Trip to Kashid & Murud-Zanzeera (Day 1)

Earlier this week, I went to Konkan for a 2 day trip, with my family and a friend's family for company. Wednesday was a holiday, so we took an off on Tuesday, and set off early in the morning with Samara.

First stop was Lonavla at Ramkrishna for breakfast, and I fondly remembered my TBHP meeting here, when we did the Rajmachi trip. After masala dosas and vadas, with some hot tea-coffee, we hit the road again.

Just before the Khopoli toll booth, we left the expressway, and took the pretty decent Pen connector to NH 17, and then via Alibag to Kashid. The NH 17 stretch is a major pain, but we had all day, and a little patience got us through.

Konkan takes Holi pretty seriously, and all along the route, we came across happy and excited people, celebrating holi in their boats! Below you see what looked like a boat race!

We checked in at the beautiful Prakriti Resort in Kashid, in a 3 bed room villa. Just as we were checking into the villa, we were greeted by a beautiful koel. The trees swayed in the cool breeze, and it felt like heaven! All that was needed to complete the picture was a little rain.   After freshening up, we took lunch, and then, in the heat of the afternoon, actually played tennis for half an hour! Amazing experience! I had never played tennis before, but by the time we were finished, I think I could claim some level of competence :)   Tired and exhausted, we went back to the rooms and showered, and rested for a bit. Then, it was time for chai, and bhajis.   Around 530, we took a buffalo ride from the hotel to the private stretch of the beach - lovely white sands, and very clean, for a change!    

  Did some ATV driving, some frolicking in the water, and enjoyed bhutta on the beach, watching the lovely sunset.  

  We walked back to the resort for dinner, then sat down by the pool until later at night, and finally, back to the rooms for mangos, and a game of cards, winding up the day with dumb charades.  A beautiful day, well spent!