MAHALSA TEMPLE AT MARDOL GOA

This picture is by Pravin Kakode.
Just liked it at first glance... awesome pic Kaks...

DUDHSAGAR UNLEASHED

Another Sunday and this time we had something concrete on our minds. We planned for a visit to Dudhsagar waterfalls. But we were uncertain on how to reach there, reason being the normal route that is taken by road is inaccesible during the monsoons as the river Dudhsagar that you might have seen on my earlier posts is flowing really full. And it carries with it the momentum to whisk away a big 4WD. So the option remaining with us was to walk it up thats about 12 kms of trek besides the railway track that leads to Belgaum in Karnataka or else take a Goods train or a engine that would ply up the route.

The whole process starts from Kulem a small village which is located at the base of the western ghats which has a railway station and about a dozen shops. Most of the people in this area have a 4 wheel drive for they do good business during the season carrying hundreds of tourists across the river, streams and the forests to the base of the Dudhsagar water falls.If you have been to Anups Blog youll get a good coverage of what it is like to go to Dudhsagar on 4WD jeep.

We reached Kulem and we had a couple of guys walking up to us and offering to set us up with the Engine driver of a Goods train that would drop or throw us off the engine which was to start from Kulem at about 1:30 pm. Well with my intentions of saving some money I decided to do it myself and used a little of my Kanada speaking ability to get the engine driver get us up the Railway engine. And there we were in ecstacy that we are making it and that too without paying any penny.. but it was short lived ecstacy. There were some officers at the Dudhsagar and we could not travel by the engine.

A little disappointed, we decided to take it up next sunday. We reached our car and were thinkin of getting back and then the guy who offered to set us up, walks by and offers to take us on BIKES... yea crazy that was. But we decided to give it a thought.

After much bargaining over the dough that we need to shell out we made up our minds on the ride up.

We had 2 bikes and 5 guys.. the guides included. We hit the railway track and rode parallel to the track for about 25 minutes. Amazing riding skills.. those guys were able to make us feel real comfortable on a narrow path besides the track. Then we had to move off road track used normally by the jeeps and ride till the station Sonaulim which is misspelt on some of the boards as 'Sonalium'..makes u think of radioactivity...

Well there on, we were on our feet again besides the railway track... walk walk and walk.. it was amazing feeling to be with the nature... walk up the western ghats besides the track. Yea you also get the aromas of litter along and on the railway track... well thats a part of this amazing trek.

Ahh then I see 2 Leeches hanging on to my legs...suckerssssssss... we managed to get them off and then we walked on...on and on and on... and finally we got a glimpse of the waterfalls which was on the other side of the valley... and then we realised that we got lot of walking to do. We were actually trekking from the bottom the western ghats and getting across U shaped valley on the other side..... kind of long long bend......

It was raining real heavy.. we were all drenched ...but spirited... we had some tough time catching up with the speed of our guides who just seemed to slip away if we stopped for a fraction to capature some pictures....

After about 45 minutes of paced walking we were at the Falls... Awesome awesome..simply awesome.. Dudhsagar was true to its name... it was white water that was flowing at a real scary pace ... a sure shot way to loose whatever...name it..:-)

We were to hitch down on an engine..but a stupid guy at the station there told us it would be some time for the engine to come down ..so we rolled up our sleeves and spirits and decided to walk it down again......

and just in case you need help going to Dushsagar and you are willing to shell out dollars.. you can call on us...;-)

Check out some of the pics ...... hope you guys like it.........

On the Engine at Kulem Railway station.......

Lagey Raho.........

Radioactive?????

Sonaulim Station...

Our First Glimpse....

Way up ...

The Railway track maintenance guys....

From the other side of the valley.....simply awesome

Tunnel Vision

Dudhsagar Railway Station

FYi....

Stairway to Dudhsagar....easy way there ....

This is supposed to be for the 'Firangs' who have a special Coach to visit Dudhsagar during the season... donno how true ...

Guess the tree hates all the water around...

Last glimpse before we wound up the circuit....

On our way down...

Calling it off for the Sun-day...

THE GREEN PIECE.....

