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Published: October 29th 2008
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Well...
Arived in mumbai airport at about threepm Wed 22nd after a 3 hour flight from abu dhabi. got through customs, was kinda hoping to be refused so i could forget the whole thing and just go home but no such luck. got taxi bak to the hotel about 2 hours, the first thing that hit me was the driving its fantastic, people beep for everything at all, my taxi driver drove into someones shin because he was delaying him, thought that was a bit much. it was just getting dark when i got to the hotel, went for a nap then decided on a restraunt from the lonely planet, left the hotel went the wrong way and ended up in a market, the placewas full of people and everyone was 'my fried'. could only take about 10 minutes of that and had to leg it back to the hotel and decided not to eat that night. But saw busy looking place beside hotel, in total dinner cost me E1.05, including two sprite.
The next two days were a bit of a blurr, didnt leave the hotel for more than 2-3 hours at a time, the city was
just too much. mumbai city has a population of 16+million, every where you go there are people, selling buying cooking eating cleaning the streets driving etc and most of them want to sell me stuff, spent over a hour in the main train station, victoria station, trying to find a place to do passport fotos, asked a good ten people before i found it, its the busiest train sttion in asia, 2.5 million people pass through it every day, and i wasnt even there in rush hour.
Next day, fri, i went to Sanjay Ganid National park, about a hour away on hot doorless train packed with people, was (realtively) quiet forest park which is beginging to be invaded by the slums, most of the people there stoped to talk to me, mostly couples looking for somewhere quiet... went on a lion and tiger safari and saw a few lazy cats but nothing you wouldnt see in dublin zoo, on the way back a guy tried to convince to go look at a temple with him, i'm sure he was legit but i declined, the most tramitic part of the trip so far happened that night, managed to get
Me and some statue, elephant island
i cant remenber the story behind it, insect repellant on my nads, i wasnt doing anything weird, and it stung like hell for about half a hour.
Met two german girls Friederike and Stefanie, at breakfast, the first real people i talked to that wernt drug dealers(who are lovely but not as nice as the morrocan ones). they were down from dehli for Diwali, the inian new year. then i went out to elephant island to see some caves, got a tour guide, sam, mainly cuz i didnt want to waked round alone like a pleb. went out with the germans fo diner that night.
Sun morning went to matheran hill station, place the british used to go to in the hot months, not tourist resort and villages no cars or bikes only horse or walking. Was a (long) 2 hour drive up to the mountains, then bargined for about a half hour to get horses and a guide, my horse was called Vanketesh, pronounced wank-a-tesh, pissed my self laughing, the guide didnt get it, so didnt try and explain. He was probably the smallest horse i'v ever seen, felt so sorry for him. spent the day trecking round a few view points, then into
the village for a wander around. we were shattered by the time we got back to the hotel and grabed a quick bite then hit the markets i had been the first night, finally found my haggling skills that night. was flippin sore the next day from riding.
Monday spent with sam from elephant island and his friend sam aswell, went back to S. G. national park where second sam's uncle worked, went on the safari... again and then into the nearest town for the best shave i'v ever had and only cost 50 cent, grabed a few beers and went back to the house, right in the middle of the park. sat outside drinking and eating, then had a meal indian style, sitting on the ground eating with hands, loved it, fell asleep on the living room watching a lizard on the wall chasing moths. next moring we went up to where the lions are kept in cages, there were about 10 lepords aswell, i was shitting myself in there every cage you looked into they hissed or growled at you, onlt a old rusty gate betwee it and you, and the arn't really big on health and
safety, there were two pups, keeper seperated the mother from cubs, while another keeper let a injured vulture out of a cage for a walk. the first keeper managed to get the cubs and haded myself and sam one each, it was amazing to hold it, highlite of the trip so far by a mile, i was terrified though. Saw a few other lepords that are never let out of their cages including one that, apparently has eaten a good few locals. headed back to the city after that said good bye to sam etc, nice bloke, but i'm so paranoid that everyone is trying to take advantage of me. went to hotel for a sleep missed the banks so only had 80 rupees, so deided to try the rupee-saver menu, chicken burger(tasted horrible), chips and ice cream cost 1 euro.
this morning, 29th checked out of the hotel, and booked a bus to Goa, next stop on the trip, famous for its idilyc beaches. i loved mumbai so muh, but it was tiring, with the new year festival there has been fireworks 24hours pretty much for the last 3 days,on top of the usual noise, rush hour
( 4-9 o clock) is pretty a coutinious horn beep, and there are so many pepole, i'm hopin to relax a bit in goa, probably wont though. there always seems to be peole wanting to talk or sell stuff to you. its 2pm now, bus leaves at 7 tonight, 16 hour drive ahead with no air con, nighttime temperatures cant be below 25 degrees and humid as well, had a shower this morning but been swetting all day so pity the person beside me tonight, looking forward to getting there but bit apprihensive about leaving mumbai, suppose i'm just comfortable here
and for all of those tht have asked no i havn'd had the scutts yet! and for the ones who comented on my spelling... piss off.
Talk soon wes.
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Clare
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!!!
This is great!!! Everything looks Super!! Lucky Chappy!!! xx