Burgers, chocs and thalis. And BEER!

Bombay is LUXURY compared to the last 2 months. Our hotel - Landmark Annexe, aka Prince Hotel, depending on who you speak to/what day it is - is incredibly plush. Free bottles of water, cups of tea, a proper, super comfy double bed, flat screen TV with loads of good movies, a real hot shower, and friendly staff. All this for Rs 3850 a night (EUR 55ish). It's the most we've spent on any hotel anywhere on this trip, but it's one of the nicest rooms we've ever stayed in. Ever! And we really weren't expecting much for our money in Mumbai, which is notorious for expensive crap rooms... or nice rooms for about double what we're paying. We are lucky people!

So we've had a good time here. Samrat served us a delicious thali, and beer, and then we bought some really good chocolates at their little deli downstairs. They didn't last very long. Last night we had a mini bar crawl down in Colaba, hitting Leopolds (of Shantaram fame) and Mondegar for beers and overpriced/substandard snacks.

But the best food fun was the Bombay burgers we picked up for Rs 6 each (EUR 0.1) by Churchgate station. Delicious little fried potato and fresh coriander bhaji things. All crisp on the outside and soft in the middle, squashed into a soft white bap with added chilli powder for extra excitement. Great breakfast. So good we had 2 each. Yum!

This morning wasn't so good - it took us 2 hours to post a parcel back home. Kinda unsurprising, really - it's totally emblematic of our disappointment with India, where even the simplest activity gets ludicrously overcomplicated, allowing literally dozens of bumbling incompetents to interfere, and hinder the successful conclusion of your business. "Dickheads!" says Debs. Quite so. First time I've seen sealing wax used in real life, too.

We'll be singing with happiness on the way out to the airport tomorrow. Fingers crossed the rain doesn't go mental and delay the flight too much.

Ben and Debs