Today we covered the our last 350 kilometers on our way to Delhi. Of course there were not only cars on the road. A dog was really close to get run over by us. As soon as we stop there are a lot of beggars, usually children that come running towards us.

We had jet another amazing lunch at a road side restaurant. It really doesn’t matter what you eat or were you eat in India – it is all fantastic. A main course, salad, bread, soft drinks and coffee for only 6 $US, for all three of us. Isn’t that just great!

Found a hotel with a safe parking space right outside the Main Bazaar. We went to meet Nina and Jens at their hotel and to celebrate a dear reunion of Anneli and her daughter Nina, who had not seen each other for a couple of months.

Today it was time for a new race at the embassies for Bert and Catharina. We started out with the Swedish embassy to get a new passport for Catharina. The present one is totally falling a part.

Next it was time to check in on the embassy of Myanmar. We would like to go cross Myanmar by car. We had expected a firm “NO, absolutely not possible” as an answer. But instead we were told to write a letter explaining our situation and then wait and se. To get an answer at all would take at least some months they said. But we are not in a hurry, not yet. If it is possible to go across Myanmar we do not have to ship our car from India to Thailand, if we do not get our car in to China.

We took two short stops at the Chinese and the Sri Lankan embassy to get some answers. But unfortunately we did not get much wiser.

The final visit was the embassy of Nepal. Also here we were asked to write a letter explaining when, were, how and why we wanted to visit Nepal by our own car.

Back in town at Connought Place we looked for a new Lonely Planet covering India. We have heard that a new one was released just a few weeks ago. Old guide books are no use at all. Everything changes to fast now days. While we were at it we also bought a newly released guidebook covering China too. The books are much cheaper here than at home.

In the evening we met up with the rest of the gang to have dinner at one of the roof restaurants in the Main Bazaar.

This our last day with Anneli. She has been traveling with us for 65 days, all the way from Cairo to Delhi – a trip of 9 720 kilometers! It has been great fun to have her with us. Of course we have all been both irritable and a bit annoyed now and then. It is unavoidable when spending 24 hours a day together for such a long time. But we were all prepared of it so it was ok, and most of the time it has worked really well.

What do you do the last day in Delhi? Of course you shop like a crazy person. Anneli set her mind on making most of her Christmas shopping here. We think she succeeded. She had to buy an extra bag to get it all back to Sweden.

In the evening we went out for a meal and to celebrate our last night together!

We said goodbye to Anneli in the morning. Her taxi picked her up already at 6.30 AM. Maybe she will drop in on us again during our trip. We still have one and a half year to go.

Bert has spent the yesterday and today trying to find someone to help him burn DVD back-up of all our photos. That is easier said than done. The internet cafes only have CD burners. But finally he found a place where the owner said that he had gotten a lot of DVD inquiries lately. The owner decided to buy a DVD burner today if Bert promised to come back tomorrow.

Delhi is covered with a grey film of dust and dirt. The air is polluted and mixed with nasty smells from urinals. Delhi has a lack charm. The only nice place in town is the Main Bazaar with its small alleys and shops.

Today we went to se Lalli Singh. Lalli soled Bert and Bertil their Royal Enfield motor cycles three years ago. Bert really enjoyed seeing Lalli again. Lalli has specialized in customize and sell Royal Enfields to westerners – both brand new ones and renovated old bikes.

Bert had a mission from Bertil. He was supposed to check with Lalli if it was possible to get a sidecar to Bertil´s old bike – and it was.

It can be really trying to visit embassies. If someone should feel the urge to start a charm school and customer service training program – the market potential is enormous at the embassies. It is completely impossible to get a correct and clear answer out of them. No one knows anything and they genuine do not want to help you, at all. You have to have to figure everything out for yourself. Very frustrating!

Today we visited Myanmar’s embassy, again and then the Chinese embassy again without getting absolutely nowhere - again!

At the third visit of the day we did get a visa to Nepal. Thank good; at least we accomplished something today!

It feels great to leave Delhi. One week in Delhi is more than enough. The 200 kilometer trip to Agra took us six hours including lunch. It is certainly slow to travel here even though the roads are in excellent shape.

Agra is most known for – the Taj Mahal. We are really looking forward to the visit. The last time we where in India the Taj Mahal was closed the day we planed to go there and the day after we were flying back to Sweden.

Cowpat can be used for heating and cooking. To get the cowpats to dry they stick them to a wall in the sun. Along the roads we can see women carrying big trays full of dried cowpat on their head.

We took a walk to from our hotel to the Taj Mahal. It is nice to be able to stay outdoors without getting poisoned by air pollution. In the area closest to the Taj Mahal only non polluting vehicles are allowed such as electric busses and auto rickshaws.

The Taj Mahal is absolutely beautiful. The emperor Shah Jahan built this mausoleum for his second wife. It took him 20 years to finish. In today’s value of money the building costs of the Taj Mahal is estimated to 70 million $US! The building is just as beautiful and magnificent as it used to be when it was finished in 1653.

