It is lovely to be back in India again. And it is great to just relax for a day. It has been some exhausting days in Pakistan, long days of driving, day after day.

We are staying at Mrs Bhandari´s Guest House. It feels like heaven after Pakistan. This house is built in the 30-ties and has been run for many years by Mrs Bhandari, she has now passed away. A big garden surrounds that house and we can camp here. They even have a pool. Everything is clean and well kept. The food is good and the beer is chilled.

The Waga border closing ceremony is a daily spectacle of silly walks, uniforms and funny hats on both sides of the border at the same time. And the crowds on both sides are cheering very loudly. Lots of patriotism there...

The holiest place for the Sikes is The Golden Temple in Amritsar. It is incredibly beautiful. All around the pool there are places to take a swim in the healing water.

There is an enormous dining hall at the temple area. They are serving 60 000-80 000 pilgrims and other guests a day. The food is free for all. But you can make a donation. It s an impressvie maschinery.

There are two dining halls that take 500 guests each per half hour. This means they serve 2 000 meals an hour. The pots for cocking are gigantic. The organization is mostly volunteers who come here to help out and the biggest honor of all is to be the one that cocks the food.

Golden Temple is the Sikes place, but there are a lot of Hindus in Amritsar too. They have their own temple that look quite similar to The Golden Temple; Sri Durgiana Temple – The Silver Temple.

This old guesthouse is very well kept. They really pay attention to details. It looks like back in the 30-ties when it was private home. They even make their own butter the old fashion way. And in a small part of the garden they keep their buffalos. From their poop they make their own gas for the old gas stove. In the garden they grow vegetables for serving in the restaurant.

We are now leaving Amritsar to go to the camel market in Pushkar, Rajasthan. It is an 800 kilometer trip, in India this means 2-3 days of driving.

We really hope that there is no smog in Rajastan, we are longing for a bit of fresh air. Here in the Punjab region we have been living in this suffocating smog for a week now. Every breath feels poisonous, our eyes hurt, the thought is sore, we cough and sneeze. We cannot avoid the smog. It has been around us for 24-7.

During today’s trip through Punjab we could clearly see the root to the problem with the smog. It is harvest season. After bringing in the crops the farmers burn the fields. Everywere we look there are burning fields. It is like being in a huge forest fire that never ends. On top of that they burn their garage everywere. Right now the smog is so bad that they have closed the schools in Delhi for three days.

When we arrived in the Rajastan province, the landscape changed from fertil soil and fields to mote desert like landscape. We are also close to The Great Desert. With the desert there also came a lot more camels. Workning camels. There are quite a few of them here still.

The desert also means hotter climate. We are lucky that there is no smog here and we could keep the windows open. It is so nice to be able to breath properly again.

Pushkar Camel Fair is a very lively event. It is not only about camels, there are a lot of horses from a breed with funny ears too. On top of that there is vendors, food stalls, a fairground, and music and dance performances.

If Goa is considered a light version of India this is India extra everything. In the guidebook the they recommended earplugs. We would say that is a necessity if you plan to get a least a tiny bit of sleep while you are here.

Today we have seen camels – a lot of camels, about 10 000 camels and their cameleers are staying in an area just outside the town. We tried to pet the camels but they seem a bit shy and don’t want us to get too close to them.

They have a lot of very fancy decorated camels for the tourists here. The tourists traveling in a group are led around town riding the camels. If they don’t dare to ride the camels they ride the equally beautifully decorated camel wagon instead.

On top of this Pushkar is also invaded by Hindu pilgrims. This is an important place for them to come taking a dip in the holy lake surrounded by the 52 Ghats. There are a lot of Hindu women wearing their finest clothes taking part of different ceremonies around town.

We also took part of a ceremony today. We entered a small Shiva temple, looking for a Yoga class but ended up being blessed, got a dot at our foreheads and a wristband that shows that we have been at the temple today.

The priminister of India announced on Tuesday evening this week that all 500 rupees and 1 000 rupees bills is not valid anymore from Thursday this week. This took everyone by complete surprise. The reason for doing this is very drastic move is to get black market money and false bills out of circulation. These bills are 80 percent of the circulation of money in India. And the effects on the economy and the everyday life here is disastrous.

On Wednesday all banks and ATM machines were closed, to prepare for the transition. On Thursday they opened again, to let people change their worthless money 100 rupees bills. They lines were gigantic. People didn’t have money even for buying food or anything else for that matter. And it was the same all over India.

On Friday, yesterday the new 2 000 rupee bills was supposed to be in the ATM machines. But it didn’t work out as planned, the bills were too large for the machines. Instead they filled the ATMs wit 100 rupees bills (1.30 Euro). Of course they run out of money in an instant. This means that all the ATM machines are empty!

Today we needed to get some money, we told the guard and he let us in immediately. And we didn’t have to stand in the several hours’ long line like all the rest since we were tourists. We wanted to change our 9 000 rupees to valid money, but were only allowed to change 4 000 rupees per person. India is cheap, but still 54 Euro per person will not last long for us…

We tried to change some Euros and to make a cash withdrawal on our VISA and MasterCard, but they said nope! Maybe next week it is possible. And the ATMs are still empty. Even if ATMs would work there is still a limit of 2 000 rupees (27 Euro). This means we have live cheap, only eat street food, fine really cheap places to stay for the weeks to come until this whole thing resolves.

