Statistics: Trip 26 days, 1341 Photos, 1 Hour of Video, and this Blog...
You will find links to more info and images of places we saw, and in this blog are some of the actual photos I took. I hope you enjoy. I would value your comments.
I would value your comments.
Darren Gosnell. (darrengosnell@gmail.com).
This blog is in 3 parts.
Part One - http://indiapartone.blogspot.com.au/2010/05/india-backpacking-jan-2008-part-1.html
Part Two - http://indiapartone.blogspot.com.au/2010/05/india-backpacking-jan-2008-part-2.html
Part Three - http://indiapartone.blogspot.com.au/2010/05/india-backpacking-jan-2008-part-3.html
2008 Jan 06 Mumbai - (Day one !)
Well we are here - but only just !
It was a hell of a long flight ... 10hrs to Singapore (impressive airport, see pictures below), about 1 hr stop there, then 5 hours to Mumbai then One hour in holding pattern! 28th in plane landing queue - what !!!
First hour at airport was crazy... expecting a large international airport was so wrong. Singapore was very impressive. Mumbai on the other hand was a laugh.
We were waved passed customs because they were just too busy to deal with us (some were asleep). Right around the xray machines. Then straight outside. No shops, nothing.
Outside... just a huge crowd of people trying to get you into their taxi or to take you somewhere.
Pushing though them to try and find a loo was the next thing. In the loo, you are charged at the door by a guy sitting at an old school desk. Explaining I had no money I was allowed in - thankfully.
I proceeded into a cubicle where there is a shower plughole in the ground and a bucket of water - that was all there was!
I needed to do a big crap and was not planning on pushing it though the plug. Now think about this..what would you do?
so... I peeed on the wall and threw the bucket of water at it - it seemed like the right thing to do.
Then went outside where I discovered it appeared normal to squat and just crap in the open car park....when in Rome !.
Its weird having people watch that, and from thier excpressions Im not certin they had ever seen a 'solid' before !!.
Anyway that was our first hour in Mumbai !
We were planning to stay there at the airport the night, but it seemed too dangerous, so we negotiated with the touts and porters and found a cab to take us into the city. I had to tie down the boot myself ! with some old string on the road (as the driver insisted our bags would not fall out of the open boot. Being our first day we did not fancy loosing our packs !
The drive into the city was like driving through a war zone. Mumbai is simply a wreck of a city.
I saw thousands of people sleeping on the pavement and even right on the road. No road rules, no speed limits, ignore ALL traffic lights. Our cab never got out of second gear anyway so no probs (only cause the cab could not do it !). Had very sore eyes from the smog and the open cab. This was approx 1AM I recall.
We found our way to the Salvation Army Hostel, in Mereweather Rd Coloba. I rapped on the locked iron door. The guy was asleep inside on counter (later, we discovered this was very common) opened iron gate for us.
We set up camp on the floor in the dining room. (see pic below)
There were hundreds of people in all the other rooms. Lots of packs of dogs wandering the streets here outside. We possibly got about an hours sleep and decided to move outside.
I guess about 4AM, We walked down to the Gateway to India (photos) to have a look around. We decided our priority was to source our next nights accommodation.
The Gateway was reasonable unimpressive in our view. It was covered in scaffolding at the time, and a lot of workmen were hand cutting stone to repair and tidy it up.
We had lots of problems with hotel and money exchange touts the next day (basically just hounding us) They can spot the tourists a mile away (we soon learnt) - very interesting. This is an amazing place for all the wrong reasons lol - but am really enjoying seeing all this stuff - words cant really describe it. Basically the people are very friendly, but always expect to be paid for the smallest of things.
Then Yesterday we did the markets (of which Mumbai is one big market), bought a fake Rolex, did some heavy haggling etc. Got is for $NZ40 approx. Very nice watch (so far LOL).
I worked well for some time and a few years later it got stolen when my house was burgled.
This was at Thieves Market also called Chor Bazaar (photos).
Also, we found a better Hotel (Godwin) (located at 41 Garden Rd) - a short walk from the Gateway Monument.
Basically, no sleep at all since our flight. Cant wait, the hotel looked ok. We had spent a lot of today negotiating with Indian Hotel touts to find accommodation, they were no real use to us as they often just directed us to abandoned apartments where some guy was trying to rent out a urine scented concrete room lol.
