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Published: April 27th 2005
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mumbai scene
I was fascinated by the red buses- it reminded me of home which was london then Arrival at mumbai CT for 08:00- bloody taxi drivers took the piss! They wanted us to pay Rs 275- we had been told not to pay anymore than Rs100. Eventually after much assertion we got a bloke to put his meter on and "quelle suprise"it cost Rs 150 ( it only cost that much because he added a baggage charge! - sneaky sod!)
Got to bentleys hotel and showed us 3 rooms, none of which had bathrooms- we chose the middle sized one... which isn't large and bri thinks is claustrophobic. The bathroom is just down the corridor. It cost us Rs 850- not exactly cheap but it will do!
Unpacked and went for a walk. Fell upon Leopolds cafe, which is like bruccianis in preston! Had poached eggs on toast!!
Bombay is very different from rajahstan- there are pavements, huge roads, double decker red buses!, no cows, not as much hassle and lots of shops!
We went to the railway station (VT) to get tickets for the 14.10.02 to Aurangabad- what a palava! Took ages to find the reservation office- got immediately led to a a "foreign tourist helper" aka probable tout. He demanded in a very loud voice "you
india gate
with washing being dried in the foreground! don't think you would get a picture of big ben with washing in the front!! come here" , so I informed him of the error of his ways. Very rude bloke and our best to ignore him, even though he was really persistent. Eventually found the reservation office and went to counter 52 ( for foreign tourists) only to be told that they only did 24 hour advance reserbations and that we would have to get a token and join a queue. Our token had a number on and we had to wait over 1 hour and 600 people befoere we got served by Mr officous!
We then wandered around street markets/ went to a book sale in the annexe of Prince of wales museum!/ had lunch- chicken and cheese sarnie. Went to an art gallery (jehangir) and saw some cool paintings. Got back to our hotel and read for a while. Went back to Leopolds for evening meal- had fish curry and a pitcher of beer! returned to the hotel and got bombay belly!!
11.10.02 Up at 9ish - had our brekkie delivered to our room- this does not mean it was posh!!!!
Went to elephanta island via a boat today( Rs 85 on the boat)- 1 hour journey. Elephanta island is a lush
mumbai
strange to see a city with a sea and a beach! island 9 km away from the gateway of india. It is primarily visited for it's caves inparticular the sculputre of trimurti (3 headed shiva) .It cost us Rs 250 and to be honest it wasn't really worth it ... but it was nice to go and see a sight. Had dinner at the MTDCs restraunt- had 2 triangles of cheese sandwich cost Rs 40- outrageous... although watching the owners keep the moneys at bay was entertaining via big stones, small stones and a huge wooden stick. It was like a stand off between King Kong and indiana jones! Saw 2 seperate incidents of monkeys attacking tourists for food/ bags - we held tightly on! ( met a backpacker who knew someone who had been bit on elephanta island, so definetley got off lightly!)
Bought some paintings which had been painted on leaves- it will be interesting to see if they last!)
Returned to Mumbai harbour at 15:45- had a drink in cafe mandegor- which is more like a pub and emailed all! To churchills for evening meal- amazing menu; have everything imaginable including lancashire hot pot and tuna cheese melt! I had mix grill lasagne which was fab. Bri even
railway station- vt
no I don't go train spotting, just thought that this was a very impressive building- regardless of the miserable time we had inside it! had irish coffee cheese cake! We then went to Leopolds, so bri could have a beer- I had pineapple juice!
Up at 04:30 with bombay belly- thankfully only lasted half an hour!
12.10.02 Not feeling brill today and bri also has bombay belly! Watched tv until 12 and then went to churchills for "homesick food" - tuna cheese melt- (very good although not very hungry) . We then went to Preston car boot sale! Huge amounts of 2nd hand books . Sold 5 books for Rs 200 which was good considering we were offered Rs 50 from another stall!!
Bought 5 books and then went for a drink as felt like shit- dizy and stuff . We then went to "fashion street" which was like preston market in the 80s! - really cakk stuff! Then onto the modern art gallery, which had no modern art, but was a relief from the humidity of the city! Qent to Leopolds at night- not very hungry; had a chicken salad
13.10.02 Had breakfast and then went to e-mail and check internet sites
Took a long walk to Chawapatty beach- had an unsubstantioal dinner (tuna sandwich) and went on to find
elephanta island- 3 headed shiva
only took a couple of pickkies as we were scared stiff of being attacked by the monkeys! somewhere else to have a drink as they had no toilet! about 2 moles further on the sea front we found and american diner "new york, new york" . Had yummy but spicy nachos adn drink, however still no toilet!!
Had a brief walk on the beach adn got a taxi back to coloba as really need to use the loo!!
Taxi cheap enough and went to cafe mondegar for a drink and relief!!!!
Walked back through the bazaar and bought a bracelet
Had a sleep back at the hotel for a while and then back to Leopolds( can you see the theme here!!)
Had a chinese! (foo yung) which was very good and some beer- sat chatting to a canadian lad until 11:30- have to be up at 04:00 for the train!!
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