hemingway

Any more info on your friend's cycling trip? Or is he posting anything online as he travels (assuming he has the necessary smartphone & sim etc)?

It sounds like an interesting journey by someone confident in his own ability to look after himself.

H.

a_f_d

I just received a spam email from a very polite firm in Letchworth offering to correct my style and syntax and re-write my work in perfect English - bl**dy ch33k!

AndyD 8-)₹

P.S. If they actually do what they promise I 'll bet they outsource it to Bangalore!

prestonjohn

Still in Colaba deciding what to throw out of his paniers. Said he has bought a bike for £100 and will start out today or tomorrow. He thinks that there will be no problems on the trip as its like a motorway up and down the coast.The last trip he did he met 2 from Devon who were canoeing it down using those portable canoes you can by at Decathlon for £ 350, which you inflate.They caught lots of fish too on the way down.He also met at least 2 parties from the UK cycling it down and really enjoying because it mostly village roads your using and not National Highways, which are lethal.

Chameleons

HP Gas.

Went in to do the KYC stuff. No problems there but now, when you need a new cylinder, you have to go in to pay for it and then wait 8-10 days for them to deliver it!

OK for us because we have 2 but what about all the people that don't? How can you judge when you have 10 days gas left?

Pain in the behind!

jcbrum

The new system for booking a HP cylinder is by an Automated LPG booking system which has been in operation for a while.We have been using it for the past 9 months and you pay for your cylinder on delivery.But it still takes about 10 days..

John

a_f_d

As far as I can see the system only works if you have two cylinders.

We went for KYC but were told it wasn't needed if you only have one 'connection' (=account card I think - funny way of putting it).

If you're entitled to a ration card it appears you have to present that as well and they stamp it to stop you getting subsidised kerosene (never have worked out how to get non-subsidised kerosene).

AndyD 8-)₹

chrisjolly

If you buy at the sudsidised price its 420 a bottle but to buy a black one which you can do easily (just ask at any small shoppe) then its 1500 a bottle. The number of cylinders is stated in your Gas Card if you have one. I didnt get one because the guy in the Gas shop in Siolim wanted us to spend a fortune on a two ring gas hob which we didnt want partly because it was awful and partly because we already have a built in hob. He was so unhelpful and unfriendly that we have always just bought black but as we only get through one a season its not that bad. About the same price as Spain.

k800mer

I should have received a gas card when I bought the apartment but the then manager of the resort had apparently already sold our book and others to his friends, he has since left the resort. When I went armed with my documents to buy a gas card I was told I could not have one as I am not Indian. The current manager arranged a replacement cylinder for me after a lot of discussion but I am not sure what will happen in future. If buying a new gas hob will get me an extra cylinder and a gas book I may have to resort to that.

a_f_d

We had to buy an unwanted gas hob to get our card but the lady in the shop found someone to buy it off us for around a 20% discount.
You don't have to buy black if you don't have a card, you can buy the larger (19Kg ?) commercial cylinders, we had to do that for the first year until the agency got a new quota of cylinders (we got a refund on the big one).
Now that there are two official prices for domestic cylinders there is bound to be a black market in them. I don't feel completely comfortable getting subsidised gas but otoh I don't see why I should pay the higher price for it to go into the pocket of the distributors.

AndyD 8-)₹

babu1

In 2005, on first occupancy I tried to get the book changed from the previous owner (a Brit) into my name and was also refused because I'm not an Indian.

The lorry came round every Monday at that time so the easier solution was to just pay the driver on the spot - 280 to 300 R/- if I remember,could have been even cheaper? - give him the empty and he signed the old book.

Haven't had to buy another since, which shows you how much cooking we do.

Last year one of my Goan neighbours was asking to buy one of my cylinders. I wondered why, she already had two?

What F****D ME OFF yesterday was the VFS online payment system crashed at every attempt so I had to send a Postal Order to Hayes thinking that was as good as cash, no bank clearing time like with a cheque. The woman at the Post Office said different, so my visa application is slowed by up to 3 days (or from whenever Hayes do their banking) before they start processing the application.

Every time I completed the online payment page and submitted the card details the gateway which should take you to the Verisign Visa page went to Connection Error (which there wasn't) Diagnose Connection Problems. I went into Tools, Internet Options, Advanced, Security and confirmed that SSL and TLS were enabled, but the system still crashed, so am extremely f****d off that there may be no visa by the time of my flights.

Is there any reason why they couldn't change the validity of the visa to become active at actual point of entry to India, say with a condition that the visa must be used or forfeited within two months of issue. It would spread out the seasonal stress on the VFS centres and Consulates, and ease the distress of the applicants.

Bipat

Are you saying you have not changed the cylinder for 7 years!!!! ? or how many did you buy? Have I misunderstood?
We have just a 2 ring hob. 1 meal a day + brek for two or four people, cylinder lasts average 2 months.
When it was not replaced for 6 months a fuss was made and OH was told to reapply for new card (Our helpers sorted it out and now they transfer the cylinder to their house to finish and replace it).

msj5

If I remember correctly ....going back 18yrs the 3 month visas issued then were vaild from initial entry into the country.Please correct me if anyone can remember or has passports to prove it. All my old passports in UK.

msj5

Wow. i do quite a lot of cooking and a bottle lasts me 6 months. I do have a water filter(so not boiling water for drinking) and use pressure cookers a lot and also have a hob with the swirly flames which are supposedly more economical and an electric kettle!

Bipat

Thinking about it my estimate was very (very) rough. We don't boil water and we use a pressure cooker ( or rather the lady who helps us uses it, I'm terrified of the thing).
So maybe cylinder lasts longer.
But also the amount of cooking is for several more people as all the various helpers eat in the house and sometimes take some home. Guests often pass through. Also cooking techniques are slow. We only eat the 'community' style food when she cooks.

But 7 years !!!!!!!

babu1

True, we've only ever bought one new cylinder in 7 years (from the lorry). One is presently empty and the other heading towards empty, but boiling a few eggs and occasional pasta or packet soup on a two ring hob doesn't use much gas and we go out to eat.