A lot of Indian people wanted to take our photo at the Taj Mahal today. Some tried to do it secretly but others just stepped right up to us asking us to be in a photo with their family, children or with their friends.

In the afternoon we went to Agra´s second attraction – the Agra Fort. Both at the Agra Fort and in town there are plenty of wild monkeys climbing at the buildings. When having lunch at a roof terrace we had to keep track of the monkeys so that did not come to close.

On the way back Bert got to try the bicycle rickshaw . Even though the old man was small and skinny it was hard work…

Today we went to Jaipur, a 250 kilometer journey and six hours in the car. Here you find a traffic report; two head-on collisions by trucks, a truck one-car accident, lots of cars that have lost a wheel or having other problems. A dead camel that the dogs were eating at and of course a lot of dead dogs that had been run over.

It is nice to sleep in the car again. During the months that Anneli was traveling with us we stayed in hotels a lot of the time. The nights were quite cold and we were traveling in countries like Iran and Pakistan were we had to consider the safety aspect.

Pink City is another name used for Jaipur. It all began in 1876 when Maharadja Ram Singh painted the Old Town in the color of hospitality – pink. The reason was to welcome the Prince of Wales. Since then the town has remained pink.

Today we visited Jantar Mantar, an old observatory. It is really cool place, a garden full of mysterious creations looking like sculptures. We found a great guide that told us a lot of interesting stuff. We are amazed of what they actually could do at that time.

There was several huge sundials – the height of the biggest one was 27 meters and it measured time units of 20 seconds and every hour the shade moved four meters! There were also several tools for controlling what star sign some one was born in. Catharina points to her sign Capricorn. All 12 star signs also had an own tool for checking what characteristics a person can have. Very interesting indeed and very impressing!

After that we visited a small fairy palace called Hawa Mahal. A maharaja built it for the ladies of the court. Through the barred windows with the small shutters they could see the street life of the town without being seen themselves.

Catharina finished the day in Jaipur by visiting a salon to wax her legs . It is time to prepare for the bathing season in Goa…

On our way to Undipur we decided to drop in at hotel along the way that was as exquisite as it was expensive. It was an old maharaja palace turned in to a luxury hotel. The suites was 1 100 $US and all had their own swimming pools. Poor tourists like us could not even afford to have lunch there.

In the afternoon we arrived in Undipur. It is a very romantic town and it reminds us of Venice, but with an oriental touch. The houses stands all the way out in the water and small arched bridges are crossing the canals. Undipur is absolutely loaded with hotels in old colonial style, with roof top restaurants and superb views over the lake where you can sip a beer in the sunset. Right in the middle of the lake is the island with the luxury hotel where they shoot the James Bond movie Octopussy.

After a relaxing breakfast in the sunshine with an excellent view we visited the Central Palace, another great big maharaja palace. It an incredible cultural heritage they have here in India. A part of the palace you can rent for special events. Today they prepared for a really high class wedding. A large band was sound checking and the whole place was overloaded with flower decorations and candles and the waiters was dressed in white uniforms with red turbans. It would have been a nice to see all the fabulous sari dressed women arriving to the party tonight.

We took a boat ride on Lake Pichola to see the town from the lake ward side. Maharadja Udai Singh dammed up the lake and drowned the village of Pichola. This is the first time in ten years that there is actually water in the lake. Four days of monsoon was enough to fill up the lake.

Udaipur is really a pleasant town with a nice atmosphere. It is easy to just hang around here, enjoy the sun and the beautiful scenery. We decided to stay another day to write e-mails and write for our webpage.

There is plenty of bird of preys in India, also in the middle of town. When sitting on the roof top terraces having lunch we can see them circle above our heads.

On the way back to the hotel we did see a small altar with a strange looking figure. It looked like “Cousin It” in the Adams Family, we thougt.

Bert got treated for his bad back by a masseur/acupuncturist in the evening. The treatment was nice but it did not help much.

The masseur gave us a DVD copy of the James Bond movie Octopussy. We watched it our hotel room. It was great fun to watch it. We had been to a lot of the places shown in the movie.

Left Udaipur today. It was a really good highway most of the way. We are not used to be able to get as far as 600 kilometers in a single day. There roads are usually not in such a good state and the traffic situation is quite chaotic with lots of people, strange vehicles and lots of animals that it is impossible to have an average speed higher than 80 kilometer per hour.

We had only 200 left to get to Mombai. The current name of Bombay is Mombai. A lot of cities in India have got new names.

It is always a hassle to find a decent place to stay in large cities. Of course we want to stay right in the center at a good value place but it is usually hard to combine with safe parking for the car.

Mombai is on the coast, this means that the air feels nice and fresh despite of the heavy traffic.

Today we strolled around town to absorb the atmosphere. Mombai is a modern and cool city. There are still a lot of traces of the former English colonial times, a lot of old grand buildings, well kept gardens and parks and double-decker busses still in regular traffic and cricket players all over town.

