Ok, since last card I have been very brave and ventured out a lot. Mumbai is overwhelming in every way, the noise, people, beggars, cows, dogs, smells, traffic, heat, humidity and sheer size. The first day I decided to brave the buses and learnt very quickly (after missing 2!) that they don't actually stop, merely slow down for you to leap on and off. Needless to say I have worn trainers every day since and not sandals. The journey is between 1 and 2 hours depending on traffic. The volume of traffic is unbelievable and there are no road markings. No-one uses wing mirrors and when passing another vehicle on either side you sit on the horn to let them know you are there, making the noise incessant. Families of 4 travel on motorcycles without helmets and cows, dogs and beggars wander the roads at will. Men also pee wherever and I passed a church with a sign saying "For God's sake don't pee here"! It is also the norm for males to walk around either holding hands or with their arms round each other, quite off putting. I could not live here as the children really get to you. They are tiny, not skinny, just very little and will follow you the entire length of a street, even waiting outside shops. It is very hard not to give to all of them as very little would feed them for a week and some of them are very cute, with excellent English. Anyway places visited include Taj Mahal Hotel, Chowpatty Beach, Jain Temple, Hanging Gardens, Mani Bhavan (Gandhi's residence in Mumbai), Parsi Tower of Silence and Elephanta Island. Parsi Tower of Silence consists of 3 round towers, for men, women and children. The dead are placed in these to be picked clean by vultures, although due to pollution the vulture population is waning. Parsi hold fire, water and earth sacred so do not cremate or bury their dead. Nice place!! Elephanta Island is about an hour on a boat and consists of huge caves carved out of the hillsides. Lots of carvings of gods and very impressive, but chose this trip to leave my camera behind. Arse!! Tomorrow at 1200 I leave on an overnight bus for Udaipur. There is no A/c, but have booked a double bed for more comfort! I stay there for a few days before getting the train to Delhi, which has A/c, thankfully! Once there I will book a trip to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. Will hopefully be in touch from Udaipur, until then..... S xxxxx