The last trip that I took was a year ago. It was in December last year and it was to Bordi near Dahanu, a couple of hours drive away from Mumbai. Considering the fact that I love escaping from Mumbai to any small town where life seems more humane and natural, this was a much craved for event.
Taking a vacation has always been and still is a major exercise for my family and hence vacations however small and tiny come by few and far between. As such the planning of this one began sometime in the beginning of October. It was going to be someplace that would be a few hours’ drive from Mumbai. We locked on the first option that came to mind- Silvassa but then we wanted beaches and Silvassa does not have any so the route was diverted to Daman.
I began my R&D on the net and found Cidade de Daman to be the only hotel which showed a definite proximity to the sea. Rest all only claimed it. Hence despite the fact that the rates at Cidade were not inclusive of any food, I chose Cidade. However before that the major confusion was over hotels close to Jhampore Beach or Devka Beach. Although both these beaches are as different as tooth and nail, the net did not clarify this difference to me. Jhampore beach is far better than Devka beach.
So on the morning of the 24th of Nov, the 5 of us-mom, dad, sis, granddad and me, were headed for Cidade de Daman at Devka Beach, Daman. I was to be the driver and I knew driving a Honda city for the next three hours with a loaded stock of music, off city roads was going to be fun.
We hit the W.E. Highway from Borivali at sharp 8.00 a.m. The drive was pleasant and relaxing, with good music, good scenery, no rush and idle chat. We took a halt for half an hour at hotel Foodland (110kms from Borivali) a cup of coffee would not do any harm. After that I expected to reach Daman in an hour not more than that.
But I missed a left a Vapi Town and went straight ahead. Now there are no signs or boards to direct you to Daman from Vapi, in our case only when we got a ‘feeling’ of having come ahead did we find out-on asking people- that a left at Vapi town would have helped. However there was a road up ahead if we would take left at Udwada.
We did that and reached the hotel at 12.00 noon(3.5 hours, 165 kms). All through the way the Direction signs are not very explanatory (there were only two Cidade boards that said nothing about direction or distance) and hence a map is your best option.
The Hotel was alright and since it was high tide the beach looked its best. My reaction to the beach when it looked its best was, oh-oh!
But I was already relaxed. We bought a rum bottle as soon as we entered Daman and the fact that it was 157% less than the price in Mumbai was too relaxing to recover!
END OF PART 1(DAMAN)
Taking a vacation has always been and still is a major exercise for my family and hence vacations however small and tiny come by few and far between. As such the planning of this one began sometime in the beginning of October. It was going to be someplace that would be a few hours’ drive from Mumbai. We locked on the first option that came to mind- Silvassa but then we wanted beaches and Silvassa does not have any so the route was diverted to Daman.
I began my R&D on the net and found Cidade de Daman to be the only hotel which showed a definite proximity to the sea. Rest all only claimed it. Hence despite the fact that the rates at Cidade were not inclusive of any food, I chose Cidade. However before that the major confusion was over hotels close to Jhampore Beach or Devka Beach. Although both these beaches are as different as tooth and nail, the net did not clarify this difference to me. Jhampore beach is far better than Devka beach.
So on the morning of the 24th of Nov, the 5 of us-mom, dad, sis, granddad and me, were headed for Cidade de Daman at Devka Beach, Daman. I was to be the driver and I knew driving a Honda city for the next three hours with a loaded stock of music, off city roads was going to be fun.
We hit the W.E. Highway from Borivali at sharp 8.00 a.m. The drive was pleasant and relaxing, with good music, good scenery, no rush and idle chat. We took a halt for half an hour at hotel Foodland (110kms from Borivali) a cup of coffee would not do any harm. After that I expected to reach Daman in an hour not more than that.
But I missed a left a Vapi Town and went straight ahead. Now there are no signs or boards to direct you to Daman from Vapi, in our case only when we got a ‘feeling’ of having come ahead did we find out-on asking people- that a left at Vapi town would have helped. However there was a road up ahead if we would take left at Udwada.
We did that and reached the hotel at 12.00 noon(3.5 hours, 165 kms). All through the way the Direction signs are not very explanatory (there were only two Cidade boards that said nothing about direction or distance) and hence a map is your best option.The Hotel was alright and since it was high tide the beach looked its best. My reaction to the beach when it looked its best was, oh-oh!
But I was already relaxed. We bought a rum bottle as soon as we entered Daman and the fact that it was 157% less than the price in Mumbai was too relaxing to recover!
END OF PART 1(DAMAN)
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