Getting to know Chennai

Jobs to do today: Call DHL about picking up the carnet, visit a couple of different clearing agents to get quotes for dealing with customs on Monday when the ship arrives, buy some string to hang the mozzie net as the fans and Baygon aren't doing the job, and see if the roof top bar (see photo) we found next door (RESULT!!!) has free wifi. Easy.
We had a variation in breakfast stuffs today as Amelia bought a jam bread roll, some small plain rolls and a couple of bananas. We then headed to the internet cafe near by to check the carnet's progress on line as no one was answering the phone numbers we had. Sure enough, it had arrived, so we changed plans and asked our tuk tuk/auto driver to first take us to the DHL office where Andrew had been assured our precious parcel would be. Of course it wasn't.
After some discussion, a phone call and some 'niceties' - we jumped back into the auto and headed for the port region. We'd have to return to get the carnet later in the day. It's a truly brilliant way to see the sights of Chennai, riding around in an auto. We laugh as our driver negotiates intersections at speed so confidently, and take notes.
Finding any of the listed clearing agents that we had addresses for proved to be a nightmare. No street signs and various systems of numbering (Old #123/New #746 are the same property!) meant we had to stop to ask for help repeatedly, until 'George'' who knew Britain and England were the same place, jumped in the front with the driver and started yelling "Where to Miss! Where to?!". The small congested streets were filled with mechanics on the street, welders, fruit markets, childern on their way to school and women washing clothes. Certainly NOT what we were expecting these shipping agents to be located within. When we failed to find the first place, we settled for the other just because we accidentaly ended in the right street. Pulling up outside a small dishevelled building, we were told to head inside. Our driver, Mr Pizwan, waited patiently.
We headed to the 1st floor and were soon directed to the second. We waited as people came in and out of offices, and once we'd explained what we needed, we were taken to the floor above. Using a thumb-print scanner, a man lead us into the offices of International Shipping and Clearing Agency. A very professional set up with some confident people who had just cleared another landcruiser through Chennai customs a month ago. We originally had considered shipping to Bangladesh to avoid Chennai as customs here have a reputation of being impossible to deal with. After looking over our B/l and old carnet, we were told that because we'd followed instructions in Melbourne and declaired all the items within the vehicle as 'personal affects', we had now put ourselves at the mercy of customs. They see the carnet as the car only. Everything else inside could possibly be things we could sell for profit here in India. We now have to convince them that the fridge, and anthing else not ESSENTIAL to our trip, is for our own private use. With port charges, transfer costs and the clearing charges, we are looking at a minimum of US$750. Also realised that as we couldnt remember what we packed exactly, our 'declaration' list omits, among other things, our new sh1t shovel. Hmm hope this doesnt cause us any grief, we will probably just blame Canadia.
We now have to get the new carnet to the company tomorrow, with an itenerary of our travel in India to prove what we are doing. Oh, and as luck would have it, Monday the 26th, the day the ship arrives and we should be getting the car, is a national holiday here.
We did get some rope for the mozzie net though, and didn't bother getting other clearing quotes. It's time for a beer.

Chennai

We said goodbye to Jemimah -'Bye cat, enjoy Ballarat', (thanks Jill and Alan for having us to stay). With our bags and the tirfor winch which should have sailed with the landcruiser..."don't mention the winch, I did once but I think I got away with it"...we were chaufferred in a pimped-up pathfinder to the airport. 32 hours later (a 9 hr stop over in KL) we arrived in Chennai where we got a taxi to Paradise Hotel. The Indian's take hand luggage allowances to the extreme, and they were up and ready to disembark as soon as we hit the tarmac, literally. We couldn't find anywhere that sold beer (Andrew was devistated)so we headed to our room to go to sleep. Chennai is manic. We thought we'd seen it all in West Africa, but the driving, the horns, the yelling, the smells and the way people go about life is amazing. It can actually be described as graceful, the way people cross major intersections calmly. With an auto rickshaw or massive bus seating (and standing) 70 people with a blaring horn approaching, we laugh as we are nearly run over. I (Amelia) feel very vulnerable however Andrew is confident that we wont get run over. It is true that the locals have mastered the roads. Our air-horn upgrade is going to be invaluable. The louder and more annoying, the better.
We have been to the shipping agent and got some clearing agent details and walked a long way for a beer - seeing the filming of a Bollywood film en-route. No maps we have are accurate and involve some guess work. It may take a few days to get used to, but eating curry 3 meals a day should be interesting. We are still learning to roll sticky wet rice, curry and coconut sauces and bread into balls to eat with our hand without looking like idiots. We have not seen any supermarkets as such, just hundreds of stalls selling fried rices, mobile phones, buckets and clothing. If we need toilet paper, toothpaste or suncream, we are stuffed. There are more and more taxi drivers congregating around our street, but we've made friends with one guy who doesn't hassel us. He's lovely and will take us to the clearing agent near George Town tomorrow. We've seen a few very beautiful buildings and hope to properly explore once we have all the car documentation worked out. The new carnet should arrive at the DHL office here by Friday... a very stressful waiting game. Without it, we cannot get the car.

There's no turning back now

What a mad rush the last few hours were. Andrew had to fit the hi lift to the bonnet after many discussions and much thought, and it looks solid. Rust treatment, door panels re-fitted, new fuel transfer pump switch fitted, and all our belongings carefully packed into the 3 boxes and 2 new drawers. It really was ridiculous how late we left some things, but perhaps we work better under pressure. Followed by our mate Rod, we drove the short distance to Hermes Shipping in East Brunswick. They had ordered a tow truck to come and help load the truck into the container, so while we waited we worked out the insurance.

Once it arrived, Andrew backed our vehicle up the tow truck ramp. This was then raised back up into place, and driven to an area of ground which was a little higher than the road. A Herme's bloke then backed a bigger truck with the shipping container on it, towards the tow truck. Andrew then simply drove into the container. It was quite a sight to see, and left us feeling weird as the container was sealed. Empty handed, no more 'truck work' to do, we headed for the nearest pub to watch the cricket and worry that we'd either locked something in the truck that we shouldn't have, or forgotten to pack something vital. Either way, it is now time to pack up the house and get ready to move it all to Camperdown. It's only 11 days until we leave for Chennai ourselves.

Will this ever end?

It seems ridiculous, and I know we'll laugh about this later, but how can we still have; electric windows that don't work, a fuel transfer pump with no switch, a hi-lift jack with no place to live, a missing metal rod to hold the new cargo net into place, and only 3 DAYS to have the car ready for the container?

Yesterday we woke early and decided to get straight to the shops (Bunnings/ARB -the usual). Loaded into the car with lists, wallets, phones, and a book (for me to read whilst AJ is in these shops...) - and the car not only wouldn't start, but seemed to want to melt one of the terminals on our LH 900CC battery.The look of horror in AJ's eyes was only equaled by my own terror. $140 later, the RACV bloke arrived, did some tests and came to the conclusion that we'd just had a bad connection. Thank god for that. Now, nothing seems quite as desperate, for after all, what could be worse that a car that wont start?

We finally started washing the old water containers after months of failed searching for new ones that are the same dimensions yesterday too - only to see some shiny, lovely sized ones in ARB. Expensive, but very nice and CLEAN! The problem of mounting the high-lift has almost been solved and should only cost us another $100. . .