In Goa, traveling around by a rented motorcycle or car is imperative if you want more than just sun, surf, and sand. It gives a lot of freedom but can be perilous at the same time. On the second day, early morning, we haggled with at least three owners for renting and finally ended up with an Activa for Rupees 250 (it is better to rent for long durations to get a good price). Another reason for renting was that we wanted to go to Bicholim to visit Santanu’s maternal uncle for dinner. Normally, the roads of Goa are as smooth as airport tarmacs except for a few parts.
After breakfast (bread, butter, jam, and juice or tea) at the hotel, which was included in our package, we rode on the Calangute-Baga road and soon realized that the hotel in which we are staying is at the main spot at the entrance of this road which leads to Baga beach.
This road to Baga Beach from Calangute is full of handcrafted items, which are lucrative to foreign tourists (but not worth the money). Just opposite our hotel was a nice Tibetan market that offers all kinds of gems and silverwork, wooden statues of Buddha, and Hindu deities. Besides, Calangute and Baga have been swamped by Kashmiri traders putting up Kashmiri carpets, wooden crafts, embroidery, and papier-mâché boxes for sale. Famous nightclubs like Tito are on this road - vivacious with tourists and locals, which means shops are open till late while other parts of Goa go to sleep.
An interesting nugget of information about Baga beach is that there are a lot of touts asking for para-sailing, water-sports, dolphin boat-ride, and banana ride, etc. Hawking wares include skirts, tee-shirts, novels, etc. You will be offered a cup of tea to ayurvedic massages as everyone tries to sell their service or product. It means you can sip chilled beer while getting a temporary tattoo done or reading a novel. For these services, you need to bargain - We were told they were offering a good Indian price compared to foreign tourists. But in reality, tourists are tourists, and locals try to milk them out as much as they can - the bitter truth of vacation.
Well, we rented sun-beds at Rs 50 for a few hours, took a dip in the turquoise water which was really fun. The best part is to see the majority of Indian women clad in colorful saris stand up to their waist in the water, while others wear shorts, bikinis, and swimsuits. Pot-bellied Indian men in shorts or undergarments saving a buck or two for swimsuit. Though there are a few smarties (women) who come prepared in Indian attire with a swimsuit inside to take a dip and get quickly changed. Indian visitors flock to giggle at the tribes of dreadlocked white-skin on the vast white sandy beach.
Being famished, we headed towards Plantain Leaf (only vegetarian) for a udipi thali. Came back to the hotel for an afternoon siesta and left in the evening for Bicholim. After tanking up at Mapusa, we rode via Fort Corjuem to Bicholim - it was a long but enjoyable ride.