Day 74 (Tues 19 Sep) - Mumbai

Bearing in mind we were on a train we had a great night's sleep. Jo was reluctant to get up but Sarb was having none of it and lured her down from her bunk with the thought of breakfast. Unfortunately no breakfast was served but we had a tasty cup of masala chai.

We arrived in Mumbai central station at about 9.30am. Mumbai doesn't have rickshaws (cycle or auto) so instead we were mobbed by taxi drivers. We found a driver who was prepared to use his meter and we piled into his taxi. All of the taxis look 1960's style cars - they should be in a musuem.

We were headed to a district called Colaba; apparently a good traveller hang out. To get there however we had to weave and wind through the busy traffic.

Mumbai definitely has an English feel about it. It's not just the Victorian architecture but the sight of red double decker buses. However these are not 'real' London double deckers. On closer inspection these double deckers are simply bad copies!!

We knew that Mumbai was going to be expensive but the first hotel we checked out was nearly Rs 4000 (50 squids!) which was outrageous. The receptionist at this hotel was pretty rude and dismissive, as much to say 'We don't need your money, traveller scum. Begone.' It is at times like this that Jo has to practically physically restrain Sarb from shouting 'You may be a rude, thick and arrogant pillock but you still haven't got one of these!', whilst brandishing a British passport.

As mentioned in our guidebook there is a serious lack of good, budget accommodation in Mumbai. Jo was getting increasingly hungry to put it mildly so Sarb took decisive action and deposited her in a cafe. Whilst Jo happily munched on her toasted cheese sandwich and slurped a Sprite, Sarb decided to hit the streets and find somewhere to crash. Tried a number of places but they were either full or absolutely rubbish and very expensive. Luckily a street tout wandered over and after a brief discussion Sarb went to look at a room in the Hotel Maria near the cafe. The room had some beds, a small table, a shower but no toilet, a broken window, a little damp and all for a staggering 650 a night.

Sarb reluctantly returned to Jo with the news that the only place he had found to stay was Maria Lodge complete with shared toilet facilities. Although Jo was not too happy she realised they had no choice so we went to check in.

After we settled in to our new home, Jo went to check out the toilets. Horror of all horrors they only had indian (squatters) toilets!! Sarb tried to calm Jo down and coaxed her out of the room with the thought of a glass of vino, in this supposedly cosmopolitan city.

As we walked along the sea front Sarb decided to shared with Jo what he had learnt about the sea at Mumbai - that bathing in it would be akin to sitting at the bottom of a latrine. Not good.

Turned onto the Colaba Causeway which is lined with shops and stalls. Sarb led Jo towards the first drinking place called Leopold. It had a Parisian feel to it; laid back, people smoking, drinking and eating, laughing. Sarb devoured a couple of beers whilst Jo savoured a glass or two of white wine and soda. We walked further down the road and went into Cafe Mondegar where we chilled out listening to familiar indie tunes.

Later we headed back to our luxurious digs, past a quaint chemists lined with wooden cabinets full of merchandise, picking up a packet of crisps on the way for supper.