Days 8 to 13 (2 days on a train)

Spent a couple of days in Gokarna, soaking up the rays and swimming in the warm water.  The village was about a twenty minute walk over the hill, it's a very holi village with loads of temples.  There were only a few that we were, as tourists, allowed to go into as apparently there had been some incidents involving tourists in the past and they decided not to allow anymore in.  There seemed to be a lot of French in Gokarna, it wasn't very busy but the locals that we spoke to told us that it would get busier over the next few weeks and then very busy over Christmas and new year.  After a couple of relaxing days we paid some boys who worked at our guest house to carry our bags up the horrendous path ( they carried the bags on their heads which was very impressive) and caught a train back to Mumbai.  The train only left an hour late which seems to be good going for the trains here.  It took just under twelve hours to reach Mumbai but because we left at 7.30pm you actually sleep through most of it.  We had time to have some breakfast, pick up our next tickets and head for the next train to Udaipur.  18hrs and a pretty crappy sleep later, we arrived in Udaipur.  

This has to be by far the nicest place we've been so far and made us realise what a dump Mumbai was.  We checked in to a nice guesthouse for only Rs400 a night, had some (hot!) showers and decided to make the most of the day since we only have a few days here.  The city palace is only a short walk from our accommodation and is a big complex which is now three hotels.  One of the palaces is out on the huge man made lake, we took a lovely boat ride out onto the lake and around the palace.  They dropped us off at the 'garden palace' which is out on the lake so we could have a walk around.  It seemed like they were setting up for a wedding, which by the looks of it was going to cost a fortune! An absolute stunning setting for a wedding though.  We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the town trying to get our bearings.  We came back to the accommodation and met some nice people who were staying here also, there is a common area where everyone seems to hang out.  We met a Belgian guy who had bought a motor cycle and was riding around India.  He had found a beautiful stray puppy in the last place he was and decided to take it with him.  He has since managed to get it microchipped and is waiting for some papers so that he can eventually take it home with him.  He just carries it his jacket when he is riding and it just sleeps.  We went for a nice dinner with a couple who were staying here to a roof top restaurant where we caught some amazing views of the last of the sunset.  

We had arranged with our tuk tuk driver who took us from the train station to do a tour with him today around Udaipur.  For only Rs600 we were taken to a big fruit and veg market where we took some photos and bought some nice bananas.  We visited the place where all the royals from the area were buried in huge ornate crypts.  We took a boat ride out onto the lake to see a beautiful floating garden and a few other sights.  We then went for an all you can eat thali which was delish and well worth the £1.20 it cost! The last part of the trip is to go to up to sunset point by cable car.  This obviously needs to be done at sunset and because me and Kay went round the other sights quickly we asked him to just drop us at the guesthouse and pick us up later (5pm), just before we got out Kay asked how much henna was here as we've seen a lot of people doing it and it's much nicer that other places we've been.  Our guide advised it would be roughly Rs100-150 and then said that his sister did it so if we liked he would take us to her.  We agreed and currently Kay is sitting with henna on both hands, front and back, waiting for it to dry (4hrs)....she isn't able to even scratch her nose far less do anything else.

Days 5, 6 & 7 Goa / Gokarna

We arrived in madgao about 2.30pm, about 2 and a half hrs after we were supposed to arrive.  We've come to realise since then that the trains in India rarely run to schedule.  We had phoned ahead and booked accommodation in a village called Benulium, it wasn't a payphone like you'd expect to see in the uk but just a wee hut on a street in Mumbai where they had telephones stilling on the ledge that you could use.  The call to Goa only cost 5p.  We took a rickshaw to Benulium, they somehow managed to squeeze myself and Kay along with our two ginormous bags into this tiny little three wheeled thing.  Our accommodation was lovely, our own room with private bathroom and balcony for only £5.50 for the two of us each night.  We had showers and then headed towards the beach in search of dinner.  The beach was absolutely stunning with wee restaurants along the sea front.  We ate our dinner and decided just to head back to the accommodation as we were both pretty tired after our very long train journey.  The train should have taken 11hrs but ended up taking almost 14!!  On our way back along the beach all the lights went out which meant that the 20min walk back to the accommodation was a bit of a mission and neither of us that thought to pack torches with us ( they are now firmly situated in our bags at all times).  The lights came back on a wee while after we arrived back at the guesthouse but went off again another three times between then and us falling asleep.  The worst part about it was that our fan wouldn't work during these times and the room became unbearably hot very quickly.