We have solved some other problems too today. The problem we had with the clutch in Bulgaria has resurfaced. But this time we had to get help from a mechanic. The magic we worked we worked the last time was not enough, this time we had to take the air out of the hole system. Brake fluid, home call and service, was less than 5 Euro.

In the evening we decided to exchange some Euros at a private exchange office. The 100 Euro we had all together is not even close to enough for covering food, somewhere to stay and petrol for a few days. And the situation is just as bad all over India. Bert went out to exchange 200 Euro to a really crappy exchange rate. But some money is still better than no money at all.

In the evening we decided to exchange some Euros at a private exchange office. The 100 Euro we had all together is not even close to enough for covering food, somewhere to stay and petrol for a few days. And the situation is just as bad all over India. Bert went out to exchange 200 Euro to a really crappy exchange rate. But some money is still better than no money at all.

When we checked the brake fluid this morning it was all gone - again. We are lucky that we didn’t leave Puschkar yesterday. Maybe we had been stranded on the road in the middle of nowhere. Now we had to get hold of the mechanic again. He switched to the new head cylinder that Andrei got for us in Bulgaria. The switch was quick and easy, but it took hours to get the air out of the system. Now we keep our fingers crossed that the brake fluid is still there in the morning.

On top of that our water pump for the sink stopped working. Bert examined it and realized that the pump is no more. The question is where do we find a new one here in India?

Today we got some visitors too – monkeys. They were climbing the wall and the wires next to our car. A couple of them also jumped on to our roof. We had to close the roof hatchet and watch the door to make them not come in to the car. They were hissing and threatful. We thought it was fun, but the locals, not so much. They were chasing them with sticks and threw crackers at them to scare them away.

To keep our fingers crossed didn’t help much. The break fluid was gone again today. Now we have to order a new secondary cylinder from Sweden and have it sent here by DHL. We called Magnus Thorsell a Saab nerd. He helped us to order a new one to be delivered to Mekonomen in Sundsvall. This means that we need to stay in Pushkar until the package is delivered.

Today it was the closing day of Pushkar Camel Fair. The chaos in town was unbelievable. We found a rooftop restaurant, on the fourth floor and we thought it was like an oasis compared to what it was like in the streets. But when we spoke to a friend on the phone he asked if we were standing right on busy street corner talking to him?

When Bert later in the evening tried to catch it on film. The streets were empty and everyone had left the fair.

Now when we are stuck here in Pushkar until the DHL package arrives, we needed to find a better palce to stay. Found a hotel with a small garden. Here we are more private. In the small alley where we stayed before by passers approached us all the time for a chat and to have a look in our car.

As soon as we had been installed, the mechanic came by again, this time to remove the slave cylinder and the clutch. Bert had downloaded an instruction and pictures to show him how it is supposed to be done on a Saab. The mechanic doesn’t speak a word of English.

We have found a great street food place where we eat several times a day. They only serve vegetarian food. A meal for us both is about 2,5 Euro. Perfect for us, since there still is a problem for us to get the cash we need. The lines to the banks are still just as long as last week and the ATMs are closed.

The DHL is on the way. Maria, our neighbor drove like a crazy woman to pick up the spare parts, a new water pump to the kitchen and to make it on time to send it all before 4 PM, the deadline at DHL. The packet will arrive on Monday if all goes well.

Bert has had a big problem with his hands the last days, they are full of cracks and wounds that hurts a lot. He has had this problem for a year. But now it is really bad. The doctors at home have not been able to help him with this. Now it is time to try something new. Today we visited The Government Homeopatic and Ayurvedic Hospital. We got a doctor’s appointment strait away. He told Bert what to eat and drink – and what to avoid.

Cows with defects are considered to be even more holy here in India. This one we met today. The cow has a fifth leg on its sholder.

Today we went back to The Government Homeopatic and Ayurvedic Hospital to get Berts medicin. It was a two months treatment bases on powder, tablets and oils. The whole treatment was 30 Euro.

Garlic was absolutely banned during the treatment. The question is how to avoid garlic in India when we eat street food and in restaurants when they don’t speak English.

When at the hospital we decided to take a very non touristic one hour oil massage, the herbal based oil was supposed to stay on your skin for at least one hour. This means that we walked around town like oily seals this afternoon and all of our clothes had to get washed afterwards.

Pushkar is a secred Hindu place. This means that they only serve vegetarian food. We can not even find meat or eggs even in shops or at the market. This means also that alkohol is not allowed. But we got a tip from a local about a pusher that sell beer behind the counter of a laundry service. We had to hide the beer in newspaper sheets and stuff it in to our bag.

Now we are chilling out and waiting for the DHL package. Right now it is in the customs in Delhi. So close but still days away from having it in our hands.

Today we had to flee from out car, the monkeys were far too close for comfort. They were very aggressive and scary. Catharina also had to skip the yoga session at the roof of the hotel, since the moneys moved to there in the evening.

We also saw some tourists getting money from a ATM machine. They looked really happy to get the 25 Euro, which is the maximum amount that the ATM gives out right now. This is the first time in more than a week that we actually have seen an ATM that is open.

Today we have not done a lot. Bert fixed a temporary water pump for the kitchen zinc. We have ordered a new one from Sweden. The mechanic got us an old windshield viper pump that Bert modified to fit out needs.

