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5 Things To Do In South Goa

Published on February 20, 2018 by Lavanya Pulijala1 Comment

Sun-soaked skin, salty hair, fresh air, breath-taking sunsets, isolated beaches, beach walks, tired bodies, energized souls, tan lines, delicious food, long drives, lush green trees, pretty little alleys, cozy cafes with slow jazz, unexplored paths, interesting people, old memories, deep conversations and refreshed minds.

This sums up my recent trip to South Goa 🙂

It was a 3-day short trip but we managed to explore 4 beaches 😀

Here I go with the details of my trip :

Accommodation

Patrice’s Villa – We booked this place in Airbnb and it is more like a homestay than a regular hotel. Since this trip was mostly like a get-together, we preferred an Airbnb. It is well maintained by a foreigner. The place is close to the beaches – almost like 500 m from Canacona beach and 2 km from Palolem beach. Everything was fine with the villa except the dim light in the house and frequent electricity fluctuation which was a major downside

5 Things To Do In South Goa

1. Visit Galgibag Beach

It is the best beach that I have been to in India, other than the Andaman beaches ( If you haven’t read my Andaman travel story- Here it is ). It’s almost around 10 km from Palolem further down south. It is a perfect place to just sit and let your thoughts flow 🙂

You can hardly find anyone on the beach and there are no beach shacks. It is not yet commercialized and hence, the clear water and unpolluted atmosphere. Would definitely be my go-to place the next time too 🙂

This beach is known for turtles but we couldn’t spot any 😐

Also, there are narrow alleys near the beach which are more than perfect for a peaceful walk 😀

2. A Long Drive To Talpona Beach

Talpona beach is a very small stretch of beach compared to Galgibag and it comes right on the way to Galgibag. The ride to this beach is refreshing with isolated lanes lined up with tall trees and bridges over narrow creeks.

3. Taste the Goan food

If you are a sea food lover, you have to try out Dropadi beach restaurant in Palolem . It also serves good cocktails 🙂

If you want to experience the Goan atmosphere and some good jazz, drop by Jaali Cafe near Patnem Beach or Siyaram’s on Palolem Beach.

4. Attend a Silent Disco Party

I am not quite sure if these parties are held in North Goa but Neptune’s Point on Palolem beach hosts a silent disco party every Saturday.

Wear that wireless headset and move your feet to the tune while the rest would be enjoying the silence 🙂 It would be a completely different experience.

5. Finally, Explore Shopping at Palolem

Unlike the usual shopping experience at Anjuna flea market or any of the North Goa beaches where you mostly find beach clothes, Palolem streets offer a wide variety of handmade knick-knacks for home decor. I stocked upon some cloth lamps, hand woven storage boxes, tassel key-chains and bamboo accessories. There are good dream catchers too 🙂

Don’t forget to bargain 😀

Canacona is also one beach that we have been to. It is more of a rocky beach with a beautiful view and less noise. You can even try Patnem which is close to Palolem. Agonda is also one more popular beaches in South Goa.

Honestly, there are good beaches if you could travel further down towards South from Palolem. We had limited time so we were able to explore only few beaches. If you do have time, explore the place as much as you can.

Always, explore the unexplored paths !!

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Trek to Andharban

Published on August 30, 2017August 30, 2017 by Lavanya Pulijala1 Comment

The quiet rustle of the leaves due to the cool breeze, the slow moving clouds that were surrounding us, the green pastures, the sound of white water cascading down the majestic hills and the muddy forest trail awaited to welcome us.

That’s where our trek started – Pimpri village base camp near Pune.It was a descent trek unlike the usual treks where one treks up to the peak and down back.It started uphill and we need to trek down to finally reach the Bhira river.

Difficulty level : Medium

Best time to visit : Monsoons

Location : Near Pune

We were a group of 20 people in the trek. It was a trek of around 15-20 km. Terrain was flat for first few kilometers. It involved walking through dense forests, crossing rivers and crossing waterfalls. The path got narrower as one moved forward.

One needs to be careful while crossing the waterfalls and rivers as the rocks get too slippery during monsoons. There are around 3 main rivers that one needs to cross before reaching Bhira. The first two rivers can be crossed by helping each other without any ropes.Heavy rains tend to make the trek difficult.

