Mumbai

It was quite a scenic tour of the city as the bus made its way through Bombay. Most of what we saw was the slums, mile after mile of haphazardly constructed shacks, lining the railroad tracks and stretching out as far as we could see. The people all spilled out of their homes and live most of the day out on the street, since their shacks are no bigger than a bedroom in a typical western home. The kids play, women do washing, and men sell food and other items right outside with buses, trucks and cars zooming by at top spead. Bombay (officially called Mumbai, but most people still call it by its original name, so we will too) is India's largest city with over 16.5 million people. And, as we quickly saw for ourselves, the home to Asia's largest slums.

As the bus travelled south, we soon saw the other side to Bombay: a cosmopolitan of modern buildings housing the nation's wealthiest industries. The absence small alleys, rickshaws, open sewers, and cows wandering around the streets were immediately noticeable. Although somewhat relieved to arrive in such a 'modern' place after the last few weeks, we can't help but think that Bombay is not a fair image of the rest of the nation. If a traveller to India were to arrive in Bombay as his/her first stop, it would not quite prepare him/her for the rest of what's to come! On the other hand, it's good to see the progressive attitude of this city, and it could very well be a gentle introduction to the country instead of the medieval world of Delhi.

As always, the bus dropped us off in some obscure location, so we took a taxi to the Colaba area, the 'backpacker' area where all of the cheapest hotels are. Just the fact that rickshaws are banned from most of the city and taxis acutally use working meters was a treat to us. Wandering around Colaba searching for a place to stay, we soon realised it would be an expensive stay in Bombay. I guess there is a price to pay for all of this modernisation, and that price trickles down to the tourists. We rejected the first hotel, as they wanted 700 rupees for a room no larger than a closet, with walls that don't even reach the ceiling. Instead, we chose to pay a bit more and go for a 'nice' hotel. We chose Bentley's Hotel, although I was a bit concerned it would be way out of our price range, given the name of the place. But it's a cute hotel in an old home, located off of the noisy main street, on a road that reminds us a lot of a Sydney suburban road. Bombay is very green (especially coming from the deserts of Rajasthan), with lots of trees lining the streets. Nige talked the owner into a room for 800 rupees, and we settled in.

Starving for some 'real' food by this time (it had been over 24 hours since we boarded the first bus in Udaipur, and nearly 30 hours since we'd eaten a proper meal at breakfast yesterday), we felt that a shower was more important than food. So we had a good scrub, put on some fresh, clean clothes, and headed to the only place that could even come close to satisfying our hunger: McDonald's of course, since we had been dreaming about it since 9:00 last night! Eating in the clean, air-conditioned restaurant, I again felt funny about seeing McDonald's as a treat, but who are we trying to kid? It was an awesome meal.

Not in the mood to do much other than sleep, we used the internet a bit after lunch, bought a few cold beers at the liquor store (conveniently located just around the corner from our hotel, another justification for the high rate) and spent the remainder of the evening watching some TV and napping. After the sun went down, we headed out to Chowpatty Beach (of course we call it Cow Patty Beach). Every night, locals gather here to spend time with family, join in political rallies, or just enjoy being outside. During the day, the beach leaves much to be desired, and all of the action is at night. There are many food stalls set up, selling many different kinds of Indian foods, sweets, and ice cream. There were a few kiddie rides going, like a small ferris wheel and a blow-up super slide. People sell roasted corn on the cob, roasted chana (chickpeas), balloons, toys, and even fairy floss (cotton candy). The carnival atmosphere was even more prominent as it happened to be Saturday night. Although we did see some young teenagers hanging out and couples by themselves, it's definitely a family affair at Chowpatty Beach. We even decided to be brave and try one of the local specialties, bhelpuri. It's a dish of fried dough pieces mixed with puffed rice, lentils, lemon juice, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers and fresh corriander. It was delicious, but we were cautious. After walking down the beach and back, we had a late meal at a busy little Italian place before heading to bed.