Go Goa (Revisited)

Gavi had sent a bench mark and hence the expectations for the next trip was set high since there was a break of about 4 months !! After a lot of planning, we were all set for our Goa trip (Feb 1st - 3rd)

*ing :- Vijay Claud, Nishchitha Singh, Swetha Naidu, Ajay S, Sony Thomas, Sandeep Palakkal, Megha Mistry, Bhavya Krishnan, Johnson James, Ranjani Narendra, Lekha Mistry, Shyam Prasad and Tony Mathai

With a lot of hiccups due to the traffic in Blore, all of us made it in time and boarded the bus to Goa on 31st Jan 2013. Bus journey was for 14 hrs and we reached Goa on Feb 1st morning (Friday). Just as we got down from the bus, Jomy was there to greet us and our bikes were waiting for us. We hired avengers and activas and went to our Service apartment (they were equivalent to Luxury Villas) on our bikes. After we freshened up, we went hunting for food. The food in one of the restaurants was average but the rates were too high and disappointing !! 

We then headed towards Calangute beech. After playing in the beech for a while we rested in a beech shack. We kept chatting on the beech side for hours together and even danced in the beech shack !! After dinner we went for some shopping on some street which is very popular in Goa. Few of us did some shopping and sat on the road side admiring the Harley Davidson bikes zooming on the road. Coincidentally the day we went there was the 110 th year celebration of Harley Davidson and there were about 500 Harley Davidsons in Gao at that time !! 

We returned to our Apartment late in the night and spent time chatting and playing games. By early morning we planned to ride to Anjuna Beech. It was a nice experience riding to a beech at 4 am :D !! After sunrise, we rode back to our apartment and had a good sleep !! We then played volleyball in our swimming pool. It was great to see foreigners supporting our game !! By evening we were all set for our Yacht experience. 

Everyone was dressed up well for the Yacht ride and we left to St.Xaviers church since that was the landmark that was given to us. The Yacht looked beautiful and all of stepped into. We were overwhelmed to see the dance floor and DJ night set up for us. We had a good time dancing and singing in the yacht. By late evening the Yacht returned the shore and we planned to visit the satuday market which is one of the most happening places in Goa !! The place was filled with foreigners and stalls over a very vast area. By mid night we returned to our apartment all tired and sleepy.

The next day (Feb 3rd) we woke up and packed our bags. After checking out of the apartment, we went to Chapora fort (Dil Chahtha hai was shot here). This was a time for the trippers to do a photo shoot. Though it was quite hot, all of us were more focussed on photography than the climate :D After several clicks, it was time to wrap up our Goa trip !! On our way back from Chapora fort we stopped by to have lunch. The ambience and food were both good (the best we had in Goa... unfortunately dont rem the name). 

By about 4pm we were back to the bus stop and we started our return journey to Blore. We have had a nice time watching Sunny Deol movies in the bus :D

Gavi & Athirapally falls

While watching the movie "Ordinary", Johnson and myself decided that our next destination would be Gavi as were impressed by the shooting location !! After 2 months of planning, the day had arrived - Sep 6th !!

*ing :- Johnson James, Jacob Idiculla, Jackson Kuruvilla, Vijay Claud, Nishchitha Singh, Bharath Reddy, Megha Mistry, Bhavya Krishnan, Shyam Prasad, Sandeep Palakkal, Richa Kriti and Tony Mathai

We left from Bangalore by Train on Thursday (6th Sep) and reached Aluva Railway station in Kerala on 7th Morning. Our TT driver (Shiju) was on time waiting for us in the railway station with his Blue Bird (a Luxurious TT) !! Since Athirapally was our 1st destination, we had to freshen up somewhere. Shiju took us to a Lodge in Perumbavoor. We freshened up quickly, had breakfast from a nearby restaurant and got into the TT. Going by our TT tradition we started off with dumb charads :D 

Athirapally falls : We reached Athirapally falls by about 12 PM. After taking the entry tickets, we headed towards the falls hoping to the see the scenic beauty as seen in the movie "Raavan" (Few shots of Raavan were shot here). But to our disappointment there was nothing spectacular mainly cos the water level was high and we werent allowed to get into the water at many spots. There was a small portion where tourists could get into the water. So we quickly got into the water to get started off with our Kerala expedition !! It was fun to see Jackson swimming and yet stagnant, Richa posing for pics like models, Vijay and me doing our Yoga stunts etc. After about an hour of relaxing at Athirapally falls we decided to have lunch and head towards Thekkady. Just as we started walking, it starting raining cats and dogs !! We sat in the rain for sometime as it was nice to see the monsoon in a waterfall ! Once we were done with admiring the rains and the scenic beauty, we walked towards the entrance to have lunch at a nearby hotel.

Thekkady : The journey from Athirapally to Thekkady was quite long !! We reached Thekkady by about 11 PM and had to go hunting to find dinner. Most of us had lost it coz we were too hungry. Richa had even started conversations with her tummy :D. For our rescue, there was a small hotel that was open where we had dinner. We reached our homestay at midnight. Though the homestay looked just average from outside, once we stepped inside, it was royal !! We had to sleep quickly since we had to wake up early the next day to start our journey to Gavi.

