The Bollywood dream

It was with mixed feelings we arrived in Mumbai early next day. Lina hadn't slept at all, we couldn't get hold of our Couch Surfing host and we really had no idea of what angle we were gonna start this city from. We did what is most common amongst backpackers (and actually quite racist when we come to thing of it) and ran after the only 2 white girls we saw. Bingo! At least they had a place to stay and we invited ourself to share a taxi with them.

The hostel of choice was the Salvation Army Hostel just by the seaside and next to the very famous (and terror exposed) Taj Mahal Hotel.

Then the coolest thing so far happened: We were about to check in, when some gangster Indian guy with gold rings and black sunglasses came up to us " Yo wonna play in Bollywood movy?" ehm, hell yeah! We agreed on the symbolic pay of 500 rupees ( 66kr) a day, including lunch(!), but had to go and sort out our room registration first. Unfortunately everything took too long, and when we came back, he was gone, and our big shot of fame went with him..

Very disappointed we went for a quick walk around the neighborhood. And as always, we didn't have to look far for something to cheer us up

After that little show, the man standing behind Ranveig introduced himself as a tourguide, and offered to take us around the city. Tired as we were, we ended up giving in.

Again, not a bad move, we got taken all around Mumbai. They even unlocked a couple of buildings for us that were not normally open for public

One of the most fascinating sites were the "washing place" as it was called. True to the name, that was exactly what it was. All of Mumbai´s laundry gets brought here every day and the more than 5000 workers wash, dries and irons it all by hand. Truly an amazing sight, considering it is also used by the 5 star hotels around the city.

Yet another reminder of the unexpected beauty of a city we were recommended never to visit. We were amazed with how organized and clean everything was! Many people had told us that Mumbai was merely a bad copy of Delhi and that we would be fools to go there. What we discovered was quite the contrary. We doubt you would find a city in India more developed and "western" than there.