The TimePass of India

You guys must be wondering were the heck was I…Actually I know, some of you must be rejoicing tht you might not have to read the junk tht I dish out every few days…But rejoice no more! I am back! *Evil Grin*

My Family deserved a Holiday but for the lack of casual leave, we had to go with a sasta and tikaao option. I like the Sun n Sand (no, not the hotel, cant afford it).I mean I like beaches…The beaches we considered were Alibaug, Mandwa, Kihim and Murud.

We had been to Alibaug once…While Mandwa and Kihim were booked…Infact, every time I called a hotel in one of these beaches to check for booking they gave me a - dont you know we are always full on weekends - snarl!

Speaking in Konkani did not help…As it turned out most of the Hotels were owned by Southies. Btw, I dont know Konkani per se…But speaking Konkani is damn easy, just replace “ra” in marathi by “la” and you ll be just fine.

I got fedup of calling Hotels and made a call tht I should have made long ago. You guessed it right! The call to my Travel Agent. He got me a room at Shoreline Resort,Murud.

How to reach there: (Yeah,its gonna be like one of those travel shows). Simple! Take a ST (State transport) from Mumbai(Stops at Mulund,Borivali,Thane,Panvel)
to Murud.

Actually, its slightly more complex…Take a ST, start feeling sick, throw up at Panvel, jump down the bus at Alibaug, pay a rickshaw an exorbitant sum, get down at Murud, count your bones(there are 206 of them), get inside the resort.

Where to stay: I stayed at Shoreline resorts. Try to get a room at Golden Swan (previously owned by MTDC). Its probably the best resort in Murud. Btw, if you are at shoreline, dont mis the view from the Terrace of the Hotel, its amazing. We spent a lot of time there.

What to eat: FOOD! hahaha…er..sorry.
A lot of choice for the non-veg guys, if your preference is veg(like mine), well, bring your tiffin along. Note tht Shoreline is the only Pure veg. hotel in the vicinity.

What’s good: The view is to die for, esp. if you rent a room on the 3rd floor. Also, the beach is not crowded. If you hate crowds, which you should if you are a true Mumbaite, this place is heaven. Its almost like a private beach.

What’s not: The beach!!…I m sure you didnt see tht coming. The problem is tht there are large traces of Oil in the sea water. While it may not sound very threating to people who swim at Juhu beach, its not exactly what you have in mind for Murud.
A little research led us into believing tht ONGC had a petroleum extraction plant nearby which was the cause for all this oil.
If beach is what you want, you should visit Ganpatipule. Its probably the best in Maharashtra.

Note:
1.Pls visit Kashid beach (approx 15 km frm murud). Its beautiful.
2.It would be really smart if you could get your own vehicle.
3.Dont care about Petrol, you can fill in the sea water, your vehicle would run just fine!

Btw,the cancerian in me urged me to swim! And I did swim! We found this patch which was far from the main beach, but the water here was really clean. It started to rain while I was swimming. It was amazing. Those fifteen mins made the entire trip worth it.

…Now only if we could take better care of what nature blessed us with.

Murud