The Mumbai Laughing club, an attempt at bollywood and a well earned swim.

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Last entry we were about to venture on a 17hour bus ride to Mumbai, this time we travelled in style in none other than a Volvo 😊

Joke of the day:
Q - whats the difference between a volvo and an echidna?
A - with the volvo, the pricks are on the inside!

The journey was average, but the morahan sisters entertained themselves with hours of documentary style banter in rich 'Seth efrican' accents...very amusing 😊

Mumbai was amazing, by far our city of choice. There was such a divide between the rich and poor, amazing british architecture and a great seaside vibe through the whole city. Exploring the city on foot we really felt the heat as temperatures soared well into the thirties. After having read gregory roberts epic 'Shantaram', we made sure we had a beer in leopolds and stayed in the same hotel block as the main character, Lin😊

We'd heard about Mumbai being the city of bollywood and were keen to get 'talent scouted'. Day one, our hotel asked us if we wanted to be extras in a bollywood film the following day....jumping at the chance we had an early night and practiced some bollywood moves in the comforts of our dodgy hotel room. After getting piled in a people mover with ten other westerners excited by the prospects of achieving their 5-min of fame, we were transported 2 hours out of mumbai to a cricket pitch which was to be the setting of the film. After 9 hours sitting in a boiling hot granstand, we were all dressed in aussie and english supporters outfits and asked to cheer 'jagran, jagran, jagran, jagran;.....and so on (such a great diversity of lines!). We later found out the footage was not being used for a film but a world cup cricket advertisment.

At the end of the day we were hot, tired, bovered (im not bovered), but a whole 500 rupies richer (equivalent to 6 pounds) which we spent on beer that night with the crew we met on set......not the most glamorous at bollywood attempts, but I must say we have been getting quite excited everytime we see our faces on TV...as the add has been played frequently on both indian and sri lankan TV!!

We also attended a 7am 'laughing club' in mumbai......a very funny affair! These laughing clubs are huge in mumbai as women and men all around the city gather in small groups to start there day with a good hour session of.......laughing!!! what a great way to start your day! Clare and I were novices, but got right into it as the instructor (the cutest little indian man we've ever seen) led the group in laughter exercises....once we all started, i tell you, it was very difficult to stop!

From Mumbai we ventured on another long train journey down to goa where we stopped in baga for a few days before heading to a beach south of goa called Palolem....what an absolute paradise! Here our daily activities consisted of eating, sleeping, swimming, sunbaking and befriending stray dogs which we named ourselves ( pretty, dale and bruiser just to name a few). We also made an awesome group of friends from the UK (just when you thought youd escaped them!) and Australia. A few big nights were had (finally the Morahan sisters were back in their element) new dance moves were created....and my T-rex impersonation was made global! A few other exciting goan experiences included:

finally eating meat again after 7 weeks!
have lost our pommy complexion!
have got active...so nice to swim again

AND

I learnt to whistle like Clare (we have definately had to much time on our hands!)

Oh and Lyjee absolutely LOVED palolem...we thought that he might be a little scared of the water....you know coming from eastern Europe.....but he has been in his element. His coat has never looked so shiney, and he has picked up a lovely tan 😊

NEXT STOP Kerela!

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