In the evening we ordered take away from our favorite street food place. Home delivered dinner for two, noodles chow main for only 3 Euro.

A lot of people in India drink the tap water, other buy filtered water or have their own filtering equipment at home. We try to be careful about what water we drink. In our block we found the filtered water supplier for the neighborhood. We bought 20 liters of filtered water for 0,4 Euro. When we go to a shop to buy a liter it is about 0,2 Euro.

Left the laundry to be cleaned yesterday. They told us they had a washing machine. But we are skeptical. We are normally doing hand wash at any chance we get. When we find a place where they have machine wash we try to make a big load to make it really clean once in a while. We paied 4 Euro for a plastic bag load. It didnt get that clean. There were still stains on the kitchen towels. But at least it smelled good.

Now we really have to get some more cash. We rented bike to go to Ajmer, a bigger town about 20 kilometers away from here to try to solve the problem.

We have been at this all day, visited five different banks looking for ATM that still give out cash all over town. Finally we found one and we managed to get 2 x 25 Euro. But that won’t last very long. The ATMs are limited to a 25 Euro withdrawal per day. This mean if we manage to find a machine with money that day and after queuing up for an hour or so. To make these small withdrawals is expensive for us tourists since the ATM fees in Sweden and in India are like 7 Euro per withdrawal of 25 Euro!

We tried to withdraw a larger sum in a bank. But nope. They do not allow it. We asked in several banks. This means that we have to exchange the last 260 Euro in bills that we keep for emergencies. Now we are completely out of emergency cash. We really hope this currency situation in India will resolve soon. Very soon!

DHL sucks! The package is in customs in Delhi since Saturday. What does it matter if DHL are fast to transport the packages if they don’t follow through on the rest of the service? We have been waiting here for days. Today Bert phoned to ask them why nothing is happening. Then they asked for a lot of KYC documents like passports, visas, drivers license and proof of that we are staying at the hotel we said we wanted the package sent to. They had tried to reach us by phone for a few days to tell us this. But when they didnt reach us by phone. Why not using the e-mail adress they made us leave when we posted the package?

After a while we got four sheets of text about what we are supposed to fill in and to get proof of. Then we had to fill in a form at the DHL website, with all the information and enclose scanned copies of everything. There was a lot of hassle to get everything right. For example; it was impossible for Swedish passport holders to fill in the passport information that they demanded. After several hours, about 30 phone calls and 20 strange e-mails DHL finally made the package through the customs clearance.

This is crazy. We thought that DHL were experts in delivering packages. But that is clearly not the case. Then this would not have happened. On top of this the delivery will take five days longer than what they said on the DHL webpage. Are we a DHL fans? Hmmm… not so much.

Catharina has saved the hair on her legs for a few weeks to get it long enough for a waxing. Today it was time to get it done. A waxing of half a leg was only, 4 Euro. A bargain!

Then we went to an ayurveda doctor to get a body oil for Catharinas very dry skin. He mixed a mustard oil with 4-5 herbs suitable persons with vata constitution. Everything in ayurveda is natural oils and herbs.

At the hotel where we are staying they have a special kind of guests showing up at lunchtime. Every day 5-6 lovebirds, young couples about 20-25 years old showing up. The faces of all the girls are completely covered up and many of them also hide behind sunglasses. The couples stay for an hour or two and then they quickly disappear again.

Today we made a trip to the temple on the mountain top, we were lucky that they had a cable car to the top. It would have been quite exhausting to have the top on foot in this heat.

At 1 PM the package arrived in Ajmer, 20 kilometers from Pushkar, Bert realized that we probably will not have it today and called DHL immediately. DHL said we will have it on Monday since it was Saturday today and there was no deliveries on Sundays. We were also told that we could NOT collect the package ourselves in Ajmer, to do that we had to specify it already when we posted it at DHL in Sweden.

Bert talked to the receptionist at our hotel, who called his college in Ajmer. He took his motorbike and drove around to all the delivery offices in Ajmer, about 10 of them to try to find our package. Finally he did find the right office - and managed to get the package too and 30 minutes later we had it in our hand. Wow, isn’t it great. As soon as DHL is out of the picture, things run smoothly.

DHL says on their own website that a package delivery from Sundsvall to Pushkar takes 3-4 days. If we had not managed to get the package out by ourselves today it would have taken 12 days. This means 8-9 days longer than what they tell us on their website and with a lot of hassle for us the make the process work. DHL have a lot to make up for here. They have to do hell of a lot better to deserve to call themselves a worldwide express courier company.

But as soon DHL were out of the picture everything went really smooth. Bert and the mechanic put it all together in a couple of hours. Before it was getting dark we also wanted to make an oil change and to wash the engine and the car. The last part of the carwash was done in complete darkness with a flashlight.

We paid 32 Euro for oil change, oil, washing and six hours of mechanical work. Bert also gave him a present - a pocket knife as thanks for good work. We can really recommend this guy. He knows his stuff even if he had never seen a Saab before.

Nice to be on the road again, but after sitting around for a couple of weeks it was a bit scary driving on the left side, kids, cows, cars, mopeds, dogs, potholes – all at the same time.

