Mumbai or should that be Bombay?

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well here we go again .... sitting comfortably?? then I will begin!!!

We arrived Bombay (everyone calls it Bombay!) at 6.30am on a rather empty plane. We stopped an hour before to offload some passengers and refuel (routine stop I hasten to add) and probably there was about 50 of us left on the plane! This made going through immigration, collecting luggage, and routine "I'm just nipping to the toilet" all vey quick and easy! We had a taxi ride to the hotel which took around an hour and forty minutes and landed us straight into the heart of Bombay life. We turned immediately off the highway and took a back route through some of the many slums before rejoining a main thoroughfare of some description. The sensory shock was mind blowing. Accommodation ranged from some brick single story housing to predominently a sheet of tarpaulin for a roof. Children ranged from fully clothed to little clothing and in some places the adults were the same. At one point when we couldn't move anywhere (which was frequent) I noticed a whole herd of cattle on the roadside being tended as they would back home. I spotted many sites that I remebered from my previous trip, The Taj, Victoria Terminus, University etc - I was pointing them out to David along the way, until that is in the intense heat we both nodded off! We are stopping in Bennets Hotel, with a room I think at the top of the building. It's basic but clean, large and well hey we've paid a little extra for aircon! It was raining when we got here, and ranged from heavy outbursts to light and then nothing - all quite manageable ... for now!! We took a walk in the evening upto to The Gateway and The Taj, but I was upset to note that the Gateway is under scaffolding - well I suppose being their low season this is there time to spruce things up - oh well c'est la vie!! We took a cab over to Chowpatty Beach where the place was full of locals enjoying the radioactive sea and the beachlife. We watched a very small ferris wheel with all ages taking a ride on it. Now this is no ordinary wheel like we know - its small and totally operated by hand - or more's to the point many hands and bodies. About three to four men ride the ferris wheel and use their body weight to make it go round to amazing speed and effect and much to the delight (judging by the screams) of the children - although judging by the one dads face he was less than amused to be sitting there!!! We sampled a bhel puri, which consist of crispy rice, lentils, onion and probably some other unknown ingredients but so far have survived to tell the tale! On walking back to the hotel, David spotted the first of probably many rats!! There was an expletive (I'll leave it to your imagination!) ending in 'as big as a cat'. I rather naively hoped it was (a cat that is), until a couple of hundred yards later on I spotted one and replied in not to disimilar refrain that 'yes they are rather large, aren't they!'. As we walked upto our hotel (which has a dimly lit entrance), we both thought we'd had our next rat experience, as out of the lobby shot a cat. This resulted in us both having a sharp intake of breath, stopping then collapsing in a fit of giggles.

Today saw us enjoying tea, toast and marmalade served in the room (all part of the service) before heading back over to the Gateway to catch a boat to Elephanta Island. The journey takes an hour in a boat that is full and probably wouldn't even dare be sailed in British waters! In tossed and turned in quite a swell of water that was quite alarming. David calmly noted that the lifebouys were tied to the boat along with the rafts so we would have to swim, when we went down - please note the when not if!!!

When you reach Elephanta now you have a choice of how to reach the base of the 120 steps. A mini train or leg power. As it is only a 5min walk we preferred the latter, as naturally you are charged for the use of the train (which really isn't a train). Life has changed here (quite naturally to the twenty years it was when I was last here), you now have to pay to go up the steps, or more's to the point to the Island, and then when you are at the top you have to pay again to go and see the caves. It is a world heritage site, and the cost in our terms is nominal. From the base of the harbour to the very top each side is lined with stalls selling handicrafts and food, although the former is the main trade now. There are monkeys, birds, butterflys, goats, cattle, dogs and cats everywhere all co-existing. We did come across one little puppy which believe me, if we had been at home, he would have come home with us, he looked so hungry and sad, he was just in need of a good home. There are a number of caves to see containing many huge carvings in the rock. The main one being Shiva and is thought to be the largest and best in India. It is rather spectacular as is the temple that it sits in surrounded by many numerous large carvings. Unfortunately we only had an hour here before heading back.

En route back I decided this time I would not go on the top deck and left David to go up whilst I remained on port side (only because I didn't want to catch the sun). After about a quarter of an hour I got a soaking, so I hot footed it over to another seat further in on the tug, sorry boat!! Unfortunately that was never going to be good enough as the wind had got up considerably and we sailed all the way back with the wind and waves coming in from the portside. I put my raincover on my rucksac and hid as best as I could under that. Because it had become so choppy we ended up having to dock further up the harbour and not back in front of the Gateway. On getting up I didn't realise how much of a soaking I had got. My cream coloured shorts were wet through!!! This meant I insisted David walked behind me and we had a prompt return to the hotel for a shower and change of clothes!! The ensuing taxi ride on plastic seats was non to comfortable. David may well laugh ... there's a long way ahead of us yet!!!

Tomorrow see us enjoying the day looking further into Bombay by taxi. This has come about after hopping into a taxi in the pursuit of a gas cannister (and failing!). The ever opportunist taxi driver handed over his card and told us about the tour that he does. So for 600 rupees we have a full day with him tomorrow seeing everything we want to and a few more from the last time I did this. We start at 9.30 and are heading upto the Dhobi Ghats, and from there I'm not to sure where we will head, but suffice to say it will be hot and very interesting and there is nothing better than having a local because we will get to see so much more.

On Sunday we are heading to Goa and Panjim by train. We leave at 6.30 in the morning on a 11+hour train journey (in first class air con, all meals and drinks provided). The train stops some 12km short on the city so our idea is to hire two rickshaws for two pounds to get us into the capital. Whether or not this works remains to be seen.

One thing that has struck us is the people here in Bombay. We are in a third world country but everyone is far happier, easier going, and friendlier than in South America. Yes we are being approached left, right and centre to buy things etc, but as soon as you say no, everyone says thank you very much and that's that! Everyone is smiling and laughing and helpful. We aren't being too bothered by beggers, although this may yet again have something to do with it being low season. The driving well there are a million more cars etc here all fighting for every available spot. Horns are constantly blazing but everyone gets out of every others way. It's frenetic but feels strangely calm and although you shut your eyes occasionaly, because no one can go very fast you know if there was a bump it would be quite a slow one! How the car would stand upto remains to be seen!

Anyway best go, I would imagine the next update will come from Panjim following our train journey. It is now raining outside so I'm humming my little tune of 'drip drip drop little April Showers'!

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