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blog by Bronia We last left you in
Sri Lanka on April 25, flying out from a country on the brink of civil war between the Tamils and the ruling Sinhilese, and which over the past few weeks we have heard the Tamils being denounced by the UN for its actions (breaking a cease-fire agreement) as well as officially declaring itself in a state of 'low grade war'. We think we left the country just at the right time.
Our flight out of
Colombo returning to
Trivandrum, India was nearly empty but we sat close to a UK couple Tracy & Albert Beusman who we had met in the airport lounge whilst waiting for our late flight to take off and exchanged travel stories.
As we were landing in
Trivandrum, one of India's most southerly towns, quite late at night and we all needed to find accomodation we decided to share a taxi to a hotel. We all checked in and met up for a meal (see pic) on the hotel's roof terrace before retiring for the night.
Dave and I needed to return to
India as we had a flight booked for April 28th from
Back in India - sharing a meal with Tracy & Albert
Bronia taking picture - L to R: Tracy, Albert, Dave to
Bangkok, Thailand so that we arrived in time for our Volunteer programme that started on May 1st (more on this in next blog). This meant we would travel from Sri Lanka, up the west coast of India and into Thailand within three days. We had alot of miles to cover.
We knew we were well and truly back in
India the next morning when we rose at 5am to go to the train station and the hotel wouldn't let us leave as they refused to accept we'd settled the bill the night before and insisted we paid more. After challenging them to wake up the night staff to prove that we'd settled and showing them a receipt we had been given, which still didn't seem to sway them immediately, they started to bargain with us about what amount we 'could' pay. We stuck firm continuing to insist that they wake their boss and shoving our receipt in front of them with the words
"Look - we have paid. We pay no more. No more money for you. Wake up boss." They finally conceeded with a classic head-wobble and a waft of the hand to the door
whereupon we marched out relieved to the still dark streets outside to find a tuk-tuk driver who would take us to the station. We found one asleep on his back seat, feet resting on the steering column (a common slumber position for tuk-tuk drivers) and he drove us to meet the 6:15am train.
Bronia, being female and therefore obtaining some seniority in queuing systems in India above males (one of the only scenarios where women come first in India) she shoved herself to the front of a queue of about 40 men and asked the ticket master for "2 executive chair tickets to
Ernakulum/Cochin" (These tickets being the best, most comfortable, air conditioned and serving breakfast all for the gross sum of 200Rupees each (just over 2 UK pounds)
We climbed aboard our train laden down with our backpacks and showed our tickets to the train conductor who shook his head vehemently and pointed to the 'Second Class, filthy & un-airconditioned cabins'. Sure enough we look at our tickets and although we've paid for the Executive-Class we have been issued Second-Class tickets. Cheeky ticket man has probably pocketed the difference and so Bronia rushes back to the ticket
desk, pushes her way to the front of the line again (this time annoying a few people but with 10min until departure there is no choice) and demands the right tickets.
"No - no" says the ticket master,
"Cannot change tickets now, only cancel and lose money" "But we asked for executive-tickets and you gave us wrong ones, YOU gave us WRONG ones" Bronia pleads through the tiny filthy ticket window"
"No - no" says the ticket master with a head wobble and a shrug of the shoulders
"You go change on train, conductor will change for you" ...and with that parting shot he turned his attentions away from Bronia to serve the next customer.
Racing back up stairs and over platform bridges to get to the right platform where Dave was guarding all the bags we climb aboard to speak to the conductor who shakes his head and says;
"No, cannot change - you in second class" - Bronia pleaded with him saying that it was all a big mistake and couldn't we pay the difference between Second-Class and Executive-Class to upgrade? (this being the normal way of doing it in India)
"No - no" he
says -
"You pay me 600 Rupees each, then I change" We laughed outloud at the ridiculousness and audacity of his offer. Basically he said no he wouldn't change, but for a bribe of 1200 rupees (over 14 UK pounds) he would let us sit in Executive-class. Here we were at 6am in the morning already having been ripped off twice.
We muttered to ourselves about how we'd sooner walk all the way to the next station than pay him and trudged through the carriages with our bags making our way to our filthy and stiffling hot second-class seats cursing and muttering about the Indian way of doing business which to them is acceptable but to our western minds and upbringings seems unbelievably corrupt. Actually, Second Class wasn't that bad but it was the whole point of the matter that had us stewing!