2008-Jan-07 Mumbai
Finally a good nights sleep at Godwin Hotel. Up for our breakfast which is included in the $4000rs ($NZ120) per night bill. Have access to the Web here, which is free for Hotel guests. I manage to quickly update my diary on my USB key.
Went for a bit of a walk and saw the funny sign above. Got told off for having a giggle at the sign – geeez !
Mumbai is a city once great with architecture (very British gothic, see below). Clearly built by the British in style. Now these building are all ruins, with vines growing through most. It has simply been left there has been no maintenance or development at all my the Indians from what I can see.
If you look in ANY crack between ANY building you will see pools of sewerage seeping out, and most often a family living in there.
Very dusty here, cars in the street have a very thick layer of grime, raven shit and stuff all over them. It seems like it has never rained here.
Looking out of the window at the slum out back, I watch a man comes out of his door, shit on his small balcony, and piss over the side. 10 mins later, I notice there are two guys sleeping right where he shit. They get up and one goes inside, they other brushes his teeth (for about 20mins!) and spits on the roof of the slum one floor below.
Easily 9 out of 10 vehicles on the road are Black and Yellow 1970's cars (not sure what they are yet). All have dents. Most of these cabs have the driver asleep in them.
Most have a tassel, ornament or string of chillies hanging from the bumper or exhaust pipe. Lots are covered in ornaments and odd things.
No room in boots as often there is a large LPG cylinder is there. Place your bag on top and tie the boot down (if you can find your own piece of string) :-)
We saw some very unusual glimpses of things from the west (see the photos below)
I bought a fake Rolex. It seems every shop here sells Watches, bangles, necklaces or anything you would see in a $2 shop in NZ.
Found a market (massive!). Waked though lots of back alleys and into some dark buildings. Most memorable was the Chicken and Fish processing factory I wandered into. Here, it stunk so bad we had to see what was in there !.
Cats. Ravens, dogs, rats all running wild while people in very wet and dark conditions.
They reach into cages, pull out a live (scrawny) chicken, cut its throat, strip it, split it into lots of bits throw individual bits into separate piles on the mud floor. Same with the fish in the next room (except no de-feathering lol). A pile of unwanted guts which has been there for days just metres away.
This was indescribable. Cant even do it with words. There appeared to be a small family living inside also. Here area few of the photos – yuk !
Later, at VT Terminus We stood for 1.5hrs in 'special line' for tourists to get a train ticket booked to Goa. Finally reacting the counter...all very manual paperwork, the guy gets up mid conversation leaves train station to have piss (outside), comes back (probably an hour later) sits down talks with mates and continues with ticket.
NO "sorry got to go", just went - was hilarious in a frustrating way. Good to get it booked finally tho.
Customer service in India particularly for tourists appeared really bad. I think if you threw money left right and centre you would have quite a different experience.
2008-Jan-08 Mumbai
It seems that touts hound people early in morning or late at night to find you a hotel for which that get a commission (we have found them to be quite useless, they have no idea of the cost or room availability). A bit later in the morning when you leave your hotel they want to sell you fake currency.
We keep using a cash machine with a debit card. This seems to have been a good decision.
Although the machine only dispenses 500rs and 1000rs notes. Its is hard to get people to give you change and banks are just about non existent.
There is no such thing as a 'shop' or 'bank' as we know it. everything is done at a shop stall or on the side of the road.
We discovered at the hotel that if you just jump on the computer in dining room and use it for the web, its ok, only if you ask you get charged lol.
Words cant even start to describe this place. Very odd. The poverty is beyond what you could even imagine. Very sad. Saw a baby left on foot path in very hot sun (would be good 30deg C+ we think), We came back past after exploring later that day. Baby still in same position - you see that sort of thing all the time here.
The smells are not as I expected. I expected spices and cooking smells. The smells of Mumbai are largely petrol fumes and sewerage.
To be fair we did see lots of awesome things also as below.
I think going down the coast more this will change. We are now quite keen to leave the city after only a short period of time.
We caught a cab for 73rs (NZ$2) to Malabar Hill. Walked around hanging gardens (also known as Ferozeshah Mehta Gardens) - pretty crappy really I thought.
Approached by a tout selling printed copies of karma sutra, told him I have the DVD already lol !
Asked where snake charmers were, we got pointed all over the place, but eventually found someone who explained they were not allowed in Mumbai anymore. hopefully we will see them down south. (some years later I found out this is not true and they can still be found)
I was most keen on a visit to the Towers of Silence (used by the Parsi) nearby, but we just could not locate this.
