Stand and deliver, your guava or your life...

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Had to keep the title on a musical theme again, you'll find out why as you read this interesting entry.

After much deliberation about whether we stopped at Mumbai on our way to Kerala or not, we decided that our plans had to continue. The attacks in Mumbai made us seriously consider whether we were safe to venture there, but we knew that we couldn't come all this way and not see this wonderful city. The police presence had been stepped up several notches and our reasoning was that this was probably one of the safest times to go. We're glad that we stopped there, if only for a short while and would reccomend what Mumbai has to offer. It was a bustling city (albeit expensive) with many friendly and approachable people and cosmopolitan bars.

The train journey from Amritsar took 32 hours but was very comfortable apart from the hords of snoring passengers who surrounded us. Got a classic mumbai taxi to the cheapest hotel we could find, dropped off our gear and then went out exploring for the evening.

We caught a cab to Chowpatty Beach to get some food and have a wander by the sea. We entered the food area on the beach and as usual were imediately surrounded by touts from different food stands. We quickly made our way to the back of the food area where it was a little quieter. Before we arrived, we had already made our minds up about what to have. The local speciality is a dish called Bhel Puri. It is a mix of potato, puffed rice, crispy lentils, fresh onion, tomato, corriander and topped off with crispy noodles and spices. It is the best thing we have eaten here by a country mile! We swiftly washed that down with a Kallha Kattah, which is crushed ice moulded around a stick, put in a cup and covered with a sort of cola cordial. We then sat by the water for a while taking in the surroundings thinking how different it all was to all the other parts of India we had visited.

We decided to walk back and get a coffe on the way. We came across a nice looking cafe which turned out to be more of a bar. Two beers and a meezly little pizza later and we had blown our daily budget, whoops! It was good though.

Our first full day was spent on a trip to Elaphanta island, which is home to buddhist caves from the 7th century. The boat ride across was 1 1/2 hours long but it was nice to be out on the water albeit very polluted water. The first couple of caves we explored were amazing, all carved straight out of the rock not built. We saw images of Ganesh along with various other deities.

We got to about the 6th cave and started to feel a bit peckish. I opened my bag and looked down into it. When I emerged with our bannanas we discovered we were surrounded by a band of monkeys, not Mickey, Davey, Michael and Peter but an actual group of hungry individuals! By this time Amy had the bannanas and had been jumped on by one of the clan. In a desperate attempt to divert his attention I threw a guava in the other direction. This did nothing apart from feed another monkey. I think the one attacking amy actually liked her!! Amy stood her ground though and was insistant that the banannas were ours! With quick and acurate technique, I opened the rucksack whereby Amy (mustering all her netball skills from junior school) threw the banannas into the bag. GOAL! The one who stole our guava not only had the cheek to take it, but also had the nerve to sit there and eat it in front of us! There you have it, mugged by monkeys no less!

We left Mumbai with little dignity in tact and boarded another train to the beautiful state of Kerala. Arrived in Cochin or Kochi yesterday and have been blown away by what we have seen and experienced so far. We are lodging in a homestay which is cheap and extremely comfortable. The host is a very knowledgeable man named Sabu along with his sidekick Hussein. Together they have made us feel very welcome and relaxed. We anticipate that we will be here for several days as the weather is HOT and the scenery is marvelous! Fresh fish is caught daily and you can buy giant tiger prawns for about 4 pounds a kilo. However we have since been told that this is the price quoted to tourists and the locals will pay half of that. Tonight Sadu is cooking up a fishy feast for us suggesting that it could possibly be a juicy shark on offer! He wasn't joking, there were many of them on the fish stalls.

Signing off now, smoke us a kipper, we'll be back for breakfast!

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Comments

[Michelle]

Accomodation
You said you had found some cheap accomodation; myself and 3 others are coming to india in jan and are looking for a clean but cheap place to stay for a few nights; where did you stay and was it ok?

[Tony and Amy]

Mumbai acomodation
stayed at a place called appollo guest house on garden road, Colaba. It was Rs500 a night (which for the area is not bad, you may be able to find cheaper) but had a shared bathroom. Depends what your looking for and what your expectations are. The staff were really friendly and kind and it was very close to all the sights. If you mean Kochi, we are in Fort Kochi at the mo in a place called Sublime Roof homestay, Fosse rd/st. Good rooms around Rs 400/600 for Double with attached bathroom. Great two blokes running it called Sabu and Hussein. Hope thats helpful.