Mumbia, India

Mumbia India is nothing like I expected. It is so different from everything I've ever seen. It is so big and chaotic more people then I've ever seen. We stayed in a very expensive 5 star hotel, which we received at an extremely good rate because of our connection to the Crown Plaza. Friday night after we settled into our room we went out for a late night walk on the streets. The people gave us quite the attention being from America. Many of them would smile and come up and introduce themselves and shake hands and they acted like it was such an honor. Others would just stare. We ended up going to an Opera which is an Indian style club got some Kingfisher and listened to some singers.

Saturday morning we went for a long walk in search of some breakfast. We walked through blocks and blocks of houses made from wood crates and sheets. People washing their clothes in sewage. Mass poverty. It seems as if there is no order here, nice buildings right next to slums. We found a resturant with good prices and food. After breakfast we me Hasan a taxi driver that offered to drive us all around Mumbia for 1200 rs. We took him up on the offer. Spent the next 6 hours driving all over the big city. He was a nice driver but had the intention of driving us to several stores and shops to buy stuff at. It was a good way to see the city in one day. After we had luch at the same place around 3 the walked back to the hotel and relaxed in the pool and spa.

We bought our train tickets to Goa and leave at 5:30am this morning. We had Hasan drive us to the train station. He told us that it is the largest train station in Asia which would make it the largest in the world. As we were waiting for the train we met another travelor going to Goa. As we were loading I ran into some complications. Turns out my ticket was booked different and I was put on the wait list. It ended up not making the cut so I didn't have a seat. I spent 15 minutes running around trying to find my name on the list outside of the train cars. I was getting help from a guy who told me the only way I would get down there was to take a bus by myself and meet my dad and brother down there. We finally convinced him that I would just share my seat with my dad. Which really wasn't a problem because it was a sleeper. So now I'm on the Mandovi Express heading to Goa. Should get there in about 12 hours.