Off Beat Konkan: Unplanned Road Trip

Usually what travelers do when their travel plan canceled? "They make a new travel plan."

Exactly that is what I did on 27th Dec. 2019 when my Ajanta & Ellora tour got canceled.

I immediately called Abhinav, he is the travel buff and my all-time partner in unplanned travel. Though he was in Mandu, he promised me to come back to Pune the next day. On that note, Me and Dipti (my life and travel partner) start our journey to Pune from Bombay on 27th Dec. 2019 at 8.30 pm. The next day we met Abhinav & Madhura (His life and travel partner) and decided to go to Vengurla. Vengurla is the beautiful, scenic small town situated on the bank of the Arabian Sea in the Sindhudurg district of Konkan. Basically, Vengurla is the best alternative to Goa.

29th Dec 2019,

We started our journey early in the morning. So that we could reach Vengurla for lunch. We drove to Vengurla via Amboli. Amboli is a hill station in Sindhudurg. We found a small local food joint in Amboli where we had a tea-break with the best of delicious Misal Puri and a small power siesta.

Thereon, we started again and reached Vengurla by 2:00 pm.

After sunset, we decided to have a walk-in a local market. I love to explore small-town markets, it's always fun. Their shops, foods, houses, market walls, people, everything is very fascinating.

Once crossed the river we reached Vengurla in an hour. Had dinner.. sleep early.. And decided to wake up late the next day.

31st Dec 2019,

Leisure day.

We decided to do nothing today and just spent our whole day in Vengurla by sleeping, eating and meeting locals. That's how we end our year 2019.

01st Jan 2020

Happy New Year.

And here we resumed our journey with the first sunrise of the year 2020 and headed off to Malvan because wake up on 1st Jan in hangover is too mainstream.

Before reaching our next stop, we realized how mad, creative & wacky this world is. See the next set of pictures, you will understand what I am talking about.

Following this madness and beautiful landscapes, we finally reached another coastal gem Malvan.

Malvan is one of the best coastal town. This place has so many beaches in 5 to 6 Km radius. My favorite is Chivla beach & Devbaug beach, though I didn't visit there this time. We directly reached to the Serjekot jetty for scuba diving. If you want to do scuba diving, this is a perfect place. Little away from Malvan jetty, less crowded, clear water, and very importantly, they have best-experienced & trained scuba divers to give you the best and peaceful experience of scuba diving.

Find them on Instagram @diveserjekot

after this 'into the blue' adventure, we move forward and pit stop at Devli. It's a small village, just 7km away from Malvan. Almost heaven, the peace, the serenity, the poise there was beyond the world.

We took pleasure in being with animals, hang around with locals. Their welcoming nature was astonishing, enjoyed some fresh air and so much of an inexpiable experiences. Village life is the life we all desire for.

Ok. Just see the pictures you may get an idea...

A village is a perfect place to live if you are in search of harmony with nature. In the village, you can feel the time and make your life move slower.

So we slowly move forward to our next stop, an another konkani village, Pangrad. A beautiful small village situated in the Sahyadri mountain range. We had an incredible night drive to Pangrad.

The best thing about a road trip is, you will get surprises at any point of time. We were ready for it and we get our most amazing surprise.

Here it is...

Dashavatar.

In Konkan, Dashavatar is the most popular art form. Dance ritual dramas are held in most of the temples during festive occasions. Interesting characters in these dramas are Apsaras (Heavenly Maidens). Men play a role in women’s attire.

It was mesmerizing. The day ended on high.

Ufff!!! So much in a day...

After almost one and a half hours of the walk, the time came to get dip into a river. Swimming in a local river was a magical experience, especially because we’re lucky enough to get clean water and an isolated location. <3

And now the time came to conclude our tour.

So we reached back to Vengurla.

3rd Jan 2020,

Home Coming!

We started early in the morning from Vengurla to reach back to Pune.

When you driving through the mesmerizing morning sunshine and with fascinating landscapes one must stop for a while and had Tea. What say??

(Breakkkkkk)

And here we end our road trip with lots of new friends, experiences, and the world is not the same for four of us anymore. As Miriam Adeney says, "You will never be completely at home again because part of your heart always will be elsewhere. That is the price you pay for the richness of loving and knowing people in more than one place.”

That's our story, now over to you.

Have a good trip...