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Published: November 30th 2011
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We caught the 5 hour bus from Udaipur to Ahmedabad ready to catch the overnight train in the evening to Mumbai. We could not get on the direct train from Udaipur to Mumbai as it only runs once a week and it was full weeks in advanced. The only bus we saw to get was the government run buses which turned out fine, better then the private bus we caught as it did not stop constantly to pick up people on the way. The Government bus issue tickets so the conductor cannot fiddle the money. We were even stopped along the journey by the police who counted the people on the bus and looked at the ticket machine to ensure there was no fiddling. This also meant as the driver and conductor make no money unlike the private buses they did not go any obscure ways through towns picking people up for cash in hand jobs.
We arrived in Ahmedabad about 6.00pm so had a few hours to kill before our train left at 11pm. Caught a tuk tuk into the centre, had a mooch around, stopped and had food but was glad to leave the place really. Was just
a busy, polluted city, but from what we saw a bit of a grubby place and I swear I saw a man lying on the floor that looked like he was dead. I was too scared to take a closer look but I know Smithy and Terry thought the same we just never said anything to each other. Restaurants we popped into were not very nice either and one did not even have a toilet, we quickly scarpered out of that one.
We headed for the train station about 10pm ready for our 9 hour journey. As the train was busy we could only get into Sleeper class which is how the majority of Indians travel. So far Terry and I have managed to go in AC3 but the sleeper was great. There is no air con but you can have the windows open and shutters down. It’s noisier due to the windows being open but in a way that’s better as it’s a constant noise so you don’t hear the talking that can be going on. We all had our own sleeping bags so nestled down and slept pretty well and woke up ready for Mumbai
the next day.
First thing I noticed as I got off the train in Mumbai was how hot and humid it was compared to the north. We quickly got rid of our bags for the day at the train station and wondered the streets of Mumbai. We never saw any tuk tuks only proper taxis so knew it was going to be an expensive place to get around. We got dropped off in the central district of Mumbai and spent the day walking along side the sea wall and around the market stalls. We also visited the famous India Gate and Taj Palace hotel which was subject to terrorist shootings a few years back.
The sea is too dirty to swim in but was nice to catch our first glimpse having only been inland till now. We only saw, what I can only presume, was the posh part of Mumbai, marine drive area but it was a really nice city by India standards. Nice paved roads, clean, taxis look smart as there is no tuk tuks and a lot of them are old style cars from the 60’s.
As we watched the sun set from the sea
wall we knew we still had to kill a few hours until the night train so decided on the cinema. Maybe we should of watched a bollywood movie but could not resist the new Ben Stiller film Tower Heist for only £1. The film was being shown in a Theatre and as it was not full you could pretty much sit anywhere. Before the film starts the screen instructs everybody to please stand for the national anthem. No one seemed perplexed by this and all stood accordingly so must be common practise. The Indian flag came on the screen and the national anthem was played. The film and sound quality was not as bad as we thought it would be and soon got engrossed in the film. After an hour into the film it stopped, the lights come up and people started to get up, before we wondered what the hell was going on then ‘Interval’ was displayed on the screen. We decided to stay put and await the second part. It was only a 5 minutes break anyway. We noticed a nervous looking guy sitting 4 rows in front of us. He was white, wearing big geeky glasses and
looked to have a laptop bag with him. He kept looking around and just appeared a bit odd. Anyway the film started abruptly with no warning and many of the people who went outside came rushing back in. A young Indian lad came jogging down the aisle and heavily sat down next to the odd looking guy. Anyway he must of scared the living day lights out of the geek man as he flew 10 foot in the air and ran to the other side of the cinema leaving his bags behind. The poor Indian guy that sat next to him looked just as scared as he had no clue what happened but he did move seats. The geeky guy came slowly back to his seat grabbed his stuff and ran back to sit the other side of the cinema. Smithy and I just looked each other and could not stop laughing, tears rolling down our face it was just so funny to see. Terry, engrossed in the film hadn’t even noticed. Lucky it was a comedy or we probably would of been thrown out!!
I am glad we did not stay longer then a day in Mumbai as
the hotels are very expensive plus the humidity was unbelievable. We caught the train to Goa at 11pm that evening, we just could not wait! The beach was calling.
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Kezza
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i just lurrrvvvv your blogs mate, keep them up, they really really make me smile. What an amazing adventure you're having. I can just see you two chuckling away in the cinema ha ha!!!! Love ya loads xxxxxxx