Flying into Mumbai we were given our first view of the slums that covered what seemed to be most of the city. When we finally arrived at our hotel we were lead to a room with a view of the adjacent buildings wall. Thankfully the place lived up to its reviews when it came to customer service and our hosts were always very helpful. Leaving the hotel we walked up the road heading for the Gateway to India. We never actually arrived, having underestimated the distance plus we were overwhelmed with the crowds and squalor. Having come from Kerala, we had been a little spoilt with scenery, which still contained the typical level if Indian rubbish everywhere, as well as levels of poverty that was unknown in Australia. Mumbai however seemed to be overrun, even with us staying in the nicer touristy area. Having seen enough we made our way back for an early night.

After getting up early to head to Starbucks for breakfast, the only thing open before midday on Sunday, we returned to await our guide who was to take us through the slums where he was born and still lives. The start of the tour was delayed due to other guests but this gave us a great opportunity to learn about Shaelesh’s life. He had recently started his PHD in chemistry, taught 30 local children chemistry in the evenings as well as ran tours for his new business on the weekends. We discovered that the slums were not as bad as Hollywood had made them out to be in the movie “Slum Dog Millionaire”, the very slum he lived in and were soon to visit. With the other guests arriving, our little group headed to the nearby train station for our ride. This itself was an experience with us having to dash on the train, aggressively shouldering our way past the locals so as not to be left behind. Thankfully it was a quiet Sunday so the train only had a few people hanging from the open doorways. Exiting was just as hurried but in no time we had arrive at the slums. The next couple of hours we walked the streets, learning about the many businesses that were in operation here; from plastic recycling to baking to leather making. This one slum was annually generating $650 million in profit. Many of the streets we went down were no more than narrow alleys between the congestion of buildings, the homes themselves just a ram shackled room housing whole families. After the tour we took a taxi back to our hotel, passed many other slums, most less “well to do” than the one we had just come from.

The next day we checked out to head to the train station for our journey to Jalgaon. Along the way we passed a funeral procession where the recently deceased was being carted down the road on a bed of flowers. The train station itself was the worst we had yet come across with the heavy stench of faeces in the air due to the tracks being covered in it from the trains. Thankfully before long we were inside and on our way. Arriving at Jalgaon around 8:00pm we were unable to find the hotel we had aimed at staying at, instead having to walk the streets to find impromptu accommodation.

In the morning we caught a public bus to the Ajanta caves, 50km away or a 90-minute ride. The next few hours we spent walking through the many Buddhist temples that had been carved into the rock, dashing from one to the other to avoid getting too wet. As we left the area, headed for the bus stand, the heavens opened up in earnest. Soon we were on our way back to our room ready to catch the train at 5:30am the next morning.

The train arrived early and we soon discovered that our seats were taken. So we squashed ourselves into berths, packs and all, for the next couple of hours. As dawn broke we approached the conductor to see if we cold move to other seats, only to discover we had gotten on the wrong train. Thankfully it was heading to the same destination and our correct train was behind us. Leaving the wrong train at a village in the middle of nowhere we patiently waited for our own train. This arrived as we were told, even if it was an hour late. We finally arrived in Bhopal, late in the afternoon.

Straight away we felt uncomfortable, with unhappy smiles, and locals that seemed to be trying to scam us at every opportunity. Walking down the main, dust-ridden street, we were unable to initially find our hotel… again. We decided to try somewhere else but before Kayla could get herself through the hotel door she was being told to leave. After getting better directions we finally found the place we were meant to be staying at. This turned out to be a dingy hotel with our room looking like it had never been cleaned. Unfortunately there had been few other options that we had seen heading here so we had no choice but to grin and bare it. After requesting the room be cleaned, we returned after dinner to find the staff’s efforts to be almost non-existent.

After a fitful sleep we woke with the intention of heading to Sanchi to see the Buddhist Stupas the area was famous for. However, the thought of a 2-hour bus ride was too much and we decided to stay in for the day, made easier due to the fact that I was getting a cold, probably due to the dirty room. After spending the day in the room, we left the following day, happy that we were leaving Bhopal.