After crossing those two rivers, the terrain was a mix of flat terrains which were filled with lilies all around, and a descent terrain with slippery rocks. The descent became too difficult due to the incessant heavy rain. The difficult part in any trek is the descent and this trek comprised of around 5-6 km of descent. One needs to be really careful as the path gets too slippery during monsoons.

Due to heavy rains, we couldn’t even use ropes to cross the third river.It was a challenge to cross that river.Our trek lead managed to gather some tree branches to form a bridge which was used to cross the river. Just the bridge wouldn’t be safe either, so we crossed the river by using the bridge one after other holding the rope.Usually, this trek doesn’t get this difficult such that even ropes couldn’t help.It’s only 2-3% of the cases where it gets this intense. Better be prepared for the worst and be relaxed while trekking.Trekking in hurry might lead to serious injuries.

The effort one takes to trek Andharban is absolutely worth-while, considering the view of wide expanse of trees and waterfalls that one could witness.It was so heavenly to see clouds moving around, the beautiful view of a continuous range of huge hills covered with lush green trees and waterfalls. I was head over heels in love with that heaven.Such things make me realize how grateful I need to be of myself to be able to visit such amazing places.I wish I could spend an hour just sitting there, watching the view and having a cup of coffee 🙂

I tried to capture the views using my phone but those pictures don’t do justice to what I exactly saw

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Oh you beauty!!Andaman!!

Published on January 28, 2017May 25, 2017 by Lavanya Pulijala1 Comment

Landing on a place isolated from the regular hustle-bustle and seeing oneself surrounded by tall lush green trees and serene beaches rather than the monotonous skyscrapers and noisy vehicles would definitely be a holiday which helps one unleash.All one could witness in the near vicinity would be the tranquility that the scarcely populated white sand beaches would offer where one could relish the sight of several shades of blue extending infinitely.

What keeps Andaman apart from other places is that it doesn’t have many historical places/view points to visit but every part of the island is captivating and one needs to enjoy the nature, be it, the astounding marine life and the corals or the islands themselves.Andaman is a group of almost 342 islands out of which many are under the supervision of the Forest and Marine Reserve Department to ensure that the coral reefs are protected.These islands are mostly not open for tourists.However,I managed to go to one such island about which I will be describing in the next article.

Let me keep precise about the details of my trip such that it captures the entire essence while being informative as well.Since I have lots to share about the entire trip,I will take you through my experience in two different articles.

Duration: 6 days and 5 nights

Nearest Airport : Veer Savarkar International Airport,Port Blair

Day 1- Day 2 – Day 3

Port Blair

Places to visit:

Andaman Cellular Jail – The historical prison is infamous for the cruelty shown towards the prisoners in 19th and 20th century.Do notice the architecture of the prison and how different wings are positioned.

Corbyn’s Cove Beach – Sports a splendid view of the ocean .It’s slightly secluded from the city and not many people visit, due to which you can enjoy the beach even more.

Anthropological Museum – I didn’t get time to visit it but heard that it’s worth a visit

Things to Do:

Light and Sound Show in Cellular Jail – You need to grab tickets for it and there are different slots of 1 hr each starting from 6 pm .

Taste naariyal paani of Andaman – Andaman is a home to many coconut trees and the coconut water is far better than Kerala as well and it could supplement your meal 😛

Sagarika Store – If you are looking to shop for Andaman souvenirs , visit only the Govt authorized Sagarika store present in the cellular jail which is reasonable in terms of price.You might end up paying more at any other place in Port Blair.

Jail Structure

Outfit details:

Since it was a tour to the prison , I tried to bring in the bold look with boots and matched it with a velvet outfit.I haven’t gone too heavy with accessories ,instead , carried a sling bucket bag along with a unisex sport watch.

Top and Skirt : Forever 21

Boots : Zara

Sling bag : Colaba Causeway

Havelock Island

Next day, we started for Havelock on a cruise.It’s a two and half hour ride from Port Blair.Do ensure that you take tickets for royal or luxury class in cruise which has a view of ocean and in case of other classes, you don’t get to see the view-it’s more like a closed room.

Places to visit:

Elephant Beach – It’s a 15 min steamer ride from Havelock island and is known for water activities.I found it better than Radhanagar beach ,though, it’s not as famous.It’s open only from 8am-1 pm in the morning.So, plan accordingly.

Radhanagar Beach – Apparently, top 7th best beach in world.Most of the beaches in Andaman are calm and are not too deep for at-least 1 km in the water.However,Radhanagar allows one to experience high tide but it is not too deep and pretty safe.

