Mumbai to Delhi


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May 12th 2007
Published: August 6th 2007
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Mumbai to Delhi


The overnight train journey was fairly uneventful on the way to Mumbai. Once we hit the Mumbai area we passed a lot of slums, shacks held together by rocks on the roof and people using the railway track for both a toilet and a scavanging area. Mumbai is India's most populated city and renowned for it's massive slums. Upon arrival we got fleeced by a taxi driver who filled us with some nonsense about standard fares from the train station and ended up paying 100 rupees for about 2km which should have only been about 20 rupees. Obviously not a great loss (1GBP) but we still felt a bit stupid. We got dropped at Leopolds of the book Shantaram fame with high hopes, we'd both read the book in the past few months. Unfortunately at 8am it didn't live up to expectations of a hang out for ganster like folk but after an extended power nap and a shower (in other words, in the evening) it was feeling far more atmospheric.

We stayed in the Colaba area which is popular with tourists so plenty of bars, restaurants, shops, touts and beggars. It's hard work and not fun when tired and hot which we inevitably were in 40+ degree heat. With our hearts set on being Bollywood extras we found our way to the Gateway of India conveniently located directly behind our hotel about a 5 min walk away, score! Our dedication waned as we were surrounded by touts and street sellers with massive baloons and we quickly decided to retreat to regroup over cold drinks and perhaps try again later. We repeated this exercise a few times but much to our dismay were never approached about Bollywood. The thought had crossed our minds to have T-Shirts printed with "Bollywood Extras for Hire" but sadly this never came to fruition. We ended up staying in Mumbai for 5 days although we didn't actually get up to a whole lot. We spent one day sight seeing taking in the Bombay University and it's impressive clock tower, the High Court, VT Station and the Oval Maidan (big park area where it's not uncommon to see cricket games). On another day we took a ferry out to Elephanta Island to see the Buddist caves. The walk up was all steps uphill with shops on either side giving it the implicit feeling of a gauntlet run. Caves were interesting and there were plenty of monkeys around for entertainment. They also had chairs with poles attached, one could rent if one was too lazy to walk up oneself (we passed but were tempted!). One unpleasant aspect of the island was it's distinct lack of toilet facilities; for the pricely sum of 2 rupees Ash was awarded a little bucket with which she entered a stall and peed onto the floor. Yes, the floor! Not even a hole in sight, it was disgusting and needless to say the water went over shoes as well as the floor. The people of India have thought of every possible way to make money too. We paid for our 'deluxe' ticket to the island which included a guide. This was a blatant lie, there was no guide and it seemed no-one else was even under the impression there should have been, despite it being printed on the ticket and we doubled checked with the ticket seller plus the guy who loaded up onto the boat. Next we had to pay a fee to enter the village of Elephanta which is only there to set up shops for the tourists. Once we trekked to the top of the gauntlet we had to pay into the caves, not to mention the 'toilet' fee. Pretty expensive day by the end of it. One evening we strolled for a few hours along Marine Drive up to Chowpatty Beach. The view of the city the whole way around was spectacular and we were worn out by the time we hit the beach. There was a carnival feeling all around with Indian kids in push cars, food stalls, massage mats and lots of other thing going on. Lots of laughing and merriment, it was good to see.

We grew weary at one point in Mumbai and craving some western culture we decided to go to the cinema. Lucky for us there was one about 3 minutes from our hotel and Spiderman 3 was showing. We aren't Spiderman fans normally and maybe it was just the mood we were in but the film was very enjoyable. At the start of the movie we all stood on cue for the Indian national anthem and half way through the film there was a badly timed interval. We both chuckled at how the interval tradition has stopped at home although Ade was delighted he had a smoke break!

For the first time so far we had the experience of knowing some people living in India who generously invited us to their home in Malabar Hills and treated us to dinner with fresh mango ice cream for desert. We had a great evening in with Pieter and Valerie and managed to swing an invite to a day of sailing in Mumbai harbour the following day. We all congregated at the Gateway to India and took a shuttle boat out to where the sailing boat was docked. The boat belonged to Indian friends of theirs and we were 2 of a paty of 16 or so. Luckily not everybody knew each other so we didn't feel like the odd ones out. We sailed around for about 3 hours and watched the sun set over the skyline. Very impressive viewing and a great day out. That night Wigan were playing to stay in the Priemiership so after a quick drink with the Dutch contingency of the sailing crew we headed back to our room to catch the second half. It was a nail biting affair but Wigan managed to hang on to their 1 nill lead with only 10 men so there was celebrating to be had across the road in Leopolds.

So after 5 days and still never making it to the Thieves Market we made our way to VT station to board our overnight train to Aurangabad. Despite being rudely awakened by boarding neighbour passengers en route we managed to wake up at 4am to get off at the right stop. Viewed a few places before settling on the lonely planet favourite, Shree Maya hotel, which served waffles!!!!!! After nearly 3 months Ash's dream came true. We also splashed out on a huge room with air conditioning for the first time. It was extremely hot outside and cheap in comparison to a/c elsewhere. Staff were very friendly and the bar was a really chilled out area with books and a scrabble board which we took a shining to. Ade came out on top after 4 days so more reading the dictionary for Ash.

