Week 23 - India

Our view in Goa - you see why we just chilled for 3 days.... :D

Clean your clothes in Mumbai...

Having an excellent Indian meal with a few Kingfisher beers

The Taj Mahal Hotel to the left, and the Gateway of India to the right

I only said hello... they mobbed me!! Sorry Marina

A family of the 100 million+ poor which live on the streets

Namaste!

I'm writing this post from the thrilling city of Bollywood, I mean Bombay, I mean Mumbai. I know it was never Bollywood, but things in India have a strange habit of changing names so you never can be sure. Most of the streets are changing their names; I suppose to get away from the English names.

Speaking of English, and speaking English, are the Indians! I've told Marina that we should really enjoy this ability to speak clearly with all local people rich and poor. In India there are 29 states, that for the most part all have their own language, Punjab - Punjabi, Gujarat - Gujarati, Tamil Nadu - Tamil, and when India was fused together and made one country in 1947 the official language was proclaimed Hindi. Many of these states are very proud of their language and do not even speak Hindi - I mean well educated people; therefore the common language has seemingly become English instead of Hindi - watch, in 20 years this will be the first language! As the English have been gone for more then 60 years, they are slowly creeping back in, so to speak..

I'm writing you from the comfortable abode of the reasonably posh Regency Hotel in Mumbai, 50 meters from the world famous Taj Mahal Hotel which was attacked by Pakistani terrorists just two years ago. The reason we have somewhat splurged on this nicer hotel than our backpacking budget provides is due to a very very invisible small problem. This problem is not noticed as you check into your hotel and its very common in India; so common as we have faced the problem in about half of the hotels we have stayed, mid-range and budget. The cause, as little as they are, visit in the middle of the night and bite all over. India has many diseases and dangers, but the one that plagues many travelers along with us is bedbugs. So as you sleep sound tonight be thankful they haven't come to visit you...

I mentioned I would write about the trains, however we have not stayed in the cattle class area which looks like something out of Shindler's List, we have tried a few different parts. As long as Indian trains are; seemingly 1 kilometer long (3,100 feet) - maybe not that long, but they go forever. Its all very organised, many times you even have your name on the car. The service is phenomenal - the Europe could learn a thing or two and the food and coffee is excellent - coffees are $0.10. There are even electrical outlets everywhere which is not common in the UK. Now this is not exactly a pleasure cruise though, as mentioned above you will find these little invisible "friends" in the blankets for overnight trains and also the little black roaches everyone loves come to say Namaste at the most inopportune time - possibly when your reading and he says hello next to your face... :D The trains in our experience have been very efficient, on time and a great way to travel, but I think the trains may not have been modernised or improved since the British left - windows are tough to see out of and all high class seats have the brown leather seats you saw in old European trains. One thing I recommend when travelling in India, especially in December and January, buy your tickets very very early - even a month if possible. There are a billion people and lots of tourists so they sell out quick.. Thatbeingsaid, to truly travel India, you must take a local commuter train. This is an experience on its own. Firstly, on all trains in India, the doors are never closed (hmm dangerous)? When we took a commuter train on Saturday, we just arrived at the station and were travelling maybe 7mph (10kph) and a guy jumped out knocking down about 3 people in the large crowd eager to board. Then another, followed by another. People were now jumping on - it was still going atleast 5mph!! It was utter chaos; and this was noon - not rush hour!!!! They didn't let people get off and shoved their way on - very roughly! I was especially concerned for Marina's safety at this point. So going back to my American football days, I rammed about 5 guys, almost to the floor and then people let us and the other passengers through. I'm still in awe - and when we got back to Mumbai - the same thing occurred!

