We arrive at Lokmanya Tilik station, around 10km from central Mumbai, having passed a large slum area on the way in and beginning to breath in that 'fresh' Mumbai air i was ready to get to our luxury hotel, a little treat for the last leg of my friends...experience. As usual as soon as we stepped of the train we were bombarded by taxi drivers (and also rickshaw drivers which is surprising as they are not allowed into the city centre, just incase your Bombay bound anytime soon). After succumbing to a drivers advances, much to my friends reluctance and rightly so, he assured us he would use the meter which he tapped a couple times then covered up with a cloth and we set off in search of Chateaux Windsor.
When we arrived, after a length and slightly frosty journey, the taxi man lifted the robbery cloth to reveal his prize. At 550rs it seemed a little on the steep side but it was his next action that was to confirm our doubts that he was dirty robbing bugger, as we were splitting the bill there was a lot of notes going back and forth, it was at this point i noticed him slipping a 100 note in his pocket. When we had handed over the right amount he did a quick tot up and hey presto we were 100 short, I quickly pointed out that he may find the remaining bill in his right pocket, he smiled nonchalantly like it was just part of the game, which i suppose it is, and got into his cab and left.
From one contrast to another, on arrival to the hotel we couldn't have been treated more courteously, we were shown a selection of rooms to choose from and told we could choose from more if we waited till after 11. We picked a room, cranked the a/c to as low as it would go and and my friend got straight onto the cable tv in search of her much missed soaps (unfortunately for Mumbai they don't get the visual and mental feast for the eyes and mind that is Hollyoaks).
After a quick bite of breakfast we headed out into Mumbai to see what we could see. Being so close to the train station I decided to quickly book my onward travel, now i should have known better that when in India anything involving counters, queues and little slips of paper cant be done quickly (Argos could revolutionise India!). After 2 hours of piss farting around, waiting for tellers and then the said tellers to finish chai breaks, a dash back to retrieve my passport and a final bit of queueing I was booked on a train to Ahmedabad.
So just after midday we finally got on the move, well as quickly as you can move in a city of over 16 million. One of first sights we were met by was the great institution that is the tiffin delivery. A tiffin is a set of cylindrical steel flasks with each compartment containing a different edible treat, usually chapati or rice and a curry or two. The amazing thing is these are prepared at home by the wives after the men have left for work, then they begin their journey to Mumbai via bicycle, train and foot, whats more amazing is they have over 99.9% success rate and when you think the tiffin-wallahs deliver millions of these a day it is quite the achievement in India's, seemingly, unorganised chaos.
We made a bee line for the quintessential of colonial buildings the Victoria Station, walking our way up the wide streets adorned with a familiar Gothic architecture you would be forgiven in thinking you had stumbled into a little Britain, although this little Britain is packed full of Indian commuter's and the red busses have bars on the windows and more people hanging off them than in them. Being the busiest train station in the world I was excepting more mayhem and whilst large and imposing on the outside, inside the station it was reasonably calm with wide well numbered platforms and departure sign's all displayed in English, a bit disappointing really but not that surprising if I've learned one thing its that India takes great pride in it railway network.
When we arrived, after a length and slightly frosty journey, the taxi man lifted the robbery cloth to reveal his prize. At 550rs it seemed a little on the steep side but it was his next action that was to confirm our doubts that he was dirty robbing bugger, as we were splitting the bill there was a lot of notes going back and forth, it was at this point i noticed him slipping a 100 note in his pocket. When we had handed over the right amount he did a quick tot up and hey presto we were 100 short, I quickly pointed out that he may find the remaining bill in his right pocket, he smiled nonchalantly like it was just part of the game, which i suppose it is, and got into his cab and left.
From one contrast to another, on arrival to the hotel we couldn't have been treated more courteously, we were shown a selection of rooms to choose from and told we could choose from more if we waited till after 11. We picked a room, cranked the a/c to as low as it would go and and my friend got straight onto the cable tv in search of her much missed soaps (unfortunately for Mumbai they don't get the visual and mental feast for the eyes and mind that is Hollyoaks).
After a quick bite of breakfast we headed out into Mumbai to see what we could see. Being so close to the train station I decided to quickly book my onward travel, now i should have known better that when in India anything involving counters, queues and little slips of paper cant be done quickly (Argos could revolutionise India!). After 2 hours of piss farting around, waiting for tellers and then the said tellers to finish chai breaks, a dash back to retrieve my passport and a final bit of queueing I was booked on a train to Ahmedabad.
So just after midday we finally got on the move, well as quickly as you can move in a city of over 16 million. One of first sights we were met by was the great institution that is the tiffin delivery. A tiffin is a set of cylindrical steel flasks with each compartment containing a different edible treat, usually chapati or rice and a curry or two. The amazing thing is these are prepared at home by the wives after the men have left for work, then they begin their journey to Mumbai via bicycle, train and foot, whats more amazing is they have over 99.9% success rate and when you think the tiffin-wallahs deliver millions of these a day it is quite the achievement in India's, seemingly, unorganised chaos.
We made a bee line for the quintessential of colonial buildings the Victoria Station, walking our way up the wide streets adorned with a familiar Gothic architecture you would be forgiven in thinking you had stumbled into a little Britain, although this little Britain is packed full of Indian commuter's and the red busses have bars on the windows and more people hanging off them than in them. Being the busiest train station in the world I was excepting more mayhem and whilst large and imposing on the outside, inside the station it was reasonably calm with wide well numbered platforms and departure sign's all displayed in English, a bit disappointing really but not that surprising if I've learned one thing its that India takes great pride in it railway network.
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