Hello Goa & Mumbai!

After a busy day in Pune running (well being chauffeured in our taxi!) picking up dresses, popping past Yogesh, getting legs waxed and popping in past the MWH Pune office we met up with Graeme and had dinner before getting on our sleeper bus to Goa.  Unfortuntaly we never got our seats on the train but luckily bus seats were still available at short notice.  Turns out the ‘seats’ though were actually beds! SO basically a sleeper bus in India is a bus full of fixed double bunk beds! This was very odd! Unfortunately because there were 3 of us I had to snuggle up to an Indian woman which was a struggle when the ‘double’ bunk beds are sized for Indian people and not us fatty westerners!   Surprisingly I got some sleep and actually quite enjoyed the journey. Next time though I reckon I will book 2 seats so I get a whole bed to myself!

We arrived in Madgoan at about 11am and hopped on another bus to Palolem where we were meeting Tommy-another Scottish EWB volunteer-poor Abi!  We were staying at the beach resort as all the other beach hut accommodation is not yet built.  We were very excited though as our room had a shower and beds that had mattresses thicker than 2cm!  We pretty much ran in the sea as soon as we got there and chilled the rest of the day with eating and drinking!-it was magical!



The next day we had booked a taxi for the day to take us to a spice plantation where we walked round and smelt and tasted all the trees. It was really fun especially seeing the cinnamon trees, nutmeg pods and vanilla vines. We had a lovely lunch there and a wee shot of the local fenny which burned our thoughts!  Back in the taxi we zoomed of to Old Goa where we looked at the old churches.  Including a mystical cross which supposedly grew after the carpenters made it and the body of Saint Xavier who only really become a saint after he died because his body didn’t decompose.  We think he must have been in a comma or something and not actually dead but I’m sure the religious Portuguese had a better idea!  On the ways home we went to Panaji where we stopped by some markets before heading back.

Fenny in coconut cups! (Check out the leaf plate again sof!)

Goa really isn’t like Pabal/Pune area at all. Its like a totally different country.  The Portugese influence is so significant-not just in the buildings such as the churches but the huge effect that the push of Christianity had on the area.  Here in Goa ladies some ladies wear skirts-I even saw some knee action! There is almost more non-veg restaurant that veg restaurants and a lot more booze shops and bellies!  It’s obviously a pretty rich state and even the roads were smooth.  I was asking our taxi driver about it all and he was saying that masses amounts of Russian tourists come to Goa and on the whole Indians don’t like them.  He also was saying that the government needs to do something about the spread of westernization that is happening across Goa.  It sounds like there is just as much corruption here as there is in the rest of India but because of the wealth of the state old people get a small pension.

The following day we had planned to get mopeds and drive up the coast. So after another morning dip we collected our bikes and went for a practice spin round the car park. Unfortunately Graeme dint quite make it and fell off his bike at the first corner! Oops.  Luckily he was only charged 2000 Rupees and realistically he saved us from potentially injuring ourselves!  We did feel utterly pathetic and British though but arranged for a boat trip that afternoon that our bike guy admitted would be less risky! Hehe  On the river boat tour we saw monkeys playing the trees which was amazing.

Us spotting Indian monkeys and Indian eagles and Indian crows-our tour guide was practically David Attenburgh!

The next day our plans for kayaking fell through as we were told it was not legal until 5 days later when permits were allowed again (you got to love rainy season!) so instead rented body boards and played around in the waves.  The beach was a lot busier over the weekend and at one point we even got a patch of blue sky!  It was nice though as it was really quiet and chilled and not including the dozens of dead fish and cow pats on the beach it was really clean.

From chatting with some of the waiters and stuff it sounds like for 4 months they do not work and then work very hard over high season. When not serving tourists many fish-both on little wooden boats and with a HUGE net that stretches over about 15 meters and needs at least 8-10 men to pull it in.  There were some ladies selling things on the beach nut I reckon in high season there are loads more.

At the weekend there were some Indians in the sea. Most of the guys seem to go in the water with their pants on and the girls in shorts & t-shirts.  We did get quite a lot of stares and even the boys had their picture taken with a group of random men.  It was funny to see 2 westerners sunbathing on the beach and the hoard of Indian men around them-I just couldn’t do it!

It rained everyday and pretty heavily and never really got blue.  It was fun though but when you look at the picture on the internet they look like a very different place!

Tommy left on the Sunday night back to Kanataka and me and Abi left on the Monday morning to Mumbai, Graeme was getting the bus back to Pune that afternoon.  Me and Abi had first class train tickets and boarded our extremely long train after having to run up the full length with our huge bags!  First class is air conditioned and has 4 people in a compartment.  Really it wasn’t any different from other carriage trains that Ive been on in Eastern Europe (except they leave the doors of the train open here!) but when we had a nosey at the seat car and 2^nd class we realized that we were actually in luxury!  The 10 hour journey was very pleasant and we were given soap and towels and later meals (that we paid for).  It was great watching all the wallahs selling in the train shouting various things as they went past our carriage.  The chai was different and not as thick as it was in Pabal but still tasty!

