... and the adventure continues trip after another overnight bus from Hampi to Goa.
India | Monday, October 26, 2015 | 15 photos
GOA
We took an "AC sleeper" bus (yes, beds so you have to lie down the whole time!!) from Hampi to Goa. First time we took a "sleeper" bus, honestly we didn't even know that existed. Since of course we don't make reservations we had to walk in the scorching heat with our heavy backpacks to 5-6 different guest houses. It is really one of the hardest things about backpacking, after an overnight bus and walking around with heavy bags in the heat. Goa is of course famous for its beaches. We were surprised to see more than half of the tourists were Russians!? Yep, all the restaurant menus were in English and Russian and the street vendors all spoke English and Russian. Crazy! Just so they could haggle for prices in Russian. ;-)
MUMBAI
We then took another AC sleeper bus to Mumbai where we are now. We thought New York was a crazy city but it is no joke to say that it's very quiet compared to Mumbai. New Delhi is supposed to be even worse than Mumbai, OMG! ;-) Its true that all your senses are overloaded; traffic, car horns, noise, people, beggars, sewage, cows, cow poop, garbage, sweet smelling flowers, heat, humidity, etc. For the first time in India we see extreme poverty, children/babies and families sleeping and living in the streets. Right next to luxury hotels people sleep in the street overnight. Lots of children and women beg for money, much more than we have seen before. We generally start visiting the city early in the morning then go back to our air conditioned hotel room for a break before going back out again. We took the suburban train in Mumbai to go out to a trendy neighborhood called Bandra; taking the train is a whole experience itself. People have done research articles on the social interactions/etiquette of trains in India - a very unique experience. Mind the gap? Pff! Nope, people jump on and off in hordes while the train is still going since the doors are always open.
We tried to do Couch Surfing in Mumbai but no luck: the hosts lived 1.5 hours from downtown or already had guests. Even if they had already guests, two of them proposed to meet us anyways for drinks and dinner. We went to a bachata class with one of the hosts! Kurt watched and I was the only non Indian person in the class. Listening to the music made me nostalgic of Latin America! ;-)
We also did a guided tour of a slum called Dharavi in Mumbai, very interesting... felt like being in the movie slum dog millionaire! We found living conditions much much harder in the slums here than in the favelas in Rio.
NEXT WEEK
Tomorrow we fly to Amristar in Punjab (north of India). Time flies, our visa expires in 1 week!!!
