Within a month of buying my baby FZ, I had to leave Mumbai for official Audit Visit to Vapi-Gujarat. I was very disappointed since it was approximately at least a month long assignment far away from Mumbai & I had to leave my new bike all alone un-attended in my garage. My situation was somewhat comparable to a Soldier leaving his newly wed bride immediately after a few days of marriage. My friend Percy did came to my rescue offering me to look after my baby bike until I’m gone. But I could not accept the offer due to the hostile public parking at his place & other innumerable reasons. Out of no choice, I decided to secure my baby as much as I could in my own garage & leave her there till I return. Left my bike with a set of locks on both the wheels & packed her up nicely before leaving Mumbai on 09th November 2009.
Vapi was a decently nice industrial area. I had the company of my good friend-cum-colleague Saurabh Jain for my Audit assignment in Vapi. We got familiar with the accommodation & work environment fairly quick enough & made some good friends at the work place soon. The weekend was approaching & upon enquiry; we got to know Daman was merely half an hour drive away from our guest house. We had an alternative to visit Daman on Sunday by company car but we requested Prashant (who was manager in the client’s office & our good friend by then) to arrange a set of two wheels for us instead. Even he was pleased to arrange a bike for our trip instead of a car since it involved less cost, no company driver required etc. He promised us, that he’ll drop his spare TVS bike in our guest house parking by Sunday morning. I couldn’t ask him which TVS bike it is, but hoped atleast for a 1st generation TVS Apache 150
Anyways since it was Sunday 15th November 2009, We both slept till late due to a late night movie on our laptop. Got ready by 11 a.m, had some breakfast & meanwhile I enquired to our housekeeper Dinesh if Prashant had dropped his bike. The answered was indeed a YES. I smiled & promptly took the keys from Dinesh & rushed to the garage. Saurabh followed me in no time. We searched for a TVS bike amongst dozens of bikes parked in the garage & Dinesh came to our rescue. He pointed out to a particular red machine & my excitement was short lived then. It was a TVS STAR. Anyways I said to myself, better something then nothing & just hoped on the bike. It came to life in just a few smooth kicks. Took a round inside the building compound & found it no where even close to what it felt like riding my new FZ. Anyways it was not that bad so we were still set for the daman visit. Saurabh tried the bike & he liked it decently too. Clicked a few pics & then off we went by 12.00 p.m.
Saurabh all set for the ride
Me too :-)
I was riding the bike since Saurabh did not have his license & we did not wish to be any trouble since we had no helmets, no bike papers & no license would make the combination lethal in case we were checked. I was assured by Prashant that Helmets/bike Papers are not of such importance to Daman police & 99% of the riders manage easily without them. I was not in favour of the practice but I had no choice & anyways ‘Beggars could not be choosers’ so we decided to take our chances & ride along. Had a fair idea of directions to Daman & our guest house was right on Vapi-Daman highway so we reached Daman check post in no time. The roads were indeed beautiful & the skyline was just amazing too. The climate seemed as if it would rain any moment now but it was the month of November so we were in a bit of relief. Stopped on a bridge to click some pics.
On the Go.. (Excuse us for No Helmets)
Awesome Roads
We had some destinations set in our mind which were known to be as attractive tourist spots in Daman.
Our 1st destination for the day was Moti Daman, a quaint fort with carved archways, dating back to 16th century, is a standing testimony to the superior skills of Portuguese architecture and no visitor to Daman must miss this site. Large number of Portuguese gentry used to reside with their families within the confine of this Fort and one can therefore visualize somewhat their lifestyles by going through this place. The Our Lady of Rosary Chapel inside Moti Daman fort is certainly a marvelous structure worth visiting. Unfortunately it was closed since we reached there late afternoon so couln not visit the chapel from within. The entire fort can be ventured on bike itself since there are well connected small roads to reach at different point of the fort. Clicked some marvelous snaps there before setting out to our next destination.
The coastline near the Fort
Pic courtesy : A helpful fellow tourist there
Pics do not do the justice to display how beautiful the place was.
The Light house adjoined to the fort.
Fort wall
Next destination was Jampore beach, Which was a salubrious and romantic beach located just a few kilometers from Moti Daman. The serene Jampore beach is an ideal place to unwind and listen to the rumblings of the palm tress and be one with nature. Visitors who come here can assuredly enjoy seclusion and spend quality time with their family and loved ones. The coastline & sand was awfully full of garbage & plastic waste though.
The Tapori's
However we were kind of on a tight schedule so we decided to set on the road for our last destination, Daman beach which was the prime attraction & most crowded place in Daman. Saurabh asked me to let him ride now. I was so far unaware if he could ride well on proper roads but I couldn’t deny so let him take over the handles & I took over the pillion seat. Within no time, I realized Saurabh is a great rider himself, fast but cautious too. I need not be too worried now since he managed pretty easily in traffic as well as on freeways with an occasional advice from myself to slow down since the drum brakes on our steed were nowhere as effective as generally the disc breaks are. Stopped at a market place to click some pics
Ganraj - The Elephant
Our companion for the day (by this time, we were pleased by this bike's performance)
Saurabh managed to get us to Daman beach by 2.30 pm & we were undeniably happy to see the flock of crowd there. Lots of beautiful girls on the streets which was an amazing sight after almost a week since Vapi streets deprived us of such sights. We parked our bike in a Pay&Park before moving into the beach which was not the best beach I have visited but still a good one. It was with a combination of rocks & sand. Daman beach was indeed a heaven for drinkers. Lots of small huts serving the drinks at the least possible prices imaginable. Some pics
Wished to do a camel ride but didn't.. Thanks to My Personal No Animal Harassment policy.
