Final party and departure

So we are at the end of this adventure.  I’m sure there will be many more for me and Katy, if not together.  She is starting her next one today as two friends arrive for a further two weeks in India, starting in Cochin and then heading back to Goa on the overnight train.  She is now a veteran of India and should be able to cope with everything very well.  I saw her off this morning in a taxi to the airport to meet her friends.  I will be leaving in two hours for my own flight to Mumbai, then overnight and British Airways to London tomorrow.

Last night was the final party and farewells.  We all dressed up Indian style (see photos), including Katy looking very beautiful in her sari.  We had a lot of speeches and prizes.  I said a final word about UNICEF.  Our dear friend Billie, the trip’s cultural guru, who has kept us informed about India throughout the journey, made a final speech, in which she said Katy was her favourite among the participants!  She went shopping with Katy earlier and Katy bought some beautiful Indian gold earrings, but her ears need to be re-pierced before she can wear them.

The final awards were given out.  Unfortunately we didn’t win the prize for the best car decoration.  I think we were robbed, but Katy accepts that winners did a better job – they had even got the mechanics to wire up flashing lights to the car battery.  Ah well, we took part and had a lot of fun doing it, and our car looked fantastic, speeding through India with a pink elephant taped to the bonnet!

The party entertainment came from a group of martial arts stuntmen who fought convincingly with real swords and twirled flaming sticks around their heads (see photos).

The whole event has been an amazing once-in-a-lifetime expoerience and we have enjoyed it very much, even while it has been, at times, extremely challenging.  We are certainly glad to have come through safely to the end, but also a little sad that the end has come.  We will both bore all our friends and relations with stories for years to come.  And I understand more than £120K has been raised so far, with more money coming in.  So the children along our route, and in the UK, will benefit from our efforts.  A final big thank you is due to all our sponsors, who made it possible for us to take part in this unique adventure.

I am hoping to get the email contacts of all the participants and to set up a Flickr account where we can all post our photos and keep in touch.  I hope this happens as we have made many new friends on karma enduro.  It has been a pleasure updatijng the blog every day and I am glad that I have been able to keep many of the friends and relations of other participants updated in the process.

Final photos follow.

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