The next day we decided to just have a relaxing day on the beach.  We got some supplies ( fruit and water ) for breakfast and headed down early, we both got a wee bit sunburnt but thankfully this is now turning into a nice golden tan. There are a lot of Russians in Benulium so much so that all the signs are in Hindi and Russian rather than the usual hindi and English.  We spoke to a Thai/Swedish guy who was travelling around india too, he had already been here a few months and thought he would probably stay a few months longer.  He was a chef so was just working his way around.  He told us that if we wanted to meet other backpackers we should head for a beach just 150km south of where we were called Gokarna.  It's not actually in Goa but in the next state.  While we were having our lunch we decided to take his advice and started searching ways to get down to Gokarna.  There was a passenger train leaving at 1pm the next day that would take 2 and a half hours.  Because of the type of train we weren't able to book in advance so we would just need to check out the next morning, head to the train station and hope for the best.

The next morning we went into the village and got some supplies for the train journey.  Getting a ticket at the train station was much easier than we anticipated and only cost around 60p for the two of us.  In true Indian fashion the train was late, over two hours late.  This meant that we arrived in Gokarna much later than we thought we would, about 5.30pm. The sun goes down around 6.30pm so we had to be quick to try and find accommodation.  We took a rickshaw to the main beach which we had read about ( there are 4 within walking distance), the driver dropped us at the top of a big hill with a dirt road leading down to the beach.  This was a horrendous task with our big wheeled bags. About half way down some guys took pity on us and lifted our bags the rest of the way down. Accommodation that we had read about was luckily very close to the bottom of the path.  They only had one room left which he advised was only a simple room which meant we had shared bathroom and showers.  At £3 a night for both of us it did the job just nicely.  We inspected our bags once we were in the room and they were both manky and mine even had some small tears in the bottom, thankfully not all the way through though....one week in, I wonder how long my bag will last at this rate.  We walked along the beach looking for a place to have dinner and eventually decided on the busiest looking one.  It was pitch black by the time we had arrived so we just went back to our room after dinner to relax and look forward to seeing the "paradise" beach the Thai/Swedish man had told us about.... 

Days 3 and 4 in Mumbai

We set our alarms so we wouldn't sleep in for our guide arriving at 10.30am, our guide for the day turned up bang on time and off we set in the direction, or so we thought, of the slum from slum dog millionaire.  After a short while we arrived at the Laundry which we'd actually seen the day before but he assured us that there was no way we had been shown the bits he would show us.  We went further into the laundry to where some lived.  On the way round we saw a woman refilling old water bottles with tap water!! I really hope they were for her own use and she wasn't going to try and sell them to some poor unsuspecting tourist.  There wasn't much going on here just people going about their daily lives but our guide decided to get a shave while he was there.  I think after realising that we were a bit bored, since we'd been there before, he tried to convince us to dump the car and take a local train out to the slum.  We declined his offer as these are the trains where they are so overcrowded that people are hanging out the doors or sitting on the roof.  I'm sure it would have been some experience but this was only our third day in India so best left for another day.  We walked around the slum for a bit and he showed us where they do all the recycling, the slum generates over £700million annually for the residents through waste recycling and other small businesses.  Our guide decided to take us to his sisters house, who lived in the slum,for some chai tea.  Her house was lovely, all marble but very small but I suppose they don't spend a lot of time indoors like we do.  We had some lovey tea, met his family and then they dressed Kay up in a burka for a laugh ( pictures to follow if Kay will let me ).  On the way back to Colaba our guide asked if we wanted to go see a film that night, he said he would drive us there and back for free if we invited him along.  We had wanted to see a Bollywood film while in Mumbai so we agreed.  We parted ways and he advised he would pick us up at 9pm as the film started at 9.30pm.  For dinner that night we went back to "bulimia" aka Budemia and had some more tasty food.  True to his word, our guide collected us at 9pm and we went to see the new blockbuster Kill Dil which was actually really good if not sometimes a bit cheesy.  We managed to follow the film, even though there were no subtitles, with the help of our guide.  We were asked a few times while in mumbai if we'd like to be extras in a Bollywood movie, we obviously declined because it sounds like a scam if ever ive heard one but we told our guide and he said it was real but that they would treat us like "white monkeys" and have us on set all day but only be in one small scene and we'd only be paid Rs500 for it.  When he dropped us back a the hotel he tried to convince us to go on a very long and very expensive tour with him to the national park which is at the very north of Mumbai and would take hours to drive to.  We managed to use our 3 days of experience with mumbai's locals and stood firm and told him that we were going to elephant island the next day and so didn't have time to do his tour.  

