I turned 26 a couple of days back. I feel a bit more comfortable with my baldness, as it is a bit less "premature" now.
The week before, I was in Goa. Instead of the usual "get-drunk-and-waste-away-at-beach-shacks" routine, this time I just rent a bike and toured across the length and breadth of the northern part of this beautiful state at 70kmph. I know plenty of you end up in the Calangute-Baga region whenever you end up going to Goa, so instead of giving off-beat semi-pretentious suggestions that in all probablity are not going to be of any use to you, here are a few tips you can probably try out:
(1) Food/Drinks: Do try out the Sea-food Platter at Infantaria (near Calangute-Baga Jn.) and the breakfast at Cafe Lila (near Baga Bridge). Amongst the beach shacks, Zanzibar in Baga was much better than the rest. And I found the restaurant Asia, right next to the Calangute beach, quite good in terms of food and service (especially), but not that great if you are (a)price-conscious and/or (b) don't have earplugs (the 'live music' wasn't too inspiring, to say the least). Tito's is a bit over-rated. Drinks-wise just one tip: don't try cocktails at beach shacks - even if they offer them for free!
(2) Places to go to: Candolim beach was heavenly. Serene, peaceful, not-so-crowded. Great place to chill out. Great for swimmers too. Try that on a Wednesday so that you can try out the Anjuna 'flea' market too - nothing extraordinarily brilliant, but nonetheless you get the best prices for all the crap you normally end up buying in Goa. Fort Aguada gives some great views. A lazy Sunday walk through Panjim was a surprisingly good experience. The bike trip to/through Old Goa was nice too.
(3) Places to stay - Calangute Residency is in a prime location and I've stayed there before, but if you're looking for a bit of peace and tranquility and/or not getting a booking there, don't worry - there are an infinite number of hotels on the Calangute-Baga Road. I stayed at Hotel Shelsta, and found it quite nice. The best part is, it has a 24-hour Subway on the ground floor - it saved my life on more than one occasion.
Enough gyaan. Just go there, guys...hire a bike, roam around, have fun. Life's too short to waste away in your cubicles, staring onto your laptop screens, checking worthless spam and wondering what to buy next.
Btw, did you know Goa is the state with the highest per capita income in India?!!
