We walked out the front of the airport thinking we would get a bus to the train station. After being accosted by 4-7 rickshaw drivers and after declining their wealthy offers of 'cheap' fares we waited for the bus '111'. After three quarters of an hour we realised this bus was never coming so we decided we should walk, but only 100-200 metres later we quickly decided this was ridiculous so flagged down a tuk tuk, to which his rates were reasonable (perhaps because we were away from the airport)?
En-route to the train station, through the craziest traffic you could imagine, nearly dying a dozen times, we arrived at the train station. When studying the huge map on the wall of where we wanted to get to, a gentleman offered to help. Always suspicious we sought his advice and he even offered to guide us to the correct platform (without I'm not sure we would've made it as there is absolutely no order or reason to anything)!! We boarded the train and it was every man/woman for him/herself; claim your space and area and don't let anyone push you or tell you different.
At this point we had decided that we had landed at the deepest depths of the deep end!! We correctly disembarked the train at our designated stop and found the streets to be mobbed by food selling stalls and shops offering specialities, for example, a shop named; "The Reliable Tarpaulin Company", yes, just selling tarpaulins?! It was manic and we had no idea where we were going to find our accommodation for the next 2 nights. We asked a number of people to be pointed in 'kind-of' the right direction. 
With more than a little help from the locals we found our apartment, a terrace, one bedroom, self sufficient place with our own private roof terrace, which had numerous potted plants sitting on a mosaic tiled floor. The views overlooked Mumbai, which were nothing to be admired and the 'beeping' noise coming from the road below was both constant and very loud...throughout the entire night; thank goodness for ear plugs!! 
The next day we went via train, just one stop, to Mumbai City to visit the famous sights; The Gateway to India, The Taj Mahal Hotel and Leapold Café, amongst others. We got the bus, which was very easy and cost a massive 20 pence. Inside the Taj Mahal hotel, it was a world apart from outside its front doors! Immaculate, expensive and extremely popular with wealthy, western foreigners. We had a beer in their bar which cost as much as our accommodation for the night but we thought...'When in Mumbai...!' 
The next day we were making our way to Panvel (an outskirt area of Mumbai but still 2 hours on the train) so that we could travel down to Kerala, via a train that takes 22.35 hours and costing only £7 each! However, our optimism was short lived as after a delay of 3 hours our total journey took over 25 hours.
Panvel was somewhat to be desired and that is putting it politely! Rosie booked a hotel for the night which was far from standard but at least it had WiFi for us to plan and book our next accommodation via AirBnB (a great site we heard about which we have so far found to be excellent).
A highlight of Panvel however was finding an amazing restaurant that did amazing food and costing what would have cost £50 in the UK for both of us, just £5.80!!!! Plus, I made friends with a baby, I think she was fascinated with my bald head but she was lovely.
Quality Sam, keep on blogging
ReplyDeleteFantastic and fascinating what a journey you both will have
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