In Mombai there is not a single auto- or bicycle rickshaw. Vehicles like that you find in every single town in India. But Mombai is crawling with small black and yellow cabs instead.

In the evening we went to a sports bar with air condition western music at maximum volume and all of a sudden we felt like being home in Sweden. Mumbai is India LITE-version.

Bert found a guy that tried to fix our car alarm/central locking unit. Unfortunately he could not fix it. We have to find a new one in Sweden and get it mailed to us instead.

Also in Mumbai Christmas is drawing near. But here you hardly notice it. A few of the department stores have signs about Christmas Shopping and you can see a Christmas tree here and there and some of the peddlers sell Father Christmas caps to the motorists when they stop for the red light. These are the only signs of that we see four days before Christmas.

In the afternoon we left Mombai to head for Goa, a 600 kilometer trip that we decided to split in two days.

Bad day, really bad day! It was only 300 kilometers left to Goa and we thought we would be there early afternoon. There was 32° C in the car and hardly any car ventilation at all. Days like this we really wish that we had taken the time to install an air conditioning system before we left.

We missed the turnoff for Goa. It took us several hours on bumpy roads to get back on the highway. The National Highway 4A turned out to be a disaster. For more than 40 kilometers it was more like a moonscape than a road. It was hard for us to even get through. We had an average speed less than 20 kilometers per hour!

Eventually it turned dark and that did not make it any easier. We got caught in a traffic jam. After a while we sneaked by the long line of cars to discover two smashed trucks across the road.

In the midst of the chaos we bumped in to a completely dark truck. We heard a crunching sound and got out of our car to take a look at the damages. We were lucky that it was only the overhanging roof roof and a place in the middle of the back wall that got damaged.

We arrived in Goa late in the evening. The first place near the beach we found was Camilsons Beach Resort – the same place our friend Bertil and us stayed at seven years ago. We remembered it was a really nice place so we decided to stay there. We went strait to the bar to get a well deserved beer.

Vi kom fram till Goa sent på kvällen. I mörkret letade vi oss ner mot vattnet längs den cirka åtta mil långa sandstranden för att hitta någonstans att bo. Döm om vår förvåning när det första stället vi kom till var Camilsons Beach Resort – samma ställe som vi och Bertil bodde på för sju år sedan. Det var ett riktigt trevligt ställe redan då så vi bestämde oss för att stanna där och gick raka vägen till baren för att ta oss en välförtjänt öl.

The beach was just as lovely as we remembered. Catharina went to the beach strait away after breakfast and stayed there for the rest of the day. The beach salesmen noticed that we was newcomers and they flocked around us to get us to promise to look at their goods later.

Goa är ett zoo. Nu är det bevisat. I vårt rum förra gången vi bodde här var det myrinvasion, geckos och en groda som bodde i badrummet. Bertil hade närkontakt med grodan som hoppade från toaletten, mellanlandade med ett spatt i Bertils ansikte och studsade sedan vidare och satte sig på toalettväggen. Ett illvrål trängde ut ur badrummet och vi rusade in för att hitta en likblek Bertil pekandes på den illgröna grodan med sugproppsfötter sittandes på väggen. Idag hittade Catharina en groda som lurpassade i ett hål i väggen i badrummet och bara väntade på ett bra tillfälle att anfalla.

We took a walk to Colva beach today. Colva is touristier than our beach, but there are mostly domestic tourists there. Indian girls rarely go swimming, and if they do they are wearing a full outfit of covering clothes.

At dinner we met a very nice Indian couple. They were newly weds and celebrated their honeymoon in Goa. They told us they were fortunate to get married by love. Especially Shipra was very curious about us; how it is to get married in Sweden, how we live and about our relations to our parents. Shipra told us a lot of interesting things about how it works in India. We are looking forward to talk some more with them tomorrow. Shipra is a very unusual woman. Modern, strong and a woman that really knows what she want and definitely will get it – without a doubt.

Catharinas födelsedag och julafton idag – det blir nästan ett ”Kinderägg”. Det blev ett besök hos Ayurveda massören för Catharina. En timmes lyxig helkroppsmassage för 50 spänn. Men då ingår det att bli insmord i olja från topp till tå. En olja som knappt går att tvätta bort.

Camilsons är ett trevligt ställe – speciellt över jul. De som äger Camilsons är nämligen kristna vilket gör att vi får någon form av julfirande även i Goa även om det inte direkt liknar vårt svenska julfirande. Men de har kulörta julstjärnor, glitter i en ställföreträdande gran och en julkrubba .

På eftermiddagen fick gästerna hjälpa till att göra julgodis . Tyvärr sket en passerande kråka i kastrullen så det blev inget julgodis i år…

Vi blev väldigt glada och överraskade när våra nyfunna indiska vänner dök upp med blommor och tårta för att gratulera Catharina på födelsedagen. Verkligen helt oväntat.