Things to Do:

Snorkeling in Elephant Beach : They charge around 500-800 bucks depending upon how much you want to explore.I really loved it and hence, paid 800 bucks to see the colorful marine life.Don’t miss this. I will share a video on that pretty soon.Keep following me on Instagram to know about it.

Scuba Diving in Havelock : Costs not more than 3000 bucks per person.One needs to experience it to see the coral life.

Taste sea food ( I would suggest Anju Coco restaurant where you get really tasty sea food and if you are looking for cheaper food, check out squid restaurant)

Rent a bicycle/scooty : Usually, they don’t charge more than 500 bucks per day.Havelock is a small island and is perfectly safe at all times , even during the night.Explore as much as you can.

Stay in a resort with private beach

Finger Coral

Corbyn’s Cove Beach

Cruise

Private Beach

Radhanagar Beach

Elephant beach

Scuba Diving

Outfit Details:

Cruise- I went quirky with kitschy layering and vibrant colored outfit. Accessorized my watch with some charm and tassel bracelets , sling bag.

Top – HnM

Trouser – Only

Accessories – Colaba Causeway

Havelock Beaches – Stayed comfortable with shorts and an off-shoulder top along with a beads chain which I styled as a choker.

Top – 20Dresses

Shorts – People

Chain – Colaba Causeway

Let me know your feedback and contact/follow me on Instagram for more information about the trip.

Photos by Rahul Kongala and Durga Pulijala

Shopping and Hopping in Kolkata

Published on November 11, 2016August 19, 2017 by Lavanya PulijalaLeave a comment

So, I happened to visit Kolkata for a couple of days.Though, I had only 5 hours of free time, I managed to shop and explore the city as much as I could.I would like to take you through my entire experience in Kolkata.

When it comes to the city, if you are the person who is obsessed with cleanliness, then, Kolkata might not meet those standards.Besides, it is a city which literally shuts down by 9 pm and being used to Mumbai, I found it hard to believe.A small note to all those who are planning to shop in the evenings is ,most of the shops are open only till 8:30 pm.So, plan accordingly 🙂

Apart from this, if you are new to Kolkata, it’s better to stick to Ola/Uber for travelling.However, be prepared, many drivers don’t even turn up or cancel the trips without any reason and this becomes literally worse in the night after 9 pm.Solo travellers,be sure to plan your travel a bit early during the night.

Yeah!! Yeah!! I know, you must be eagerly waiting to know about my shopping 😀

Whenever I happen to visit a new place, I try to collect and shop for things unique to that place.The same happened even with respect to Kolkata.I started hunting shops in Park Street for such exclusive stuff and you know what, I found one amazing store,”Biswa Bangla”, which was launched by West Bengal Government and it has all the bengal-specific sarees,artifacts,accessories,bags,dupattas. This store has limited stock for sale but it covers all kinds of unique arts of Bengal.They even had sarees woven by tribals with vegetable dyes.

Vegetable dyed saree

Kantha work of Bengal is something which captivated me.I bought a two-sided dupatta with kantha work done on tappa on one side and a completely different single design on the other side. Tappa ,basically , is a collection of small square-shaped cloth pieces with varied designs and kantha work is used to put these pieces together.I even bought a cotton saree which was weaved in the form of a fine detailed net and colored with a vegetable dye.Jute and copper accessories are unique to this place which made me grab a jute laptop bag and a set of copper earrings as well.

Kantha work on Tappa

Kantha stitch

I had a plan to visit the most popular new market of Kolkata for shopping but unfortunately, I couldn’t find time for it due to heavy rains.I hate these spoilers but I did manage to go around and check out the Victoria Memorial which was built in memory of Queen Victoria, the Empress of India in 1877.It was constructed in Italian style with marble.The royal hall brings in the beauty of the high-dome architecture with glass painted windows and intricate wall carvings.The museum showcases the richness of the Kolkata culture since ages in terms of literature, politics,art and trade.

The Majestic Victoria Memorial

Kantha work in 1900’s (Displayed in Victoria Memorial)

I am not a person who would be interested in temples but since the Kali ghat temple was built in 19th century,I was intrigued to check its architecture. However, much to my surprise, the architecture was minimal.The idol looked elegant, though.

That’s about my overall experience in Kolkata.

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Pictures by Lavanya Pulijala