When everything was paid we had only 170 Euros left in our pockets and 3 days of driving ahead of us and about 1 000 kilometers before we reach Mumbai. This means that we just have to find petrol stations that take foreign cards, because we cannot afford to buy petrol if we have to pay cash for it. Rumor also has it that at some of the government owned petrol stations it can be possible to take out 2 000 rupees in cash. We tried it all at the Indian Oil station in Ajmer. But it was difficult enough to manage to pay for the petrol by card. And to get rupees was out of the question. We have to fill up our car long before we need to, since we cannot count on finding a petrol station that takes foreign cards everywhere.

At the petrol station there was a man controlling that the quality of the petrol was sufficient the old fashion way.

Vi stayed to sleep at a small restaurant along the road. After a long and hot day in the car we needed a shower. Sometimes you have to settle with what you can find - a water tap in a urine stinking toilet lit up by a flashlight. But it did the trick.

When it comes to the roads in India we can see a big difference from ten years ago. They are in much better shape. But of course some of them are still really bad. We also see fewer accidents and car wrecks along the roads. But make no mistake. Driving in India is still dangerous.

We went all the way to the sea today, to Silver Sand beach to park for the night. But there was no silver sand about it at all. It was a rocky beach with black sand and the tide was so far out that we could hardly see the sea at the horizon. But they had really cheap beer there and we bought a few, only 40 rupees (0.5 Euro) for a can. We also got to use the shower at the wine shop and to top it all up we had chicken for dinner. This was the first non vegetarian meal in almost a month. Lovely!

Arrived in Mumbai at lunchtime, but then it took almost 1 ½ hour to get to our destination the Colaba area, even though we drove nearly the perfect route. But there is so much traffic here.

Bollywood is in Mumbai, and when we were looking for a place to stay we were approached by a guy who was looking for extras for a movie shoot tomorrow. Absolutely we thought, and said yes immediately. Of course we want to be extras in a Bollywood production. This was actually one of the things we had planned to do arriving in Mumbai. Great that it happened this easily.

After checking in at the YMCA, a reasonably cheap hotel where they have secure parking for our car we took a walk to The Gate of India, just a stone throw from our hotel.

Already at 8 AM we and some other extras got picked up at Starbucks. They took us to a closed shopping mall in the suburbs. The mall was rigged as an airport.

After having breakfast we were dressed for different parts. Some was dressed as captains, guards, policemen , check in personal etcetera and the rest of us as travelers in an airport.

The first scenes were filmed at the security checkpoint and we were placed in the line to the check in the background. After that they decided to dress us up as a Muslim couple. Bert as an Arab in a long white shirt, a shawl and with a beard and Catharina completely covered up . After that we had to wait for five hours for our scene to be shot, with us sitting in the waiting hall with our suitcases. In the evening we got dressed up as business class travelers to be shot in several scenes in the aircraft cabin.

It took a while for us to figure out who the stars of the movie were and what kind of production it actually was. It is supposed to be a promotion for a new TV show on the channel Star Plus, a talent show like American Idol. The stars are famous singers and producers in India and they are the judges. We were only allowed to take photos of each others at the set. The rest was a very hush, hush. They didn’t want things to get out before the promotion was aired in about 14 days.

It was great fun to be a part of this. The promotion is going to be a 1 minute clip to be shown on TV and YouTube. And we have to wait and see if our scenes are cut or not. But we are at least in three different scenes. And we have been filmed in a Bollywood production. Poorly paid, 7,5 Euro for 14 hours of work – but it was a fun experience.

Today we started out with a trip to Churchgate railway station to check out the famous Tiffin Wallahs rally that occurs Monday to Friday. It is a fantastic machinery with the sole purpose to feed the white collar workers in the city with their wife’s home cooked food.

Fresh food lunchboxes made by the office workers wife’s are picked up in the suburbs by the Tiffin Walla’s in their white hats. They collect all the lunchboxes in a certain area and take them to Churchgate by commuter train. All trains and lunchboxes arrive between 11.15 and 11.45 AM in Churchgate. There all the boxes are sorted by color and numbers by other Tiffin Walla’s and handed on to yet another Tiffin Wallah man who takes them out to different districts to deliver them to the right person in the right office. The lunchboxes have to be delivered before 1 PM. After that the Tiffin Walla’s are collecting them all again and delivers the empty Tiffin’s back to the wife’s in the suburbs. They say that about 200 000 lunchboxes are delivered this way every working day I Mumbai. This phenomenon is only happening in Mumbai. They have even made a movie about this it is called The Lunchbox. Rekomended!

Then we took the commuter train to Mahalaxmi Dhobi Ghat a gigantic outdoor laundry, every morning they laundry the sheet from the hotels by hand. Only men are doing this job since it is a very hard job. But when we arrived at lunchtime they were all done and the laundry was already hanged to dry.

After that we took the bus to the beach. There is actually a big beach right in the center of Mumbai , but not for swimming, only for hanging around enjoying the company of friends and to do sports.

We found a great Thali restaurant today. Thali is a vegetarian food with lots of stews of vegetables, beans, lentils, bread and spices in small servings. The waiters come around all the time to fill up the bowls. Very tasty and very helthy food!

This morning we saw a women with a great busies idea. She sat on the pavement with her two cows tied to a tree selling fresh grass and clover to by passers. Then the by passers feed her cows with it. The woman got paid her cows got fed at the same time. Genious!

