Chronicles Of The Sassy Fork

We stayed at the Kohinoor Samudra Resort at Bhatye Beach which has packages that cover stay,meals and train travel.It is located on a cliff overlooking the Bhatye beach and several coconut groves.In the garden we saw short mango trees that had flowered and some had fruits. As I walked around I saw monkeys. The local women working in the garden told me not to be afraid of them. Lalitabai and Lalbee signify the spirit of Ratnagiri,people living in harmony! Mr D'Souza of the resort was helpful.We wanted to make a trip to Ganpatipule.He told us that there was an alternative route by the sea which reduced the distance from 50km to 25 km! On the way we passed villages with cashew trees and mango trees.We saw typical Konkani houses,some surrounded by fruit trees. The view was spectacular! Reminded me of the American Pacific Coast Highway! Here we drove over mountains and saw beaches with white sand.There were also dolphins bobbing in the sea. The temple at Ganpatipule was beautiful.It wa...

We reached Ratnagiri,Mango Country after a drive of 9 hrs as we chose to stop very two hours.This year thanks to the weather the mango season has been delayed.There were trees everywhere laden with raw green mangoes.Some are at ground level yet no one plucks them.I came across a local newspaper called "Ratnagiri Times" and loved it.It was full of positive news on page 1,covering community events and achievements.This puts the reader in a great mood at the start.Inside were pages covering national and international news.It talked of the order of 20 tonnes of mangoes received from Japan and a 10 tonne order from USA.Alphonso and Kesari are the preferred varieties.We bought small size Alphonso mangoes at the market for Rs 500 for 4 dozens! On Saturday we witnessed the Weekly Market.The whole place was abuzz with people.Vegetables and fruits were being sold at much more reasonable prices than we hear of.The next day,the place was quiet.Just a couple of shops remained.The produce ...

We finally went off on our Konkan holiday,a year after we had originally planned.Having previously visited Amboli,Vengurla,Tarkarli and Malvan in the Sindhudurg District,this time we went to the Ratnagiri District.We drove down and it took us long but the journey was as interesting as the destination.I have divided my posts on this holiday into 5 parts and the first covers the drive from Mumbai to Chiplun. The town of Pen comes after Panvel.It is famous for Poha.Here you also find stalls of watermelons and white onions (which come from Alibag and last a year).Between Panvel and Pen one sees several stalls selling Neera which is a sweet and unfermented drink made from palms. Wadakal Naka,after Pen, has a restaurant called "Shrudha Shanti Bhuvan" where we had stopped years ago for Poha and we did this time around too.It had been garnished with coconut and coriander and made a great breakfast dish. What was even better than the Poha was the Tea which was strong and reminded...