Bollywood Masala

After a nightmare, fatigue-enduced delirium on the Sleeper bus journey along the west coast we arrived in Mumbai. Oh my good god this city is insane! It is ten times crazier than Delhi in terms of the traffic and the people. And there are slums EVERYWHERE! We alighted from the bus completely zombified and we had a hard time adjusting to our new surroundings with guys on every corner throwing Hotel business cards in our faces. We eventually found a place wich was reasonably priced in relative terms. Mumbai is the single most expensive city in India. We made a new friend on the way, Lee Sharon from Israel. She was on her own having left her friends for a while, who had bought motorbikes and who decided to travel around the rest of India Motorcylcle Diaries style. We got on well and so decided to get a triple room which brought down the cost a bit. Despite our spaced out state we managed to do quite a bit of sight seeing. We saw the lovely Victoria Park where there is a museum and a zoo, and we saw the Dhobi ghats, the giant open air laundry where the men beat the clothes until all the dirt has gone. You can see the white clothes gleaming in the sun as they hang from the lines. Then we went to the north of the Back Bay to Chowpatty Beach and we watched the beautiful sunset over the harbour and the skyscrapers as we lay in the sand and got pestered every 5mins for a head massage, some chai and other random items to be purchased. The black and yellow Ambassador taxis are everywhere and remind me somewhat of Havana with the oldfashioned Buiks. They are again adorned with various ornaments and tinsel as in Delhi. The most outrageous one was a seethrough plastic buddha on the dashboard with a flashing light inside it that chanded from red, to yellow to purple to green on repeat. We checked out the more touristy part of Mumbai south of the city called Colaba where there are lots of restaurants and markets. met my first Irishman and was delighted to hear a farmiliar cork accent as we exchanged a few words. Highlight: Watching a Bollywood movie in the local cinema. It strange mix or "masala" if you will, of franticly coreographed music sequences, a lot of shouting, exaggerated facial expressions and overacting, with sporadic product placement thrown in for good measure. As it was all in hindi with no subtitles I passed the time by notice the oh so obvious can of coke or pepsi held in just the right way, or the aptly positioned t-shirt logo. It was all great and I really enjoyed the funky, modern music. 3hours with an interval is a lot though, and is apparently the norm in Bollywood. Mum and dad I have posted a package with some spices and insense and some clothes to the house in Brussels. It should arrive in a couple of weeks so let me know if you get it. Next stop Cochin. 32 hour train journey. Can't wait!