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.