Today we left Mumbai to drive slowly south via the Concan Costa towards Goa. We stopped for the night at Kashid Beach. It was really great to take a swim in sea before sunset, so refreshing after a day in the car. It was the first swim in the sea of many in the weeks to come. It was also perfect that we had our portable shower cabin and that we could rinse of the salt and road dirt before bedtime.

Rumors has it that there is a lot of Indian tourists here during the weekends, but it is far from crowded at the 3 kilometers long beach. After breakfast we took a walk along the beach before having a tender coconut and hitting the road again. Our average speed today was 30 kilometers per hour. Now we recognize the bad roads in India with all the pot holes and speed bumps. This will take forever reaching Goa driving these small roads.

Today we continued to Malvan and Tarkali Beach. But that was a disappointment. The beach was nice but it was a smell of rotten fish, there were litters everywhere and it was just small paths from the road to get to the beach since the beach line was fringed with hotels and private houses.

We had read that there was a coral reef and a dive center at Tarkali Beach and we went there to find out if it was worthwhile to make a dive or two here. But the visibility was only 5-8 meters and it didn’t seem to be much to see so we decided to ship it. If we are going to spend 200 Euro on scuba diving we want it to be great. We decide to continue towards Goa and spend the night at truck stop instead.

Now we finally are in Goa. Wonderful! We plan to stay here up north in Goa for some time. Right now we are in Arambol. We haven’t been this far north in Goa before. On the program now is sun and beach time.

Every Wednesday Anjuna market is on. It is a big and well known market here in Goa. We planned to go today. But when we finally arrived there was no market and we realized it was it was only Tuesday today. Then we went to Candolim Beach instead to meet Berts old friend Benke who was there on vacation with two of his friends, Katarina and Carina.

Today it is Wednesday and we tried again with Anjuna market. Our neighbor Maria who helped us with the DHL package wanted a special kind of trousers. We searched in 75 shops but could not find trousers like that. In the end we got told that we probably would not find trousers like that anymore. It was an old model. Very tired and sweaty we returned to Arambol again.

The money issue is still a problem for us. We didn’t get any money yesterday and no money this morning. Now we only have 30 Euro left and we have to make them last for at least a couple of days.

We took a day at the beach again. Arambol is an okej and laid place. Quite a few of the dreadlock people probably stay here for the season. But there is a lot of Indian tourists here too. It feels great that there are not only westerners here.

In the evening we made another try with the ATM. And his time it was open and it was willing to give us some money too. That is like a Kinderegg! We managed to get 130 Euro. Now we can get by for a few days.

Took a 8 kilometer walk two the next to beaches north of Arambol. It was a little tricky walk along the shoreline, we had to climb the cliffs and pass through narrow caves to get there. That 8 kilometers stretch took us all afternoon, including a swim or two and a few stops to have something to eat and drink.

We found a better spot to park and closer to the beach. Now we have better facilities for shower, and toilet. But it is still a parking lot for those who go to the beach. But in our corner of it is not so busy.

They have Hatay yoga classes on the roof top next door. Very convenient! But there are few participants, since all the foreigners are short of money still. The money they manage to get they have to spend on food, drinks and to get a roof over their head.

At sunset it felt like we were at the Urkult festival that we go to every summer in Sweden. There is a lot of hippie type people, dreadlocks etc that probably stay here for the season. They were drumming, dancing, joggling, selling homemade jewelry, instruments, raw food etc. etc. All this together with all the Indians coming here for the weekend made the beach look like a highway.

Shantaram is the book all the westerns talks about right now here in India, a brick of one thousand pages – and in English too. This book will probably last for the rest of the trip.

When Catharina stayed at the beach reading Bert found a Russian yoga instructor who wanted to get photographed.

Idag var det dags att turista lite i Mumbai. Vi började med en tur till Churchgate för att kolla in the tiffin wallahs rallyt. Det är ett storartat maskineri för att se till att kontorsarbetarna i city ska få sina lunchlådor med hemlagad mat levererade till kontoret.

Färdiga lunchlådor med nylagad mat hämtas hemma hos kontorsarbetarnas fruar av så kallade Tiffin wallahs män i vita hattar. De samlar ihop alla lunchlådor från ett bostadsområde och tar pendeltåget in till Churchgate med dem. Mellan klockan 11.15-11.45 så rullar alla pendeltågen in från hela Mumbai till Churchgate. Där sorteras och omfördelas lunchlådorna efter färgmärkning och nummer av andra Tiffin wallahs män. Sedan tar ytterligare en annan Tiffin wallahs man vid för att distribuera varje lunchlåda till rätt person på rätt kontor. Lådorna måste vara framme senast klockan 13. Sedan kör männen samma procedur igen för att hämta de tomma lunchlådorna och distribuera dem tillbaka hem till respektive fru under eftermiddagen. Det sägs att cirka 200 000 luncher distribueras på detta sätt varje dag i Mumbai. Det är bara i Mumbai det här systemet med Tiffin wallahs män finns. Det har till och med gjorts en spelfilm om det här fenomenet som heter The Lunchbox. Rekommenderas!

