Last leg of India

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Hello from Mumbai (Bombay)! I am currently in the home of Bollywood and one of the largest cities in the world. I am here for 2 days before I fly out to Vietnam to continue my travels. Mumbai is a much easier city to get used to than Dehli. The people here are quite laid back in comparison and a western influence is very much evident everywhere you go. Whether thats a good thing though, Im not sure. Today I have just been exloring the city seeing the local sites such as the Gateway of India. I have also been able to sit and watch a local cricket match in the maiden oval public park.

During the 7 day stay in Goa I did not much more than relax really. We stayed in Baga beach and often walked to Calganute beach but during off season there are relatively few people about and bars and restaurants are often empty. The only site seeing I did was around Old Goa, where the are lots of old churches and Panaji which had a good market. The weather got a lot better in Goa and it is definitely a more beautiful place in the sunshine. The only disappointing thing was the amount of litter on the beaches but they are stunning none the less. I enjoyed Goa a lot because we were able to meet up with some fellow travellers and go for a drink and meal. We actually bumped into people we had met before in other places which is amazing considering the size of India. The other good thing about Goa is its food and drink. We were able to try some cheap seafood curries and not get ill. We also tried some of the local tipple which is called fenny. You can get this in either cashew or coconut flavour and a small bottle from a shop can cost 15 rupees (around 20p). It is very strong but goes nice with lemonade.

I guess now is good time to sum India up. Which is an almost impossible thing to do. India is beautiful, crazy, frustrating, friendly, unique, busy and amazing. Sometimes all at once. If you can deal with the constant hassle of street sellers and beggers and you can deal with heat then India can be an extremely rewarding place to travel. I have loved some parts of India like Kashmir, Goa, Udaipur and hated others like Agra and Dehli but I feel better off for having been to these places. The people of India are so interesting. It takes time to work out whether people are trustworthy but ultimately most of the people we have met have been. Indians are extremely confident and are always staring at your eyes to seemingly gage your reactions and decide whether you are a nice person. I have not met a person in India who does not have clear views on life and how to enjoy it, which is refreshing as in England I think most of us are confused about what to do in life, including myself!

See you in Vietnam!!

P.S. My camera does not seem to like being connected to a computer which is highly annoying. I am trying to find somewhere with a card reader to get pictures up so you can see what I am babbling on about.

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