Mumbai to Delhi

Feb- 7
We went to see a move in Bombay like Don had hoped and it was entertaining despite not speaking a word of Hindi. We sat in the balcony and watched the peculiar pre show advertisements. We were then asked to stand for the national anthem and the movie goers were not afraid to belt it out. The crowd in the theater brought a few things to our attention. Every Indian and their grandmother has a cell phone which is like us but what is unique is etiquette/rules around cell phones. In India there are none!. You can have the most annoying ring on as loud as it goes for 10 rings and then answer it in a movie... same in a restaurant.



Yesterday was pretty relaxed. we got up and started a bad McDonalds for breakfast habit. Joe and Vickey recommended it because Indians don't eat breakfast the way we do. Believe it or not the McMuffins are heavenly after the other breakfasts we have had. We went to the train stations tourist office and learned several lessons on booking trains. We took a rather long train ride to Delhi. Yesterday we also did piles of walking and called our parents. Today at the Bandra Terminus train station we experienced the most severe and persistant begging yet. They were kids and I thought it was going to be hard not to want to help them. But it was not. For one we were told that they had made the decision to beg over a free education with a free daily meal. And for another they were kind of jerks about it. Rather than choosing to look adorable, helpless and hungry, they approached you with food crumbs all over their mouths yelling and swatting at you, leaving with a glare. Other than that our train experience has been quite nice! It's a good way to see the country side and agriculture as well as the back side of some slums. And you can't go wrong with 24 hours worth of AC. The people we sat with were unbelieveably nice and fed us some of the homemade meal they had brought. It was amazing food and they even gave us desset. Once we told them that we're Canadian they were eager to tell us that they had been to Niagra falls. India changes a lot outside of the city. For one we meet nice people but also we saw a lot of hindu temples, a few mosques as well as grass huts and ornate homes with courtyards and common areas. -Lindsay

Feb - 9

Delhi is far more crowded than mumbai. The horns are no longer just used as mirrors and signals, they are now used as "get out of my way" and "move". I am getting tired of the hustle and bustle of the cities, feeling like everyone that talks to us is trying to scam us. I am looking forward to heading south where hopefully people will talk to us without a hidden agenda.-Don