We arrived in Mumbai on 7th Jan and spent the first three days there. Mumbai is so busy and a bit of a shock to the senses when you first arrive, but we settled in quite well. The taxi journey from the airport is the scariest experience I have had in my life, but after a while you get used to the traffic and the way of the roads and crossing them - basically a free for all. Everyone beeps their horns and the 3 lane road at the lights consists of 2 lorries, 5 motorbikes and 4 cars all squashed in.

Lots of people tryin to flog you rubbish constantly, but they're quite nice with it, not threatening at all. Imagine a street with 5000 of those Goranga guys selling tshirts with stuff like "Hari Potter" and reversible belts with Nike on one side and Polo sport on the other and you get an idea of what its like. There are so many people in Mumbai and there is poverty everywhere you look.

We stayed in Colaba in a place called Suba Palace which was a nice hotel near the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower hotel with great views over the city and really nice breakfast - curry, chicken and chips for breakfast. I stuck with the Masala Omlette most days. A bit expensive for our backpacker budget but well worth it.

The first night we treated ourselves to a really nice meal in a place called Indigo, Dan
had lobster bisque with crab tortellini, followed by tiger prawns with a water cress and cavier salad (I'm not joking). After dinner we sat in the bar and had a few G&Ts. Its been a difficult start but we're starting to aclimatise to the traveller's life.

We visited the Gateway of India on our way to Elephanta Island which is 1 hrs ferry ride and very peaceful after the chaos at the Gateway, although Dan tells me that he remembers it being much busier, for me it was busy enough. Elephanta Island has caves with Hindu carvings in the rocks, some of them are so huge, we got a veg Thali lunch here for 50 rupees (70p). There are loads of monkeys on the Island and they are so cheeky, we were walking past one of them and it tried to steal my water from my bag, but Dan ran at it and it backed off, when we walked past it on the way back it hid its head behind its girlfriend. At night we were so tired we fell asleep and woke up at 11pm - thinking there would be nopwhere to get food we headed out and Cafe Leopold was still open. They have an armed guard after the terror attack and you can still see the bullet holes in the glass - v.scary thought.

The following day we went to the aquarium, which was a bit dingy compared to what you would see in the UK, but was interesting and the entry so cheap, we walked along Marine Drive and Chowpatty beach on our way to the hanging gardens which was another bit of calm amongst the chaos. Directions in India are funny, everyone tells you straight ahead on the left only 10 minutes which really means an hour and you end up walking in circles.

Hope things are good at home and work and the weathers good HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Next instalment is goa.....

I'll add some photos later - forgot the cable again. xx

written by  Clarabella and Daniel on January 7, 2009 from Mumbai, India
from the travel blog: Clarabella and Dan's Travel Blog
tagged Mumbai
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We stayed in Anjuna for 10 days at a place called Peaceland which is run by a really nice Goan couple and there two wee girls and two dogs. It is really busy in Goa and we frequented all of the restaurants and beach shacks - our favourite was Dhum Biryani which done excellent tandoori chicken, fish and bread and was so cheap. It is pitch black here at night apart from the main road and the first night we got lost coming back from the beach and nearly got eaten by a pack of stray dogs but one of the beach shack owners gave us a lift back on his scooter.

We're currently in South Goa in a wee town called Benaulim... miles of white, powdery sand and crystal clear sea thats like a luke warm bath... how's work? Can't wait to figure out how to upload the photos - this is paradise!! Compared to Anjuna it is really quiet here and not much traffic. We're staying in beach huts called Blue Corner which are ideal.

We've been here for about 12 days (lost count), not been doing much. Sitting around on the beach, swimming and riding the bikes that we hired for 60p a day (need to do some form of exercise when all you do each day is sit around reading and eating). Its buy 1 get 1 free cocktails which works out at about a pound each so most days we've been getting up around midday. We went to the Dhudsegar Waterfall and a spice plantation and a dolphin boat trip, all of which were excellent. Dan went to the fish market the other day with the Co-Co's bar owner Sanjay and bought some Tiger Prawns and King Prawns and we had them for dinner (mmmmm delicious).

Three days left here in South Goa to top up the tan and then we're moving on to Bangalore on 5th Feb which is much more of a hectic big city...more soon. xx

written by  Clarabella and Daniel on January 10, 2009 from Goa, India
from the travel blog: Clarabella and Dan's Travel Blog
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