Mumbai...

We arrived by train to CST railway station at 5am, thinking we were at Central Station we jumped in to a cab and asked how much to go to Fort, 150rp, okay sounds like a good deal so we jumped in. Two minutes later he was asking where is your hotel. Hu? Fort is some 5km away from the station we can’t be there already. But we were, as we had arrived at the southern most station CST (not being Central Station Terminal, but Chatrapati Shivaji Terminal). We knew we had just been ripped off as the real price of the taxi should have been 16 rp if we’d gone on the meter! So arriving at the guesthouse at 6am was badly planned (although we couldn’t have arrived at any other time!) as they had to unlock the doors to let us in and our room still had the previous occupant sleeping peacefully in it. So they made us a cup of tea and we sat down to wait. It was still pitch black outside and there was nowhere open til 8am so wait we must. At 8am we went for a wander to the docks and then found a great little place serving food so south Indian dosas all round! yummy! We had a small sleep in our hotel once we checked in after 11am, then walked to the cinema to book our tickets to see “RockStar” a Bollywood movie which had been recommended by the lady in our guesthouse. Once we had bought our tickets we had a lovely meal in a very English looking restaurant bar. The Bollywood movie (RockStar) was all in Hindi with the occasional English words. Just by using the English words we can tell you the plot of the film:- “Jim Morrison”, “Bugger Off”, “Fantasy”, “Strip Club”, “RockStar”, “Get lost”, “Bone Marrow”, and “Pregnant.” The unusual part for us was the intermission. After 90 minutes the film just stopped and the lights went up and people started wandering around. 10 minutes later the film is back on where it left off. So wanna be rockstar loves Jim Morrison, the girl he likes doesn’t like him, then she does. Then they become friends doing things they wouldn’t normally do in their social circle, then he tries to kiss her then they fall out, then she gets leukaemia, then they find out she’s pregnant, he finds out then she dies. Brilliant!! two and a half hours of this....! No wonder we needed an intermission. The next morning we jumped in to a very small black and yellow roofed taxi and headed for Colaba area where you can get picked to be in the Bollywood movies as extras. We had breakfast in the famous cafe, Cafe Leopold. We were sitting there enjoying our poached eggs on toast when the waiter pointed out the bullet holes that the terrorist left in 2008 when they killed 10 people there. With the holes still in the windows and mirrors and the missing wall hangings, the sense that the cafe was using the tragedy as a marketing ploy was quite sad. So discovering this information, we eat up quick and got out of there. We wandered around the streets and in the market and finally decided to take a city tour with a private car company. Our tour first took us to Dobi Ghat, the largest washing machine in the world! In an area about 1km square they have washing hanging out to dry everywhere. All the clothes of Mumbai get sent here, from the big hotels to the small family run ones. So whatever you pay for your laundry service in Mumbai, remember it all gets treated the same! It was a huge operation all done by hand and clothes all returned the same day. We don’t know of a more effective service anywhere in the world. Children playing, men & women washing clothes everywhere, children at school, just a hive of activity. Next past the fishing area to a view of the Queens Necklace Bay and headed around to Chowpatty beach, a small section of beach but warned that if you go swimming you’ll come out a different colour due to the pollution in the water. We headed up a small hill to a park over looking the main stretch of Mumbai, which has a small children’s playground and a huge boot to play in. So of course Bryan had to have a play in it! We then drove past the Silent Tower where they leave dead bodies to be eaten by the vultures. This tower was hidden behind trees and you could not see very much, except the vultures circling over head. Quick visit to the outside of Ghandi’s house or apartment and then we stopped to see a wedding (see separate diary entry). If we had more time we would have gone to watch the cricket test match - West Indies v India as it was happening in the main cricket stadium. But we were just too tired and went back to our hotel for a snooze. In the evening we ventured out to Chowpatty beach for some beach food, and it was lovely, you get to sit on some straw mats and there are a number of stalls that come up to you offering all manner of indian food and deserts. Jody opted for the Dosa and Bryan the Pennear Masla. Yum Yum! We liked Mumbai. It has given us 3 of our best experiences in India - a Wedding, a Bollywood and the Slums but it doesn’t have the buzz of Delhi and we felt that Mumbai was probably a bit more grown up. Glad we made the effort to go. Travellers Inn Room rating: 6/10 - such a small room and got very hot at night Location: 7/10 - Nothing around fort but good location for the city Staff: 6/10 - Night staff unhelpful but day staff helpful. Value for Money: 8/10 - 1200rp a night - Good for this city Other comments: great places to eat nearby and it’s a bit cheaper to stay here than Colaba which is good for us at this stage of our trip! Stay again? not really Overall area experience: 8/10 - busy city and lots going on but not enough to bring us back.