Landing in Mumbai

The flight was unusually pleasant not at least because we had a spare seat right next to us. Karin had to suffer for the last 30 minutes as the landing was accompanied by some turbulences or as the captain said: We are now over the Indian subcontinent and this usually means that we can have bad weather any time.

As we got out of the plane we were immediatly surrounded by the heavy humid air. After a few seconds the clothes already felt wet and that was inside with aircondition. Since we havent made any reservations we headed to the tourist information. We got a special price hotel that is probably a ripoff but not so expensive.

Taxi Taxi

Taxi driving in India is an experience for life and one that certainly ends some. We got a cab to the hotel which was a small old black whatever, it drove a little bit faster than the tucktucks but the acceleration was even worse. For the first half hour I was certain that the trunk would open and my backpack would fall on the street but luckily the strange sounds from the back of the car are normal here. When we finally got to our hotel we got a pink room with air so damp and filled with the scent of insecticide or chlorine we could hardly breathe. As we opened the window we had to find out that we had a construction site in the backyard but this problem grew to its full potential in the following morning as this construction necessitated the use of "presslufthaemmer".

Our first impression of the city were dominated by the intense noise and smell, the total lack of space and the overwhelming feeling of being foreign. People stare at us all the time but luckily for me mostly at Karin. She tried to counter that by dressing in local clothes. She already bought three salwar kameez (trousers, long shirt and scarf). Hows that for a first day of shopping. She is very happy with them tough as the outfit matters lot. I bought a pair of Indian trousers that set me back a whooping 1 euro.

Karin the Indian

Victoria Terminus

Gateway to India

The city has some very beautiful colonial architecture but most of the building are very run down. It is also hard to get a good view because people are everywhere and where the are no people there are cars, trucks, buses, tucktucks, motorcycles, bicycles, handcarts, cows, dogs or gaarbge piles. The people work very hard here, we saw some with huge bords blanced on their head that had all kinds of stuff on them, some draw carts with huge barrels on them.

Hustle bustle in the train station

They also do so much work in the street, actually on the sidewalk. Hairdressing, showshiners, carpenters, people crafting ropes and lots of cooking. Sometimes you can only walk on the road because the sidewalk is so crowded.

We already bought the train ticket to Varodara and are quite happy to be able to leave Mumbai behind. The ticket is now our 10th receipt today, as you get one for everything here. First I thought this is some scam but there seems to be a bureaucratic plot tht forces everyone to give you receipts for even the puniest amounts of money and you have to sign on them stating you actually paid. In one incident where I bought this weeks issue of the economist (I am never really on vaction) I got a receipt, the coffeeshop got one because it gave me a free capuccino with the magazine and the newpaperboy kept one. Funny.

Mumbai panorama

The food is delicious and noone is sick yet.

Mumbai, India