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Saturday, day 2 – Getting used to Mumbai

The first night at the guest house at TISS – Tata Institute of Social Sciences was highly rewarding and a ten hours sleep in air conditioned rooms was just what we needed. The rooms are very good, equipped with TV, AC and a “so so” working computer. The electricity is out at least once a day, but we are happy, the showers are cold and refreshing and we also get The Times of India attached to the door every morning. The breakfast at TISS campus area is just enough to fill our not so hungry stomachs, due to the heat, with an omelette sandwich, yogurt and a juice. What’s perhaps a bit more exciting with the breakfasts is that we share the eating area with friendly dogs and playful monkeys. This morning one monkey was sitting in a tree playing with a long pink scarf.
Another monkey got 
jealous and jumped after him in the trees trying to make the scarf his. After some chasing and fighting the scarf was abandoned high up on a branch. At least they managed to amuse a group a swedes.

 The group decided to go for a short walk in the area around the campus. Not very exciting, since the the street just outside is heavy trafficated and the rest does not offer much. However, how often have you ever thought that, walking around your second day in Mumbai in your whole life and suddenly there is a cab passing by and familiar faces are screaming out from the windows. Of course they had to be swedes, of course they had to UPF Travel members, of course it had to be Stina and Katrin, the last to members of the group that we were waiting for, passed by on a street close to TISS in a typical black and yellow Mumbai cab.

After refreshing, I have been showering three times today (you take every chance you have), we left the campus area and went for some shopping in a street market downtown Mumbai. A few hours later, more bags and tired of the market we headed to The Gateway of India. A big monumental gate just by the water that was completed as a memory of the visit of the king Georege V and his Wife in 1911.

In the evening we got into a bit more of a fancy district with consulates, theatres and banks. We found a very expensive indian restaurant named Gaylord. Well dressed up Indians and suit wearing waiters to fill the restaurant and then of course we, nine sweaty and stinky swedes. The food was amazing and the place was gorgeous, and of course we got a close sight of Indian way of doing things. When opening and serving the beers there were 10 indians working at the same time around our table of nine people.

 The night was ended with a chill walk by the seafront and watching the skyline of Mumbai.

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(Frida with two Indian women at the Gateway of India)

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(Travel gathered at the skyline of Mumbai)

IMG_8279(Night in Mumbai)

IMG_8294(Night in Mumbai, skyline)

/Fredrik