Sedan tog vi pendeltåget till Mahalaxmi Dhobi Ghat ett gigantiskt tvätteri under bar himmel. Varje morgon tvättas hotellens lakan för hand här. De är bara män som jobbar med detta eftersom det är ett väldigt tungt jobb att handtvätta lakan. När vi kom dit vid lunchtid så var de redan färdiga med dagens tvätt och allt hängde redan på tork.

Därefter tog vi lokalbussen till beachen. Det finns faktiskt en stor beach mitt i Mumbai, inte för att bada utan för att umgås, sporta och hänga med sina kompisar.

Hittade en riktigt bra Thali restaurang idag. Thali är en vanligtvis vegitarisk rätt där man serveras en massa olika grytor, bönröror, linser, kryddor, bröd etc i små skålar. Servitörerna kommer hela tiden förbi bordet för att fylla på i skålarna. Allt är jättegott och superfräscht!

Idag var det dags att turista lite i Mumbai. Vi började med en tur till Churchgate för att kolla in the tiffin wallahs rallyt. Det är ett storartat maskineri för att se till att kontorsarbetarna i city ska få sina lunchlådor med hemlagad mat levererade till kontoret.

Färdiga lunchlådor med nylagad mat hämtas hemma hos kontorsarbetarnas fruar av så kallade Tiffin wallahs män i vita hattar. De samlar ihop alla lunchlådor från ett bostadsområde och tar pendeltåget in till Churchgate med dem. Mellan klockan 11.15-11.45 så rullar alla pendeltågen in från hela Mumbai till Churchgate. Där sorteras och omfördelas lunchlådorna efter färgmärkning och nummer av andra Tiffin wallahs män. Sedan tar ytterligare en annan Tiffin wallahs man vid för att distribuera varje lunchlåda till rätt person på rätt kontor. Lådorna måste vara framme senast klockan 13. Sedan kör männen samma procedur igen för att hämta de tomma lunchlådorna och distribuera dem tillbaka hem till respektive fru under eftermiddagen. Det sägs att cirka 200 000 luncher distribueras på detta sätt varje dag i Mumbai. Det är bara i Mumbai det här systemet med Tiffin wallahs män finns. Det har till och med gjorts en spelfilm om det här fenomenet som heter The Lunchbox. Rekommenderas!

Sedan tog vi pendeltåget till Mahalaxmi Dhobi Ghat ett gigantiskt tvätteri under bar himmel. Varje morgon tvättas hotellens lakan för hand här. De är bara män som jobbar med detta eftersom det är ett väldigt tungt jobb att handtvätta lakan. När vi kom dit vid lunchtid så var de redan färdiga med dagens tvätt och allt hängde redan på tork.

Därefter tog vi lokalbussen till beachen. Det finns faktiskt en stor beach mitt i Mumbai, inte för att bada utan för att umgås, sporta och hänga med sina kompisar.

Hittade en riktigt bra Thali restaurang idag. Thali är en vanligtvis vegitarisk rätt där man serveras en massa olika grytor, bönröror, linser, kryddor, bröd etc i små skålar. Servitörerna kommer hela tiden förbi bordet för att fylla på i skålarna. Allt är jättegott och superfräscht!

Idag var det dags att turista lite i Mumbai. Vi började med en tur till Churchgate för att kolla in the tiffin wallahs rallyt. Det är ett storartat maskineri för att se till att kontorsarbetarna i city ska få sina lunchlådor med hemlagad mat levererade till kontoret.

Färdiga lunchlådor med nylagad mat hämtas hemma hos kontorsarbetarnas fruar av så kallade Tiffin wallahs män i vita hattar. De samlar ihop alla lunchlådor från ett bostadsområde och tar pendeltåget in till Churchgate med dem. Mellan klockan 11.15-11.45 så rullar alla pendeltågen in från hela Mumbai till Churchgate. Där sorteras och omfördelas lunchlådorna efter färgmärkning och nummer av andra Tiffin wallahs män. Sedan tar ytterligare en annan Tiffin wallahs man vid för att distribuera varje lunchlåda till rätt person på rätt kontor. Lådorna måste vara framme senast klockan 13. Sedan kör männen samma procedur igen för att hämta de tomma lunchlådorna och distribuera dem tillbaka hem till respektive fru under eftermiddagen. Det sägs att cirka 200 000 luncher distribueras på detta sätt varje dag i Mumbai. Det är bara i Mumbai det här systemet med Tiffin wallahs män finns. Det har till och med gjorts en spelfilm om det här fenomenet som heter The Lunchbox. Rekommenderas!

Sedan tog vi pendeltåget till Mahalaxmi Dhobi Ghat ett gigantiskt tvätteri under bar himmel. Varje morgon tvättas hotellens lakan för hand här. De är bara män som jobbar med detta eftersom det är ett väldigt tungt jobb att handtvätta lakan. När vi kom dit vid lunchtid så var de redan färdiga med dagens tvätt och allt hängde redan på tork.

Därefter tog vi lokalbussen till beachen. Det finns faktiskt en stor beach mitt i Mumbai, inte för att bada utan för att umgås, sporta och hänga med sina kompisar.

Hittade en riktigt bra Thali restaurang idag. Thali är en vanligtvis vegitarisk rätt där man serveras en massa olika grytor, bönröror, linser, kryddor, bröd etc i små skålar. Servitörerna kommer hela tiden förbi bordet för att fylla på i skålarna. Allt är jättegott och superfräscht!

