The one thing that any would-be Indian traveller needs to know is that a large bottle of Kingfisher (we're talking 650ml) costs just 60 rupees in a bar. That's just 75p!!!! For that reason alone, everybody should go and visit India right NOW! Other than that the country also offers kind and genuine people, beautiful scenery, year-round 30 degree weather, and good-value tasty food. But that's neither here-nor-there when you consider how cheap the beer is.
We spent a week lounging around the beaches and bars of Goa, but highlight of the week was when we rented a scooter and made our own way up to Arambol. After 30 minutes of arguing with the local wheeler-dealer, we managed to convince him to give us a helmet each (one helmet seemed crazy to him, let alone two!) for our daytrip on the mad roads of India. It cost us an extra 50% to have two helmets, but at just 4 pounds for the day's bike hire and both lids it was still a bargain. We then hit the open road....and a taxi. It turned out that my motorbiking skills had worsened somewhat in the four years since I last climbed aboard a two-wheeler. Nobody was hurt though, and after 30 minutes of wobbling across the Goan roads, I managed to re-master the two-wheeler. Despite it being illegal not to wear a helmet, we were the only covered riders that we saw all day.
At the end of the week, we were very sad indeed to be climbing into Ravi's (one of the Indian friends that we made in our week) taxi for the journey up to the airport. Having said that, we were also very happy to be climbing out of Ravi's taxi, because he almost killed us four times on the way there. We took a short flight up to Mumbai, and then had half-day to kill there so we took a cab into the centre of the city. This was one of the most depressing 45 minutes of our lives. The roads of Mumbai are lined with poor people living on the poverty-line in shacks. There was no beautiful Goan countryside during that journey, and at one point a hungry Indian man tried to break into our taxi using his wooden leg. Without doubt the most disturbing point of our trip so far. Our taxi driver took us to the Gateway of India, a supposed highlight of Mumbai, which turned out to be a construction site. After being mauled by the local sellers and gypsies, we decided to adjourn to the fanciest restaurant in town and blow our daily budget. The restauraurant, Indigo, was glorious and without doubt the best way to waste five hours of your life in Mumbai (Bill Clinton ate there and yet it was still very affordable).
After dinner, we returned to Mumbai airport and camped out for our 5am flight. This was a fairly unpleasant experience due to the lack of A/C on the check-in side, but we made use of the time to call home, and we were delighted to discover that Mumbai airport had lounger/beds and A/C on the departure side of the airport. Without wanting to appear poetic, this was almost a mirror on the city itself which seemed to be a city divided by wealth. The majority seemed to have very little, but a lucky few seemed to be very affluent indeed.
Hong Kong has proved to be a refreshing change from India. Our hotel was a lucky selection on expedia, and is far far nicer than we'd expected. We have spent today visiting the "largest outdoor sitting bronze buddha". Suggesting that there are much larger standing non-bronze buddhas. Nonetheless, it was quite a sight and the cable car up the mountain afforded some great views of Hong Kong.
At the end of the week, we were very sad indeed to be climbing into Ravi's (one of the Indian friends that we made in our week) taxi for the journey up to the airport. Having said that, we were also very happy to be climbing out of Ravi's taxi, because he almost killed us four times on the way there. We took a short flight up to Mumbai, and then had half-day to kill there so we took a cab into the centre of the city. This was one of the most depressing 45 minutes of our lives. The roads of Mumbai are lined with poor people living on the poverty-line in shacks. There was no beautiful Goan countryside during that journey, and at one point a hungry Indian man tried to break into our taxi using his wooden leg. Without doubt the most disturbing point of our trip so far. Our taxi driver took us to the Gateway of India, a supposed highlight of Mumbai, which turned out to be a construction site. After being mauled by the local sellers and gypsies, we decided to adjourn to the fanciest restaurant in town and blow our daily budget. The restauraurant, Indigo, was glorious and without doubt the best way to waste five hours of your life in Mumbai (Bill Clinton ate there and yet it was still very affordable).
After dinner, we returned to Mumbai airport and camped out for our 5am flight. This was a fairly unpleasant experience due to the lack of A/C on the check-in side, but we made use of the time to call home, and we were delighted to discover that Mumbai airport had lounger/beds and A/C on the departure side of the airport. Without wanting to appear poetic, this was almost a mirror on the city itself which seemed to be a city divided by wealth. The majority seemed to have very little, but a lucky few seemed to be very affluent indeed.
Hong Kong has proved to be a refreshing change from India. Our hotel was a lucky selection on expedia, and is far far nicer than we'd expected. We have spent today visiting the "largest outdoor sitting bronze buddha". Suggesting that there are much larger standing non-bronze buddhas. Nonetheless, it was quite a sight and the cable car up the mountain afforded some great views of Hong Kong.
1 comment:
That's a pretty elaborate April Fool Gaz - now get back to work!!
- Paul
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