We were delayed on our journey from Goa to Mumbai by a couple of hours so didnt arrive until about 6pm. As the plane was touching down at Mumbai airport we had views over the city to the right and from what I registered was every piece of land in between built up areas was taken up by slums. They are huges areas of corrogated iron and wooden huts where thousands of people live. Families are crammed into these tiny man made building for shelter - they are everywhere - along side the motorway, next to the airport, in the centre of the city along high streets. It is quite shocking to witness this and considering Mumbai seems quite a rich city there are alot of poor people sleeping on the streets. The city is full of contrast - I have a photo of a Mercedes Benz garage but on the other side of the road is a run down depleted old building. Its like this on alot of the roads - big malls on one side and crappy run down buildings on the other. Again the traffic here is as bad if not worse than Delhi although there traffic light system seems to work alot better!

Our taxi driver on leaving the sirport didnt have a clue where our hotel was so we had to call them for directions. We got to the area of Colaba where we had been recommended to stay - literally down the road from the Taj Mahal Towers - a most impressive 5 star hotel facing the Gateway Of India on the front. It took us probably about half and hour of driving roudn in circles and asking people if they knew the place before eventually we found it - our hotel was the top half of another hotel called the Strand. Very bizarre but hey we'd been up most of the day so were just glad to get there! The room was tiny and I would recommend anyone visiting to go upmarket - we'd gone mid range at 50 pound for the night and found the restaurant shut so we could only have room service - there was no communal area to go to so we had four walls from around 8pm til the next morning to sit in - we slept!

We had booked a car and driver for the day on Thurs and as we had to be at the airport for 9pm that night we had arranged for him to take it directly to the airport afterwards - we thought being an international airport there would be entertainment enough to keep us busy for a few hours wait - little did we know!!!

Anyway sightseeing in Mumbai - definitely worth getting the car and driver that knows the city - we had a mp and literally worked our way through the sights upwards towards the airport. We stopped at the Gateway Of India first - this was the point at which the British troops departed and the city was given back to India. Apparantly they call it the Arc De Triomphe of India - its very similar but quite dull to be honest!

We then took a drive past the World Trade Centre buildings and then onto the Prince Of Wales museum - 15RP entry for Indians but 300RP for International visitors! What a con! The price included an audio tour so as you walked around you had headphones on with a voice telling you about the exhibits - some parts were pretty interesting but we didnt get to do all of it as we had arranged with the driver to meet in a hour outside - as museums go it was average but worth a visit.....

Next we went to Crawford market past the famous Victoria Terminus - the main station in Mumbai and the oldest britsih built building in the city - it was huge and very ornate (pics will be posted). The market was seperated into areas of products and we had to hire a guide to take us round so we didnt get hassled. The smells, noise and sights make it quite intimidating - our guide took us round the various areas - part being the animal market - boo hoo - dogs, cats, rabbit, mice and birds in small cages - not a nice sight and quite upsetting! If I could Id have bought the lot and sent them to Cyprus to Celia and Roger to add to your collection of animals!!!

Next place visited was the Mahetma Ghandi house - he lived in the house for a period of time when based in Bombay. They had his life story told through model scenes about 50 in total with captions of what was happening in each scene. Really interesting as I didnt really know much about his life before this - there were brilliant displays and they had his room kitted out with his belongings - even his flip flops were on display!

We then went onto the Jain Temple and the Hanging Gardens and then the driver stopped to tell us about the Towers of Silence - we had seen it on the map and thought it was a place for tourists to visit but from what the driver told us it sounded horrific - the Parsi people take their dead to these towers and they are basically left there to rot and for vultures to eat - I didnt want to know anymore and we moved on quite quickly!!!

The next stop was the Haji Ali tomb - they call it the floating mosque as the walkway can only be used at low tide. Well this was one of the most unpleasant experiences we endured - the smell, the people, the feeling of being very white and unwanted and the intimidation you felt being in this sacred place for Indians. We saw no other europeans as we walked down the walkway, people stared and the beggars (most with club foot and other disabilites) shouted at us wanting money. I took no pictures - Luca got a couple but it just didnt feel right - we got to the building - didnt venture and turned round and walked straight back to where we were meeting the driver not before a group of Indians got a photo of Lucia in front of the mosque!

Last stop was the Dhobi Ghats - this is just a mad! Basically most of the city's laundry is done in this place - about 3000 people live and work here every day just doing laundry! I wondered how people got the right clothes back I mean its just a big mess of clothes being washed, dried and folded. Its a very clever system and it works so fairplay to these guys!

Well that was our tour doen with as there wasnt anything else left to see so after trying to maybe get in a hotel for the afternoon and failing we decided to just get dropped at the airpot this was about 4pm - we could not check in until 9.30pm - well my god - we had to sit in one room for 5 1/2 hours as the airport was being renovated so there was nothing, nada, zilch to do!!! Twop little shops selling crsips, drinks and choclate and that was it! Awful, uncomfortable and just plain boring! We got through it in the hope that there maybe more once we checked in but no through secrity there was also nothing except plastic cheese sandwich and a can of coke! Our wait continued........

Eventually we boarded our first Singapore Airlines flight - excellent by the way - choice of food, enough room to move and pleasant enviroment. Singapore airport was like a breathe of fresh air to what we had just had to get through at Mumbai - proper shops and food! Woo hoo - if only we had 8 hours there - they have showers, a pool etc fantastic!!!