Friday 1st Nov
We had to keep appointments today, first we went to the Post Office at
Madras to collect what mail had arrived, we had Three letters from Brenda
one from Mum & one from Nell, we sat in the Post Office and read these & then
went to the Bank. These formalities of getting Drafts for Passage and
Cargo took over 90 minutes but finally we managed to get everything
done. Here in this Shipping Office we were again very lucky, because
the right man had seen us doing the business in the Bank and he
came straight up to us and explained. He took the Drafts and first
dealt with the Cargo then he attended to the Cabin Tickets, he did
everything for us so we considered ourselves very fortunate, actually
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this was the man who we were to see at the A.A.S.I. at 3P.M.
and he told us exactly what to bring with us. We queried the 10%
of the Foreign Currency and the price of the Shipping of the Van and
he carefully explained it all to us, after this was done and we had
our Tickets for Cabin & Cargo we returned to the Hotel for Lunch.
At 2.40 PM we got a Taxi to the AASI offices in Mount Rd and
he arrived soon after us. Again he explained everything carefully
in detail, he would collect my Passport on the afternoon of the 15th Nov,
he then said he would send his Son to the Hotel at 9AM of the 17th Nov
to accompany us and direct us to where we were to Park the Van prior
to Customs & Loading, then if we so desired we could go to our Cabin
and during the afternoon he would arrive at the Cabin to give us the
Carnet and Passport with all the Formalities completed. The Van would
be loaded on to the Deck and I was then to lock it. We now have to
write to the AA of Penang to get then to supervise the unloading of the
Vehicle. We left the AASI Office and again visited the Victoria Technical
Institute and purchased three Fruit Bowls which we would give as
presents.
Saturday 2nd Nov.
After breakfast we started to pack our things into the Van, the “Boss”
and the Manager were very interested in the Motor Caravan and came
over and spent quite a considerable time having it all explained to
them. We filled up with water then we went to the Reception and
made a booking for the 14th, 15th & 16th this would take us to the morning
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of Sunday 17th so that at 9AM on that morning we would leave
for Penang. We Paid our Bill and being so interested the Boss
came along in the Van to the Garage where we filled up with petrol
for our journey to Bangalore it was now 11A.M. The road to
Bangalore was straight and it was really good and we were
able to keep up a good speed. We saw Two or Three groups of
Monkeys but they disappeared before we could take photos of
them. It was quite an easy run to Bangalore and we reached
it by 5.15, we were looking for a Hotel that had been
recommended to us when we saw the New Zealanders, when we
had first met at the Pakistan Border and they stayed at Flashman
Hotel at the same two nights as we did, they followed us and
we came to the Air Lines Hotel so we parked side by side in
their Car Park. We chatted together for an hour or so, talking
about the roads of India. They had come down by the centre
road and said it was really bad, that is as we had found the
coast road to Madras. From Madras to Bangalore we clocked
207 miles and as we have Ten days to spare we shall make
plans to tour around Southern India before we return to
Madras to be ready for shipping
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