We arrived in Dadar station and were greeted by Holly who was in the year above me at Uni and works for Jacobs and has been living in Mumbai for a year now.  This was an absolute joy as Dadar is a very overwhelming station and we were getting a lot of attention!  We zoomed off to her amazing 3 bedroom (with mattresses at least 15cm thick!) 3 bathroom (with HOT showers and no buckets to be seen!) apartment by the beach in Juhu and felt like we were back in the UK!  She took us out to a really cool bar and had dinner.

There is currently a tuk tuk strike in Mumbai because petrol has gone up by 3 rupees. It’s pretty crazy as its quite difficult to get places without them!

The next day me and Abi planned to go on a slum tour in the morning but because of the strike we took ages getting to the station and so moved it to the afternoon.  Instead we had a walk around churchgate and had a look at the High court and university and looked across to Chowpatty beach.  We also might have had ice cream for breakfast-but only because it was Ab’s last day! We met our guide at the station and then hopped back on a train back the way we had just come.  We met some other tourists and then walked across the railway bridge to Dharvie slum.  The slum is divided into two sections-the commercial section and the residential section.  Dharvie is the biggest and most ‘luxurious’ slum in India. It has schools, hospitals and cinemas.  It really isn’t what I expected at all. There is so much industry! We saw plastic and aluminium recycling, tanning, clothes dying and baking.  Supposedly the bosses of these small industries live outwith the slums and the relationship between bosses and workers vary.  We were told that many migrants come to the slum and learn skills and earn 4x as much money as they would do in their villages.  The amount of recycling that happens is amazing! But obviously the health hazards the people are inflicting themselves to are great.  I was really surprised at the solidness of some of the buildings and the lack of smell that I was expecting.  There are some high rise apartments in the slum that have been built over the years and are supposedly very very expensive!  Its all to do with the location of the slum and the value of the land.  The government would love to take the land and build luxuary apartments on it but because of the shear volume of people (voters) the government do nothing.  We went with a group called Reality Tours that are an NGO that put the money they get from tours back into their community center that the run at the slum.

 It was a really interesting group and had a couple of links with some of the things we looked at at Vigyan Ahram.  The whole experience was amazing, some of the streets reminded me of Pabul, except that in the slums the roads are paved!  I do feel we got the ‘good side’ tour of the slum but I think that’s the aim of the group-to prevent people thinking slums are dirty and full of crime.  We had a look in some peoples homes and they were very very tiny rooms with no windows and a door onto a very very tight close.  Obviously there is very little privacy in the slums and living conditions are pretty poor. However there is electricity and water for 3 hours a day which the people are billed for.  The purpose of the slum is money. People come to make money and will do anything. The parents save for their children to send them to university.  It was really interesting and certainly changed my ‘slumdog millionaire’ attitude!

After being stuck in traffic for about 1.5 hours we got back to Hollies then quickly turned back round again to get the fast train down to Churchgate.  Unfortunately we hit second rush hour-because of all the call centers etc there are two sets of rush hours in Mumbai!  But luckily pushed our way on to the ladies carriage of the train where we got a seat whereas all the men were fighting to hold onto the door on the rest of the train!  Abi had done a days research in Pabal and decided she wanted to eat at the Taj hotel & Palace THE hotel in Mumbai for her end of project treat (Thank you Abi’s Dad!)-!  It was very lovely, we ordered sketches which meant we got 5 courses and wine for about £50 which is actually pretty reasonable but did make me feel incredible guilty!  Conscious aside though it was great fun and we had 2x starters (and then got a repeat of whatever we wanted-Abi had a full started agin-I was impressed!) then a tea pot came smoking with sorbet in it-just crazy! (it was dry ice!)  then a huge plate of lots of tasty currys and too much rice.  I couldn’t handle my paneer pudding so had round two of the tea pot sorbet which was amazing.  It really was a lovely treat and I’m glad we did it.

On the way home we got the taxi to give us a tour including the Victoria terminus train station which is like a palace, Chowpatty beach and the big sea bridge.  It was great to see Mumbai by night and to be in a car that moves!

Abi left for the airport when we got back as she was flying out super early the next morning. It was sad to see her leave after spending every minute together for the past 3 months! I now realize how lucky I am to be staying here for another month as I’m not ready to go home yet! 

Today I’ve just chilled at Holly’s and will try and write up some reports etc over the next few days both for EWB and for work.  I kind of feel like I’ve reached the end of a chapter and I’m excited for the next part!