Aurangabad is handy as it's close to both the Ellora and Ajanta caves as well as the Daulatabad Fort of which we hadn't even heard of until we got there. It was this huge fort with 5km of surrounding walls built in the 14th century by a crazy sultan who thought it'd be a great idea to move the capital of India from Delhi to Daulatabad. The move didn't go so well and thousands died on the 1,100km march down and after a few years the sultan agreed things weren't going so well so ordered everyone back to Delhi resulting in more deaths and many unhappy souls. The place is massive and has many temples and mosques inside and loads of steps which were great craic to climb in 43 degrees but view was worth it. The route up to the citadel also entailed climbling uo two sets of steps in the dark, with scores of bats for company. On the same day trip as the fort, we also saw the Ellora caves and the Bibi-ka-Maqbara (a.k.a. mini Taj). Ellora caves are unique in that there are Buddist, Hindu and Jain caves all at the same site. The styles all differ and it was a couple hours of viewing to get round all 32. The mini Taj was really impressive. We couldn't find any info on it's size in comparison to the original but Ade is pretty sure it's very similar. We can play spot the difference in a few weeks.

The plan had been to stay two days in Aurangabad and then get a bus to Jalagon to see Ajanta and get our train to Delhi but there were no buses going due to a road closure so we ended up changing our train tickets and staying a few extra days in Auranganad. We took a day tour to Ajanta which included a guide and we were the only westerners. It was pretty good although we tired of fighting for a spot within hearing distance of the guide pretty quickly and wandered about on our own. Ajanta is a brilliant site. The caves are in a horsehoe shape around a lake (only in and after monsoon though so we missed it) and all can be seen as you're walking around. Ajanta was lost to the world for centuries after the caves were no longer used but were found again by an English hunting party during the Raj era. The discovery point is now a viewing area from where you can see the whole horseshoe effect all at once and again during monsoon this would be fab as we could see the tracks of waterfalls between the caves but no water. We still really enjoyed seeing all the paintings and statues but were happy there was only one two storey cave and none with three storeys as there were in Ellora. It's way too hot for walking up steep steps! Between the caves and the bus stop there was a little area with food stalls and little tourist shops where we picked up some cool candle sticks carved from different types of rocks and some cool earrings and a necklace for very cheap. Posed for loads of photos with families and kids.

While at the hotel in Aurangabad we spotted an ancient lonely planet guide detailing an overland route from Turkey to Nepal and had a flick through. Spotted that the monsoon starts during early June in Nepal and that trekking and rafting pretty much stops then or is extremely sub-optimal so we decided to look into it when we arrived in Delhi. Our train journey to Delhi was fairly ok even though we shared our infested carriage with a million cockroaches which no Indian passengers seemed to mind. It was our first 23 hour trip but we read and played cards so the time flew. Once we landed in Delhi we knew exactly where we were going to and so avoided all the hassle at train station and luckily our hotel of choice had a travel agent in the lobby. We booked out flights to Nepal within 2 hours of arriving in Delhi and spent the next day and a half hiding out in our room and in the rooftop restaurant across the street spotting cows and watching kite fighting. Sight seeing has been left for when we return - Kathmandu here we come!!!


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19th June 2007

Duly Impressed!
Hi guys! I see you've not posted a trekking entry yet, so I'm putting my comment against this one instead! It was really good meeting you on the road to Landruk last week. I hope you got to Base Camp and back okay, and that the weather and leech conditions weren't too problematic. I was lucky with the rain on the Gandruk/Gorepani loop, but didn't get any views comparable to those we got from Landruk. I've been having a read of your posts, and must say I'm pretty impressed with how many different destinations and activities you've managed to squeeze into your trip. It makes me feel as if I've been very lazy, with the many fewer things I've been getting up to! Enjoy the rest of your trip, and good luck with the 'new life', whichever happy city it happens in!
21st June 2007

Hey yu guys!!
Still no post card! only messing! Any idea when you'll be in Thailand? I've booked me flights- Heading the other way though, going to Austrailia for a couple of weeks, then New Zealand for the best part of a year (If i Last!!) then onto Singapore and Thailand for a few weeks on the way home. Can't wait, but i guess i'll have to, not going untill September! Chaoi now Buddies (not Buddas!
29th September 2010
Main temple at Ellora pt 2

ellora caves
hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
29th September 2010
Mumbai VT Station

Beauty
V T Station is gratest IN INDIAN RAILWAYS
9th March 2011
Mumbai VT Station

Wonderful!!!
Mumbai is a spectacular place. But,VT is the best of Mumbai. The night view is Brilliant,Lovely,etc(I am left speechless regarding the night view of VT station).

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