried to find a secluded place after parking our bikes, but couldn't find any. After resting in a shack for a few hours we noticed that the weather became cloudy and feared that it might rain anytime. So without further ado we left for Anjuna.

And such was the traffic on our way to Anjuna we thought that we might not even reach there my sunset. We fueled our bikes and waited in line in an ATM, and finally reached there at 7 pm. There were a number of parties going around and we could hear loud psychedelic and trance music being played everywhere. We even saw a hoard of  bikers who had come to Anjuna to celebrate. We checked out a few bikes, shopped for a bit and went straight to the beach. 

New Year celebration at Anjuna

Joseph and I went inside a bar to get some food but which later turned out to be a private party, so we immediately left the place and went to Avalon to have some food. At around 10 pm we played pool at a local shop for a few hours and then resorted back to the beach to celebrate the new year. We stayed at a shack till it turned 12, and to celebrate the moment had a yummy chocolate milkshake along with a few Sneakers. 

The ambiance was absolutely amazing. The beach was lit up with firecrackers and we could also see people flying paper lanterns. All in all it was a sight to behold. Later that night we met Jason who was partying with a few other people and left for our home.

1st January 2015

It was a big day. Not only did we step into a new year, but also it was the day when we had to leave Goa. We washed our bikes and did a few repairs on the Thunderbird and Electra and put our packed bags in Jason's car. Then we rode off.

Our magnificent chariots ( Electra & Thunderbird )

 On our way we met a few riders on our way who had similar travel plans as ours. We greeted each other and with a heavy heart crossed the borders of Goa.

Our next destination was Kolhapur, and the details of the epic journey would be shared soon