The end of our movie careers and life as tourists

Our second day in Mumbai, we took a break from our new careers as actors and watched a movie instead. After wasting two hours of our lives on the horrible "Must Love Dogs" (Dave loved it) we walked around the Colaba area of Mumbai.





The Taj Hotel, near the Mumbai Harbour



The Gateway to India

Another building in Colaba (a college of science or something)
Dave had his hair cut (note the dot on his forehead-walking past the Gateway to India, a man tried to "bless" us, I said "no, we don't have any money, don't bless us!" he insisted that there was no charge, quickly dotting our heads and wrapping our wrists with string, before demanding a donation.) That night we ate dinner at a bougy bouge cafe, full of Mumbai yuppie princesses. We could overhear the girls at the table next to us, their conversation went something like this;

"Oh my god, I am so full, I ate sooo much yesterday"

"Oh my god are you serious? What did you eat?"

"Uhhh like 5 pieces of lettuce and a carrot",

"Oh wow, you must be sooo full, what does your boyfriend think about you eating soooo much?"

etc. This isn't just our made up conversation either, they spoke to each other in English!

The next day we resumed our acting careers in a new movie, Random Access ONE!!!! Starring the Indian movie hero, Shahrukh Khan and Corrina Kapur, also a huge deal in India. I didn't like her at all. She kept us waiting all day. I was wearing these awful heels that hurt my feet and a costume that was beyond tight and short AND gave me a rash that still hasn't gone away. The scene was supposed to be a funeral in London, so there was fake rain pouring on us all day, and we were dressed as if it was cold, when in fact, it was about 45 degrees. After this awful experience, we decided to give up our acting careers and return to life as a regular tourist. Regular tourists who meet other tourists and eat dinner with them, as we did that night. Not a blog worthy event, save the fact that walking home, a woman (unprovoked) threw a huge rock at us, narrowly missing my arm.

The next day, being tourists, we did what tourists do in Mumbai and went to Elephanta Island to see the ancient caves and Hindu images carved into the rock. It was really spectacular. Some people think the caves were carved out, others believe they are natural- either way, they were huge and very cool.

The next day we took a train to Jaipur, the capital of Rajastan. It was a 17 hour, overnight train ride, but it felt like 10 minutes (for me anyway, since I can sleep anywhere, Dave, meanwhile, the delicate flower that he is, felt every one of the 17 hours). We arrived early in the morning, tired, grumpy and disoriented. We fought through the tuk-tuk drivers, rickshaws and touts to a hotel not so near the train station. The owners were amazing, probably the nicest hotel owners we've met so far, they served us breakfast and let us lie down and use a shower while we waited for a room to be cleaned.

Intending to visit "Jantar Mantar" (a collection of giant old instruments used by one of the maharaja to tell time) we set out for the Old City of Jaipur. However, the clever, smooth talking touts of the city had other plans for us. Around every corner we were greeted with cries of "look! look! just looking, looking is free!"- cries we're able to ignore or turn down. What we weren't able to turn down was the plea, "why are tourists so rude? why don't they talk to real Indian people, why do they only follow their guide book, never taking the time to learn about real Indian culture?" Feeling like we at least owed the guy a few minutes of our time, we agreed to have chai with him. We spent a pleasant hour sitting, talking and drinking chai, before our "friend" suggested we visit the Elephant house, drive past the Amber Fort and Water Palace, and visit a factory to see how block printed fabrics are made. He offered to arrange a tuk-tuk for the "local price" and we agreed... why not right? The elephants were great, the Fort and the Palace, beautiful. The factory? A scam we think. We were under the illusion that we were getting great deals, since we were shopping at the source- however, in hindsight, our money probably paid many people along the scam chain. Lesson learned, nobody is your friend, nobody actually wants to practice their English, and if they call you a rude tourist, just agree. The same guy offered to meet us the next day, to take us to the Monkey Temple. He didn't show, which we can only assume means he got his cut and didn't need us anymore.

Tonight we are taking another train to Chandigar, sometime we'll write about the other things we did in Jaipur.