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Tuppins for birds...yes we ARE in India...
pigeons live in every counrty we have been to...The train ride from varanassi was a real long haul. we left at 11:30, arrived at our hotel... a lot later the next day. The train wasn't as packed as before, and we ended up sitting with a really nice Indian family, who lent us money for popsickles, offered us food, etc. etc. The only creepers this time were the people accross from us... the staring you get here is quite intense, and sometimes even waving people off doesn't deterr them! But we met some other cool indians who came to chat with us during the trip, showing pics of their fams, offering us stays at their places. Unfortuanley, we told them, Pune just wasn't in our travel plans for our short one-month thing here... maybe next time!!! The scenery on the ride was interesting... A lot of dry land... a lot of very very poor settlements near the train tracks. Its another world... plastic bag-homes, children who look like they haven't washed or eaten in far too long. And the immense amount of poverty! It's intense...
We arrived at the station the next day... but we were ill advised, and it was the wrong one, which then forced us
to take a taxi-trip accross the city that cost nearly as much as our train trip!!! oh well... at least we got to see a lot of the city. Mumbai is beautiful for the most part... so unpolluted (compared to Delhi and Varanassi!!!)... so much room to breathe! And the air is clean, not too hot... and there's TREES! Lots of them. It's a realllly pretty city, filled with colonial archiecture. Walking down some streets felt a bit like strolling through London - until, o course, you get accosted by someone who wants to sell you sommmmething!!!
Upon our arrival in the Colaba district (more touristy area, with a lot of the sights), we found out that the YMCA was full, and set out in search of some budget places. Unfortunately, Mumbai is the most pricey place to stay in India... twas a little tricky!!! And, while walking down the streets with our giant bags, we were spotted by two one-legged men, quite eager to help us find a "very cheap place"... haha... it was quite an interesting experience... they followed us wherever we went, hobbling all the way, and eventually we just went to their guesthouse. Our room is kinda a cell in a basement... wayyyy overpriced.. but there are semi-comfy beds and a hot shower! Wahoo! We do get a little envy, though, as the Taj Hotel, a gorrrgeously lavish building, is right around the corner. Gahhh... Something tells me it's not for us.
Yesterday, we took the lonely planet walking tour of some of the sights and cool buildings in Mumbai... There is SOOOO much gorgeous colonial buildings... and it's all mixed in with newer art-deco stuff... quite interesting. A restaurant we ate at served us some great food, but baaaaad water. It was bottled, sealed and everything - but it tasted like LAKE. Drank it anyways, figuring it to be a chemical taste... like the ones in asia. But we later met a really nice indian guy who told us otherwise. Apparently, the poor are quite CRAFTYYY... they remove the labels, get new ones, add new tops that are sealed, and fill bottles with the crappy city water. He showed us how to tell if they were tampered with... Wow. So... thinking we'd get a crazy disease, we were quite ticked off. But we're ok for now...
So yeah, Mumbai is soooo pretty. The university has really nice grounds... full of people playing cricket. The touts here are annoying as always, and there are the people who befriend you and then ask for money (soooo annoying!!!). And we hear "Hello, excuse me sir, madame, you buy something? You like silk? You like drum? Very nice, very cheap..." about 30 times every 20 minutes, but all in all, we like Mumbai!
We saw a Bollywood film last night... all in Hindi! But it only had 3 cheesy songs, so we were dissapointed. It was fun, though... set in Seoul! Woahhh... Met some cool American architects here to stud, also...
Today, Sarah got asked to be in a wedding scene for a Bollywood film! Wahoo! So we're off for that... that should be super-RAD... but we shall see... hahaha
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Mike/Susan/Maddi/Maclean
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water
Water, water everywhere but watch what you drink. The place sounds cool, glad you guys are well travelled now and its not intimidating. Any sign of the famous Deli-belly.