The first leg of my trip is about to come to an end. I spent one day in New Delhi afer my stay in Rishikesh. Time to say bye to my friend there and went to the airport. An original plan was to take a train but after quite a few train trips I agreed to fly instead. It would have taken at least 24 hours by train and probably train wouldn't even have been available. According to Vodafone I am roaming with my New Delhi phone number. Interesting, I wasn't roaming in Rahestan but now I am. This is really more like a continent than a country.
I was hanging out a bit too long in New Delhi city and was getting worried whether I make it the airport in time. But no worries, it was a domestic flight and an hour was enough. I was already imaging massive queues in check in and security but saw none of that. Luckily airport is not like a railroad station. Everything went so smoothly. Apart from the inspections at the outdoor before even entering the building. There was a police officer inspecting the documents like a flight ticket and passport very carefully and it felt like taking ages. A domestic flight was a pleasant experience. It took almost 2 hours to fly from New Delhi to Mumbai. It didn't look like that distance on the map. We landed about 7pm and the temperature ws still 25C. Lovely.
I booked a hotel at airport upon arrival in Mumbai. WIFI at my hotel was available but didn't work so I didn't get accomodation booked in advance. In fact I had an invitation to stay at someone's family, I was boring this time and checked in the hotel near to the airport as it would make my life easier tomorrow morning. After all I have only this one day in Mumbai. This is more like a stopover than visit.
I just got back from the taxi city tour and it was a disappointment. If had known how bad my driver would be I had gone to my local friend's place even though he lives 1.5 hours from the airport. I don't know if English was his issue because he simply didn't speak anything.WHen I tried to ask something, he didn'ät seem to understand a question. Or maybe he was just having a bad day or I was having bad English day. He took me to a few sights but explained me absolutely nothing about them, This is the first time I miss having a guidebook with me. I also missed the questions like do you have any brothers and sisters, how old I am, am I married, what is my salary etc. Anyway it wasn't complete waste of money. The weather is brillant and saw beatiful gardens and sat on the bench by the sea looking out to skyline of Mumbai, nice. All the other drivers on the tours have had fluent English and interesting stories but you cannot win everytime. No bad feelings.
So it is my last night in India. What I can say about India... Just this incredible country and I will be back someday to explore the south part of the country. India is not easy place to travel but defininately worth it. I cannot say that this was a relaxing holiday but an amazing experience and I met so many wonderful people. What I'll miss in India are probably friendly people and welcoming atmosphere. I know I would not be able to live in this country, cities are too hectic to my taste but there is still someting very attractive about India and Indian people. I love Indain strong colours and spices. But now it is time to move on. Tomorrow I am gonna fly to Singapore for a few days before heading to Thailand. Time to get ready for new adventures in different countries.
