The car was put into a container on the 10th of December, destination Dublin hopefully around the 17th of January.....trip over, thanks for reading.



Some of the port...just like the rest of India



Some of the many observers of the stupid white man. Counted 11 around the container at one stage, none of them with any involvement in the process. I wounder does all cargo going out of the port get such a send off...........







Car in container

Goa

A little traffic in Goa



Bridie the beast after a long day soaking up the sun



Presents for the Germans



A market in Old Goa



One of the many churches in Goa



Locals unloading a boat full of clay



My Dutch tourguide leading me in the wrong direction







More Churches







Not a bad view is it...Anjuna beach











Our beach hut for a few days at Arembol beach







Some people we met along the way
























The truck was so overloaded the bridge caved in under its weight.



Goa is Indians second smallest states, with a coast line that is almost littered with picturesque beaches, palm trees and in some parts hippies who never left the party after Goa's infamous hash-fueled hippy era. Along its coast Goa's beaches change as much as its clientèle. In the North you can find beach with sea shore huts with there main residents being backpackers and hippies. As you go further south to what some say are the nicer beaches you'll find package holiday central. At various places in the middle there are some late night outdoor rave parties still continuing on from there hay day in the late eighties and nineties. Even dough the local government banned loud music in open air spaces between 10pm and 6 am to curb the ever increasing party scene, thankfully with a little bribery these parties, all dough considerably smaller and less frequent, continue today.

As arranged with our shipping agent we needed to be back in Mumbai by the 2nd of December in order to complete the week long exportation process and finally say goodbye to the car. That gave us just under 2 weeks to soak up the sun and drink several lemonades on a few of Goa's beaches. At the time of writing, Ireland is attempting to be the first western country to become fully submerged under rain water. For those who are reading this from the motherland, I am thinking of ye when I wake up at around midday to a clear sky and 32 deg C heat. I probably spend another few minutes wondering how you are getting as I lay my towel down on the beach and dive into the beautiful warm Arabian sea. After about 4 or five hours messing around on the beach, its in the evenings when I worry about you most. Luke normally consoles me by dragging me out for a few beers in a local bar or a party on the beach. Unfortunately this process just seems to continue everyday here. I think you can all tell how home sick I am.

Road to Mumbai

Mumbai outside the Taj Mahal Hotel



The Indian Gate, across the road from the Taj Mahal hotel


Some camals



After hours of rain we came to this river. This tractor just happened to get stuck on the bridge. 4x4s could drive through the river but not us. We (me with all the Indians laughing) tried to push the tractor but no go. Then they want us to try and pull them out but I told him to get fucked. Next I tried to squeeze passed the tractor, luckily it worked with half the front wheel over the edge of the bridge.







A Tiger reserve with no Tigers, Indians know how to fool tourists. Its a gift they all have.







One of the many shit roads, thankfully we got off this dirt track before it started to rain, otherwise we would still there stuck in the mud.




Elephants clearing some forest along the way


We were able to leave Kathmandu easily enough. Found the road we needed and just followed the signs. After talking to some people we meet in our hotel we found out the quickest route to India or at least the best road.

From Nepal we were four long days driving to Mumbai. Not much happened, just the normal near death experiences that happen to you when driving in India. The first night we stayed in Gorakhpur, a fairly big city which is mainly a transport hubb between India and Nepal. It turned out to be quit difficult to get budget accommodation with safe parking so we had to upgrade to the President Hotel, it still was a bit of a toilet but we weren't complaining after an 11 hour drive.
The next few night we stayed in some serious shit holes. From Gorakhpur we made it as far as a small town close to the city of Katni. The next day we reached Bhopal and on the forth and final day we flew into Mumbai.

In comparison to all the other cities iv seen in India, Mumbai is by far the nicest. If you can get over the three or four kids under age 5 sleeping on the street outside your hotel or the many beggars with missing limbs (The more limbs there masters cut off the more money they make) constantly harassing you, you should love the place.
We stayed in southern Mumbai, around the corner from the Taj Mahal Hotel. It was a cool area with various types of restaurants and bars to suit all budgets. It also is a big tourist area so it was relatively easy to meet people on a night out for a bit of craic.
Our main reason for being in Mumbai was to find a shipping agent to ship the car to Australia for us. We found an agent handy enough but unfortunately the shipping time was quite long and if we shipped the car, it would only arrive in Melbourne a week before I was due to go home. Due to this small detail, obviously it was pointless shipping the car to Oz so it was decide to send it straight to Dublin. We had planned to stay in India for another three weeks and as we didn't need to ship the car until the last week we decided to keep it and travel down to Goa.

While we were in Mumbai we left the car into Volkswagen for a well over due service. In India there are no Volkswagen cars older than 2 or 3 years and they currently only sell the Passat. The garage was full of new Passat's and our 11 year old covered in dirt. After two days they were finished with the only problem being that we needed to change our front break pads soon.....After 12000 miles through some of the worst roads and deserts in the world that's not bad. The car is officially a tank. So far only one flat tire and two broken wing mirrors, oh and the small scratch that I put into the passenger side door in Turkey, I think we have done quite well.