Our flatulent, snoring train arrived at Mumbai Central station sometime after 6.30am. As with with most other train journeys we were beset by porters and taxi drivers, we waved them all off. We dragged our luggage to the ticket hall and then realised we'd have to go back and find a taxi. An old man asked if we needed help and then sold us to the nearest taxi driver. He took us on a twenty minute journey through Mumbai's waking streets to the other big station, CST, our hotel was just next to it. The taxis in Mumbai all have meters and in theory they are supposed to be used. They are not electronic but mechanical and very old. By the end of our journey the meter showed a very small number of rupees that was then converted into the actual charge using a chart. Somehow I suspect that our driver's meddling under the bonnet of the taxi before we left was some sort of meter related interference as he wanted 350 rupees and that sounded rather high. He then did the "no change" trick which meant that he ended up with a huge tip because I couldn't find the right money. Ok, he may not have had any change but since most cabbies have tried one trick or another to swindle us I doubt it.

Talking of swindling, we crossed the road to our chosen hotel whilst simultaneously ignoring a beggar who seemed to think that "no" wasn't our final answer. The hotel wasn't anything special and the room wasn't very big and had no window to speak of. For that the man behind the desk wanted 1400 rupees for one night. A little bit extortionate but I put it down to Mumbai being more expensive than most other places. It then transpired that he wanted another 1400 rupees for the four hours until midday. We refused and started picking up our bags. He dropped the price for the four hours by 50% but he did it too quickly for me to believe that the money wasn't just going to go into his pocket. We left without saying goodbye. (For anyone contemplating a visit to Mumbai, avoid the City Palace hotel opposite CST station.) We then trudged around the corner and found what had been our first choice hotel except that we hadn't been able to get through on the phone. For a similar sized room we were charged just 640 rupees. Being really early as it was we just had a quick nap before contemplating what to do next in Mumbai.

By the time we had woken up and had showers it was nearly midday. We went round the corner and found an internet connection to use for a few minutes but it was painfully slow. We did manage to find the addresses of all of the Subway stores in Mumbai though and a taxi driver outside even knew where one of them was so we went there for breakfast. Most of the afternoon disappeared very quickly as we ambled nowhere in particular. We found some cinema listings and decided to have a very lazy day and go and see a film. We settled on Vanity Fair mostly because we wanted to spot all of the Bath locations that were used. Funnily enough though, at the end of the film Mrs. Crawley goes to India (I think to Mumbai) and is last seen riding an elephant into Jodhpur's fort. "Been there!", Claire and I said to each other at the same time. Sorry if I just spoiled the ending for anyone though.

Having had a footlong sub for lunch neither of us were hungry at all and we just went back to our hotel.

The following morning we took our time getting up and getting ready. Our train to Goa didn't leave until 11pm and we didn't want to get too hot and sticky running around Mumbai so we took our time. We left our bags at the hotel after we checked out and took a taxi to Subway again for breakfast. While we were there we accidentally bought one for the following morning too. Next we caught a taxi back to a structure called the India Gateway to do some sight seeing. The gateway was built to commemorate the visit of King George (can't remember which number George though) in 1911 and was intended to be the gateway through which arriving boat passengers would walk into Bombay. Ironically it was also the gateway where the last British soldiers to leave India in 1948 walked, in the opposite direction.

The gateway was surrounded by hundreds of Indian visitors and hawkers when we got there. We didn't stay too long though as too many people wanted their photos taken with us or wanted to sell us things or were just begging. Instead we went across the road to the relative safety of the Taj Mahal Intercontinental hotel, an impressive, air-conditioned structure filled with expensive looking shops. Actually they didn't just look expensive, they were expensive. Louis Vuitton and Mont Blanc just to name two.

Having escaped our followers we left by the side exit and wandered over to the former Prince of Wales museum for an hour or so. While it was interesting to look round, the heat and the humidity made it very hard work and we gave up on sight seeing. While in Cambodia we had seen a film called The Princess Diaries on TV one evening and we decided to recover from the heat in the cool darkness of a cinema and watch the sequel, the imaginatively titled Princess Diaries 2. It was a harmless, fun, childrens' film but still enjoyable. We also got to pay our respects and stand for the national anthem before the film.

It was dark when we emerged and we headed straight for a restaurant for some supper. We chose one that wasn't too far away, served beer and had a pretty big menu to choose from. After eating we walked round the corner and checked our email again. The connection was stupidly slow but got a lot quicker when the lad next to me left. He had been looking at some very rich content sites.

We took a taxi back to the hotel and retrieved our bags before braving the heaving masses in the train station. Even after 10pm, Mumbai's CST station was very, very busy. We put our bags down on the cleanest part of the floor we could find while I went to find out which platform we were on. It wasn't too difficult to find out and I went back to collect Claire and the bags. Together we dodged beggars and people sleeping anywhere they fancied to get to the platform. Fortunately the train was there waiting already and we got straight on. We had to kick some young men out of our seats but then we got settled and waited for the train to depart. About five minutes before 11pm two English women joined us and took the seats opposite us. They were from Stroud and shared a large number of our opinions about India and its people we found out. Around about midnight we gave up talking and slept.