This is what it looks like when i stand in my balcony. The true beauty of what rains do to the landscape in Goa cannot be captured using any medium.. you got to be here to feel it and breath it....

CURLS..............in backyard garden...

FLOWER POWER

Hi guys... The pictures here are taken more than a year back at the Art of Living Ashram Bangalore... Check em out... :-)

FORT TIRACOL

Hi Guys..
was getting bored with nothing to do.. a lil sick with viral fever.. well another random posting from me. This was the visit to Tiracol Fort.
We had the little DSa in Goa and she was down from Bangalooru with her Office guys and wanted an excuse to get away. We started with the usual 4 to 5 options in mind.. headed off to Panjim .. had some coffee at the Cafe coffee day... Ahh then the interesting part... We wanted to eat at O Coquiero's at Porvorim. And we did sit in there but to our surprise we had nobody looking forward to taking order from our table. We had one guys who told us he will be there in 2 minutes and we were still looking at each other for the next 10 minutes. That got us up and away from O' COQUIRO..

We did have a wonderful lunch at NH-17..thats a restaurant with a Delhi touch in Porvorim. For all those who havent been there.. it is a nice place. Good food, Good service, different ambience.

Post lunch we headed straight to Tiracol for we were running out of time. We had to catch up with Sunset. Rather we were trying our luck on the clouds clearing a bit....

About the FORT

The very northern part of Goa Tiracol is wild, beautiful, unspoiled and totally uncommercialised and is one of the last idyllically peaceful spots in Goa.
This was a fort taken over by the Portuguese in 1746. It was used as a base for freedom fighters during the liberation of Goa in 1961. Within the fort there is a chapel which is locked most of the time. This fort is converted into a Heritage hotel.
North of Arambol, the coast read climbs to the top of a rock, undulating plateau, then winds down through a swathe of thick woodland to join the River Arondem, which then follows for 4 K.M through a landscape of vivid paddy fields and coconut plantations dotted with scruffy red-brick Villages. And the same in Pictures for your eyes...enjoy madi

THE BRIGHT SIDE OF THE MOON

Hey Guys
Would like to share this pic with you all....
Aim for the stars and thats where you get...
Dont get any closer till then..............

Trek to Savari Falls

Finally the rains have come in.. relief from the heat but the humidity still sucks...
But rains have not kept our spirits down.. our gang of 3 is still doing the much needed exploring. And we have only got better. Now we explore on our feet. We had the shaddy Geek MR. DEVARAYASAMUDRAM VIJAYKUMAR VIKRAM in Goa ( DV I hope I m getting it right )
Well he is the most wanted guy around for those bunch of Loyalites. I have just got to know him a little better this time when he was doing nothing in Goa, untill then all I knew about him was """GEEEEEEEEEEEK""". Ooopss the software guys dont like this term but I guess its OK. We in Goa dont run the fear of being mobbed by the GEEKs.

Getting back to where we started. We had the Shaddy Geek DV, the Business ty'c'oon KAKs ( 'C' could be replaced with 'ph'), the official Printer PRAGGY, THE DITCHER -SURDS and myself the 'ORIGINAL TRANSPORTER'. It was a busy sunday for me but the Guys managed to coax me into this Trekking trip.. so i decided to screw up with some work( hoping my dad never reads this) and get along with the BOYZ.

This was the trek to the Savari Falls situated in the Sanguem Taluka of Goa. Most aptly located in South Goa's green Hills bordering with Karnataka. We had no clue it would be a great trek till we lost out way and had to wade thorugh ankle deep stream to reach the waterfalls.

Kaks must have had some real fun for this was his first time with the BOYZ after he has been married. Once we were at the Falls, Praggy, Kaks and myself made up our mind on some splash into the pool.

Guys catch up with some pics here..Hope you enjoy them















Our Local Guide... He did a wonderful job. Picked him up at the local village along the trek..


















The Typhoon




















Ohhh Geeksss



















Praggy leading the way..















SURDS















Lost .......














Shikari and his dog..well check out the double barrel SURDs is carrying















Break time....while Kaks was enjoying splashing his New Trek shoes in the water...


















Savari Falls
















Great Job by Parag.. Cut and paste