Mumbai
Trip Start
Apr 20, 2004
1
2
21
Trip End
Mar 30, 2005
Mumbai airport,
India
Friday, April 23, 2004
What can we say about mumbai, it simply cant be covered in this entry. i am still struggling to get my head around the whole thing. When we arrived it was just after midnight, when we looked out of the plane our first thought was what the hell are we doing here. overcoming our initial fears we opted to leave the plane :). The airport was as expected very run down with some very serious customs guys with auto matic rifles.
to cut a long story short there was an agonising 45 minute wait for our luggage but it arrived at last.
then the challenge was to get transport. we left the airport and where surrounded by people offering to take us to our hotels. As we had prebooked we were lucky enough and our transport arrived in a few minutes.
leaving the airport we saw hundreds of people lying sleeping openly in the streets. We where expecting this but it was still a shock to the system. Mumbai is a majority of shanty town with some high rise buildings. The smells of India will remain with me forever as depending what way the breeze is blowing you either get a smell of food, spices or sewage. its a lottery really.
When we first arrived that night the areas around the hotel where very dodgy and took a lot of courage for us to leave the hotel the next day. we need not have worried as the majority of people just stare. there are beggars but no one will go so far as to touch you. so it is fine.
we took a trip to elephanta island yesterday off the coast of Mumbai. it was OK but not as good as the lonely planet suggested. mostly carvings of Shiva and the like. Taxi drivers tried to scam us on both trips and I had to rip into the second one. i just shouted abuse at him and we left the car
we are leaving for Goa today. i will be happy to leave Mumbai behind as it is a very draining city. I look forward to a week or so of relaxing on white sandy beaches!