På kvällen dukades en julbuffé upp. Inga rätter vi normalt äter på vårt svenska julbord men ändå mycket gott. Vi umgicks med Alexis och Raj från Nya Zeeland och Shipra och Kapil från Indien hela kvällen, spelade bingo, drack whiskey och svenska snapsar och tittade på fyrverkerier. Det blev en riktigt bra födelsedag och julafton trots att vi inte var hemma.

Det känns så härligt och lyxigt att ligga still på ett ställe. Det har varit mycket flackande de senaste månaderna och många nya intryck varje dag. Vi behöver verkligen ta det lite lugnt.

Här på Camilsons är det helt perfekt. Vi bor så vi ser stranden och havet när vi öppnar bakdörren på morgonen. Vi rör oss mellan bilen, restaurangen, solstolen och havet. Allt vi behöver finns inom en radie av 100 meter. Kan det bli bättre? Fortsätter vi att öva på det här en månad till kommer vi att bli fantastiskt bra på att göra ingenting!

Det är så oerhört skönt att som omväxling slippa ge sig ut på stan för att leta efter någonstans att äta varje gång man är hungrig eller sugen på något. Vi är rätt less på restauranger och längtar efter att få laga egen mat. Spisen i bilen är ju mest till för att koka fika och värma någon soppa eller något annat enkelt. Men vi funderar på att köpa en gasdriven kokplatta för utomhusbruk som även går att använda som utomhus lampa. Det skulle nog fungera bra för oss.

Det är billigt att leva i Indien. För parkering vid havet och tillgång till dusch och toalett betalar vi 35 Skr per dag. Frukost, lunch och middag med öl går på cirka 60-70 per person och dag.

Idag hyrde vi en vespa av en kille på hotellet för 25 Skr per dag. Vi hade sett att det var Cirkus i Goa så vi stack iväg för att leta reda på vart det var någonstans. När vi kom fram visade det sig att föreställningen började strax så vi köpte biljetter till första raden för 18 Skr per person.

Det var en himla massa artister och cirkusnummer och säkert 200 personer arbetade på den här cirkusen. Det var inte någon fantastisk cirkus direkt. Det var lite B-cirkus över det hela. Cirkusartisterna såg inte ut att ha speciellt kul. De gick in, gjorde sin grej iklädda rätt oglamorösa kläder och lämnade sedan manegen snabbt utan att ens dra på munnen.

Idag var det Berts tur att få massage och alla som känner honom vet vad han tycker om oljekladd...

Började sedan så smått sanera bilen. Vi behöver göra en total rengöring både på in- och utsidan samt att fixa en del grejor som vi aldrig har tid till. Vart tar all tid vägen? Men vi får väl ta det lite pö om pö.

Hade lämnat in ett stort lass på tvätt – maskintvätt. Det behövs maskintvätt emellanåt för det blir inte så himla rent när man blaskar upp tvätten i handfatet gång efter annan. Det var en hel del tvätt att bära och en bra bit att promenera så Catharina gjorde som indiskorna. Det fungerade mycket bättre än att bära det otympliga byltet i famnen.

Hyrde vespan idag också och åkte norrut mot marknaden i Anjuna. Dit var det cirka sex mil och på vägen passerade vi Baga beach. Vi svängde ner dit för att kolla in beachen som visade sig vara packad med folk och solstolar i femdubbla rader, gott om inkastare till restaurangerna och solstolsuthyrare. Rätt var det var så upptäckte vi restaurangen där TV3 spelade in sin dokusåpa Club Goa för något år sedan. Så vi bestämde oss för att gå dit och käka lunch.

The Anchor var en mysig restaurang. Det var sig precis likt från TV inspelningen. Hela interiören var intakt till och med utröstnings bänken stod kvar i ett hörn. Den Indiska barägaren som var med i dokusåpan var där. På en vägg inne vid baren hade de gjort ett jättestort fotokollage från TV inspelningen och i tjocka menyerna fanns fullt med bilder på deltagarna. Servitören berättade att de haft mycket gott om svenska gäster sedan dokusåpan visats i svensk TV. Det var riktigt kul att vara där och se allt live som vi tidigare sett på TV.

Efter en riktigt bra lunch åkte vidare mot Anjuna Fleemarket. Det var tjockt med folk, stökigt och bökigt att ta sig fram och massor av tjatiga försäljare, men det är ju mysigt ändå på något sätt. Anjuna Fleemarket är öppet bara på onsdagar och de säljer mest turistgrejor som saronger, skor , mattor , tyger , väskor och lampor .

När vi väl var hemma igen hade vi båda sotsvarta i ansiktet av smuts och avgaser och rejält ont i baken. Det är inte speciellt skönt att åka motorcykel några längre sträckor…

After our having standard breakfast that only are 2 $US per person, it was time for a day at the beach again. If you compare our beach to Baga Beach that we visited yesterday, which one would you choose? The kids at the beach have found several different ways to squeeze money out of the tourists. Some of them walk around from restaurant to restaurant signing, usually really bad. Others perform as rope walkers or acrobats.

