Hey All

I landed in India on sunday to a wall of heat waiting outside of the airport, after a quick scout around we soon found the taxi office and me and kim left maria to wait for anoushkas arrival and set out off on our journey into mumbai to find somewhere to stay. Leaving the airport was the biggest culture shock of my life, I knew that the living here was different to home and I knew what to expect but what I hadnt expected was my reaction to seeing it with my own eyes. Immediatly outside of Mumbai airport is slums and poverty, our taxi driver ensured us that he knew where we were going but after 3 mins he pulled over and jumped out of the taxi to go and ask people for directions leaving us surrounded by beggars all asking for money or our toy shaped pillows. It was sooo heartbreaking to not even look at them but at the end of the day any money we gave would probably be going to their "carers" anyway. Regardless of how I explain it or what anyone else says until you witness something like millions of peple living in poverty with your own eyes you just cant comprehend the pure despair that these people know as normal life.

The roads here are nuts with no rules, the cars dont have seat belts, the drivers hands are used as indicators and the sounds of millions of angry horns beeping is all you can hear most of the day. We survived the death defiying taxi journey and made it to colaba causeway which we knew was a good place to find a cheap hostel and it was relatively safe. We paid for quite an expensive room on our first night and we didnt understand haggling and jet lag was causing us to just want to take the easiest option. So after dumping our bags we went on the hunt for the infamous leapolds which is a bar / restaurant renound for being the backpackers centre and with english speaking waitors and a combination of western and authentic indian food we couldnt find a better place to ease us into indian life. It only took us 1 1/2 hrs of wondering around to find that it was 5 mins in the other directionfrom our hostel and with the sun baking down at 40 degrees it couldnt have been any quicker coming! however not long after arriving kim stepped out for a second only to be approached by a lovely man asking her to be in a bollywood film - he also requested for me and the other girls to go along too! we signed up and with wary decided that if the bus that picked us up the next day didnt have a good feel about it then we would simply walk away.

The following day we woke up bright and early, found a cheaper hostel named the Possers to stay in for 300 rupees each a night and then headed to catch the bollywood bus. There was numerous other westeners waiting so when the bus showed up we all jumped on. It was sooo much fun! We got to dress up, had our hair and make up done and then sit in the studio on comfy auditorium seats and wait for our chance to be mini stars of a film called RA One. I quickly realised I was sat 2 people away from one of the actors and then realised that I would actually have to act! The scene was where a txt message floats up from the screen past our heads and the actor near me tries to touch it - I played my part perfectly pretending to listen when he spoke and type on my laptop and then acting extremely shocked and happy when I saw the txt floating past me. It was all very random but fun and we got 500 rupees each for doing it. The best part of the day was meeting the other extras, especially Kobi (a 25 year old aussie from perth who has been travelling alone for 7 months already.) and Janner (a 25 year old aussie from melbourne with killer dreads).

Since then we have just been taking in the india experience however Mumbai is not as authentically indian as you would expect, its busy and loud but the culture is more subdued than that of the nothern states (or so I have heard). Its taken us 3 days to find a way out of mumbai as due to the common wealth games all trains going north are fully booked! so we have decided to head south to goa. Im looking forward to relaxing on the beach and heading to the hippy area for some chilled out times. From there im thinking of going off alone to Hampi - 7 ours east where the train ride there is suposedly better than the town itself showcasing waterfalls and scenery like I will have never seen before (or so Kobi says).

Im going to be sad to leave Kobi tomorrow as she has been a brilliant laugh and a real help in understanding the rights and wrongs of india. Over here everyone is a con artist and you need someone with experience such as her to help you get onto your feet. I have already managed to haggle down from 400 rupees to 60 for a skirt! (thats about 70p). So she will be missed in goa but I have promised to go to perth to see her when Im over there and she will show me how the aussies really do things ... or so she says?!

The only real downside to mumbai has been the terrible eye infection we have all got, kim got it first but now we all look like the devils spawn with red eyes puffy faces and bruised cheeks! :( its not uncomfortable or anything but its so common over here that they have rules in most buildings that we cant take our sunglasses off as they believe that by making eye contact we will spread the infection further!! haha.

The food over here is superb though, the mali kofta is my fave so far but I had tried so many curry and bread combinations I could happily eat most of them all day. However the desert situation is not good, we all know that I love my sugar - well over here that what a desert or sweet drink is, pure sugar - whether its fried or added to soda. I cant stomach it! who would have thought, I have found a country which has a sweeter tooth than me!

Anway I better sign over and out as a man is tshing at me - which is a noise they make to get peoples attention, I realised this mrning that I have started doing it too!

Im missing you all and promise to keep you all posted from Goa

xxxxx