Mumbai

Our first stop in India was Mumbai. What can I say, this place is absolutely crazy. I don't think there's any way to be eased in to the madness of an Indian city and, after a hectic flight over, with little sleep, Amy and I were certainly underprepared for what was to come. We were greeted by a little man holding up a sign with our name on. We hopped in to the little piece of metal they called a taxi and headed off to the Travellers Inn where we had a hotel booked. The streets in Mumbai are mental, hundreds of auto rickshaws weaving in and out of traffic, lorries, cars, taxis, bicycles, walkers walking in the middle of the road, cars going the wrong way, horns beeping non stop (they definately have a different use for the horn in India), its utter madness. First impressions of Mumbai? Hectic, busy, loud, dusty. I'll admit that I didn't really enjoy the two days spent in Mumbai. At the time it seemed so alien to anything I've ever experienced. The streets were crowded and dirty and very male dominated. There were stares everywhere we went and a feeling that we weren't allowed to be here.

We did however visit the Gateway of India (above) and Chowpatty Beach (below) whilst here. We also stopped off at Leopolds Cafe for a bite to eat. It was then time to move on to Kerala, on a 36 hour train (pictured lastly below. We took sleeper class - pretty much the most basic you can get on an Indian train, good experience!)