We had dinner with a Swedish family who also stayed at Camilsons Beach Resort. It was great fun to hear them tell the story of when they were out sailing for two years. This gave us an idea of what we missed when selling our sail boat to go round the world by car instead.

Yesterday we got an e-mail from Bennie and Debbie telling us that they were staying at Agonda Beach in Goa. We decided to go there today. Agonda Beach is about 40 kilometers south of Benaluim. Before we left we got some great advice of were to go in south of India from a man who was born and raised in India but now lived in Holland.

When we arrived at Agonda Beach Debbie came rushing out of a beach restaurant with Bennie and their dogs Scully and Angel at her heel. It was great seeing them again. We met them four months ago in Macedonia, but it felt like just a week ago.

We are staying at a primitive camp. All the people staying here are world travelers that are out for several years. Mostly Germans, some Dutch and Italian people and they usually stay here for a couple of months.

We found the perfect spot to park, right at the beach. Steady palm trees for anchoring our sun roof and to hang our hammock. It costs only 1 $US a day to stay here, but then you need to use the toilet at the restaurant and get freshwater from the well for shower and cooking.

We have rented a bike for 2,50 $US a day. We need one to get in to Palolem to shop and to go to the internet café. Petrol for the bike they sell at the kiosk in one liter bottles.

Our fridge is out of order since a few days. Bert was trying to find the fault for several hours today. Finally he located it. The problem was a loose contact connecting the thermostat . Now the fridge works again!

We decided to celebrate new years and cook dinner with Bennie and Debbie. We took our bikes and drove off to the market to get the necessary ingredients and to get meat at the butchers . Home cocked food is great!

Happy New Years to you!

It’s a primitive but yet simple life here. Every morning the baker man drops by selling fresh bread. Yesterday we talked to the guards about that we needed a ladder. Today they came by with a ladder that they had made of bamboo.

We went to the Ayurveda Helth Clinic today to get a medical check up. We also wanted to know what our body constitutions were. If we were Vata, Pitta or Kapha or a combination of these.

The pulse is the main method of making a diagnosis. But the doctor also checks eyes, tongue, nails, hair, listens to the heart and breathing sounds and ask you a lot of questions.

Catharina is Vata-Pitta and Bert is Pitta-Vata. Next step is to find a book that can tell us what type of foods that are suitable for these two combinations and what food are best to avoid.

Bert also got a herb medicine for his back problem, a oil that is supposed to be rubbed in 30 minutes before taking a swim. The medicine and the medical check up was less than 6 $US!

Yesterday we bought a beautiful red outdoor gas stove. We can convert it to an outdoor lamp in the evenings. Now we are going to cook food at least once a day – not to save money; merely to allow ourselves the luxury of home cocked food.

When we hopped on our bike to go to town to do some shopping and phone Bert´s mother to congratulate her on her birthday today, we discovered that we had a flat tire.

This morning we where out in the bay looking for dolphins in a small fishing boat. We found lots of them. We were prepared to get in the water if they would get close enough. Unfortunately they were kind of reserved and didn’t get as close to us as we had hoped for.

The motorcycle we rent has no rear mirrors or horn, but it starts at the first kick and have breaks. Bert thought it was a cheep life insurance to buy a rear mirror. The cost was only 2,5 $US and we plan to use this bike for a couple of weeks.

The waste disposal woks like this. All the waste that can be burnt we throw in a well that had run dry. Once a week they burn it all. Food as banana skin and vegetables we put out for the animals to eat. Every morning they come to visit us.

The cows eat everything. One morning we found them eating a Cosmopolitan magazine we had forgot to bring in, and an other morning we heard a terrible noise from out friends car. The cows had got tangled up in the lines of the tent in their hunt for food.

We usually use the hole in the floor at the restaurant, but others do their needs in the woods. One would think that a visit to the woods would be a very nasty experience after a while. But like magic yesterdays pile disappears during the night. Evidently the toilet paper piles up, but it is easy to solve this problem by burning the pile.

Bert went to town to get some things made by a carpenter. We needed a holder for our bread knife, a holder for our cutting board and some and some other things.

Bert has found a friend as interested in GPS, electronic maps and computers as himself. From Wolfgang we got all the coordinates for where they had stayed the night here in India. It is great, because sometimes it can be hard to find a good spot the park for the night.

When the sun goes down at 6.30 PM it gets pitch black. This means that we make it an early night almost every night. At 8 PM we are usually in bed reading or watching a movie.

We got an e-mail from our friend Cina today. She had been reading our website felt like she just had to come and see us. She was now trying to get a cheep ticket to Goa. We are very exited to hear it and are really looking forward to see her! Hope it all works out for her.

The nights are about 25°C and it is not possible for all three of us to sleep in the car under this conditions. We promised to find Cina a cheep place to stay in the neighborhood. To make her even more motivated to come here, we e-mailed her this photo of a beach hut in the sunset asking if it may be a suitable accommodation for her.