We got up early the next day as we had a lot to do and needed to check out.  We first went to the "government" tourist information to book only our train tickets as we'd been looking online the night before and discussing it and booking them ourselves was turning more and more into a complete headache. For example, there were no available tickets from Goa back up to Mumbai for weeks.  We paid a lot more than it would have cost us to book so if you ever plan to go to India then be sure to plan ahead and book all your trains before you leave. 

After checking out of the hotel we wandered down to the Gateway to India which is where the boats leave for elephant Island.  The return trip to the island cost Rs420 each and took roughly an hour each way, the breeze on the boat was a pleasant escape from the stifling heat in Mumbai.  On the island there were 5 caves which had interesting carvings and statues inside them.  There were also loads of monkeys! Kay got a bit close at one point and one started chasing her! We felt like C-list celebs while there, we were asked by indian tourists at least ten times if they could have their picture taken with us!? They can't see very many white people where they come from.  In fact, there are not that many tourists around in Mumbai, I had expected to see more but it's mostly Indians on holiday that you see in the touristy bit.  Mumbai is very expensive compared to other parts of India which might keep them away.  While on the island we ate these amazing grilled corn on the cob which were drizzled with fresh lime juice and then rubbed with a salt and chilli mixture....yum!!  We were back in Mumbai about dinner time and so headed to a place we'd read about in our guide book called Olympia Coffee House where we had a chicken tikka masala, a butter chicken dish, 2 chapattis and a bottle of water for the grand total of Rs 290 (£2.90), an absolute bargain and so delish! 

After dinner we collected our bags from the hotel and headed up to the train station where we had to sit until 1am for our train to Goa.  We met some German guys who we'd seen on the boat to elephant island.  You tend to notice other white people because we stick out like a sore thumb.  They had arrived in Mumbai the day after us and it was nice to exchange experiences.  After boarding the train we made our way to our bunks which were in AC3 which means there will be 6 bearths in the "room".  Our beds were the top and middle bunks, when we arrived it was obvious that we're weren't going to manage to lift either of the bags on to the top bunk and so we had so leave them both on the middle bunk and sleep head to toe on the top bunk.  There were sheets and blankets available but we declined as we have our own sleeping bag liner which we've been using.  This was a huge error as the air-con was up so high that the two of us near froze to death during the night.  Next stop Goa :)

