Garry McGivern is in India, cycling to Australia on the 9th of December 2011, in Mumbai. Well, I think I’m going to like India, curry for breakfast again! After breakfast, I went out for a wander and didn’t feel threatened or intimidated at all, and I certainly wasn’t hassled to buy anything, unlike Istanbul! While out, I bought some sugar cane juice from one of the many street traders. Not too sure if that was a good idea or not. We’ll see tomorrow!
After finishing my juice, I went for another wander and found myself at the impressive Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj railway station. The inside of the station wasn’t up to much! Although that’s possibly not true! It was so busy that I could only see crowds of people! After leaving the station, I continued to walk around and came across a lot of cricket being played!
Update From Yesterday, I Remembered!
I forgot to mention yesterday that I went to Leopold’s café, which was involved in the 2008 terrorist attacks. There are still signs of the attack with two panes of glass, preserved with bullet holes in! Ten people at the café sadly lost their life! I hadn’t known this. It was told to me by an Indian sports presenter, who said he was famous! Really? I’ll Google him at some point. But whether he was famous or not, it was nice talking to him, and he was good company.
After Leopold’s, I went to the “Gateway of India”, which was extremely busy. Whilst I thought it would be busy with tourists. After all, it is one of Mumbai’s main tourist attractions. But I was amazed that most of the tourists were Indians. I hardly saw a westerner at all! Across the road from the Gateway is the Taj Mahal hotel, which was also involved in the 2008 terrorist attacks.
This Evening
I went out for a shave with one of the street traders in the evening, which cost me less than fifty pence! It wasn’t quite the same as Michael Palin’s shave when he was filming his “Around the World in 80 days” tv series. A blind man shaved him! Mine was in the dark, though! While out tonight, I also brought a bell for my bike. Everybody lives on their car horn or bike bells. It’s a constant cacophony of horns and bells! So, if you can’t beat them, join them! Look out, India, here I come!
It’ll be good to get back on the road tomorrow; I’ve not cycled for a week now! I think getting out of Mumbai could be an adventure!
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