6 rainy days...

Last week I was in Goa. Enjoying a long break and vacation.  Its been sometime we have taken a holiday. That long I mean.

Driving was out this time as Arjun wanted to travel by plane. It was his birthday celebration so it was the way he wanted it to be.

The idea was to enjoy the rains really. Monsoons in Goa are beautiful and as all of us like the rains, we were all excited. Suhas, Kanchan and Tanu also decided to join.

Fort Aquada was the spot. Beautiful hotel. 40 acres of mountain. Cottages and rooms on it. Mountain is overlooking the sea. On all sides.

A beautiful swimming pool. Infinity pool. I love this concept of infinity pools. Its cool really.

Arjun and I climbed mountains in rains. It was amazing. Played in pool almost 4 hours a day while it rained heavily all over.

Food was fantastic as with all vivanta hotels. Went to Panjim and walked around. Saw the old Portuguese settlement. Beautiful houses. People still live in those. Some houses have been converted to galleries. We picked up some Mario Miranda cartoons. Saw some beautiful cut glass glasses. Each costing 3000 rupees. But boy, they were nice to look at and hold in hand.

Old Goa churches. Once more. Yes. And this time we had a guide. I love the concept of guides also. They are like same song,  different singers :). They all have exactly the same script, just everyone delivers in their own voice. Haha.

But thats like so much of trivia that its worth the 100 rupees they charge. Then you can roam around once your tour is done. It was good.

Tried martini for the first time in my life. Lemon-pepper martini. It was great. And some nice wines. Suhas wanted to start with wines. With little knowledge I had because I have been drinking for 3-4 years, I tried to guide. He enjoyed it so  guess I am a good guide :).

Some cashews, and not cashew fenny (thats for next time) :).

It was an enjoyable one. Goa is always great. Guess going there once a year is a must go. One more in the rainy season is surely on cards.  May be next year or may be year after next.

But surely on cards...

Once you back. Its like a sweet hangover.  You still can feel it and you are happy. That's what holidays are like. That's how holidays should be.

Here's to the holidays.....

Intelligent people of Mandya

We pass through Mandya on the way to Mysore. Now Mandya happens to be the largest town on the way to Mysore. It's claim to fame is sugarcane produce and so rich sugar lobby people.

While you cross Mandya, there is this 5 km stretch which goes through the city - SH17. This place has put around 4 signals on the road. Each of the signals is above 150 secs. So one, you keep waiting and then 1 signal is next to bus stand. So irrespective of state of signal, bus drivers feel they have the born right of way and so keep pushing their buses in the middle. This just makes the signal stop of 150 secs even worse. As some times when signal is on, buses are all blocking the way and you can't go.

May be its worth investing all that money you earn in some intelligence and planning, people of Mandya.

Vivanta by Taj @ Madikeri, Coorg

So we left from bamgalore around 2 pm. And realized that of all the times we have driven to Mysore from Bangalore, which is quite a few in past 2 years we have been in Bangalore, this time is the best time to leave from Bangalore to Mysore. May be rains on the way played a part because the roads were pretty clear.

We reached Mysore in 3.5 hours. Which is a record till now. We stayed at Brindavan gardens. Nice place to stay for a night. The Queen bed room is small. But serves the purpose for a night. It has good views of the garden. So all in all, good place.
Next day left for Coorg. The roads are surprisingly good. Four lane till Hassan and then two lane. But well built, no potholes. It still took us around 3 hours to cover around 95 km because of ghats.
At the Taj, they sprinkled holy Kaveri river water and opened the gates to a grand opening. It's a high lobby on top of a mountain. Nothing marking the boundary so gives a feeling of infinite stage extending till horizon. Extremely beautiful. If you don't see it, you are missing something in life. It's a work of art. They have made this 7 storey building to have the large infinite deck. The temperature controlled infinite pool underneath and entertainment /activity area. All in all pretty good.

The cottages are huge. I mean huge. The cottage we stayed in was bigger than our Mumbai house. One living room with fireplace. One large, and I mean large bedroom area. Then 2-3 steps down to study and viewing deck. Large windows overlooking the valley. Huge bath area, wardrobes, walk in closets and what not. It was pretty good.

Issues, no issues? Well, not really. There were issues. The restaurant processes were not figured out. The food was exorbitantly priced. There used to be a good half an hour of delay once you order the meal. So eat and then go to restaurant so that you can wait there for the food to arrive. Options were limited and they were not sure what to do if you need customization. Any, even the smallest of customization.

We witnessed the first ever buffet served during dinner in the hotel on 20th Oct. Was served an hour late from the time it should have started.

The place is new. Soft launch happened on 15th oct. Fully functional by 15th dec they say.

The place is nice. Coorg is about coffee plantations. And this place is about rain forest. The resort is on 250 acre of land. Mountains, valleys and ponds. All in the resort. Belongs to a private investor and Taj has leased it I think. 6 acres has cottages and pathways and all the stuff. Rest is jungle. Nature trails, cycling trails and what not.

It's a mixed bag review only because we have seen very high standard of service from Taj before. This still has to cover a lot of ground before it reaches say Holiday village in Goa. Or Coonoor Taj.

Overall. Extremely beautiful place. Very relaxing. Very pricy in everything. Needs improvement in service quality in restaurant. I think I will visit again. May be after Dec 2012 once it's fully launched.

Some images

Taj at Coonoor!!!

Taj at Coonoor is part of a priory built 150 years along with this church.

Beautiful place, a fireplace in each of the cottages.

This is one must visit destination.

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