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We arrived safely in Mumbai on Tuesday morning. Kingfisher airlines was a pleasant surprise. It seemed to live up to its online reviews as a 5-star airline despite no one having heard of it before. We took a taxi to Hotel New Bengal in Fort. The traffic was absolute chaos and we could barely hear ourselves think with all the horns blaring and general commotion on the roads. After being thrown around in the back of the taxi for half an hour, I became increasingly worried about our rucksacks which were rather loosely fastened to the top of the taxi. Just as I was wondering whether I was overreacting about the crazy driving, our driver crashed into the taxi in front of us. Nice. A bit of yelling and screaming between taxi drivers and we were on our way again, thankfully unharmed.
Mumbai was quite overwhelming at first. The roads are lined with homeless people, beggars, street children and dogs. I was shocked at just how many people there are in Mumbai, it's such a crowded place. I couldn't help feeling on edge a little bit about my pockets being picked but luckily nothing like that happened and the people we encountered were friendly and helpful.
Our hotel room was tiny and there were no blankets on the bed, just a couple of small towels! Luckily I came prepared. We had some lovely meals in Mumbai, mostly vegetarian to stay on the safe side. Biryani and Paper Dosa mmm! We did a bit of a walking tour of the City in the little time we were there. We saw Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, the Gateway of India and the University of Mumbai to name a few sights. Outside the University we met one its students who we only know as "Indian Snoop Dogg". He was very helpful and taught us some useful Hindi as apparently it's like a slap in the face to say Hello, Thank you or Sorry in English. I was quite ready to leave all the chaos yesterday morning and head down to the relaxed South but I'm looking forward to returning there at the end of the trip and experiencing a little more Mumbai madness.
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May A very good start to your travel blog. I look fwd to reading more. Any pictures? I think u should risk it and eat some meat dishes because u will never find such dishes prepared in UK restaurants. Everything here is prepared for the 'Mat Sallehs' the base is out of a jar namely Pataks. Kerala is the best place for all meat and seafood namely Beef Ularthiyathu and Karimeen (Remember Gordon Ramsey trying to hand catch this fish hahaha) pan roasted in banana leaf. Keep posting.
Girija C K Balan Yes very good write-up for starters. Probably with more pictures would enhance the blog. Yes, u should probably try some meat dishes, but think its saver to try them in clean restaurants. All though street food are really good too in Mumbai, but only if your are really gamed for it. Always to carry mineral water with you.... (I think the most reliable brand would be Bistelllrey if i am not mistaken). In Kerala, you should try every everything (veg and non-veg food). Waiting for more from you.