We have 3 nights to “kill” while we wait for our flight to Kerala and meet up with Vinay and company. Jesse suggests that we head out to the south to a beach called Agonda and live on huts. Amalia, Giorgos, Jesse, happy gal, and I hire a cab and not knowing it, we head to paradise.
With a fake hut reservation, we arrive to Agonda not having a place to sleep. At first I’m concerned about having to leave this beautiful place due to no vacancies, but just our luck we find the Secret Garden. It’s not really a hotel but a house with a big backyard on the beach. The owner of the house, Godwin, builds 5 elevated bungalows [huts] out of bamboo in his back yard. The huts have everything you need: bed, mosquito net, fan, and a bathroom with running water. To top it off, they all have a balcony with a view of the sea and two reclining chairs. We’re in heaven. Secret Garden has 3 available huts and my worries disappear.
The days start by waking up to waves crashing on white sand, birds chirping, and the view of a 2 km long beach. We enjoy south Indian breakfast with banana lassis and have long conversations with friends. We go for long walks, swim, and nap. We have aryuvedic massages and finish days with sunsets that blow our mind. At night, we enjoy probably the best food we’ve eaten in India at Tiger Ganesha, a small restaurant in town. We eat king fish, king prawns, coconut milk veggie curry, butter chicken, sweat potato curry, and an unlimited amount of chapati [indian bread]. The food was so good that we had dinner there all three nights!
Our last dinner was our christmas eve dinner with Amalia and Ciorgos. It was a very nice long dinner where we discussed co-housing, families, and relationships.
As every other amazing place, I am never satisfied and always want to stay longer. I wonder if that feeling will ever go away. The good thing, at least for now, is that I know I leave paradise to find another wonderful place.
Even though I spend christmas in paradise, I miss my family like crazy. This is usually the time of year when we are all together and bond. With bickering and everything a large family has, the love is felt and we are always lucky to have each other. This year, although far away, I love them very much and I wish that in future years, we can spend christmas in a different paradise.
Merry christmas!
Hi Happy Girl and Happy Guy,
I’m keen to stay in Agonda for a week at the end of June,
do you recommend the Secret Garden over other options?
…with the monsoons they look a little unstable!
Thanks,
Dan
Hi Dan!
Thanks for your comment. When we were there we had no problem with weather so I cannot speak from experience, but if the owner says the bungalows are good, then they’re good. We stayed there for a few days and I got to know him, he’s a great guy living a simple life and trying to satisfy travelers.
Besides the bungalows, he also has rooms in concrete buildings. If he has availability, ask for the room on the second floor if a bungalow is not an option, but if the bungalow is an option, pick one with a view of the ocean, amazing thing to wake up.
Have a blast and please let us know what you decide!
Awesome, thanks Happy Guy =)
…oh, one more thing, rental car, taxi or ferry? (from mumbai)
Mmmm. We flew from Delhi. We had friends take the overnight train from Mumbai to Goa, they said it was OK. My train experience in India was from Cochin to Ezhara Beach and it wasn’t too fun. We opted to fly using makemytrip.com after that experience. =) It’s just dirty, packed, old, and delayed. I guess we’ve moved from backpackers to flashpackers some times. =)
We have limited time so I’d rather spend as much time exploring and as little confined to transport.
Your blog post and the ability to interact is incredibly helpful.
Many thanks for sharing.
Until next time,
Dan
I’m glad! Sometimes I wonder if anyone reads the blog!
Plane it is. makemytrip.com and yatra.com were websites we used to book cheap flights.
Have a blast!
How did you find the blog? If you’re interested, you can subscribe here: http://eepurl.com/eQrCQ
the post was found using google image search for ‘agonda beach huts’. when I rolled over the image I read “With a fake hut reservation” so I wanted to read more.
i find image searches more useful when trying to connect with blogs. ‘everything’ searches are usually flooded with travel companies and businesses.
Thanks. Good tip!