Bon Voyage India (3rd - 5th Jan 08)

After 6 weeks in India the end has arrived.

We left the state of Rajasthan and caught an overnight train down to Mumbai, where we are due to fly out. The train ride was again a memorable journey. Spending a day and a night with the same people in a carriage, always turns out to be entertaining. This time we were in 3 tier Air Con sleepers, which is about 3rd down the ranking. The carriage consists of 3 levels of bunks in an open carriage which means there is a lot of socialising and this class usually attracts the Indian middle class. We were approached by a group of 5 kids from Mumbai aged 10-15 who were at first really shy and scared to talk to us. But once the conversations started they stayed with us the whole trip. After already having dinner before we got on the train, their parents forced us to eat another dinner and would not accept no for an answer. We chatted to the kids about everything, from maths riddles to weather my parents smoke, eat meat and drink. They were Jains, who are strict vegetarians who do not even eat garlic or onions!! But these kids where so smart and curious, asking us currencies of the world and recommending places for us to eat in Mumbai. As we approached Mumbai we had our photos taken with each of them, then their parents, and finally us. But it was a great experience.


We seem to be making a habit of arriving in the biggest city in each country at the end of our trip. This is good in a way as we realise that the rest of the country is not like it. And Mumbai is no exception. It is so much more wealthy than elsewhere but there is still the very poor living in the streets.

We stayed in Colaba and only had one night to stay. We spent our time wandering along the waterfront and doing some last minute shopping.

We had a fantastic but pricey lunch at Leopolds, the bar in Shantaram (its a book). That was fun finding out whether our imaginations were right, which they werent.

After a busy day and a half we caught a flight to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, our repeat city and favourite country. We have 3 days here before flying to Sydney then back home.

Overall we have loved India. There is just so much to the country, that it is hard to put it into words as to why we love it. There are also many things that were pretty horrible about India, such as people visibly shitting along the road, or cows blocking up the sides of the road, or the horrible pollution in most cities, or the touts that hassle you to death. But every country has its negatives, and India is definately a country that it is worth putting up with all the crap to be able to appreciate all the many wonderful aspects.