Mumbai

I think the funniest part of the trip so far has to be seeing Natalie's face when we first stepped on the overnight train to Mumbai. It was so funny. Look at the pictures of the prison cell we slept in and that will explain it all. It was a tiny little room with four beds, two of which were top bunks hanging down from the ceiling: mine and Natalie's beds for a good 12 hours! We shared a room with this guy called Mike who we had met before leaving our hotel in Udaipur. It was such a funny journey and really made the trip. We sat up for hours telling ghosts stories and talking about random stuff from back home; it was definitely a memorable experience.

We then left Mike and got on another train which travelled the rest of the way to Mumbai. This train was so cold. Men, selling everything from chai tea and tomato soup to omelettes, spent the whole journey shouting which was a lot to deal with at 6am!

Anyway, once we arrived in Mumbai, we were pleasantly surprised that it was not exactly the same as Delhi. It was such a huge city, but there seemed to be many areas which had shops with doors on the front and far less shanty hunts and there were far less people lying on the streets.

We dropped our things off at the hotel and then went exploring. We found this shopping arcade behind a street market area and were shocked to discover the prices of some of the garments. After spending a few weeks in India, we had not seen anyone who would come close to being able to afford clothes like that. I think the one thing about Mumbai that is more shocking than places like Delhi, is the huge divide between the rich and the poor. It is like two different worlds living within each other's pockets, very strange, and again upsetting to see such vast poverty.

Most of our time in Mumbai was spent either exploring the shops or in this small coffee bar we found in the city centre. It was a really cool place where all the local students hung out, smoking pipes, putting the world to rights! We used it as a place to escape the big city, and to recover from our epic train journeys.

The so-called beauty of Bombay beach was very disappointing; there was rubbish everywhere, men haggling in large groups all around us, and during the sunset, the sky was covered in a thick layer of smog. Most of the places we have visited could be beautiful, but it seems that the people just don't take care of them or appreciate what a stunning country India could be. Our visit to the beach was also ruined after we bought a drink from a vendor and sat on these plastic chairs outside and then got told to leave because we would not buy the drink, he wanted us to. We were so shocked at how rude they were, we thought they were joking as we ha literally just given them money!

Overall, Mumbai was definitely worth seeing but I think we were both glad we only stayed for one day. The train journey alone would have made it worth it just for the sheer comedy value!