Sunday – Mumbai
SUNDAY-MUMBAI
Last night we had our first sip of alcohol (thank god) in Cafe Mondegar. Both this cafe and Cafe Leopolds are in the lonely planet as continental cafe/bars
full of tourists but Mondegar was much cheaper! The sparkling wine was nice enough as was their draught beer (Kingfisher) and I think this was the first time we all felt like we were relaxed and on holiday!
Today we had another day to while away in Mumbai before our train to Goa left a 10pm so we checked out of our hotel and went to the station to put our rucksacks in the locker room. This was only ten rupees which seemed like a pretty good deal and meant we didn’t have to lug our bags around in this sweaty city. With twelve hours to waste we explored the route form CST station back down to Colaba where we had stayed the night before. On the way we saw the University, spent an hour watching cricket on a field and mooched around an art gallery appreciating/mocking the paintings. For lunch we ended up at Cafe Mondegar once again as we were all craving something other than curry. As we made our way back up toward the train station we found another little cafe that was “art deco” in style and served beer so we spent 2 hours there and Suzanna had her first beer!
We finally arrived at the train station and wandered around trying to find our train – confused at why it wasn’t showing up in departures. It was then we realised that our ticket was in fact not for today but for tomorrow. We were too used to this happening to us in previous travelling experiences to be particularly shocked but instead had to trek out of the station to find another hotel for the night! We stayed in Hotel Victoria – which was a bit of a hole but the room wasn’t too bad. If it wasn’t for the fact they charge us 1500 rupees for the night we would have been happy but we were definitely ripped off! Feeling disheartened at the fact were wouldn’t be spending the next day in Goa our one saving grace was the business card of the Bollywood movie extra casting director. We gave him a call and he told us to be up and waiting at McDonalds for 5am!
MONDAY – MUMBAI…still
Today we experienced life on a Bollywood movie set. We arrived and had our hair and make-up done “Bollywood style” and as one make-up artist started to bronze Charlie they were yelled at and told “she’s supposed to be white”! Then we went to wardrobe and were put in the most horrific 90′sesque clothing which is apparently what Indians think Westerners wear to an airport! At first the day was really exciting and we were on set with a big action star (not that we had a clue who he was) but then the time started to drag. After being there for 9 hours we decided to go on strike – they hadn’t fed or watered us and we were meant to have finished at 1pm! The director sensed the extras had given up and we were allowed to leave at 3pm. On the plus side we made 500 rupees each which covered our extortionate Hotel stay the night before.
We spent the remainder of the day back in the art deco cafe (Cafe Universal) and then headed to the train station for attempt number two for the Goa train.
TUESDAY- GOA Aranbol
We managed to get off the train a stop early so we would be nearer to where we wanted to go. This meant it only cost us 780 rupees in a taxi to get up to Aranbol. When we arrived there were plenty of guesthouses and we had a look at about 4 before deciding on Bella Rosa Guest house which was 500 rupees a night, had good security, big rooms, hot water and a balcony. Excited to be in Goa we could already tell that this area was very different to the rest of India – chilled and laidback. We sunbathed on the beach all day and jumped the huge waves! Then in the evening we sipped on cocktails during happy hour (buy one get one free) at one of the beach bars. For dinner we walked along the beach checking out all the fresh fish they had displayed outside the restaurants. We chose the OM Star restaurant as it was the cheapest and we could get a whole squid for 100 rupees with chips and salad or 10 king prawns for 300 rupees – bargain! It was the best meal we had had yet!
After dinner we met some local Indian guys who we were chatting to and somehow ended up on the beach with them sipping vodka. Think Indian version of Russel Brand and a good religious Indian boy. – How they had become to be friends was beyond me but it was a funny night and a real insight into growing up in this country.
At half twelve we were knackered and went to bed like good English girls.
Keep you posted shortly!
Fiona Suze and Charlie! x
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March 11th, 2010 at 4:56 am
Great to hear what you’ve been up to. Look forward to your next blog. Keep safe.
Lots of love
Grandma Gill.