India at last, it only took sixty years! So since this is our first “on the road” post it probably makes sense to outline our plan:

Right, that’s that done.

We arrived last night and took up residence in, aptly enough, The Residency Hotel which is already proving to be a restful haven (thank you Sumeet for the recommendation). We booked our first six days in Mumbai with the intention of clearing our vehicle (Elsie) through customs and getting away to the Pushkar Camel Fair. That little plan came crashing to the ground when our shipping agent informed us that the shipping line had not loaded Elsie at Southampton because of “contractual obligations”. Elsie is now en route to Chennai instead which means a) we don’t have to rush around Mumbai dealing with Indian bureaucracy and b) we get to go on trains. Brilliant!

So we now have six days of peace in Mumbai, top priority today was to get a local SIM (number is +91 9930 934 681) and a couple of internet dongles. Smith at the local Vodaphone shop was very helpful – and very tall!

Smith insisted on completing the necessary forms and was quite creative when he filled in Leishia’s nationality:

Anyway we managed to endure the idiosyncrasies of the process and after a couple of hours became the proud owners of a shiny new microSIM and two dongles – which is probably good given the local post services:

Armed with our new technological devices we wandered off for a spot of sightseeing, the Gateway to India:

and the Taj hotel, very recognisable after it’s world wide coverage in 2008:

Eventually we strolled back towards our hotel and came across the Yazdani restaurant and bakery:

The tea was sweeter than the biscuits and the host was sweeter than the tea. His name is Zend Meherwan Zend, he opened the bakery in 1953 and is still there. He took a bit of a shine to Leishia:

Anyway he has invited us out tomorrow for swimming and dinner at the Radio Club. It will be great to spend an evening in the company of a man who seems to be something of an institution in these parts.