Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
20/09/10 - 25/09/10 Udiapur to Mumbai
20/09/10 England 1 India 0
Decided to send a parcel home of stuff we bought. Time it would take in England 5mins? Time in India, 3hrs. Epic. We had to have opur parcel wroapped in this cloth stuff and sealed with wax! I thought India was stuck in the 90's, turns out its stuck in about 1200 and something! So we managed to get this parcel to the GPO, but we had a fight on out hands! The GPO workers all go on lunch together (don't get me started), so we had to try and hold our position in the q for half and hour until they came back, it took 3 of us pushing, shoving, shouting, pointing at the guy with the gun and sending people to the back of the q! They thought 3 English girls would be a push over, they were wrong, we have had 3 weeks of this rubbish and we were taking no more! England 1 India 0! Saying that, who knows if the parcel will ever see England!
Leaving Udaipur today for Mumbai. My first experience of a sleeper bus, or as I'm going to name it the 'get no sleep, feel like your in a coffin with a big massive bug and rolling down the hill bus'. Had a rest stop, no toilets, had to pee in the middle of the road, bad times! Dropped off in the middle of nowhere at 4am, managed to fine the train station for our connecting train, eventually made it to Mumbai.
21/09/10
Just wanted to get tot the hotel now, but what we learnt quickly in Mumbai is that taxi drivers don't speak any English here and don't even know the names of their own streets which is very helpful. Our taxi driver asked for directions, I counted 25 men around our taxi at one point just gawping. They are like something out of shaun of the dead, gawping zombies.
22/09/10
After yesterdays epic journey decided to head to Colaba, the tourist district in search of a Mumbai lonely planet. We need a lonell planet bible to know what the hell we are doing here. Managed to get one and sat in a cafe for a read, the tv there was showing all the coomonwealth games trouble in Dehli, I feel a little smug that the city is shamed, what do they expect from somewhere so corrupt! Anyways, sas the gateyway of India which was impressive. Then we hears about a festival down on Chowpatty beach we went to check out. Thousands of people take statues of their god ganesh down to the beach and burn them, it was really cool to watch and we were really lucky to have caught it.
Went to see a Bollywood movie called DABHANG, was brilliant. Was so violent and then they all break out into dance. It was all in Maharati but somehow I knew exactly what was going on, brilliant, can't get the songs out of my head now either! Dinner on marine drive after, pictures of Freddie Flintoff drunk on the walls, no suprise there!
23/09/10
Took a boat to Elephanta island just off the coast of Mumbai. there are 15,00 year old wall carvings in these caves, a guide showed us around and was really interesting, nice to be out of the city for a bit. Went for food in the evening, ordered way to much, the locas were laughin at all the food, god knows what they thought of the greedy English girls, still only came to 1.30 each, bargin!
- comments
Real dad & mum Sounds like you girls are getting used to the ways of the locals,glad you are standing up for yourselves. Dont worry about peeing in the road, thats just another saturday night on the barbican activity. Hope you used your orange wednesday Bollywood ticket for Dabhang. Sounds like their post office staff were trained by the GPO,bring back Postman Pat!! or Postyman Chapati as they call him locally. Your train journey seemed a bit horrendous but you have experienced it now. Mum says you only need to learn two sentences for the taxi drivers. "Are there any toilets" and "my friends are paying" thanks for the update,thinking of you lol xxxxxxxx
Auntie Vivvy Train journey sounded horrendous. Did the train arriving on platform 6, 7 and 8 come in sideways? and did they have the same people on the tannoy that you cannot understand. must be worse in India. Why all the food, was is a mistake in ordering? Should have me with you. Glad you fought your way through at the PO. Just like the Next sale. !!! LOL
Work Dad That sounds like the post office down the Broadway. Did they say 'Cashier number 4 please'? I remember I was in a long queue there once and there aren't any toilets. I had to have a pee in the photo booth! Taxi drivers that don't speak English....going out in Plymouth was good training for that then. Dabhang..is that the one with Salman Khan and Sonakshi Sinha? I preferred the book. It was a bit like Jester's where the dancing breaks into violence. I always order too much when I go to an Indian aswell. I suppose if you asked to take the leftovers home for the dog they'd be a bit offended! Anyway, I'm impressed with your stamina. Must be just another week or so before the next country. I think it'll be nice to be out of India. Keep safe. WD.
Harry Pearce Jess. Its Harry. Don't know whether you've heard...Ros is dead..properly this time! You could be in for a promotion. I think it's safe to come out now but be careful at the border. Keep safe, we'll need you back on the grid soon. HP.