This morning we went and explored the surrounding area. We can see a large shopping area but have failed to locate a way to actually get to it. The pavements on the crossings are too high for Mildred and there are also posts in the ground to stop scooters going through them. Ruling out the Mall, we wandered up the streets. Eating establishments of all descriptions were sending out wafts of spices and deliciousness. Lots of clothes shops, and I thought i was in heaven when i spotted a big fabric shop.... In fact I thought all my christmases had come at once ....Then I remembered we only had a tiny bag ... which was full. We popped ito a chemist for some cream for heat rash , it was the grand total of 30p! On the street corner there was a man selling coconuts, and you could pay him via his app. super cool, but not today thankyou.
The TukTuk trade is immense, everybody seems to use them and they're proper zippy little things. Scooters are another popular mode of transport and they're lined up on the streets, for transport and food delivery. As we continued on our jolly we were getting some funny looks, im guessing they don't see many tourists in random clothing and oversized headwear. Just down from the hotel is the Police station and Hospital. The hospital is surrounded by wooden scaffolding poles and tied together with rope, looks really safe. Parked opposite were about 10 ambulances. Not like the ones we have at home, more like riot ambulances, all the windows covered with metal grills. Some looked like they hadnt been used in a loooong time.
During our wander we concluded it wasnt a particularily accessible area and decided to look into some street food tours that we'd seen advertised. On looking discovered two things, firstly the street food tour wasn't accessible, and secondly my trip planning had let us down. I'd booked our hotel, knowing it was outside of Mumbai, in Navi Mumbai. What I hadn't relised was that our hotel was further south again from Navi Mumbai. To get to anything of interest was going to take a good hour and a half at least for the closest one which would have been the street food tour. I am so pissed off with myself you would not believe. Also a lot of the tourist things aren't particularly accessible either. I use Get Your Guide App for locating things to do, and in the past it has been spot on and we've always found something to do. Sometimes they have been unusual and off the beaten track stuff, but in this case, nothing was coming up for us. Well, I say nothing, nothing that Mildred could do.
Slightly gutted about the street food tour, as I'd spent the previous evening researching how not to offend people when you are out! For instance I now know that its polite to eat with your right hand. The left is used to wipe your butt. I know that it is polite to wait for your server to serve the food to your plate and that cutlery is considered dirty as its touched someone elses lips. Fortunately I was able to put this newly aquired knowledge to use in the hotel restaurant, so it wasnt a total waste. I'm still pissed off though!
Not having had food since the night we arrived we were a bit peckish so we had an early lunch. We thought it would be a light snack, but oh my days we weren't anticipating the huge club sandwich Si was served and I was glad i didnt have bread to go with my Dal! We washed it down with some very tasty Masala tea. It was strange to see tea being poured from a teapot that already had milk in it. This stuff was the real deal, unlike the one we had on the plane which I imagine was an instant one. It came with cumin seeds cookies which were outstanding! I need to make these when we get home. If curry tasted as good at home as it does here I would eat a lot more of it! Ive photographed the Menu so i can try and recreate it . We shall see!
Fully stuffed we needed a brisk lie down to work it off, predictibly I crashed for a good few hours and Si went to the Gym. Still full from lunch I gave dinner a miss and set about trying to find us somewhere to visit so the time here isn't entirerly wasted! That is so far an epic fail. I am an idiot.
All my searching had led my phone to go flat. As it was also dark I decided the Mosquito repeller we bought with us needed to go on. Our travel adapter is one that has different plugs for diferent countries and has been really usefull for quite some time. I noticed that the legs had become a bit wobbly, and to get it to plug in tp the socket, you had to hold the legs out with your fingers and push them in. They are supposed to stay out by themselves and lock into place but there seems to have been a malfunction of some description in the adapter itself and they refuse to lock. So I'm twiddling with the legs trying to get them into the socket and they keep sliding back in to the adapter. I finally managed to get them in and the mosquito thing didnt come on. All I did was flicked the switch next to the plug incase it was off and there was a big poooof, lots sparks and blue smoke flying out of the plug with a strong burning smell. Now the lights don't work on one side of the room. Or the sockets.
Not the best of days but it could be worse, at least the hotel didnt burn down because of me.