Day one and two in Mumbai

Arrived in Mumbai about lunch time yesterday and took a prepaid taxi into Colaba which is the most touristy area of Mumbai.  We took a prepaid taxi which are meant to be a wee bit more expensive but then you're guaranteed on the price and that they'll take you the most direct route.  We were advised that to Colaba it would cost Rs1200 which is roughly £12, which did seem quite steep but were advised that it was over an hours drive from the airport so we agreed.  Once outside the airport we were greeted by a wall of heat! It was about 35degrees but also ridiculously humid, luckily the taxi had air-con.  We opened the guide book we'd bought in the airport to start looking at things to do in the area when I noticed that they'd written that a prepaid taxi from the airport to Colaba should only be roughly Rs400!! They obviously saw us coming.  I slept most of the car journey, as i hadn't managed to sleep on the flight, but the parts where i was awake were an experience....they drive like maniacs here and beep all the time! We can't decide if it's in an aggressive manner or just to let the pedestrian/car/bus know they're there, but either way they are all at it constantly.  We eventually arrived at a hostel which we'd seen in our guide book but unfortunately they were fully booked for the next 4 days, after lugging our heavy bags around for a wee while we were shown the way to another hostel/hotel by some friendly locals.  The place looked ok, had AC and a private bathroom so we decided to haul our bags up three flights of tenement style stairs and book ourselves in ( thankfully two nice Australian boys carried our bags up after the first floor because if they hadn't, I think myself and Kay would still be there trying).  We decided to change our clothes and just head straight out to get our bearings and find some food and water.  We ended up a street down from our hotel at the sea front (Arabian sea) and took some photos of all the boats and also the Gateway of India which is down there too.  After that we went back up to the main street which is just a street up on the other side of our hotel in search of food and water.  After walking up and down the street in search of a supermarket type place we gave up and went to a busy restaurant called Leopards which we've since then learned was targeted during the 2008 terrorist attack and still has the bullet holes.  We had a vegetable biriani, garlic nan and some chips to share and including two 1l bottles of water this only came to Rs650 which is £6.50 which seems very cheap but is actually quite pricy for India.  We didn't stay long because we were both feeling a bit sea sick/dizzy.  We couldn't figure out if the top floor of the restaurant where we were eating was actually moving or if we were just really really tired.  We were back and tucked up in bed for 8pm having logged onto the hotel wifi to send our loved ones a message to say we were safe and happy.  I slept like a baby until 2am when I woke up thinking it was the morning but luckily managed to get back to sleep, Kay wasn't so lucky, some noise during the night kept her awake. 

We slept in until about 9.30am had quick showers and headed out into the heat and humidity.  I think it was a bit cooler today but I might just be getting a bit used to it.  We went back down to the sea front to see the Gateway of India again as we hadn't managed to get very close last night to take any decent photos.  While we were down taking photos we were approached by a tout trying to sell us different tours, we eventually agreed to go on a 3-4hr tour of different places for Rs750 each (£7.50), we were shown to our car and driver and off we went, first stop was the mahalakshmi dhobi ghats which is the world's largest outdoor laundry, we got to walk about a bit and take some photos.  It's all very impressive looking but the water running from the clothes looked pretty manky! Our guide took us up two flights on some rickety old ladders to stand on the dodgy corrugated iron roofs so we could get a better look - it  was scary! Next stop, fisherman's village where, surprise surprise, all the fishermen live.  There isn't much to tell about this place as we didn't hang about long, the smell of fish was pungent! We drove past and stopped at a few things that I won't bore you with but along the way our driver stopped on a motorway over pass to let us out to take photos, apparently they're allowed to do what they like here! We drove past, but weren't allowed up to, the Tower of Silence.  This is walled area where the Parsi faith leave their dead on top of the towers to be 'cleaned' by vultures and the weather.  Only those of the Parsi faith are allowed into this walled area but, luckily for us (not), our tour guide had some pictures on his phone of the dead bodies he could show us.  The last stop was Gandhi's house which has been turned into a museum.  

Once back in Colaba we went and bought some fruit and Indian crisp type things which were yummy, only Rs10 and a welcome break from curry.  We were then advised by some "helpful" locals to go to the tourist information ran by the government to get some local info and maps.  It was just around the corner from our accommodation but it became clear quite quickly that I wasn't government run when they started to try to sell us more tours!  They mapped out our whole trip and included flights, our own driver at parts and accommodation but at Rs159000 (£1600) we politely told them thanks but no thanks.  They did however convince us to go on a tour of the big slum that was in slumdog millionaire tomorrow for Rs1250 for the two of us which we've since been told, by some nice Indian boys we met while out for dinner, is a very good price for this tour.  The driver will come and collect us at the hotel at 10.30am tomorrow.  We went in search of food after the "government" tourist info place and some shop man told us to go to a place called Bulimia which he said was cheap, but really good.  He wasn't wrong, we had some veggie shish kebabs  and some chapatti type thing.  Very tasty and very cheap at Rs315 for the two of us.  All in all, a great first two days in Mumbai. Oh, also, it's not called bulimia...I did think that was an odd name for a food place.