Catharina found a yoga place in Palolem and also managed to persuade Bert the skeptic to join the yoga class.

The Yogi really looks like one expected. He has been doing yoga, meditation and reki healing for over 30 years. Our group was small, only four persons. This day the exercises we did were focused on fixing back problems. Bert felt this might do him some good and decided to give it a try for a week or so.

Sunday again. Bert got up already at sunrise and took a walk at our long, white, palm fringed beach. It took 1 ½ hour back and forth.

At Sundays our beach gets completely invaded by Indians. They arrive in crammed busses and trucks and they stay all day playing cricket, football and having a pick-nic.

It gets warmer each day now. Today it has been +35°C, this means we spent most of the time in the shadow. Today the beach cleaners came to tidy up after yesterdays Indian invasion.

Yesterday we had dinner with Günter and Christine. Tey have been out traveling since 1990 in their Mercedes jeep. They have been absolutely everywhere! We had the most interesting evening with them. They had so many interesting stories to tell. Today they told us about their favorite spots here in India.

We are babysitters for Bennie and Debbies dogs today. Bert takes it really seriously. Already at 7 AM he was out walking the dogs for an hour. Bennie and Debbie had to go to Panjim to extend their Indian visa. At the Indian embassy in Islamabad you only get a 3 months visa. We were lucky to apply for our visa in Tehrean and it was no problem at all for us to get a 6 months visa. It turned out that it was impossible for Bennie and Debbie to extend their visa and now they have to go to Nepal earlier than expected.

We got an SMS from Cina again. She now has flight tickets for Goa and she will arrive on Monday. Great fun!

We went in to town to see if we had got a message from Cina, telling us where she was. It turned out that she had got an even better deal, a return ticket for only 400 $US. This means that she will arrive in Goa the 17:th of January.

We decided to check up our car to see if we needed any spare parts. Found a great workshop that helped us make the following list; all rubber parts for the rear of the car, pollen filter, oil filter and a new glass for the front light. Besides this we also asked Cina to bring us some newspapers, a book, coffee and Melitta filer and our new Advanced Scuba Dive Cert.

We also went to Margao to check the prices for solar panels. Two more panels would make us completely self sufficient. High quality panels cost only 335 $US for 75 watt, half as much as in Sweden.

When we was in Chowdi shopping the police demanded 11 $US as a parking fine. According to the policeman we were parked with our rear wheel on the highway. Completely nonsense! It was not much of a highway, only a country lane and all the cars were parked all over the place. He didn’t say anything to them. We just drove off from the policeman and he didn’t follow us. When we got home to the camp site again we realized the rumor had traveled fast. Our neighbors jumped us strait away asking what happened. The big wide world isn’t that big after all…

We had a small invasion of 30 English tourists at our beach today. It felt kind of nice to have a crowd to look at for a change. Usually the beach is more or less empty. But it was also good to know that they would not be here tomorrow.

This is what our days looks like. We wake up at 7 AM when the baker man comes by to sell fresh bread. After that we sleep for an other hour before we get up to cook our breakfast.

We really enjoy this fabulous life and we feel lucky to be able to live like this - at least for a while.

Tonight there was a rave party at the south beach in Palolem – a full moon party. We took our bike there with Bennie and Debbie. We all felt that we could not leave Goa and not to have been to a rave party. Bert and Catharina were not that impressed but it was still fun to have been there.

Today Bert had an appointment at the Ayurvedic Health Clinic. The doctor said that it was possible to cure Berts back with a combination of massage and herbal medicine with a 100% possibility of total recovery.

He must undertake a cure of ten days that would cost him 714 $US. He also need to stay at the clinic for the whole treatment period, and only to eat the vegetarian ayurvedic food that they serve.

The doctor and the therapist we felt comfortable with, but the guy from the clinic that took care of the translation was much too eager to sell the treatment we thought. We got a bit doubtful. It is a lot of money to gamble with for us, but on the other hand if Bert gets better or even fully recovered it is worth every penny and more. There are so many ayurvedic clinics and a lot of them have fake licenses. It is really hard to tell if this is a good one or not. We have to think about this for a while. Anyway Bert got some herbal medicine to boost his immune system to prepare his body for the treatment if he chooses to take it.

Today we have had a war with the ants. They have found their way in to our car and discovered honey and cookies. They have also told all of their friends about it… We have now sprayed our car with Bygone. At our breakfast table we forgot our cheese cutter. They had found that too…

In the evening we got invited for dinner at Jo´s and Terry´s mobile home. Jo warned us about her cooking. She told us that she was to improvise a chicken curry recipe. After a while she told us that she had tasted the dinner and that it was uneatable – not even the dogs liked it! So we went to the restaurant instead.

We made it an early night because we are supposed to pick our friend Cina up at the air port at 4 AM. We are so looking forward to see her!

