Lomticks of Toast: BOMBAY

AIRCON CLASS TRAIN FROM PUNE TO MUMBAI!!!

LuuUUUXuuRRYyyy!

Thanks for the breakfast and all of your kind help mr.train man !

And thanks to the stranger who prevented my near death getting off at the wrong stop.

On high alert for scams, as usual, I actually had THE NICEST cab driver from the station to colaba

He was kinda old and we talked about our schooling, nuns, and meditation haha.

He also had no teeth.

He said we must be very good people.

I'm still not sure why though.

But he didn't overcharge me or aaanything ^-^ (i've started to tip these people, like the cabbie i had today who actually used his meter! - proud of myself for turning down the first cab i tried who wanted to charge me triple the price)

However, once I got to colaba I was comission scammed so hard...

I wanted to get a dorm bed at salvo army hostel or one nearby (had a handy list)

but some guy sitting on the front step took my bag and led me two blocks down, and three storeys of stairs up, to a hotel that was triple the price for shoebox rooms

actually, they wanted me to pay 1500 for a room but i whinged that i only had 500 and settled on 700 (to be honest i was just happy to find somewhere and not be stuck looking around)

This room is a shoebox compared to my last COTTAGE ALL TO MYSELF FOR CHEAPER

but i have a tv, so win some / lose some.

I dumped my bags and went to the street market where I ran into Tory! (one of the girls i'd studied at CRHP with)

and she said she was doing a Dharavi slum tour in the arvo and that I could probably join even though she'd pre-booked...

and so I did :)

it was an amaaaazing tour!! I couldn't believe how industrious they were!

But also it was incredibly sad, kids playing cricket in what we would call a 'tip'

open defecation

bone thin alleyways and matchbox-sized concrete houses

A store owner there gave us chai

and anyway then we had dinner and dranks and AWESOME CONVERSATIONS :D, blahblahblah