India Travels – day 14: The Day/Night of getting Lost on a Train
On the train to Mumbai……I woke up in the middle of the night wanting the toilet, so I climbed down from the top bunk. When I came back all the curtains were closed and I was there for 10 minutes trying to find my bed!
When we arrived at the terminus, we had to get a pre-paid taxi and were given a designated driver – very different from all the other stations where you are continually harassed! It took 30 minutes to get to the hotel. It was rubbish, but the owner was very helpful when we booked tickets to Varanasi and told us the best way to meet Asha.
The rest of the day was spent doing nothing apart from having a walk and you could tell, even though dirty and undeveloped in places, Mumbai was cosmopolitan and busy with new ideas.
Today I was due to meet with Asha (fair trade organisation). However, before that being a complete idiot, I had booked a hotel at the most southern part of Mumbai, and Asha’s office could not have been further north! So we took a train – the ticket was 30 British pence!!
Asha have a huge office space – it looked very impressive. The owner (Immenual) first off just sat us down and told us about his business and told me to take notes!!
After this we saw the samples and, like the other organisations, their product range was vast and everything was of good quality. It will be difficult to decide what to do!
After that, we went to our favourite restaurant. Our waiter, who I had tipped a lot last time (100 rupees), obviously wanted another big tip as he was standing over us and topping up our drinks ever 5 minutes. In the end we tipped him 175 for his gallant efforts!
Read more about our travels: either about our previous day, in Jodhpur with the pleasant surprise! – or read about our 2 next days – experiencing a 30 hour journey on a Indian train.
