So after a great time in Goa, we headed to the airport, laden with our backpacks once more, to catch our flight to Mumbai for diwali. We found a hotel, the cheapest we could (still £23.50 a night!), with no windows and shared bathroom. Mumbai is really expensive! As we had 'saved' on our accommodation, we have splashed out on food, which there is plenty of in Mumbai. We went for tea at '5 spice', a Chinese around the corner. The portions were unbelievable - our rice and lamb dish could have fed a family of 6 alone! The Indians were wolfing it down, but we had to give up and left over half! The next day we embarked on our own tour of architectural Mumbai, guided by lonely planet. There are some great buildings, many in Gothic style. We passed various banks, the royal mint, an old library, monetary museum, national art gallery, grand station, and finally the gateway of India. We joined the queue for security, and then were mobbed by photographers and families for photos. We had to turn some people down, it all got too much! After being attacked with diwali blessings and stamped with henna, we went to the taj Mahal palace hotel, which is insanely posh! There is a Louis Vuitton shop in the entrance. There were trees decorated in orange and yellow marigolds for diwali. We went for a wander along the ground floor and then went to the harbour bar, which was the first bar in Mumbai. Hugo treated himself to two London prides, and I had the £9.50 cocktail, complete with a story told by the barman about how the drink came to be (they have been serving the same drink since 1933), and involved setting alight a small spirit - all I know is it tasted like jelly babies! After our drinks and nibbles, which came to £25 (a real treat!), we went to look in a few shops, including a strange trinket store selling wooden arms and legs taken from old mannequins. Afterwards, we walked to the beach front to watch the fireworks. The bay looked really pretty lit up - the street lamps form what the mumbaiites call the pearl necklace. A few bangs went off as we sat on the wall, and then after about an hour, more and more explosions happened. Families cracked out the sparklers (none of the gloves and bucket of water malarky!) And set off fountains, firecrackers and Catherine wheels on the ground, running back and forth to see if they were going off (?!). It all looked great though - neither of us has ever seen as many fireworks. After about 3hours of watching, it started to get a bit mad and we had to duck a few times to avoid sparks - there was the odd one that rocketed into the sea, and it did start to feel like more of a war zone, with bangs going off either side of us. We decided to head to the only restaurant on the front, India's own version of pizza express - complete with pizzas with salads in the middle and those coffees with mini desserts! Exact copy! It was very busy but being only a two, we didn't have to wait too long for a table. After some yummy authentic Italian, we walked home to the sound of fireworks continuously going off. After our late night, we had a lie in and then walked to the bazaars. In our guide book, it said there was an antique market, but after a long time wandering aimlessly, we only ever came across spare electronics, old vhs players, a street of Muslims praying to Mecca, and some industrial tools . We turned back and headed to the marina to the intercontinental hotel. We went up to the top floor and chose the cheapest drinks of the bunch on the rooftop - the manager told us he had some reservations so we were plonked at the bar (we weren't dressed up so must have looked too poor) rather than on the plush white sofas - the place remained half empty for an hour and a half until we went downstairs, so no tip for him! Great view though. We then went to 'koh', a celebrity chef Thai restaurant, and had Thai red curry and 18spice chicken, followed by a Thai version of apple crumble, which tasted very fancy indeed. Another yummy but expensive treat! On the way back to the hotel, a street seller asked us if we wanted 'short, long, three-quarter length shorts', however i mistook this for 'short, blonde and terrible at sports', much to Hugo's amusement.The following day, we caught the train to sanjay Gandhi national park, north of Mumbai. Being a tourist paid off for once, as a staff member pulled us from the long queue straight to the front, and even better, there was no tourist price! Unfortunately once inside, we had to join the hour and a half queue for the lion and tiger safari. What a waste of time - worst safari ever!! I've seen more lions and tigers at knowsley safari park. We piled in to a bus and were driven into an enclosure where we saw one lion for all of 5 seconds, and then to the tiger enclosure, which the tigers weren't even in! Hugo says it was like driving past the world's worst zoo in a bus. Good job it was only 60p each! After that fail, we took a tuk tuk and a ferry to the global pagoda, a giant gold Buddhist temple in the middle of a mangrove forest. Pretty cool to see, and it looked great lit up as we left. We then went to a recommended restaurant, Indigo, serving European/Mediterranean food, and what turned out to be some of the best food we've ever tasted! Seriously amazing menu, yummy kiwi daiquiris, scallops, pork belly, duck breast, buffalo tenderloin, and chocolate fondant! It was way over our budget, but when in Bombay... Apparently it is ranked 28th restaurant in Asia! It would have cost an arm and a leg more in London too. It was so fancy that after giving our names on arrival, our names appeared printed on the specials menu - shame Hugo was spelt 'heugr' hahaha. We even got a polaroid photo of us at our table. So fancy. Clearly where the elite go for a drinky-poo, judging by the bling and cars parked outside. On our final day, we hopped on the train to the Nehru science centre, which turned out to be a really impressive interactive museum. I brushed up on how the ear works, and Hugo studied the computer department. One of the animals in the prehistoric section was motorised in such a way that it looked like it did the Indian head nodshake. Not historically accurate, I think. We then went to the planetarium, but had missed the English showing, so went across to a pineapple shaped building which housed an art gallery and exhibition on Nehru, India's first prime minister, and quite a guy. We called in at cafe coffee day, the indian coffee chain, and had a frappe. In the corner, a couple were having a photo shoot - the guy was taking pictures on his phone of his, presumably, wife or girlfriend, in 1000 positions - tilt of the head, hair up, hair down, looking at teddy bear etc. It was insane, and very awkward to watch. In the evening, we went to see the latest Bollywood movie at the cinema. There was a very excitable atmosphere, like going to the theatre. There were stalls or balcony, and even an interval! No trailers either. The film itself was, according to Hugo, an Indian slapstick version of oceans eleven. There was the usual romance, action scene (to kung fu fighting, duh duh duh duh duh...), group dance scenes, songs, patriotism and ten packs. The comedy was unbelievably slapstick, and the audience's sides were splitting, erupting into laughter and clapping as if they were all 10yrs old at cake in face and she's behind you! I should mention it was all in Hindi so some (all) of the jokes might have fallen on our deaf ears, but it's amazing how much of the plot you can get without any dialogue. A great way to end our time in Bombay! So now we are at the airport waiting for our delayed flight to udaipur - only 5hrs to go - good job we've got Abba tunes playing in the seating area...