I've safely arrived in Mumbai (Bombay) and I have to say as far as first impressions go it's a pretty beautiful city!
There is so many old buildings and fantastic areas such as the High Courts and Session Courts, some beautiful Church's and just so much greenage and trees all over the place it makes for a sweet atmosphere!
The weather is hot a heck and it's killing me.
Interesting story... So there I was trying to find a Cab this morning... I start talking to the guy but he is a rickshaw driver, but of course his friend is a cabbie. So we are walking to the cab when this other rickshaw driver comes up to try and get me to go with him, while I am already walking with and talking to this other fellow. SMASH! The much larger rickshaw drivers I was walking with goes nuts and grabs the other guy and has him leaning back over a car and he's just giving it to him. At first I didn't realize what it was about, but I asked later to his friend and the other rickshaw driver always tries to "steal" other peoples clients.
So as I got in the cab, the rickshaw driver starts fighting again, and the cabbie was his friend so he jumped out. I'm impatient at this point and don't need to see this dumb fight, so I get out of the cab and say, "Guys I don't care about your petty feud, I need to get down to my hotel, so stop the bullshit and get me on the road or I'll find another Cab." That diffused the fight instantaneously and we were on our way. WTF.
Anyways, the hotel I was trying to find turned out to be a little high for my budget and overbooked, so I started wandering looking for some hotels. As with most places there are these toats who want to take you here and there for a commission. Well this one guy, friendly enough kept following me, I insisted that I didn't require help and that he could leave. He kept going on and on about how my cost for a room wouldn't increase because he was there and all this rubbish. I ended up calling a Brother in town to find a cheaper place to stay, when I got out of the phone place the guy was still there, I told him I needed a cab and was on my way to a different hotel. He wanted the name of the hotel, which I refused to give him, because he might phone ahead and get my costs bumped for a "referral." So as we were driving off he goes, "You are the most self-centred Canadian that I've met." To which I only responded, "Thank you, goodbye."
Despite all these little mishaps I really love Bombay so far, its extremely modern, very beautiful and there is just a really nice vibe going on.
I'm staying at the Salvation Army - Red Shield Hotel for 165 Rupees a night, which is dirt cheap. The dormitories are acceptable for the price, and it includes breakfast. There is Internet on the first floor, water, food and lockers available. The location is on the street behind the Taj Mahal Hotel which is a major fancy hotel along the waterfront. It's actually behind and over one block but there is a big-ass Salvation Army sign hanging that you can spot quite easily if you are walking on the side walk (opposite side from Big Hotel).
I already went down to the Grand Lodge of Western India and met RW Bro Gimi... He is a very wonderful man and though we didn't talk too long he was very interesting! He's arranged for me to have a jacket for a meeting tomorrow evening and I'm really looking forward to it.
Oh - The train ride from Bhopal to Mumbai was great, they sleeper car that I was in had maybe 75% of the seats full. Not the three people per seat kind of full, but 75% of one person per seat kind of full! It was a long night, and the guy below me had nasty foot odour... but other than that it was a good ride, nothing stolen, didn't get knocked out or attacked, and I met a couple interesting people.
OK That's enough!
