Up to date at last

This is our last morning in Mumbai and most likely our last with wi-fi for at least the next few days, so this will be a long one.

Yesterday began for me with a very sore throat which at first I assumed was a hangover from the previous night, but turned out is my annual cold which always visits me when I'm away on holiday. It had better not be a mild case of swine flu from the stupid vaccine, that's all I can say.

We began yesterday by ditching the lacklustre breakfast at the hotel and returned to New Laxmi Vilas where we’d had the awesome dosa the day before. We both had uttapam for breakfast, a fermented rice pancake served with the ever-present sambar and coconut chutney and accompanied by masala chai, which was sweet, strong and spicy.

We then returned to our hotel and somewhat reluctantly checked out to return to the original hotel we’d booked. We were surprised to discover that this hotel is in fact a lot better than the four star replacement we’d been given – not only does it have wi-fi, but we have a king size bed, a TV bigger than the one at home, and a great, clean bathroom with a real shower.

After settling in, we slowly made our way back to the Yacht Club to meet Gulshan once again to be shown around the club. It was a fairly quick visit, but once again we were treated to a meal, this time looking over a tranquil garden within the club's walls with a view of the Gateway of India. We had soup and sandwiches, and it was all very proper and English - the crusts were even cut off the bread.

After this we decided to go on the boat to Elephanta Island, which was an experience in itself with multiple boats and a very random approach to filling said boats and leaving on time (plus a bit of entertainment from an openly-farting Japanese tourist). However, after the hour long trip we found ourselves at the island, which was teeming with monkeys and dogs and young cows roaming free. The attraction at the island is the series of enormous caves carved into the hillsides, complete with carvings of gods and stuff like that. On the way back out one of the cows walked right up to me and licked my hand, which was very cute if not a bit gross. Not everyone can say they've been licked by a cow in India, so I will wear this dubious honour with pride.

After the long boat trip back to Mumbai I was starting to feel quite crap, so we made our way back to the hotel where we finally got onto the internet, rested and showered. Luckily for us this hotel is in every bit as good a location as the last, and we found a restaurant within three minutes walk which is renowned for its seafood. It was obviously a very upmarket restaurant for Mumbai's rich and beautiful, because the staff always outnumbered the diners, and we were the only foreigners in there the whole time.

The waiters were very attentive, if not a little pushy, beginning by bringing out a live crab and virtually talking George into ordering it (which he did). I ordered a pomfret balti, and overall the meal was a very messy one, with George wading in with both hands and ending up with masala sauce up to his elbows. Our meals were served with a bread of sorts made from rice flour, which I ate far too much of and didn't even get halfway through my meal.

After this seafood feast we stumbled back to the hotel where I promptly passed out. I've woken up this morning not feeling a whole lot better, but no worse either. We will be picked up in an hour to be taken to the domestic airport, a trip which will likely take two hours despite being only about 20km. We fly to Goa and will then be driven down to Palolem, reputed to be one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. I'm not sure if we'll get internet access there but no doubt by the time we have it again we'll have added another several entries to the laptop.

A few reflections on Mumbai - it is nowhere near as full on as we'd expected. For the biggest city we've ever been in, it is less frenetic, less dirty and less intense than Ho Chi Minh City, and we've hardly seen any beggars or extreme poverty. This may be because we've mainly been around the tourist areas, but this usually intensifies the level of begging. The weather has been great; no more than 30 degrees every day, not much humidity and beautiful balmy evenings with a pleasant breeze. The people are generally very nice, and everyone seems to speak English. It seems as if the great majority of tourists are Indian, so it's not overwhelmingly westernised.

Mumbai has been great, but we're looking forward to the more laid back attitude of the southern areas and having a few days to just laze on the beach and drinks cocktails. Will report again soon.