First day - Mumbai

It all feels surreal. It’s loud, noisy, hot, crowded, colourful, sensual, fragrant in many ways.

The streets of Mumbai were incredibly quiet when I arrived at 4am this morning. Twinkling lights of the Indian flag punctuating the smoky darkness.

Breakfast coffee at Leonard’s one of Mumbai’s oldest eating establishments followed by a late leisurely lunch at the Taj. Talk about a tale of two halves; wooden tables crammed cheek by jowl and over the top glitzy Christmas decorations. Crumbling doorways, majestic facades, intricate carvings, ornate balconies, dangling wires. Black and yellow taxis converging like a swarm of bees, rusty buses that should by rights be gracing the scrap heap, honking horns, big cars, bicycles, scooters. The sheer scale of India Gateway. A veritable mix. This is Mumbai and I am here.

I got bindi-fied by a holy man. Goodness knows what was in those sweets he got me to eat! Karma comes in the form of cheap red wool and bartering.

It’s a joy meeting people face to face after chatting online.Read more