Looks like no one rides on the roof tops of trains here also, so missed out on that one (it was one of the things I really wanted to do), however I did get my picture taken with a goat ! - so that was ok. See picture to the right.
We walked to Walkeshwar Temple nearby. We left our shoes at the steps where a lady advised us to keep them close to her. After coming out, she would not give back our shoes until we paid her. Seemly she had looked after them for us. The fact is they were in our sight the whole time. Very odd, but very clever lol. Below left is the temple. We paid to get our shoes back hehe.
Explored Chor Bazaar (photos). It is also known as Thieves Market as by day they steal from you, by night that sell same stuff apparently.
We have had no problems with security yet at all. In fact feel reasonably safe. We are careful to stay with bags tho.
Often we were bumped in crowds, I found if you always turn and the face person, then they walk past.
With beggars (which are everywhere), simply pick up walking pace. If you look them in the eye they will hang on to you. They seem to frequents a spot, so moving away draws them back to their post it seems. The worst are their kids (seemed to be always younger than 6 years old or so), they chase you for further.
It is sad, It is hard when they touch and claw at you for food or money, if you gave them a rag they would be happy. but you have to move on. You soon become used to dealing with it, and we find we must take a hard line to this.
Basically the market is a whole load of speciality streets. For example we saw several streets which were just metal works.
From guys hammering steep to get out the dents from an old piece of tin, to a guy using a standard hacksaw blade in his bare hand to cut though a foot cube of titanium! -
all to make it smaller and to bea ble to profit from two sales. We figure this job will take him weeks alone - just that one alone. Some are doing the same with huge sheets of steel sometimes up to an inch thick, but their cuts are dead straight ! - its unbelievable skill. See the picture I took to the right.
The conditions they are in are really shocking.
People very friendly. Without exception the first question is "What country you from?". People will just walk up and ask you. Its great.
Probably had 20-30 do this so far. I guess only 2-3 of them had heard of NZ, most knew of Aussie. One knew of Auckland.
About half speak a little English - Very hard to understand tho. They all nod their heads sideways whether they understand or not lol.
Starting to do that myself by now. hehe.
Does not seem much point learning any words, there are many castes, accents, dialects and variations of the same word. I will try and learn thank you and yes etc tho I guess.
We had a crazy Taxi ride though rush hour back to Hotel. No seat belts, no WOF, no rules, no lanes, no speed limits, don;t even pause for red lights.
The driver did not even look to the side - just straight thru full nuts. Unfortunately battery was flat in vid camera, so no record of it. Was literally a
dodgem race. Nearly had taxi on two wheels trying for a gap in the traffic against 3 other taxis. The gap would not fit one taxi. People leap in front of the cabs regardless. We are amazed we did not see an accident - that seems very odd. These guys are remarkable drivers.
If you are ever here you MUST do a taxi ride across town at rush hour. That ride has been the highlight so far.
We had a meal at a restaurant one street back from our hotel. Nice food. Ordered Hot and spicy, it sure was. Food seems similar to NZ in some places and shit in others. Still prefer my Chefs International (Garden Plc in Hamilton, NZ tho)
Whenever you order - everything is an extra - even rice !.
Even sitting in an air-conditioned room, while its not happened to us yet - you would be charged for it.
2008-Jan-09 Mumbai
Off to Goa tonight by Train cost 868rs. (approx $22NZ for the 2 of us)
We check out of our hotel (Godwin) at 11:00 am so plan to stay and rest in a cool park somewhere for the day.
The train is from VT (Victoria station) at 23:00 tonight. It is supposed to be a 12hr trip. We hope to sleep overnight on the train.
Loosing a lot of fluid in heat (mainly from all of our walking). Need to buy bottles and carry it often.
We plan to condense bag down to one east to carry pack today. Good breakfast and shower this morning.
No deli belly feeling yet and I'm taking a few risks. Brushed teeth in shower (brown water) this morning. Will see how I go in a couple of days.
Good shower, change of clothes. Feel good. Big day (and night? on train) ahead.
Am getting loads of photos and video. Will try and keep camera on outside of pack to get more photos while on train etc.
Am making the best this morning of the Internet/computer access. Building the diary on my USB key and will send it back to NZ when next at a computer. It maybe less available down south.
AM:
Caught cab to Victoria gardens, only to find that public areas are closed to the public with gates open only on Wednesdays !.
We sat on street and watched people watch us for a couple of hours. got a few photos here.