Gavi : The next day morning (8th Sep, Saturday), we woke up early and freshened up by 7 am. With no further delay we started our journey to Gavi in 2 Jeeps. The Jungle safari in Jeeps was an awesome experience. Shyam was busy clicking pics cos this place is like a photographers paradise. We were quite fortunate to see a herd of elephants, a single elephant and many other animals. After about an our of Jeep ride, we finally reached Gavi !! It was quite disheartening to know that there were just a couple of scenes in "Ordinary" that was shot here and most of it was shot in some other place. But we were glad that place looked promising though it was totally different from the movie !! After having a royal breakfast in Gavi, we started our trek. 2 guides accompanied us and we were provided with sacks to tie on our legs to avoid getting bitten by leeches. 

The trek was nice and relaxing. While returning, we had an option to walk along the road and to go through the forest. Richa, Jacob and Jackson took the road cos they were done with trekking. Rest of us went through the Jungle. There were few spots which made us feel that we were sitting in heaven !! The entire area was covered with Mist and we could even see the clouds moving towards us !!  After the trek we reached returned to our starting point by lunch. 

After a heavy breakfast, we went to a waterfall by boat. The boat ride was a short one. The waterfalls looked very tempting and all of them jumped into the water within no time !! Water was ice cold and it was chilling out in the water. After spending about an hour, we returned to our starting point, got into our Jeeps and returned to our Homestay. Even after reaching the homestay, none of us were tired and instead were all geared up for some fun activities !! 

We had planned a cultural night at the homestay. All of them were given an hours time and we formed groups and prepared for events. Nish was the anchor. The gals danced for 'Mayya Mayya'. Johnson, Nish, Bhavya, Richa and Tony danced for the Kolavari song. Sandeep, Shyam and Jackson put up a fusion with Jackson as the DJ !! Vijay and Tony presented the mallu version of Oo la la from Dirty Picture !! There was a round of Hula hoopa (spinning the hoopla around your waist) in which Jackson won !! Finally there was a skit by Jacob, Johnson, Vijay, Bharath and Tony which was more like a mimicry of the Gavi trip planning :D 

The next day morning (9th Sep - Sunday) all were very tired and lazy. It was heart breaking to know that the trip was coming to an end. We spent the morning looking at the videos of the cultural night and we had a good laugh :D...Since we had a train to catch in the evening, we didnt plan anything for sunday. We settled accounts with the Homestay owner (Rajesh) and headed towards Aluva railway station. We bid good bye to Shiju (TT driver) and got into the train. There ends an epic trip !!

Manchinbele

After the Yelagiri-Hognekkal trip, a new group was born -Trippers Adda. Manchinbele was the next place that Trippers Adda ventured after Yelagiri !! - 18th Aug 2012

*ing :- Vijay Claud, Nishchitha Singh, Bharath Reddy, Megha Mistry, Bhavya Krishnan, Sony Thomas, Johnson James, Richa Kriti, Priti Srinivas, Swetha Naidu and Tony Mathai 

Though Manchinbele is just about 50-60 kms from Bangalore, we decided to go by TT which would be an ice breaking session since many of them didnt know each other. Our boarding point was Mathikere and we started our journey by about 9 am. As always, we played dumb charads during our TT journey and reached Great Banyan tree by about 11am. Our guide was there to receive us and we went a little ahead to reach the start of trek.

Trekking : The trek was a very short one. It was more like a walk through a village and some empty fields. After a 15 mins walk, we reached our destination. The organizers greeted us and we started off with Paintball.

Paintball : We were divided into groups of 2. Vj, Nish, Swetha, Priti, Richa and me in Team A. Johnson, Bharath, Megha, Bhavya and Sony in Team B.The 1st was the Eliminator game (Once all the team members from a team gets shot, they are eliminated and the other team wins) in which Team A won. Nish fought till the last minute and made our team proud :D .... The next was Flag (The team that picks a flag from the centre of the ground and takes it to their base station wins) in which Team B won. Priti, Richa and myself were injured..must say Johnson is a sharp shooter !! 

Team Building activities : There were a couple of team building activities which included Kangaroo relay (the baton would be held between both the legs and each team member had to pass the baton to the next member without using the hands) and Hoopla pass (team had to form a circle and pass on a Hoopla ring from one person to another without leaving hands). Team A won both the events !! 

This was followed by Lunch. We had a lunch buffet and the food was decent.

Water sports : Once we were done with lunch, it was time for kayaking, swimming and canoeing. For few this was their 1st time with life jackets in deep water!! We played in the water for a couple of hours and tried the kayak and canoe turn by turn. By evening it looked like it was going to pour heavily and we rushed to our dining area. 

Tea and snacks in heavy rain was mind blowing !! Once the Rain God calmed down, we started our return trek towards our TT and we headed back to Bangalore. The return journey was fun cos we danced and even made non dancers dance in the TT :D Must say that this was one of the best 1 day treks.

For those of you who are interested in these activities, please contact xtremezone getawatz.

http://extremezoneindia.com/camping-a-paintball/manchinbele-bangalore/activities/adventure-sports.html 

- Tony mon