The city that never sleeps...

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So, here we are! I honestly cant even begin to describe how crazy India is! We spent two nights in Mumbai, stayed in the backpacker district of Colaba and visited the gateway of India and Elephanti Island where we looked at caves and avoided getting attacked by the monkeys! We ate masala dosa for breakfast which was actually very nice! There is a 9 day festival on so its was very noisy.

I was glad to leave Mumbai as it is just completely mental. People want to have photos taken with you all the time- its like you are a celebrity! The men all stare you too! There are so many people begging and where you look at them asleep on the side of the road or under bridges its really quite sad. Something like 55% of the population in the city lives in slums.

We got a sleeper bus to Udaipur which left yesterday lunch time and arrived at about 8.30am this morning. The journey was so long, hot, VERY bumpy and they drive so fast. I wish I also hadn’t noticed how bald the tyres were before we go on! So having not slept for about 3 days at this point, we had stocked up on some valium. We had been driving for a while (about 6 hours) and I really needed a wee. I looked through the content of my bag thinking of what I could pee in if times got really bad! Luckily we suddenly stopped and so I rushed out asking to have a wee. All the men just stood right outside the bus and a few ladies went further down. So I squatted in the no mans land on the side of the road between them while they laughed at my very white arse! As we were the only backpackers on that bus, it must have been a real treat for them! By that stage though I really didn’t care!

I got back on the bus and took a valium tablet. Now I thought I would be able to get some sleep. Half an hour later they stopped the bus again and everyone gets off to get some food etc. We both stood there completely out of it while about 70 Indians stared at us! Was interesting- I was so out of it we just laughed! Everytime we stopped more Indians got on and were all packed into the walk way of the bus. Their journey must have been even worse than ours!

When we finally arrived in Udaipur we got a rickshaw with a guy called Jamil. He was so tiny just like most of the Indians- my backpack was the same size as him nearly! He was so friendly and stopped on the way to give us a complimentary chai! He then took us to his cousins hotel which was lovely. We now have a room right by the lake with a very pretty window seat. This place is so much more relaxed! Hopefully I will be able to sleep tonight! Had a lovely curry already and Danny wants to go eat again now which is no surprise!!  We should be here for at least 2 nights which is good because it really is so pretty.

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Comments

[Esther]

Off exploring already - impressed!
Sounds like you\'re having a good time: experiencing the local transport, loving the curry breakfast and generally being stared at - although you had to display your arse for that! Heatwave at Pevensey (shock) so great time, work tomorrow - so keep writing your blog to make us even more jealous!