Since we both did not drink, it was not the place for us. We were very hungry so we decided to be back on the roads & have our lunch at a Dominos Pizza Corner we saw on our way. Bid goodbye to Daman beach & we were on the road again before 3.30 pm. After a sumptuous lunch at Dominos, we were back to our guest house by 5 p.m since we had to catch a new movie ‘2012’ in a nearby theatre by 6.00 pm. Visited a famous local Shivji's temple on the way.
Some pics in the city
Daman check post.
It was a great short ride on unknown roads, unknown place, unknown machine which turned out into un-forgettable memories.
Vapi was a decently nice industrial area. I had the company of my good friend-cum-colleague Saurabh Jain for my Audit assignment in Vapi. We got familiar with the accommodation & work environment fairly quick enough & made some good friends at the work place soon. The weekend was approaching & upon enquiry; we got to know Daman was merely half an hour drive away from our guest house. We had an alternative to visit Daman on Sunday by company car but we requested Prashant (who was manager in the client’s office & our good friend by then) to arrange a set of two wheels for us instead. Even he was pleased to arrange a bike for our trip instead of a car since it involved less cost, no company driver required etc. He promised us, that he’ll drop his spare TVS bike in our guest house parking by Sunday morning. I couldn’t ask him which TVS bike it is, but hoped atleast for a 1st generation TVS Apache 150
Anyways since it was Sunday 15th November 2009, We both slept till late due to a late night movie on our laptop. Got ready by 11 a.m, had some breakfast & meanwhile I enquired to our housekeeper Dinesh if Prashant had dropped his bike. The answered was indeed a YES. I smiled & promptly took the keys from Dinesh & rushed to the garage. Saurabh followed me in no time. We searched for a TVS bike amongst dozens of bikes parked in the garage & Dinesh came to our rescue. He pointed out to a particular red machine & my excitement was short lived then. It was a TVS STAR. Anyways I said to myself, better something then nothing & just hoped on the bike. It came to life in just a few smooth kicks. Took a round inside the building compound & found it no where even close to what it felt like riding my new FZ. Anyways it was not that bad so we were still set for the daman visit. Saurabh tried the bike & he liked it decently too. Clicked a few pics & then off we went by 12.00 p.m.
Saurabh all set for the ride
I was riding the bike since Saurabh did not have his license & we did not wish to be any trouble since we had no helmets, no bike papers & no license would make the combination lethal in case we were checked. I was assured by Prashant that Helmets/bike Papers are not of such importance to Daman police & 99% of the riders manage easily without them. I was not in favour of the practice but I had no choice & anyways ‘Beggars could not be choosers’ so we decided to take our chances & ride along. Had a fair idea of directions to Daman & our guest house was right on Vapi-Daman highway so we reached Daman check post in no time. The roads were indeed beautiful & the skyline was just amazing too. The climate seemed as if it would rain any moment now but it was the month of November so we were in a bit of relief. Stopped on a bridge to click some pics.
On the Go.. (Excuse us for No Helmets)
We had some destinations set in our mind which were known to be as attractive tourist spots in Daman.
Our 1st destination for the day was Moti Daman, a quaint fort with carved archways, dating back to 16th century, is a standing testimony to the superior skills of Portuguese architecture and no visitor to Daman must miss this site. Large number of Portuguese gentry used to reside with their families within the confine of this Fort and one can therefore visualize somewhat their lifestyles by going through this place. The Our Lady of Rosary Chapel inside Moti Daman fort is certainly a marvelous structure worth visiting. Unfortunately it was closed since we reached there late afternoon so couln not visit the chapel from within. The entire fort can be ventured on bike itself since there are well connected small roads to reach at different point of the fort. Clicked some marvelous snaps there before setting out to our next destination.
The coastline near the Fort
Next destination was Jampore beach, Which was a salubrious and romantic beach located just a few kilometers from Moti Daman. The serene Jampore beach is an ideal place to unwind and listen to the rumblings of the palm tress and be one with nature. Visitors who come here can assuredly enjoy seclusion and spend quality time with their family and loved ones. The coastline & sand was awfully full of garbage & plastic waste though.
However we were kind of on a tight schedule so we decided to set on the road for our last destination, Daman beach which was the prime attraction & most crowded place in Daman. Saurabh asked me to let him ride now. I was so far unaware if he could ride well on proper roads but I couldn’t deny so let him take over the handles & I took over the pillion seat. Within no time, I realized Saurabh is a great rider himself, fast but cautious too. I need not be too worried now since he managed pretty easily in traffic as well as on freeways with an occasional advice from myself to slow down since the drum brakes on our steed were nowhere as effective as generally the disc breaks are. Stopped at a market place to click some pics
Ganraj - The Elephant
Saurabh managed to get us to Daman beach by 2.30 pm & we were undeniably happy to see the flock of crowd there. Lots of beautiful girls on the streets which was an amazing sight after almost a week since Vapi streets deprived us of such sights. We parked our bike in a Pay&Park before moving into the beach which was not the best beach I have visited but still a good one. It was with a combination of rocks & sand. Daman beach was indeed a heaven for drinkers. Lots of small huts serving the drinks at the least possible prices imaginable. Some pics
Since we both did not drink, it was not the place for us. We were very hungry so we decided to be back on the roads & have our lunch at a Dominos Pizza Corner we saw on our way. Bid goodbye to Daman beach & we were on the road again before 3.30 pm. After a sumptuous lunch at Dominos, we were back to our guest house by 5 p.m since we had to catch a new movie ‘2012’ in a nearby theatre by 6.00 pm. Visited a famous local Shivji's temple on the way.
It was a great short ride on unknown roads, unknown place, unknown machine which turned out into un-forgettable memories.
