MUMBAI (BOMBAY)
13TH SEPTEMBER
Our journey to Mumbai was our first experience of an Indian sleeper bus, the trains were all booked up, a situation that we found ourselves in more than once, it seems that's the major problem with Indian trains, they are extremely busy! It wasn't actually too bad though, you got a little box to sleep in on a reasonably comfy mattress. The only problem it seemed was actually getting out of Ahmedabad. When we got on the bus there was a lot of commotion at the front where it seemed that it was taking twelve Indians to change the headlamps. When we'd only been going twenty minutes the bus stopped on a busy roundabout in the pouring rain while a similar number of Indians stared at the front of the bus going "Mmmmmm" It was at this point that I realized that the window I was lying next to was not exactly watertight, and we were slightly concerned about the camera and laptop in Hel's rucksack in the boot! We eventually got going though, and did manage to sleep a fair bit, albeit abumpier ride than a sleeper train!
In the morning the bus had let a few passengers off on the outskirts of Mumbai, so we transferred to the seats below. This was when we got our first glimpse of the infamous Mumbai slums. It really did hit home at this point how poverty stricken parts of India are, and it was a truly sobering experience, especially when we considered that only a month ago this area had 94mm of monsoon rains dumped on it in 24 hours, needless to say the slums didn't cope well with this at all, and many people lost their lives.
The bus was due in to Mumbai at 7am, so we figured it would be a short ride through the outskirts and into the city. WRONG! The traffic was a nightmare, and it took 4 and half hours of slow crawl to finally reach Mumbai center. During this time
In the morning the bus had let a few passengers off on the outskirts of Mumbai, so we transferred to the seats below. This was when we got our first glimpse of the infamous Mumbai slums. It really did hit home at this point how poverty stricken parts of India are, and it was a truly sobering experience, especially when we considered that only a month ago this area had 94mm of monsoon rains dumped on it in 24 hours, needless to say the slums didn't cope well with this at all, and many people lost their lives.
The bus was due in to Mumbai at 7am, so we figured it would be a short ride through the outskirts and into the city. WRONG! The traffic was a nightmare, and it took 4 and half hours of slow crawl to finally reach Mumbai center. During this time