Kerala, Goa and Mumbai
First week away.
09.04.2011 - 17.04.2011
38 °C
Oh my goodness there's just so much to tell - a week feels like a month. I already have completely lost track of time, date, day. It's simply incredible. Every day is filled with so many things and people that it feels like you've had 5 days in one.
Ok so, I'll try and make this brief...
First stop Kerala - I'm so glad I started in the south, it's much more slow paced and relaxed compared to the north (slow paced by Indian standards, which is about our equivalent of central london in rush hour, on a friday).
Met people almost straight away, which was a huge relief as there's always the underlying worry of arriving somewhere and being the new kid with no mates. I've since discovered that if you're ever stuck for somebody to talk to, just step outside and a local will soon come over for a chat. Particularly the kids, they all want to take your mobile number as well. (A 9 year old girl I met on the train keeps calling me in fact, just to say hi. So cute. She was too pretty though, I could never be her friend...!).
Day one was immense, I went on a motorbike with a crazy Indian called Kristo (who looked a lot like Craig David), got serenaded by a Bob Marley fanatic, drank chai with a bunch of fisherman, went to a reggae bar with a bunch of gap year girls (and felt old), caught a ferry for 5p.......
Here's a pics from Kerala.
Bob (Marley) and Kristo (Craig David)
On day three I got my first Indian train - a 13 hour trip to Goa - with a girl I met in kerala. (I'm gonna side step Goa because there's not much to tell, it's beautiful, but it's a holiday place. Beaches, beach shops, beach bars, beach huts, 'nuff said).
The train journey was something else though, (as was my soon to come overnight bus journey but I'll get to that). There were 8 people in a berth, 7 Indian men and me. It was ROASTING, and when you pull up next to another train the smelling of rotting hamster cages that fills the air is quite overwhelming. But, you get to see some INCREDIBLE things through the window, good and bad - countryside, mountains, lakes, families washing in rivers, slums, sunsets, sunrises. Amazing.
Inside the train...that long red seat is your bed, the back board folds up to make another bed and there's a third bed above those, then 3 on the opposite side, and 2 adjacent (where i'm sitting). That thing on the right is the ladder that gets you up to the top "level".
From Goa I caught a 13 hour overnight bus to Mumbai - what an experience!! The bus was an hour late, as I was waiting this girl pulled up in a cab with 2 kids and an indian man. The kids were white and blonde, definitely not his, but together they're a pretty strange looking bunch - she had about 4 sacks which she was pushing in a push chair and the kids were following behind. Anyway, we got chatting, on first instinct she's a tiny bit chavvy - the guy she was with was an old friend and was basically just travelling round with her to help out (6 weeks around india with 2 kids, aged 3 and 5 - brave!). Anyway she (Vanessa) was such a sweetheart, we had nothing in common but I really clicked with her, she had the complete same outlook on things as me and we had such a giggle. The kids were ace too. They were called Bloucey-Belle Happy Huff and Rupeee-Moon Hippy Huff..... I swear thats not a lie. I had some very profound chats with them throughout the journey, mostly about corned beef breath and weeing in bags.
Here's a pic of the little blighters...(they were on the bunk underneath mine)
So anyway we got on the bus, for an hour, it then dumps us in the middle of huge car park where there are about 25 more buses and 5 million Indians, it's dark and with my new found company there are a lot of bags and children to get sorted onto the bus to Mumbai. How the hell you were supposed to find the right bus I do not know, luckily Cuba (the indian guy vanessa was with) sorted us out - now I see why she's travelling with him.
The bus was immense, no seats just beds, with curtains though so completely private. The window spans the whole length of the bed so you can see eeeverything from there, and when you lie down you can gaze at the stars and it's like you're outside, very cool - saw some awesome stuff from up there.
Then Vanessa tells me I'll be sharing my bed! WHAT?! Loads more people are getting on and Im like "no way it's too small", but all the indian men are put together in these tiny - only slightly bigger than single - beds... Ew. Obviously the thought of sharing a single bed with a stranger for 13 hours on a hot bus is my idea of hell. LUCKILY, the bus stayed fairly quiet and as Im a white female i wasnt paired up with anyone. So i had a blissful ten hours sleep on (what turned out to be) a 15 hour journey. Free accommodation and I got to see the countryside too. Bonus.
Got to Mumbai safely. Oh my goodness it is something else. I absolutely love it here. The streets are packed and the people are amazing, it's so full of life I can't even explain it. Every corner you turn there's something new going on, love just walking about and finding stuff.
(Oh, I got asked to be in a Bollywood film. £7.50 for a 12 hour night shoot...No thanks! That's not £7.50 per hour, but £7.50 for THE WHOLE NIGHT! In a way I hope they are actually exploiting westerners and that's not what they pay the Indian actors as well.)
Yesterday Carl and I (a friend from the bus) went to this place where 5 thousand people are washing clothes in the street every day! There was soooo much laundry, and you can imagine how colourful it all was. Then we just walked around for ages and found some amazing little backstreets (pics below). My favourite was this jam packed street consisting of hundreds of TINY houses packed in side by side, it was just filled with goats, bikes, cows, women washing their kids in buckets, kids playing cricket. Really cool.
So now I'm almost up to the present.... Last night I came to see my friend Josie who lives here and works in the entertainment business. She took me out and I got to experience the rich side of Mumbai, these people have seriously amazing apartments - like something you'd see on cribs. Josie's place is called Mayfair Bliss - says it all really. It was such a fun night! We went to this classic club which wouldn't be out of place on the London scene, only the people were far more friendly (which i know isn't difficult) danced all night, partied with her crazy mates, got cooked pasta at 5am in her friends plush Mumbai pad, and got home at 6 this morning. Woke up to a glass of orange juice, freshly squeezed by Josie's maid! Now I'm curled up on Josie's couch nursing the remains of my hangover by watching IRobot with a bucket of popcorn that Josie's maid kindly rustled up before she left, (the takeaway's on it's way).] I KNOW how wrong this is, but i've been staying in some seriously questionable places and there really is a LOT to be said for a hot shower and clean feet!!
Tomorrow Carl and I are heading to Udaipur in Rajasthan, we're taking 2 trains - leaving at 1pm on Sunday and arriving at 8am on Monday....I'll let you know how this journey goes....
Posted by bramall 16.04.2011 08:59 Archived in India Comments (0)