Four and a half hours later we descended greatly relieved at
Ernaculum, Cochin which had been one of our favourite stops in South India a few weeks before (see previous blogs for description). We grabbed a bite to eat, a brunch of sorts, and then found another tuk-tuk to take us to the
airport. The tuk-tuk sounded as though it was on its last legs and as long as we were driving on the flat then we were able to keep up with the slowest of the traffic and occasionally overtake a cow or cycle-rickshaw. Unfortunately the route was not flat, and at each hill the tuk-tuk sputtered and protested under the weight of Dave and I and our bags and at one point stalled and started a gentle roll backwards. We stopped to fill up with petrol on the way and 2hrs later (the estimated time of 1hr having been given to us) we arrived at the airport and checked in.
Our flight from
Cochin airport to
Mumbai was pleasant and uneventful and we arrived in
Mumbai/Bombay in early evening getting a taxi to a hotel we'd chosen out of the
Lonely Planet. Mumbai formerly known as
Bombay was in a word 'fantastic'. We would highly recommend this city as a stop for those who one day plan on visiting India. It is much more 'westernised' than
Delhi in that it is clean, easy to get around and yet is steeped in history that left us wanting to stay more
than our 24hrs would allow. This is one Indian city we would definitely return to.
Mumbai originally consisted of seven islands: Colaba, Mazagaon, Wadala, Old Woman's Island, Parel, Mahim & Matunga-Sion. The group of islands over time have been joined together by a series of land reclamations and now there is very little to suggest its original layout. The Portuguese, who we have mentioned throughout our blogs due to the pervasiveness of their rule along the Indian and Sri Lankan coast, took
Mumbai/Bombay by force in 1534. It is said that the Portuguese were the ones to give
"Bombay" its name, derived from
bom bahia which literally means
'good bay'. The city became officially known as
"Mumbai" in 1997 which is a name ascribed to the local goddess,
"Mumba" (ai means mother in Marathi local language).
In 1662 the islands known as 'Bombay' were given to King Charles II as part of the dowry on his marriage to Princess of Braganza, a Portuguese princess. In 1668 the islands then became part of the English East India Company which became the perfect port for exportation due to its deep waters. It still is a major port today.
Mumbai currently holds about 15million people and is the home of
Bollywood the Indian movie industry, it is said to be the financial capital of India and it is also known for having the largest slum in Asia. The slums through which we passed to get to our hotel in the
Colaba district house 1 million people in corrugated iron, wood and plastic lean to's with no sanitation, no running water and little or no money. Cholera, dysentry, tuberculosis and malaria are common here.
A recent tourist development is that you can apparently get 'tours' through the slums to see first-hand the living conditions. We refrained from this feeling that financially helping the slums is one thing, but going to gawk at those that have nothing compared to you was wrong.
Mumbai is also famous for it's
Parsi population and there are many sponsored buildings, schools and hospitals by the
Parsi religion as they have been, on the whole, quite a wealthy lot over the last few hundred years and had strong & wealthy alliances with the British during Colonial rule which lined their pockets nicely. The
Parsis, originally from Iran, came to India about 900 years ago. Their
religion is
Zoroastranism and is most known for its
Towers of Silence, which are tall towers built for the purpose of laying their dead out in the open so that they can be eaten by vultures. They believe that the vultures are the ones to eat them so that their body does not contaminate water, soil etc. These structures can still be seen in
Mumbai today.
We spent our 24 hours in
Mumbai dining in lovely restaurents eating Indian food as well as some delicious Western food that reminded us of home. We did a 'walking tour' of the city on our own, following instructions in our
Lonely Planet and saw some amazing buildings dating from Portuguese rule and then later the British some of which you can see in the pics we've attached.
Buildings such as: the Gateway of India, the Royal Bombay Yacht Club (now a police station), Taj Mahal Palace & Tower hotel (very posh!), Regal Cinema, Institute of Science, Prince of Wales Museum (went in and spent a fabulous few hours doing an audio tour and learning about Indian history and religion), St Thomas Cathedral, Horniman Circle, the University of Mumbai, Oval Maiden cricket
green
Some of the buildings we passed could very well have been in the centre of
London and it was odd to look at Anglican/Catholic churches and then see street vendors crushing sugar cane outside the doors. A real contrast of cultures. We finished in the late afternoon wandering slowly past the Mumbai university that looked like a fairy castle overlooking the Oval Maiden where cricketers both novice and pro were warming up, throwing balls and making runs between the wickets with onlookers sitting in the shade and soaking it all in (see pics).
