First week

Folks,

Arrived Mumbai, all very surreal, drove past some of the slums to get to our hotel, this place is unbelievably poor, makes us feel guilty about our privileged lives.

Spent first two nights in Mumbai adjusting to the heat, noise and mayhem that is India. Went to Gandhi museum which was very interesting, what a top bloke he was, I (G) reckon India needs a new Gandhi to sort out the massive contrast between the wealth of people here.

Ate in Leopolds (for and Shantaram readers), a couple times, saw some old temples 7AD, which consisted of digging out a hole in the rock/hillside and carving outs massive statues in there. Monkeys everywhere.....

We were approached by a casting person who asked if we wanted to be extras in a bollywood movie, they needed westerners in the background of a wedding scene. We had to decline as we were leaving that night. Have since spoken to someone else who was approached and accepted. They left at 7pm and did not actually film until 10 am the next day, no food or water provided !! Glad we declined now.....

Took an overnight bus down to Goa on Sunday, need to acclimatise and build up a bit of a base tan to get rid of the winter paleness. Slept about 3 of the 14 hour bus journey, Jo of course slept like a baby, I've got a feeling I will be spending a lot of time watching Jo sleep over the next 4 months..

Spent 3 days on a beach....managed to find the only surfboard in the whole of GOA (so it seems) and spent the day catching lovely 2 footers rollling in. Jo read a sad book and cried a lot, thankfully that book is finished so I'm going to find her a happy book next.

The food here is amazing, lovely curries and seafood.

Overnight train tonight to Mangalore, hoping to get to Mysore soon and sort out a trek into the hills.....

...all solid so far, fingers crossed.....