The Oberoi, Mumbai Mumbai (Bombay)

... common sense. I made it clear that I wasn&#8217;t going to pay 290 and show him my 80 Rupees. He only took 60 but I insisted he gave me an official receipt which he did before rushing out. <br><br>That episode over, I went into town to get a feel of Mumbai. I went to see the Taj Hotel where the terrorists attack occurred last year or in 2007, I can&#8217;t remember. I also saw the Gateway of India, which is an Arch designed by George Wittet and is one of the last monuments ...

... man at the station<br>wasn't a commuter!!!???? He works for the bus station doesn't he!!?? "Yes<br>Sir. He earns commission from people like you. your train ticket was certainly<br>valid. you need to think Sir! Think! It is different in India. I am from Nepal,<br>you can trust me" My blood was at boiling point for two reasons: One, at<br>being screwed over yet again...and the other at my stupidity..a fact that had<br>been clearly pointed out by my new Nepalese friend, whom I felt sure was ...

... The beggars didn't seem to give up as easily and almost all of the taxi drivers tried to charge us a higher rate. As usual though we caught on and gave them a hard time and they just smiled it off, as if it was worth a try. I guess this is just one of the things that goes along with such a popular tourist destination. We also spent about half of our time in Mumbai, studying with renowned Sarangi artist, Dhruba Gosh. We had met him though his nephew Ravi ...

... as I type this! Can you imagine the outcry in London if we said outside the Tower of London; "UK Nationals, Europeans, Americans and anybody else who dug us out of a hole in World War 2: £10 and anybody else, especially Indians: £50"!! They'd probably do us in the European courts for racism, discrimination and God knows what else!!! Off to take deep breaths and lie in the dark with the fan directed at my head!!!

... faces, but blamed it on the 6000m mark. From the base camp we walked all the way back to Stok village. A bad land slide had come down two days before and completely changed the scenery of the valley we had hiked up three days before. It was not easy to walk on the slippery uneven surface with multiple difficult river fordings. While we were walking, we chatted with this and that friend from the climb. Judith from Germany was the first to hear what had happened that morning ...

... a dinner that had Pat wishing we had stayed supping Kingfishers. "Liver! I hate liver, it's the cheapest cut you can get" he informed me, before going on to tell me that he likes his peas and carrots to actually taste like peas and carrots. I didn't see anything wrong with the meal and we both agreed that the spuds were the best part. Pat cheered up when we returned to the bar for a final few Kingfishers. · Why? Pat keeps asking me why ...

... exit at e-booking time but not all airlines clearly indicate emergency exit seats. In the specific case of Swiss Airlines (Zurich to Mumbai) it is not even possible to book this seats. A great tool is the website seatguru.com in which you can select the airline, the type of aeroplane and then get a very detailed overview of the seating arrangements. For example select the Swiss Airlines Airbus A330-200 3-Class and you will agree that 28K is the best seat in the house. Nuisance number ...

... the state endorsed aspiration for woman was Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman astronaut]. I ask Anushka if it's okay to write a story on her and she agrees. I head to her office the following day to take a picture of her. I look around the fairly packet women's compartment of the train - most women are wearing saris or shalwar camiz (another traditional Indian outfit consisting of lose pants and long tunic decorated with scarf). It strikes ...