Rediculousness

I couldn't resist the lame joke, sorry. But seriously Mumbai is one of my favorite cities I've seen in India. I was only there for 3 days but I could it's the only city where I said, I could live here. Landing in the warm humid air was a nice change from the freezing wind in the rickshaw in Delhi, rushing to the airport where the only reason we didn't miss our flight was because it was delayed due to fog. My karma must be sooo good right now becuase I can't believe how great everything has turned out these last few weeks.

So first night in Mumbai we slept at an AIESEC trainee house out in the more slum part of the city. Even that was nice though because at 1AM we found a place for Chicken tikka and beers (good luck finding that in Chandigarh). The next morning after noticing that some insect literally ate half my right arm, we took the hour long taxi ride to Colaba, the tourist trap and party center for backpackers. The colonial buildings sprung out of the small huts and suddenly we were on the water with the Gateway to India in front of us and the huge crazy blend of European and Muslim architecture that is the Taj Hotel.

I was sold on the city as we wandered around and saw an amazing food market and the best shopping to be had in India. You can buy anything here and people barley try to mess with you compared to say, Delhi. So that night we busted the bank and started with drinks at Leopolds which was right beside our hotel. It's a trendy little tourist spot now that must have had more charm in the old days from what I've read in Shantaram. Then we met some American girls and decided to live the high life going to the club in the Taj Mahal hotel.

It's been so long since I've been clubbing I almost forgot what it's like to stand in line for a half hour just to get into a place. The line was a great mix of rich people from the hotel, foreign Indians mostly here for family weddings and backpackers. Once we squeezed into the packed club and looked around it was clear this was as posh as we've been in India. There was marble everywhere and carved marble looking like the stuff at the Taj Mahal used as screens between rooms. We decided to get a drink and after standing in line at the bar for 10 min we were told to stand in line somewhere else to buy drink tickets and then come back to the bar. Only in India do they create systems to discourage people from spending money at the bar. So 30 min later after making friends with numerous other foreigners and bitching about the system we had our long island iced teas and went dancing. It didn't take long for some of our favorite Hindi songs to be played and it was Salam Numaste that dragged Mads and I and the two American girls onto the stage where we stayed until the bar closed at 3:30!

All in all i loved Mumbai and I can't wait to go back plus I got another really bad hair cut and head massage (I look like a little kid) but the beach and sun in Goa is pretty nice and last night I watched the sun set as I drank a beer on the balcony of our beach hut. Ridiculous I know. Happy New Years eveyone!

I couldn't get my own pic up top is what Taj Hotel and the harbour in Mumbai look like, I couldn't believe it was India either.

hey Nick.......... seems like ur havin fun........
Mumbai rocks

Hey wishin you a very happening new year and Party harder,.....

btw send me those pics that u clicked on the last day.... hey the Dhanaulti pics came out beautifully.... I'll send u some gud ones...
take care
Cheers!!