Afterwards we continued north towards one of Mumbai many markets. It wasn't particularly special or noteworthy, but it did provoke a bit of thought. Just watching all these people (almost exclusive male) go about there business making a living made me wonder about whether the credit crunch registered on their radar. I'm sure they must have felt the impact indirectly, but these people are trading in stock and cash and I doubt they have run up debt on credit cards or have a mortgage they can't afford. My other observation and one that has been constantly re-enforced through out my time in Mumbai was the impact of the mobile phone. At this market alone, a significant part of the market was full of stalls selling phones and every kind of phone accessory. It's obviously had such a massive social impact at all levels of Indian society, not just the rich middle classes. India has such a blend of modern and old, and the one modern thing that seems to have permeated through all walks of life in India is the mobile phone.
I must also mention visiting Leopold's. If any of you have read Shantaram, then you'll instantly recognise the name. It's been something of an institution in Mumbai for many years, and since been mentioned in Shantaram, it's famous around the world, so I had to go and have a beer and something to eat there at least once. However, as is often the case with these things it's almost purely a tourist destination now. A large percentage of people there were westerners and there were even families eating there. It certainly wasn't some den of iniquity as portrayed in the book where the movers and shakers of the Mumbai underworld would hang out. Whether the book had destroyed that or it simply was in the bar's past I do not know but the fact the bar had five copies of the book for sale by the bar said a lot. However, it's still a cool place to visit, the food is pretty good and there is still a buzz about the place.
So, as I was writing yesterday we checked out of our hotel at twelve and set about making use of the day before taking the night train to Goa. We jumped in a taxi with the aim of getting to Chowpatty Beach. We asked the taxi driver (who we had a big argument with over price) to drop us off a little early so we could walk along Marine Drive round the bay to the beach. This road is lit with lights at night and has the nickname the Queen's necklace because of how it looks when flying over head. Whilst the beaches around Mumbai can look nice, unfortunately the water is so polluted that bathing is not really an option, even for the locals. 
After a walk around and some refreshment at a bar on the beach front, we took another taxi (driven by a much more honest driver) towards the Haji Ali mosque, (another place that should be familiar to those that have read Shantaram) which is unusual since is sits in the water just off the shore connected by a walk way. 
There were hundreds and hundreds of people steadily streaming across to visit, obviously mainly Muslims. As we crossed over we caught the attention of a group of teenage boys, one of whom asked Maren to stop wearing a scarf she was wearing as a sash, since it had some sort of holy writing on it and was offensive to him for Maren to be wearing it around her waste. Slightly annoyed she did as he asked and then the guys followed us over to the mosque even though they were not Muslims themselves. One of the other guys show me around the mosque acting as a tour guide and showed me how to enter the mosque correctly, washing my feet before going in. At the mosque we were once again something of a novelty and were asked to pose for photos with another family. This time I was left holding a baby who began to cry as his father took a photo.
Afterwards we made our way back to sea front and picked up a snack before we caught a train to Juhu beach. Again the teenage boys were hanging around near by and they gave us directions and offered to walk with us to the station. I couldn't quite work out what they were after but as we chatted to them it became apparent that they just thought it was fun to be hang out with some westerners for the afternoon. Once we got to the train station I asked if they'd pose for a photo which made them very happy indeed and one of them grabbed a photo on their mobile phone in return.
It was about fifthteen to twenty minutes on the train north to our next stop to catch the sunset. It seemed we weren't the only ones who wanted to see the sunset, as there were several thousand people gathering along the wide sandy beach when we arrived. I managed to get a couple of beautiful pictures as a result. It was then off to Maren's friend's parents house to pick up the rest of her things, notably the green sari she'd wore at Jade sister's wedding a few weeks ago (which she looked amazing in) and also have a look at the videos taken from the wedding so I could see what I'd missed out on. Unfortunately we didn't have much time so we soon left and headed back to our hotel to pick up our bags and make our way to the train station. This was to be another new experience, long distance Indian trains with sleeper carriages. 
It was actually a pretty civilised affair. The trains are air conditioned and the beds whilst fairly hard come with clean sheets and a pillow. I was able to sleep quite well however I woke up almost as soon as it began to get light as I excited to see where we were and how the landscape had changed. As with the local trains, the doors remain unlocked whilst moving and you can open a door to breath in the fresh air as you travel along and get a good view of the countryside as you travel by. It is refreshing to be in charge of your own safety with such things. As I looked out it was clear things were much more tropical with palm trees becoming increasing common in the lush green vegetation. Also, as we travelled along one thing that amazed me was the number of tunnels we passed through many of which must have been a kilometer or more in length and I wondered at labour involved in their construction. So, as I write we are just a couple of hours before we arrive in Goa. I can't wait. Soon we'll be checking in our hotel and heading down to the beach and then celebrating the New Year.I've managed to upload some more pictures to the Mumbai photo set so check them out at http://picasaweb.google.com/kris.lander/Mumbai
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