Mumbai

Hi all,

We have finished the first leg of our journey... we have spent 5 nights in Mumbai which was a crazy experience. Everything is patched up and looks like it’s about to fall apart, from houses to buses to the street food carts where we have been having lunch for as little as 15p! Everyone wanted pictures with us because of our white skin, in a city of 12 million people we saw only 10 other caucasians. The fun of being a celebrity is already becoming tiresome! We have had some delicious food: bombay mix, curries (general name given to Indian food by foreigners), dosas, thali plates, and many other things we could not name! Lots of street food and no Delhi belly yet! When sticking our heads out of the local train (not quite hanging like the locals) and feeling the wind in our hair, it finally hit - we are travelling!

Mumbai really is a city of two halves with Dharavi an industrious slum with no regard for health and safety, live wires overhead and men working in metal shops so loud you can’t shout over the noise. In contrast we walked along the Bay Area which is more colonial with hundreds of grand buildings much like St Pancras (architecture from the British influence) and a skyline to rival New York!

A slum tour of Dharavi was our highlight so far. It was so much more than just a smelly, dirty place like the film Slumdog Millionaire made it out to be! Our guide, who was a resident, showed us all the thriving businesses in there; from soap making to recycling plastics to clothing and leather. We saw so many schools and people’s homes and loads of places of worship. We even saw a Muslim man in the workshop making Hindu shrines. The people here in Mumbai are some of the friendliest we have ever met, all greeting strangers like old friends.

We visited the Caves at Elephanta Island, The Gateway to India and the Taj Hotel. Then spent a day among locals in the many bazaar districts, selling: gold, fruit, clothes, spices, building materials, electrical supplies, etc. Danielle brought a scarf to cover up abit more as we have been advised that some of our stops will be more traditional.

Now we are on our first long distance train - 17 hours to Udaipur. We managed to find the train and the station and our beds with time to spare. We are sharing a compartment with a lovely Indian couple who have shared some of their homemade snacks with us and can speak some English. We have bunk beds and bed sheets for when it’s time to go to sleep and are currently sat on the bottom bunk which turns into a pretty comfy sofa! Safe to say, the sleeper train has exceeded expectations- now to hope dinner on board is nice and we manage to get some sleep! 

(UPDATE: we managed to sleep on the train, be it slightly bumpy and awoken by a noisy chi seller at 6am. We were disappointed when we found out this particular train didn’t have a kitchen so didn’t provide dinner despite the fact we got on at 4:15pm. When contemplating whether Ross should jump off and buy something on the platform (slightly risky as they stop for between 2 and 10 minutes), the generous couple offered to share their homemade dinner. It was very tasty!)

Love to all at home, keep us updated on what you are all doing too! Enter your email address and click subscribe to follow us on our adventure.

Love R and D xxx