Far Away in Mumbai

Arrived in Mumbai after a drawn-out trip from Sydney to Brisbane to Singapore: 25 hours door to door, and 27 hours bed to bed. Left the cold, wet drizzly Sydney winter & arrived in the hot, wet, damp Mumbai monsoon season (890+ mm rain per day).

Last time I was in Mumbai was 9 years ago – but difficult to say if things have changed; at least this time, perhaps since it was so late, I didn't have two little girls follow me to the car begging for a dollar; heartbreaking, but at the time my driver said that anything I gave them would just be taken away. This time, scenes from Slumdog Millionaire were still strong in my mind since I'd just watched it on the flight, but the only thing I had to deal with was the mud & shit on the way to the carpark.

The  drive from the airport took a while – I'd foolishly booked myself into an hotel right at the tip of southern Mumbai, near the heritage district of Fort. This used to be the hub of activity, but these days high rents and the difficulty in upgrading the buildings has pushed most businesses further out (ironically, close to the airport is usually a better place to stay). The area has a very faded grandeur - art deco buildings aplenty, but all peeling and dilapidated.  A shame, and strange considering the land value is so high. Maybe there's only just so much you can do against the monsoon...

Finally Forbidden!

Thirteen years & 5 visits after my first trip to Beijing, I finally made it into the Forbidden City!  All I need to to now is get my arse over to the Great Wall at some point...

Eight years (!) since my last visit to mainland China, Beijing has changed dramatically: thanks to the Olympics there are English signs everywhere; the red army numberplated-Audis are gone, replaced by a multitude of private cars including Ferraris & Bentleys; the subway has grown from 2 lines to 10; and the only people riding around on bicycles are tourists.  The place looks more like Singapore now than the only-just-out-of-full-on-communism that I saw in 2000.

Some things remain similar – stepping off the subway at Tianamen Square I was approached by another  passenger who just wanted to chat in English for a bit. He wanted to go for a coffee (nothing suss?) but I only had a couple of hours to see the Forbidden City so had a good excuse to beg off.

Walking back around the palace from its northern gate, I saw the tourists on their bikes: two girls and a guy, youngish europeans by the look. They parked their bikes outside a little sidewalk bar jumping with live music. I had to stop & get a beer, although 30 RMB for a bottle of Laotian brew still seems a little outrageous.  It was nice, though...

n..n...n...Nürnberg...

Finally arrived in Nürnberg after spending 26 hours with my legs crunched up, followed by 20 minutes of mad sprinting to get from one end of Frankfurt airport to the other to catch the connecting flight. ffs! the absolute furthest possible gate!

Anyway, eventually got here and it's freezing! zero degrees with little flecks of soft stuff dropping down from the sky.

The Aldstadt at the centre of the city is great – an old mediaeval town turned into the mostly pedestrian shopping and residential precinct. Nicely done.