We then watched a guy who had a footpath business extracting corns from peoples feet. The whole thing on a dirty blanket in the middle of the footpath. A beggar girl was pestering dad a bit, but he was showing a lot of patience I thought.
See the picture to the right.
hmmmm...perhaps a ‘corn removal’ business opportunity when I get back to NZ ! LOL.
It had got very hot - hard to find shade and had all our bags with us so decided to go somewhere cooler that we knew.
So, we caught a cab back to the hanging gardens in Malabar. We knew we had a six hour wait for train so we slept a little on a lawn in the gardens and watched some wild squirrels running around.
We walked across road to the old Zoo park or Garden.
Technically I believe its name is Kamala Nehru Park (still on Malabar Hill) More images Strange place for a boot ! and watched as the lights of Mumbai disappeared into the smog near Chowpatty Beach lol.
Getting quite aware of the amount of gear we are carrying at this point.
PM:
We caught a cab to Victoria Station (VT - or Victoria Terminus).
Huge crowds of people. Discovered out train would be late and not in until after midnight. A porter kept bugging us so got him to help with finding right carriage. These trains are over 50-60 passenger carriages long!. Our name is written in small print on the outside of a carriage - somewhere ! lol.
Finally, We climb on board, and find our seats (metal frame) with a blanket and light padding.
We chain our bags together as advised.
...then... yes wait for it ! ....
the guard comes and tells us the train leaves in 1 min and we have been upgraded to a/c.
We try and unchain our bags but combo lock busted. Luck we did not chain to the train !. We struggle to get bags off (chained together).
We are told we are in next carriage. Turns out it is a good 15 carriages away. We have one minute to drag our tied together packs to the carriage
and get aboard just in time. A friendly Indian family saw our plight and tried to help us pick the lock, but could not do it.
Good sleep on train, very noisy though. Open windows the whole way and via tunnels.
We woke to nice sunrise and scenery, lots of small villages and huts, sugar cane and rice farms. any long tunnels. Some up to 10 mins at 80 kph (approx).
We past the the places of Ratnagiri, Nivasar, At this point my Telecom cellphone came up with “Connected - Welcome to Canada”, I thought that was funny.
We continued on past Vilavade, Sindhudurg. We saw some odd things on some trains.
Some of the waterways we crossed over were quite spectacular and before we knew it at 12:32 in the afternoon, We arrived into Madgoan which is the name of the station in Margo.
2008-Jan-10 Margao
| Arrived at Margaon (the name of the station in Margao), approx midday. We walked over bridge to onslaught of Rickshaw drivers. 80rs ($2NZ) to go 1km to Woodland Hotel 1830rs (NZ$20) per night. We checked in for 2 NIGHTS. Yay a fridge ... And we are using Air - Con vents near floor to try and cool drinking water.
Walked around Town about the size of Cambridge in NZ I guess with population of Hamilton. Portuguese origin. This place is known for its awesome Fish curries.
I buy some Indian sweets, ice cream, and Mango juices and water. We estimate 35deg Celsius. Check out the power lines here lol
|
Dinner we had was Fish curry and Mango Juice. Approx 80-100rs each for dinner. Nice feed as
a lizard climbed up a wall and when we pointed to it. A waiter sat buy us and drew a small lizard on his hand and showed us - god knows why !!??
Back to Hotel. Good Sleep. do the beach at Corva tomorrow.
2008-Jan-11 Margao
I woke Early, Then wandered down to reception approx 5am. In the dark there was a painters drop cloth spread all over the foyer. Thought they must have been renovating. In the dark while I was trying to work out what it was, two Indians jumped out and scared the shit out of me.
They had been sleeping there !. lol
Walked around Margao for most of the morning. We Caught a very crowded bus 6kms out to the beach at Colva. We were crammed into a very small space. The Tout was shouting at people to join and get on the bus. God knows where they were going to fit lol
Very nice beach at Colva. Lots of beach huts. Just sit on the deckchairs and waiters bring food and drinks to you (VERY
cheap). Nice warm water, had a few swims. Supposed to be touristy town but only seen about 6 white faces all day. Is the Indian tourist hangout we thing.
No Beggars around here it seems, no flies no mozzies. Have not seen any flies, mozzies
or insects at all yet really.
We really like this place so have booked accommodation fro tomorrow night at Hotel Resort Coin near the beach. 800rs for night. Room with fan. See all the photos I took !
Caught bus for 24rs (NZ$.80cents) (for both of us).
