Mumbai

Two posts in two days - you're all excited right? This one will take off where the last one finished... with me getting on a train with Claire to go to MUMBAI :D 

We both finished work early on the Friday, as the later trains were already overbooked (please don't ask me to explain the train system in India, it's way confusing!), so we got on the 3.30 train, and after a bit of rearranging ended up in seats next to each other, rather than diagonally opposite from each other. We had a lovely journey there, in second class (under instructions from Kirti who told us under no circumstances were we to sit in AC class because you can't see out of the windows... it's also nearly 4 times more expensive than second sitting class!). The scenery was beautiful, lots of rocks and hills in the countryside, and lots of slums and housing blocks and and and... and we watched the sun go down while we were going through some countryside which was spectacular (or speccy as the Australians say apparently - although Claire hadn't quite figured out this could be short for spectacular!). As we were getting closer to Mumbai we started getting a little paranoid that we didn't quite know where to get off, especially as there are lots of train stations in Mumbai and the train was VERY empty by the time we thought we should get off! luckily we managed to get off at the right station, and we found a taxi to take us to our hotel. We could easily have walked but it was dark and we had NO idea where we really were! We were glad we got a taxi anyway because the traffic was crazy, even crazier than normal, and I'm not sure we would have managed to cross the road. 

We were both tired by the time we got there, so we ordered some pizza to our room (as Claire pointed out, it's amazing how you quickly go back to familiar foods when you're tired!) and collapsed. 

Saturday morning, Claire decided it was a good idea to wake me up at 6.20am!! Apparently Claire and I have different views on holidays. To Claire it means getting up at ridiculous times of the morning to go and DO STUFF. to me, it means lounging around in bed and doing nothing for a few hours and then doing something at a reasonable time of day (i.e. 10am). We almost managed to compromise, and I got an extra hour in bed. 8.15am saw us on the terrace eating breakfast, which was yummy. We then headed out to the Gateway of India and I made my second trip to Elephanta Island to see the caves. The journey last time was in the middle of the monsoon season, and given that it's an hours ferry ride, was pretty hellish! This time was a lot calmer, and we got chatting to some English guys who had come over to watch the cricket, which was fun. We were definitely confusing people when we told them Claire is Australian and I'm English, the look of "but they're on opposite sides of the world, why are you together?!" was very obvious!

Elephanta Caves aren't that exciting, but I got some rock (basalt) and I was happy :P 

We got back on the boat and headed to main land, where we found a very yummy Indian restaurant, and ate too much and still couldn't finish our meal - shocking! Then we headed back to the hotel and the afternoon consisted of sleeping because I'd been made to get up so early, and Claire skyping her mum because her skype works when she is not at Sangam! 

In the evening, we wandered down the sea front, and watched the sunset over the ocean. I love sunsets, and I love the ocean, so all good :) Then we carried on wandering and went to the beach, which has the most amazing food section, with lots of stalls selling anything, from Indian, to Chinese, to pizza, to ice cream... we bought some noodles, and sat on one of the mats laid out. It was awesome, with a fantastic atmosphere, and the noodles were tasty! Then we headed back slowly, and flicked a film on the tv and fell asleep.

Sunday morning found me being woken up early again, I got 10 extra minutes this time, and was woken up at 6.30! By 8.30 we were out of the door, having had breakfast and everything. We hired a car for the morning and travelled around a lot of places, most of them I couldn't even tell you the names of, I will get Claire to educate me when she's back from Goa! It was all really cool though, and we saw loads of the city and most of the tourist attractions listed in Claire's Lonely Planet :P Lunch time found us back at the beach for some more street food, this time another plate of noodles and some Sev Puri (think nachos, but with crackers instead of nachos, and Indian-fy it!) We also ended up at a French Bakery on both days, because they made yummy apple crumble, and it was just too hard to say no! 

Sunday afternoon, we again had a sleep because someone insisted we got up so early, and then we went to find the train station so that I could get my train home. Claire stayed in Mumbai, and is off to Goa very early tomorrow morning for the week. I unfortunately had to work, but I've had a really good day today, doing lots of bits and pieces, and working with Sayali and Aarti, which is one of my favourite bits of my job! Oh, I also took a trip to Mobile Creche, one of our partners, to deliver some stuff with Heidi, which provided some interesting rickshaw rides, as always!

After dinner, I went for a swim with Ellen, Philippa and Heidi (Jessica sat on the side of the pool). We filmed Ellen underwater with her camera, which was very funny, and the results will be up on youtube sometime this week hopefully! I'll let you know when that happens :P

Tomorrow and Wednesday night I have been invited to Diwali parties at Kirti and Mina's house respectively! I'm very excited about this, but less excited by the layer of pollution that is rumoured to cover Pune during Diwali, from the sheer number of fire crackers that are let off! I'm really pleased that I'm here during Diwali though, I've seen it in Leicester all of my life - it's time to see how to do it properly!! I'll update you on that later in the week :D