Back to the west in Mumbai

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So, I am now catching up on something that happened a few weeks ago....so please bear with me, it is far too difficult to even remember what day it is, yet alone what we have been up to...

So, we traveled from the desert by car - 11 hours!!! - to a place called Udaipur, a very serene, almost Mediterranean town overlooking a lake - lovely....

Then we traveled South to Mumbai (Bombay) although a bloody awful journey with an overnight stop in definitely the worst place I will ever stay in my life - mould, dirt, bed bugs, and more - that's what you get for 4 pounds a night but at least there was a lock on the door!!! We learnt our lesson and laughed a lot - I think Simon was secretly gutted when I said at 1.30am I'll take it - he thought we were going to make a sharp exit, no chance, I needed the sleep regardless...

So from here we took another train to Mumbai - overnight which was okay, I actually managed a bit of sleep which was good bearing in mind their is a lot of farting and snoring all night. I need to take a photo to let you appreciate...

We arrived in Mumbai about 10am and headed straight for our hotel. It was my job to book something and I had failed miserably so I booked an extortionately priced place on the train - after our previous night’s experience, and it was good, really good. All the mod cons in the room, robes, slippers, g&t's and AC - worth every penny. We got our washing done, by machine, rather than being beaten by hand with a stone at the side of a river and not looking any cleaner, and sat sipping drinks in bed watching TV, ordering ice and slice...mmmm.....

We liked Mumbai although the experience we had was very superficial, it was not until we flew back into Mumbai that we really saw the extent of the poverty and the denial the main area of the city lives in.....it was when we were watching the Man U v Chelsea match that we started to see things, people watching from outside the bar, avid fans unable or not be able to afford to enter, maybe even being not of the right caste, we just wanted to call them in and buy them a drink - when would you ever see this in the UK????

But overall Mumbai was a good experience and somewhere I would definately want to come back to and really understand xx

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Photos

Baloon seller
On Chowpatty beach right in the heart of the city

Waiting for the train
This is 10.39pm!!

Vibrant kids
A large family who were very up for the camera on Elephanta Island