Back to Margao from Colva beach.
The bag story is hard case. Follow this one – over the next few days…
We are both carrying two bags at the moment. Quite manageable, but would be better with just a pack. So planning on moving some stuff into one bag and posting tomorrow from the post office in Margao back to NZ. Rather than carry them.
Will book train in morning to Kochi (14hr trip). Dad wil stay there a few days while I travel
further into Kerala and do the waterways (hopefully). Plan to go as far as Thiruvanthapuram.
(I never did work out how to say that !)
Had dinner at nice restaurant in Margao. Approx 150rs.
2008-Jan-12 Margao
Woke Early, wandered down to train station to book ticket for tomorrow (13th) to Kochi. We are told there are no seats on any trains for 1 week. Normal fare would be 500rs, if we paid him 1300rs he would find us one tho. Classic ! We insisted we will only take a train to Mangalore (which is much cheaper), he then backed down and found us seats in non a/c 2nd class for 620rs approx each. We depart Margoaon station tomorrow at 1:25pm for our 14 hr trip.
Seems we are making good time and distance do do the whole 'south'
Checked out of hotel Godwin (2640 rs for our 2 nights stay)
Found taxi to Colva Beach for 200rs. Nice trip this time. Today I will buy some small souvenirs in market to include into our bags for posting from the Margao post office tomorrow. People very friendly here in Colva. English is very good. Still no flies, mozzies, beggers etc. Everyone is negotiable.
We need to walk away to get the bargains it seems.
Everywhere we go Internet cafes (although very primitive) and Cash machines. Using the debit card is working well for us.
Great trip, once we learn the tricks and tips, it makes it easier. Absolutely everyone here is trying to scam you tho. Loving it !!!
I’ve been trying to meet tourists and strike up conversations – seems the best way to learn and share the tricks you learn here.
They are survival things in this place :)
Tip for all. Know your Cricket all Indians know of NZ by the cricketers – very weird. That’s about all they now. Even the poorest people have cell phones and Vodafone shops and stalls EVERYWHERE here !. Read the signs carefully below. lol Check out the delivery cart.
Very hot here down south. Just guessing but must be pushing 40deg C
30rs to 1 NZ$.
Internet is 40rs per hour as a rule. Local calls from Booths are 2rs per min.
Food not as good as Indian in NZ in my opinion (plug for Chefs International, Garden Place, NZ here). Typical medium accommodation is 800-1000rs per night and includes a breakfast usually.
Had couple of swims and I walked north about 40 mins past a small fishing village (northward).
Had a nice dinner on the beach at a thatch roof restaurant place (130rs), and got some good sunset photos.
Seen no temples so far, very hard to find., seem to be off the beaten track so far. We plan to
use overnight or long distance trains and stay on them as much as is possible.
2008-Jan-13 Colva Beach
Checked out approx 8am, had a quick breakfast outside hotel.
Caught a rickshaw for 200rs into Margao post office only to find it shut on a Sunday - they
always happy to take you there but never tell you its closed !.
We went to station instead. Waited at Station for 4-5 hours for our train according to all boards and info due on Platform 1 at 13:25.
A train came in from the wrong direction and on Platform two. We ignored it until I happen to hear our train number was on platform two. The carriage indicator said we would be S2 which would be carriage 16.
Hurrying over the over bridge to catch the train before it left we asked which was to 16. We were pointed toward the front. We soon realised that we had been pointed the wrong way, and ran with our bags and that bloody box back another 15 odd carriages.
Very frustrating system and very little signage. Anyway we climbed aboard only to find two teenagers sitting in out bunks eating dinner on the foam. We told them to bugger off and they ignored us and kept eating. In the end I got that bloody box which had been so annoying and pushed it on top of one of the boys. They soon moved ! - seems I’m learning how it works here.
We had about 4-5 hours of daylight on the train. Lots of photos of water buffalo and the scenery on this stretch - either very dry or flooded. Lots of rice paddies and sugar cane. Great sunset and river photos. Also got some shots of the inside of the train.
We past Karwar, Ankola, GoKarna, Kumta, Murdeshwa, Bhatkal, Bijoor, Kundapura (where we see more trucks on trains), Udupi (geez, who made up these names !),
We had 5 cockroaches on us within the first 1 hr of the trip, but never saw them again. I figure they got off at the first station. Rough nights sleep as noise train this time. Also sleeping with one eye open watching those dodgy dudes across from us.
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