Picked Cina up at the air port at 4 AM and went strait to Agonda beach. When we arrived it was already dawn. We had some breakfast before going to bed. The cows trotted around us in their usual hunt for something eatable. Suddenly a cow walked by with a red piece of fabric stuck on one of the horns. Bert chased the poor cow across the camping field to get hold of our neighbor Christine’s t-shirt.

During breakfast Cina opened her extremely overloaded suitcase, packed with spare parts for our car and presents like newspapers, magazines, sweets, coffee and filers, canned Swedish meatballs and Bullens canned pilsner sausages.

Cina took a room at the hotel right by the campsite. But she was not too happy to discover that she had to share the room with eight legged creatures. Handyman Mr Bert had to come over to clean the room from unwanted residents.

Today, we spent the day on things that we do best. Cina and Catharina went to Anjuna market and did some serious shopping. We got a ride with Joe and Terry in their motor home. The result: two bedspreads, two pairs of sandals, one skirt, one blouse, one bag, a pair of pants, one necklace and one sarong – in less than four hours and 50 $US.

Bert spent his day on the car workshop. We have promised our car, for a long time, to cuddle with it, so the SAAB parts that Cina brought were both wanted and needed. At the mechanics, the car got taken care of with a proper cleaning; booth on the outside and where the engine is. We made an oil change , the wheels got balanced and a dent on the rim was fixed. Bert met a German guy named Jock, who was kind of a “hang around” at the workshop. During the day Bert went home to his place, where he got served home made ice cream and beer.

Today, Bert got to play paparazzi photographer when he run right onto a Bollywood production. The main actress, Nisha Kothari , posed without any persuasion. The film they are making, ”Go” is a comedy.

Cina and Catharina were lazy on the beach, reading books under the sun shield. After a walk along the beach we found an Ayurveda-clinic. Cina wanted to find out which dosha she was and at the same time find out what kind of massage she could treat herself with. We made an appointment with the doctor the next morning.

At the workshop they made and put in place new spacers of metallic ; the old one made of rubber that we got in Turkey were totally worn out after over 10 000 kilometers on bad roads. This took most of the day.

Today, Cina and Catharina had a day of spa and relaxation! We started at the Ayurveda clinic and Cina found out that she was a pitta-personality. Pitta stands for fire, energy and according to the doctor she needs walks in the moonshine and has to avoid spicy food in order to reach balance.

After that it was time for massage. Catharina chose a massage with acupressure, which is a firm and deep massage. Lovely! Cinas masseur started out by rubbing oil into Cinas hair and giving her head solid rubbing. She continued the massage with her feet, trotting back and forth on Cinas pale and slippery body covered in oil. This must have been the wet dream of every foot fetishist. After that she tried this deep relaxation massage that she red about in Sweden. A thin, warm stream of oil is poured evenly on her forehead for 45 minutes. Doctors order is to repeat these treatments for three days.

On our way home we found a beauty parlor under a stair. We decided to continue the day as we started it and get our legs hair free. A leg wax was les than two euros.

Bert came home pleased and happy that the car was fixed again. Today they welded the exhausting pipe on several spots, they also changed the covers of the driving shafts and mended the cable for the ABS-brakes. All together, five men worked with the car for three days. According to our calculations, the cost for this should be approximately 250 $US. But the bill specified 1 800 rupees and that is 38 $US.

The owner of the car workshop is easy to do business with. He is professional and has a modern workshop. We give him our best recommendations. Here is the coordinates if you ever need to fix your car in Goa; Lat N 15° 11,421', Long E 73° 59,576'.

Bert gave Cina a ride on the motorcycle for her second two and a half hour long treatment at the massage clinic. On their way they past two tired cows and a dead pig.

In the afternoon, Cina and Bert rode the motorcycle and Catharina borrowed Bennie and Debbies moped to check out the closest town; Chowdi. Today was the Saturday market. After that, we went to Palolem, which is a tourist center for back packers-bamboo huts along the entire beach line.

As always there were a lot of people on the beach, and also a lot of restaurants and bars. But Agonda beach is a paradise compared to this! On the other hand – in Palolem, there is yoga and high speed Internet cafés…

Bert spent the entire afternoon in one of the Internet cafés. Cina and Catharine hit the beach and ended that with an hour and a half of yoga. Catharine got enhanced by the Yogi, while Cinas stiff body did its best to challenge gravity.

Catharina tummy was revolting today. It felt like a really miserable, but uncalled for, hang over. She parked her self on the blanket under the sun shield the entire morning. Cina went for her last massage treatment; Bert borrowed a drill and did some fixing on the car. After that it was time to get the laundry, pack and go north.

Back at Camilsons. It is nice, and we feel at home here. Cina likes it to, but felt a little stepped aside when everybody in the staff showed their happiness for our return, so they didn’t acknowledge her.