Idag var det dags att turista lite i Mumbai. Vi började med en tur till Churchgate för att kolla in the tiffin wallahs rallyt. Det är ett storartat maskineri för att se till att kontorsarbetarna i city ska få sina lunchlådor med hemlagad mat levererade till kontoret.

Färdiga lunchlådor med nylagad mat hämtas hemma hos kontorsarbetarnas fruar av så kallade Tiffin wallahs män i vita hattar. De samlar ihop alla lunchlådor från ett bostadsområde och tar pendeltåget in till Churchgate med dem. Mellan klockan 11.15-11.45 så rullar alla pendeltågen in från hela Mumbai till Churchgate. Där sorteras och omfördelas lunchlådorna efter färgmärkning och nummer av andra Tiffin wallahs män. Sedan tar ytterligare en annan Tiffin wallahs man vid för att distribuera varje lunchlåda till rätt person på rätt kontor. Lådorna måste vara framme senast klockan 13. Sedan kör männen samma procedur igen för att hämta de tomma lunchlådorna och distribuera dem tillbaka hem till respektive fru under eftermiddagen. Det sägs att cirka 200 000 luncher distribueras på detta sätt varje dag i Mumbai. Det är bara i Mumbai det här systemet med Tiffin wallahs män finns. Det har till och med gjorts en spelfilm om det här fenomenet som heter The Lunchbox. Rekommenderas!

Sedan tog vi pendeltåget till Mahalaxmi Dhobi Ghat ett gigantiskt tvätteri under bar himmel. Varje morgon tvättas hotellens lakan för hand här. De är bara män som jobbar med detta eftersom det är ett väldigt tungt jobb att handtvätta lakan. När vi kom dit vid lunchtid så var de redan färdiga med dagens tvätt och allt hängde redan på tork.

Därefter tog vi lokalbussen till beachen. Det finns faktiskt en stor beach mitt i Mumbai, inte för att bada utan för att umgås, sporta och hänga med sina kompisar.

Hittade en riktigt bra Thali restaurang idag. Thali är en vanligtvis vegitarisk rätt där man serveras en massa olika grytor, bönröror, linser, kryddor, bröd etc i små skålar. Servitörerna kommer hela tiden förbi bordet för att fylla på i skålarna. Allt är jättegott och superfräscht!

Here, at the far end of Agonda Beach some overlanders usually gather in December and January. A lot of us have been traveling for a long time and need to rest for a while and it is also great to meet others to exchange experiences and travel stories.

Right now there are two overlander cars staying here, Ellen and Perry from Germany stay here since a couple of weeks. http://www.innowan.de/ They have been on the road for 1 ½ year and plan to go on until they run out of money. In the other car there is three guys from Germany; Jonas, Moritz, Lukas. http://www.weltreise-wg.de/ Just like us they are traveling for one year and they also started in August.

Yesterday evening a couple of more overlanders on motorbikes showed up. One couple from USA who are travelling all the way around the world, came to see us before leaving this morning. The other one was Ewan from German, travelling on his own. He will be staying here in Agonda to rest for a while.

Today we decided to go to the nearest village to buy some food. In Chaudi we ran in to the couple from Switzerland that was participating as extras in the same movie as us, and Sonja was actually one of those that were seen and possible to recognize in a clip.

Our car has been completely covered in a thick layer of red dust fingerprints since a couple of weeks. We found a car wash today and washed it clean again.

We try to stay friends with the fishermen who have their fishing boats at the beach. We help them pulling their boats up when they arrive. It is a great workout for us and it is good for the relations. Last night there was a gang here filling sand in about 50 big bags. And when they were ready a small truck pulled up to collect it all. We got a bit curious about why they were doing this in the middle of the night and asked a fisherman about it. He told us that they were stealing sand and that he was going to tell the police about it.

It is Sunday today. This means that the beach where we are parked get compleately invaded of locals. They come here in chartered busses. They cook, play football, go swimming, dance like crazy and play very loud music all day. Today there was about 300 people coming here partying. We locked all out stuff in the car and fled the field. It is like this every Sunday.

When the Indian people are here during the weekends the throw rubbish all over the place. They just drop everything where they stand. Luckily the kleen up squad arrived today.

We took a round of Rummy cup with our German neighbors today. They apply other ruls than us and we got run over completely, by Lukas who won almost every time.

Today we did a lot of errands in the village of Agonda, got three bags of exotic fruits and vegetables for only 5 Euro. Great! After that it was time for Catharina to get a leg wax again and Bert took the opportunity to get his feet done. Our sheets that were completely worn out also got a new life. They tuned in to two pillowcases and carpets for the floor. It is much easier to get the sand of a piece of fabric than a carpet where the sand digs in deep.

Today the English couple that we met in Amritsar rolled in, they stay only one night since they are meeting friends who are coming over for Christmas.

Today we there were five defines only 100 meters from the shore. There are quite a few around here, but they are usually not this close to the shore.

We bought fresh honey today from a couple with a bucket full of beeswax and bees. It was really delichous!

We also have an incredibly cute cow that we have named Momo, who is coming here every day looking for something tasty to eat.

There are a few jelly fish here too, and Lukas had an encounter with one of them about 10 days ago and got badly burnt. It does not hurt anymore, but it still looks bad.

