Never Give In

Sadly we leave Patnem .Cham from the huts taxi's us to airport and we fly to Mumbai.Leaving the airport we are beseiged by taxi drivers,some legal and some not.We head off to the Taj Hotel and Leopold Cafe, scene of the shootings.Death Tourism? We have come to show our solidarity and screw you to those who would destroy our freedom to go where we wish.We take photos of the Taj and the Gateway to India arch then walk down to the Leopold.Beggars abound.Dave is collared by one girl who refuses money but wants baby milk.Being a good sort he buys it, 360 Rs maybe 20% of a months wages.We both saw the Leopold( before the shootings) on Palin and wanted to go.It is rammed. We find a table and tuck into the beer.Then some more beer.We're going for it -I notice by Dave's elbow a hole in the wall, yep it's a bullet hole.We spend a pleasant afternoon getting drunk with two German girls from Munchen (Monica & Stephanie).We meet more folk from Ireland,Holland, Yemen and India.It's buzzing.
We take an inebriated nighttime taxi across Mumbai.Someone called Mumbai, London on acid not far wrong.Finish off at Juhu beach-in-the-city. I eat simple food and lush ice-cream -Dave runs around with menus pretending to be a stall holder.A fitting end to the Mumbai experience.