A weekend on a beach resort? Sounds just
 too good to
be true, doesn’t it? It did to me too – and I thought my dad was
just pulling my leg. But then, he wasn’t kidding at all and gave
me such a great birthday gift! As Mumbai was just heating up for the
summer, I decided to round up all my girlfriends, throw in the beach
gear and speed up to Manori Beach pronto!
I heard of Manori Bel from a friend
of mine –
it isn’t that far from Mumbai city. As it is just an hour and a
half away, it makes an ideal getaway – far enough to forget Mumbai
and close enough for easy travel. I called the people right away and
pretty soon, a rather nice voiced bloke supplied me with all the
details. He told me how to get there, how much it would cost and a
host of other things.
Armed with the useful info, off I
went – destination Manori Beach, to celebrate my birthday in
style! First we took a cab to Malad and from there, we boarded the
ferry that would take us to the resort. It was quite a task, getting
on the right ferry, let me tell you. There were ferries to all sorts
of places – Mudh Island, Alibaugh, Esselworld and what not. As we
didn’t want to hear “Essel world mein rahoonga mein, ghar
nahin jaoonga mein”, it took us the better part of 15 minutes
to get on to the right ferry.
The ferry ride was quite exciting –
the water was choppy and it was real fun to have our hair tossed
about in the wind. It took us just 5 minutes to get there – we
then got hold of two cabs to take us to the resort. It felt great to
be on our own and as we passed by the village, we waved and screamed
and did all sorts of things a certifiable person would do – wonder
what the Manori folk thought of us! |
The village looked real quaint, with
kids running about the place, dried fish hanging on rods outside
little thatched huts, palm trees swaying in the wind etc. Soon
enough, we got to the resort and it looked real peaceful. We checked
in and boy was it a relief to find oneself inside after the intense
heat outside!
The room was quite big and could
accommodate 3 people rather comfortably. It cost around Rs. 1,025
for a night. We hardly ever spent much time there anyway – apart
from the odd shut-eye, our rather splendid room was quite neglected.
As soon as we settled down, we went for a walk on the beach. The
resort has quite a big expanse of the beach and the area is secluded
so you feel very safe and comfortable. The ever-present gola
wallas were found here too – which was a pleasant surprise
indeed!
After lunch, which at Rs.180 per head
was real delicious, we headed off towards the hammocks for a nap.
The hammocks were placed in a naturally shady area and the lovely
breeze lulled us to sleep. It felt absolutely heavenly lying there
– the sound of waves crashing on the shore, the palm trees swaying
in the breeze and above it all, the sound of the birds chirping…..
We just sat for a while and watched the sun go down.
We went back to the hotel for a quick
cup of
coffee and a wash – when we came back, it was magical! The sky
sparkled with a thousand stars and we all just lay there on the
beach and stared at the beautiful sight above us. Pretty soon, it
was time to go in for dinner. Dinner was served in a hall that faced
the sea – soft Eagles music was being played in the background and
the food was absolutely super!
We were just too exhausted after the
sumptuous meal and sleepwalked to our room and didn’t get up till
it was time to go back home to Mumbai.
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