We had made a rough plan for our trip until we reached Goa. Now we need to start to think about our next part of the trip; to cross India, visit Darjeeling, Sikkim and do some trekking in Nepal. On top of that we need to make a plan for Pakistan and China and to find agents for it and to check out the visa requirements for the “Stan” countries. That is a lot of work ahead and it is perfect to do all this when chilling out in Goa.

We said bye, bye to the German lads and headed north to visit Panjim and Margao and our favorite place The Longuinhos Bar & Restaurant, a great colonial place. Bert also got a really nice shave in an old barbershop. They still have a lot of them here.

After that we went to Camilsons Beach Resort, a place where we actually have spent three Christmases before. It has turned in to some kind o tradition. We talked to Raymond who is in charge of the place a couple of weeks ago about staying there for Christmas again and to sleep in the car as usual and it was okay. But when we arrived the owner was there and he said that we could not park where we use to. We got pissed off and left and went back to Agonda instead.

Already before lunch the German guys came over to congratulate Catharina on her birthday. They brought a big pot of Gluwein that we also spiked with dark rum to make it even better. When the Gluwein was finished we continued with Feni drinks. This could really have been a recipe for disaster.

More overlanders joined during the afternoon. Yesterday when we were away some more had arrived here. Till from Germany on his American Twin bike and Alex and Norbert in their white minibus, also they from Germany. It is like an invasion of Germans overlanders here right now.

Christmas evening most of us had dinner together at Fusion bar – this was a fun and kind of different birthday and Christmas eve!

This morning we said good bye to the German guys Mortiz, Lukas and Jonas in the truck. It was kin of sad to see them leave. Also Ewan had already left on hir BMW bike real early in the morning we thought - until we got to know what happened during the night. In the middle of the night Ewan had knocked on Alexes and Norberts door. He was in a really bad shape, throwing up blood. They got really scared and said they wanted to drive him to the hospital. But he wanted only to get help to pack his stuff on the bike and drive to Margao himself, even though it was an hour drive and pitch-black in the middle of the night.

When we woke up this morning and got to hear the story about what happened last night we got really worried about Ewan. Maybe was lying in a ditch somewhere dying? We asked the life guards to help us to call the hospitals to see if he ever arrived, but we only knew his first name. And we got told that a guy arrived there with the same first name but we were not sure it was our Ewan - and it was not. But luckily after searching social media for while we found his complete name and Facebook update with a picture of him in the hospital bed. Oh boy, were we glad to see his face and that he was well taken care of!

The fresh water recourse is always a big question when staying at a beach like this for a long time. This time we have solved it like this. The waterman comes here every second day, and we buy a 20 liter can of drinking water from him for only two Euro. It really is perfect to have the drinking water delivered like this.

We shower at a small hotel close to here every evening. I cost 1.30 Euro for both of us. They also have a clean western toilet. Yeah! The water for the kitchen we bring from the life guard tower at the beach for free.

Ewan got discharged from hospital today. He came by to say hi and to assure us that he was okay before he continued southwards. It was a relief to see that he has his big smile back on his face again – this big, loud German guy that parks his noisy bike in the courtyard of guesthouses.

The extra solar panels that we put on the car before leaving home works like a dream. Now we can enjoy cold beer every day. When it comes to cooking we always make our breakfast at home, for lunch we maybe make a salad or something easy like that and in the evening we always go out for a meal in a restaurant.

When out traveling like this for such a long time to go out for a meal tends to lose its glamour. We get really fed up with having to go out to a restaurant for a meal. It is far more appealing to stay at home to cook by ourselves. But in India the food in restaurants is so cheap that it is difficult to make it cheaper by yourself. But still it is nicer.

We need to make a lot of research and planning for out next leg of the trip. Today we have been working all day with trying to get rough plan together. It is a lot of things that has to fit together, like the climate on 5 000 meters and in the plans has not to be too hot and humid or too cold at the same time since we are going to go both hi and low kind of at the same time.

We also need to apply for seven more visas, and have to find out the requirements, how to get them and were it is possible without taking up too much time. On top of this we need to get Pakistan by the horns again and this time also China to be able to travel the KKH. And my friend this is not an easy task. It takes as a minimum 3 months of preparation to get all the paperwork and permits done when bringing our car in to the country - and it is fucking expensive too!

It looks like we have to celebrate New Years by ourselves here at the beach. The last overlander left this morning, but they are coming back again in a few days.

Today we reached a milestone in our research and planning, we finally managed to send a request of transiting China to 3 different agents. It would be great if the already have some other overlanders traveling the same route at about the same time as us that we could split the cost with. Otherwise we maybe not be able to travel this route since it is so expensive. Rumor has it that it is about 3 000 Euro for a five days transit in China.

We got an answer from one of the agents today. A 4-day transit for us is about 2 200 Euro. The agent knew about a guy on motorbike who wants to travel China about the time and route as us, and we decided to send him an e-mail to check out if he is interested to group up with us. If we are two vehicles we cut the cost to 1 500 per vehicle instead.

In the evening we went to Fusion Bar again to have a meal and to listen to the new year concert – Indian style. At midnight we went back to the beach were we are staying. And that’s where the really big party was with several hundreds of locals partying all night long. And they were very loud. We had our car parked less than 100 meters from the loudspeakers. This means that we did not get any sleep until 7 AM, when they shut down the sound system.