MUMBAI GATEWAY TO INDIA

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So we found ourselves back in Mumbai after another 12 hour journey from Goa. This journey was the first time we had to share a carriage with two other passengers but it went okay. Its a little strange sharing such a close space with people you dont know but we knew we would have to do it at some point. It was a Sunday morning and Mumbai CST was alot quieter than when we had left it 11 days earlier which was a pleasant surprise. Our evening train did not leave until 6pm so we found ourselves with another 12 hours in Mumbai. Tim was keen to see the gateway to india so we hired a taxi and set off for that. He wanted to sell us a full tour of the city but really this was the only place that we were interested in.

There is a large hotel opposite the gateway which had a VIP visitor so the area was full of police and very busy. It was difficult to get good photos with the direction of the sun and the amount of people milling around. We stayed there for around 20 minutes and then decided to go to Mumbai central station where our evening train was leaving from.

We checked our baggage into the station and took off for a walk in the surrounding areas. The street markets are like Peter Kays buffet they are all selling the same merchandise. I find it difficult to understand how they manage to make a living. After an hour or so of meandering we found a bar and had a couple fo beers, purely killing time again. We then returned to the railway station and found the 1st class waiting lounge.

Normally these lounges are relatively quiet with few people as the railways dont offer many first class seats. However, Pakistan were playing India in a test match and this lounge is the only place to have a TV in the station and it was rammed. The woman outside was obviously letting anyone in that paid her enough rupees and we struggled to get a seat. The TV was on so loud I thought my head would burst and with us both now coping with bad colds it was not an ideal situation.

Four hours later we boarded our train for Jaipur.

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Photos

Gateway to India
Side view