When we left the last time, we gave Cesar, the owner of the place, some pictures of the beach, the restaurant and the surroundings. Imagine how surprised we were when we see one of these pictures on a t-shirt for sale in the reception!

Bert rented a motorcycle and took off to the workshop again; this time to pay the bill. Cina and Catharina took turns in getting a nice tan on the beach, writing and translating the diary, which we have a huge backlog on.

Today, Cina and Catharina rented bikes to explore the beach further down. In Colva, we (of course) found a neat place to shop at: a pair of sun glasses and a beach bag for Cina Catharina thinks that Cina has become a hell of a haggeler!!! Three Indian men lured us into a beauty parlor to get manicure and pedicure. That was… ehhh… different. To put it mildly: It was like being treated by a car mechanic. Their clumsy hands could hardly get a grip on the tiny nail polish bottles. Probably we were their premier costumers.

Bert came back after an exhausting day at the internet café. It doesn’t always live up to the expectations. His work got ruined several times right before it was about to be finished because of the bad connection with the internet. However, he had a few other things to be joyful about. On his way home he received a compliment regarding his beautiful hair. He was also the owner of a brand new turquoise sarong which he bought from a girl on the beach. It was a bribe, so he could take her picture.

As usual, we spent the evening with a Kingfisher beer, watching the sun set.

Today, Cina and Catharina spent the day on the beach. We have been reading and eating.

After breakfast, Cina got a foot massage. It was a wounderful experience.

After that, we checked out from Camilson to go to Mangole, an organic spice farm in the countryside. We made a few stops on the way. One was at a temple, which didn’t impress us much. Bert got a reprimand from an angry man because he was using his camera. And after that the angry man wanted money. When we topped to fill up gas, Cina found a tailor which, according to the signs, was an award winner 1979 . He mended Cina backpack, for two euros.

During the trip, Cina got to find out what it was like to travel in a strange car. When we passed, people stopped with what they were doing, stared, made gestures, called at us and laughed.

Every now and then, we had to stop and ask for directions. “Is it that way”, we enquired. The response was some kind of side to side nodding. That means yes. Or no. It is hard to tell.

When we arrived at the spice farm we rented a room for Cina and got the entire place all to ourselves! It was a really cool place, and Catharina immediately wanted to go “hemmnigwayish” and become an author. We had plans to play games in the evening, but instead we watched a really lousy DVD on the computer: Sweet Home Alabama.

Berts birthday today. He got gift from his parents, brought to India by Cina and some fire things from Cina and Catharina. Unfortunately he had to survive without his favorite birthday cake.

Cina got a high fever during the night and was shivering the entire night. In the morning she took some blankets and parked herself in the sun to stop freezing.

She had to stay in bed while Bert and Catharina get a guided tour in the yard. It was a fantastic place. And so peaceful. We would have loved to stay one more night. However the place was booked by somebody else and we decided to go up north towards Baga beach and Calangute.

Right before sunset we arrived to Calangute and it didn’t take long until we realized that we would have problems getting a room for Cina due to an Indian holiday. We searched for hours and then we decided to try Baga. After a while we found a room at the same bar /hotel where the shot the Swedish reality show Club Goa.

Cinas fever had vanished so we could spend the day at the beach. We even lured Bert to join us for a while. The beach life is really different here. The beach vendors are practically queuing to get to sell to us: jewelry (ugly ones), sarongs, cookies, fruit, nuts, ice cream, blouses, t-shirts. They want to give massages, polish the sun glasses, paint hands and feet, give manicure and pedicure and clean your ears.

In the evening, we went to the night market to do some serious shopping. At least Cina did. She got a pair of new sun glasses, a purse and a wallet made of leather Catharinas attempt to keep up with Cina didn’t fall out very well. However, Bert bought a nice flash light to be attached on the forehead to her.

Today it was power shopping in Baga. Again, we got completely outclassed by Cina – the shopping goddess. We have to practice to even have a chance.

While Cina stayed on the beach in the afternoon we got the opportunity to try this device. We have tried to get to do this several times, but normally they state it´s only for children. But we are children too, maybe a bit big for our size… After trying we can promice it´s much harder work than you would ever think to jump this thing.

Today it as Cina´s last day and she didn’t leave the beach even for one second, and she didn’t even put sun screen! How about that?!

In the evening Bert and Cina found a place were they sold magic tricks. They got completely fascinated and bought several each. Cina tried hers at Catharina at the bar later in the evening.

Cina´s evening ended at the bench of the reality show Club Goa at Drop Anchor. She got out voted by Mr Raakesh Maathur himself; one of the stars of the show that was broadcasted in Sweden about a year ago. This was a nice final of two fantastic weeks with Cina.

Now we are back in Agonda to rest after Cina´s visit. We have just realized thay we probably will stay a couple of more weeks here. Today we saw an ad in the morning paper about an interesting seminar. We went to Margo to check it out. Before we even knew it we had signed up for a two weekend work shop to improve our mental capacity and memory. The work shop starts on Monday and we are so excited about it!.