Intriguing India My travel log

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Hello from India Well, we've been here three days and my tummy knows about it lol Flight was good as flights go, jet airways service was good & as airline food goes it was pretty good, great to have the added space in business class especially with all the smells & people did seem to like to clear their throats which was disgusting, thank goodness for earphones :-) The hotel is amazing, it was a little scary arriving, very high security alert having terror warning, we were dropped off at a concrete barrier and they took all our bags for screening, our driver was not allowed anywhere near the hotel, then we walked to the entrance through more security screening & bags scanned. We didn't know what was happening but suspected as the alert came in whilst we were travelling but it is fine, I actually quite like the security, far better than the alternatives. It's like a gated development with security cameras & look out towers on the corners, I took some pics where I could. Our driver is lovely, on Sunday he took us to Ghandi's house in Mumbai which was incredible. Just walking on all this history. We had a tour of the gateway to India and the surrounding areas yesterday, there is a festival on so very busy. Took some pics but not many, we had to dash out of the car & back in again as we got hassle for money etc everywhere, a little threatening but extremely interesting. Travelling around in our car I felt so sorry for the children knocking on the car windows. I tried to put the window down to take pics but it only goes halfway down. Chris seemed more concerned than I, mostly I think because he usually just sees the airport & hotel, I feel like I should have an electronic tag on my ankle lol ;-) just kidding as I know to be careful. We visited the area where the whole of Mumbai come to do their washing, oh my, I thought I saw poverty in China! Great pics here from the bridge.We went into the area but decided after I drew an audience & far to much attention for comfort to leave prompt & casually walked back the way we came & up the steps to our driver holding the car door open for us and off we went for lunch. Lunch was interesting, I was told was mild & it blew my head off lol, soooo spicy & after my spicy beans & spicy egg at breakfast I think my tummy was shouting at me! We had Chinese our first night in one of the hotel restaurants and I never thought I'd hear myself saying is this spicy or mild in a Chinese but wow it was hot lol so he made me another so funny & they were all laughing at me, glad I could entertain the staff ;-) lol The Indian restaurant in the hotel is fantastic, the spices are tasty, portion sizes are quite large so they make us half portions or say we should share a dish as the sizes are what they call family portions. We learnt last night how to eat as they do in India with no rice but with our hands and the dish, very filling, at home we would have eaten much more at our local Indian, here its not necessary and is ample. It's a real mix here & once you can get your head around the poverty, people hanging out of buses & trains & cows in the street sharing food with goats & humans ;-s lol oh & the smells! then It becomes a place of intrigue & beauty, the people are always smiling :-) and we have an amazing view of the Arabian sea from our room, they upgraded us with it being Chris's birthday on the 17th and our anniversary on 30th and the hotel has arrange a nice place for us to go for dinner which is very cool, the staff know use our name here all the time it's amazing how they remember each time, even in the hotel restaurants when we leave yet we've not seen that person on entering. Anyway, today I'm in the hotel and spending time by the pool, beautiful weather, people are very friendly & helpful. I'm heading out on tomorrow with a personal guide /security into the slums to take photos, I want to document the poverty here, the scales between poor & rich is incredible . I bought a book yesterday called "if I were rain" amazing book, all profits go to the charity, www. Youthreachindia.org I'm keeping a diary of my time here & I'm attempting to document my visit, well the best I am able to from a photographic perspective. Off to the Taj Mahal this weekend, we will fly there & back and then its Bangalore for a couple of days and then Chennai for a couple of days too rather than stay in Mumbai alone & I'm hoping to get to Jaipur but with my guide. I aim to do as much travelling around India while I can and having a guide/security is kind of cool as they tell me the stories to go with the places too. We look out from our window overlooking the Arabian sea and there are hundreds of people that gather on the rocks each evening to watch the sunsetting, which is awesome, very early in the mornings there are lots of fishing boats and they are fishing in the traditional method using just netting. I really can't help but love India & the people, it's just such a colourful place Keep smiling & have an awesome day :-) xo

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