Here is our past week; Baga(Goa) > Mumbai

Monday to Wednesday - The wild and fun beaches of Goa: Ladies if your bad packers and you have forgotten your bikini on a trip to India, don't worry, you can do as the locals do; swim in all your clothes! Well, unless you're of the male gender. Yes, I'm serious, in India most women swim in their street clothes - which is typically a Sari. That being said, in Goa, Indians do wear bathing suits, elsewhere its quite riskay or controversial to do so in this conservative country.
In Goa, we just chilled. Our hotel was 50 meters from the beach in Baga and every restaurant on the beach provides wooden relining chairs to lounge on and sell you food and drinks. For three days we repeated this routine.
If the cold war reappears and the US wants to invade Russia, I recommend they start with Baga, Goa (Little Moscow as I call it)! AS you're trying to relax on the calm golden sand beaches, that is fighting off pushy Indian sales people, you see comrades in arms, along with Indian men holding hands while hearing Niet, Niet, Niet as the Russians fight off buying hippy jewelery, dirty peanuts, dodgy pedicures, ear cleaning services and the opportunity to be massaged by a big hairy Indian man!
So why did we leave Kerala for Goa, well, Goa has a GREAT nightlife! Which was why we usually just lounged. Goa was a main trading centre for the Portuguese, and did they leave something great behind; the ability to make Port Wine - not as good as the real stuff, but with a whole bottle for 300 rupees in a posh bar; we drank lots of it!

Thursday - Dabba-Wallahs: I heard lots of travelers who missed Mumbai intentionally or unintentionally; boy did they miss something special. If you are a fan of gorgeous architecture - buy a ticket now for some of the best in India. From what we have seen of India so far, this is by far the best city! What is a Dabba-Wallah you may ask. We heard about this before we left and I was itching to see one, which we did on Thursday. Many Indian men who go off to their work in offices have food made by their wives, and rather than bringing it, its delivered (probably still hot) by Dabbah-Wallahs. In Mumbai 200,000 meals/day reach their intended owner. They ride bicycles and most are illiterate using a coding system. When we met one, I say are you a dabbah-wallah and he very proudly said "yes" and let us take a photo. One other amazing activity we saw in Mumbai this day was at the Mahalaxmi Dhobi Ghat, Mumbai's biggest laundromat. Now, you're probably saying, wow - you are really "living it up"; well you have to see it! They beat the clothes to death making a huge amount of noise and fields of clothes are drying on dirty roof tops - whites with whites and colours with colours.

Friday - Partying Mumbai style: As you would expect within all this stunning architecture is a lively party scene. After our boat trip to Elephant Island we started the night at the Taj Mahal Hotel, enjoying the Posh confines which seem to have healed from the 2008 attrocities. We also had one of our best meals that night; just when you think Indian curry can't get any better - there is Kyber restaurant! We had a few drinks with some young Indian businessmen and learned more about arranged marriages. When you ask, some will say, no India doesn't have arranged marriages any more; or its not arranged, you meet the girl, then choose yourself. There is a Super Human push to show how modern India is. Despite the older chap (29 years old) telling me how its not like that anymore and he got to chose his wife. He decided to marry her within 40 minutes of the introduction by parents. So even in high society, this is occuring regulary. From middle to poor, my understanding is this is very frequent. Marina was in need of dancing so we hit Polly Esthers the end off the night!

Saturday - Kaneri Caves: Yesterday was a bit rough with all the partying, but we picked ourselves out of bed and took the train to Ghandi National Park - just outside Mumbai. You would have read above about our crazy train ride. The Keneri caves were amazing. These were built in the 1st century and have elaborate Buddha carvings everywhere. Thankfully we didn't' eat the whole samosa bought from a street vendor. We have not experienced any troubles with Indian food so far as most people get whats called Delhi Belly - food poisoning from the poor conditions. Marina felt the samosa, but was fine by daytime. However, I think the 5 months in Asia has helped build our stomachs to be pretty tough!

Whats happening next on our agenda - which you probably have noticed has slowed a bit. Well we are getting back in gear after acquiring a decent sun tan. On Sunday the 19th we fly to Udaipur, Rajistan. We will then see Pushkar and Ajmer before heading to New Delhi.

My next post will be a festive one which despite my purchase of a Santa hat, lacks all the great Christmas spirit I'm used to.

Hope you all have a Merry Christmas!!

Dan and Marina