Bombay baby

Oh nooooooo! How is it that after only one stop my bag is already way too full!

Bombay has been amazing so far of course. It is packed with people, busy, noisy, smelly, and thrilling! There is always so much going on.

The first day Mallika and I went to a restaurant called blueFROG for brunch. It's this awesome all you can eat, all you can drink buffet that goes from 11:30am until 4:30pm!! We sat there all day eating delicious food and choosing from a long cocktail list. They had live music and you could play games like Jenga and Scrabble. We played Jenga and of course Mallika landed the game into her food. It was a relaxing, gluttonous time (not sure if that's a word but it works).

Yesterday Mallika, her mom and I went shopping in Bandra, an area of Bombay.

By the way, the confusion of the whole Bombay/Mumbai situation as clarified by Mallika: the city was named Bombay by the British during the time Indian was a colony of Britain. Then when India gained independence, the government wanted to create patriotism and renamed the city Mumbai. Then a new government came into power and renamed the city Bombay. Then another government came into power and renamed it Mumbai again. So right now it is Mumbai but everyone still calls is Bombay. Some of Mallika's friends said they really only call it Mumbai when they are feeling especially patriotic.

So we went down to Hill Road and Linking Road where there are tons of streets stalls selling everything you could possibly want. We started out looking at jewelry and there are so many different styles and sizes and colours it was hard to focus on just one pair of earrings or one necklace. Just as Mallika and I had chosen a couple pairs of earrings, the man got up suddenly and started taking everything down from his stall and closing up. Apparently there were city officials who come around the area every so often to attempt to stop the street merchants from selling their goods because they don't pay for permits. The entire alley of street merchants were running around like crazy taking down their stalls, pushing racks of clothes into hiding places. We managed to pay for the earrings quickly before the jewelry stall disappeared.

While we were shopping we also picked up some harem pants which are very stylish here and soooo comfortable. I picked up a couple pairs of cute sandals too. Everything was so beautiful and colourful and very inexpensive so it was a great place to stock up. The merchants always start out at a high price and you need to bargain with them to get it down to a more reasonable price. Mallika was a very talented and firm bargainer but her mom always caved and came up closer to the merchants price. Mallika kept telling her she is a pushover!

Today Mallika and I went for a pedicure so we now have clean soft feet, although I know mine won't last long. Afterwards I finally got a bit of a local experience. Mallika and I took the train into town and it was an amazing experience. We were buying tickets and apparently women dont have to wait in line but everyone was very pushy so we eventually just waited behind a few men and went to buy our tickets. Even while Mallika was buying our tickets the man behind her was trying to push ahead and shove his money in front. Mallika said that's the way things are here, if you don't push your way through you'll just get left behind.

On the train there are different classes and different compartments. We bought first class tickets and then here are separate compartments for men and women. I understood why once I saw the men all righting and pushing and shoving to get into the train! I couldn't imagine trying to get into the same car as them. The women's car was very tame. We ended up riding in second class but it was still very clam and pleasant. Although Mallika did say the train is one time you have to be especially careful with your belongings. Once in the summer she rode the train home from work and when she got back she realized the necklace she had been wearing was gone, taken off her neck without her ever noticing!

The town is full of old British style buildings, very beautiful. We went down the the Gateway to India, where the British first landed in India to use Mumbai as their trading post. There was a huge beautiful archway, all made of stone with carvings and engravings in it right on the edge of the sea. There are men there who take your picture for you and print it out of the printer they carry around in their backpacks! While Mallika and I were taking pictures, some Indian tourists came up to me and asked if they could take a picture with me. Mallika said everyone wanted a picture with a white person! At first I thought it was funny so I agreed, but then more and more of them kept coming over wanting pictures, pushing the others out of the way! It was crazy! I finally told them no more pictures and we walked away. The Polaroid man said that I was more famous than the gateway itself! It was definitely a strange situation.

After the Gateway we went to check out the Taj Mahal hotel, which is a huge, beautiful old hotel that sits right on the ocean. Inside we saw pictures of all the royalty and celebrities that have stayed there in the past. It was an oasis inside the hotel, completely removed from the madness that is Bombay.

Mallika and her parents are leaving back to Canada tonight. I'm so sad Mallika will be leaving me! She has been such an amazing host. She also got me set up to stay with one of her girlfriends here in Bombay for a few more days. Another of her friends isn't working so she is going to take me around the city with her some more. Then it is on to Delhi, where once again I will be staying with the friend of a friend of mallika's! Everyone is so scared for me apparently going to Delhi alone, so the girl Nidhi will let me stay with her and even show me Delhi when she can! It's incredible how friendly and hospitable everyone has been the entire time I've been in india!

So that's where I'm at now, I've packed my bag and it is bursting already.... I hope I don't have to drop clothes at sme point! Mallika gave me some more of her own clothes to bring with me that she doesn't want anymore so that's added to the bulk. I have a feeling it isn't going to be fun to carry around....

I am slowly but surely uploading some pictures to Flickr and I was try to add them to the blog when I can. See if you can find my flickr by googling Gillian Arfin flickr or try this link? http://www.flickr.com/photos/44738687@N04/