Our flight out of
Mumbai to
Bangkok was at 4:50am the following day so rather than check into a hotel only to have to leave early, we went straight to the airport about 10pm that night and hung out until we could check in. Our flight ended up leaving closer to 7am and for a short while we thought we might not even get on the flight when the crew realised that we and an Indian couple had the same seats booked on a crammed flight - but luck was with us that morning and before we knew it we'd been upgraded to Business
Class much to our joy and disbelief ! Business Class? Dare we tell our friends and family? They'll think we aren't really genuine 'travellers' at this rate!
Our hotel, the
Amari Watergate in
Bangkok was absolutely fabulous. It was the only hotel on our trip that we'd booked in advance before leaving the UK in January on the recommendation of our travel agent who managed to get us a 3* price for a 5* hotel in the city centre. And boy-oh-boy - what luxury and what a contrast to the life we'd been living in some of the hotels over the last three months.
This hotel room had amazing views, air-con, hot and cold water out of a decent shower, room service, clean sheets every day, mini bar, fridge, TV with satellite, pool, gym and six restaurents. But perhaps the greatest joy was the laundry service that returned the clothes clean, fresh smelling and without new stains or smashed buttons as was the wont of the
dobi wallahs in India and Sri Lanka that washed your clothes in muddy streams against the rocks.
Amazing what things you appreciate when you travel.
But on that note if
Mumbai university - Castle-like & British built
In the foreground is the Maiden - cricket grounds for all.
City: Mumbai/Bombay - India you are ever interested in a decent hotel in Bangkok we can highly recommend the
Amari Watergate! The next two days in Bangkok were spent exploring the streets, markets, food stalls and the maze of malls that lay down every alley. They say that Bangkok is the place to shop and they are not kidding ! Rip-offs of every name brand: Quicksilver, Billabong, adidas, D&G, Gucci are everywhere with deals and bargaining to be made that will leave you with tee-shirts for 1UK pound and Birkenstock sandals (fakes of course) for 3UK pounds. Then there are the shopping malls where all the names, but real this time, are found everywhere.
At one point, to escape the Bangkok heat which was a constant humid 35 degrees Celcius (95 Fahrenheight) every day we dove into a mall that had a large neon sign 'Data' outside. They weren't kidding. Five shopping floors rose above our heads with every shop and kiosk selling every gadget and tool for anything electronic you could imagine. TV systems to fit in the palm of your hand, videos to install in your car, flat screens that could swallow a whole wall in your living room, plugs,
adaptors, cd's, cases, wires and plug-gadget things whose purpose we could only guess, calculators of every shape and size, alarm clocks to suit any wake-up requirement. It was mind boggling.
It was however interesting to note that despite having every gadget to put you in touch with every corner of the earth, they did not have an internet cafe for us to sit down and actually contact you all.... a small irony we thought.
We ate off the food stalls during the day - chicken kebabs with spicy chilli to send your tastebuds through the roof, pineapple slices, mini waffles, rice and noodles in any form and cooked with anything you could imagine and all sorts of amazing fried, cooked, baked or raw items that we could only stand and stare with fascination at wondering what on earth it was.
When we tired of exploring we could go back to the hotel and chill by the swimming pool on the 8th floor. In the evenings we dined at one of the six restaurents within the hotel revelling in the luxury to which we currently found ourselves.
We purposely didn't explore too many of the cultural buildings
for the first two days knowing that when we met up with our Volunteer group through Gap Year on May 1st we'd be doing three solid weeks of cultural and environmental travel so we chilled.... wandered....did some shopping... caught up on sleep.... and enjoyed clean clothing and good food !
Bangkok, and in fact Thailand, at first glance looks amazing. It is very traveller-friendly, the roads are orderly and drivers polite, every Thai has a smile and a 'please/thank you' to offer and the thought of spending the next six weeks here is fantastic. Speak to you all again soon...
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