Mumbai

Well our start in Mumbai was a bit rocky. After getting in at 5 am we spent most of our first day sleeping and recovering. The only thing we did was get an Uber (for £2!) to a fancy mall to buy some stuff we missed in Decathlon. Hilariously we did get passed between 7 different members of staff and two revolutions of the shop, trying to locate the quick drying boxer shorts 😂

As we're now in a major city we also now have access to some of the same eating establishments that we have in the west. After my stomach troubles it's been a god sent being able to eat some familiar foods. The most surprising one was Pizza Express!?
Also note that all the Starbucks here are where the rich 1% of India go. They are the fanciest Starbucks I've EVER seen! I saw actual business deals being conducted.

Our second day was SO much better, beginning with a morning breakfast at the hot spot Leopold Cafe, and then headed to the catchily named Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya Historical museum. 🙃 It was excellent, beautiful artifacts that taught me a lot about Hindu and Nepalese religion and craftsmanship and an excellent collection of old photos of Mumbai and what it used to look like. All with a FREE audio head set to boot! AND in a beautiful building too!

In the afternoon we did a walking tour which focused on the Fort area and walked through the history of Mumbai from before and after the British were here. It was also excellent and we learnt so much! The funniest thing we discovered was the Horniman square here is named after the same guy who created the Horniman museum near our house. The multitude of links this city had to London architecturally was astonishing. Including Ulster Terrace houses by Regents park, Oval cricket ground, and even a Big Ben!

We finished at the gateway to India where we were constantly being asked to take photos of. If we'd stood there any longer a qué would have started forming to get photos with us, it's like being a celebrity and it's quickly becoming not that nice. Especially when you're stressed and hungry and trying to find somewhere to eat 😩 (and when people don't even ask 😡).

We finished the evening with some drinks and some more western food and a walk along the promenade which was a beautiful end to a lovely day.Read more