Mumbai, India

As I've been very slack, and are now posting for the last two months, I'll say very little, just say a little about the photos I've taken.

A couple of weeks before heading to Europe for a holiday, I spent a week in Mumbai, meeting the local team and assisting a colleague who is starting with us in India. We spent most of the time in the office, but we did manage a couple of nights out, and spent a very long time in the car being driven between places. I was quite amazed with the traffic...we sat for close to an hour without moving... Definitely not a place you can get somewhere in a hurry.

This is the Gateway of India, built to commemorate the visit of George the V. I managed to take this from the taxi on the way to dinner... As it was a last minute work trip, I didn't do much sightseeing...perhaps next time I'll plan ahead a little more.

I very much like the old taxis which are in use across the city. All of the taxis look like this (except the A/C ones, which are the same but blue and white). Its not very clear, but the meter is a mechanical device that sits outside the cabin on the right hand side. As you get in the taxi, you pull down the little flag to start the meter.

This is just a view out of the hotel on the southern tip of the Mumbai peninsula. The building next door (I have no idea what it was) had a constantly changing light pattern which was very nice.

Finally, some Indian food...this was at the Raj, and by the time I was eating this we had drank quite a lot of the local Kingfisher beer, and so I was just happy to be able to take this photo without dropping the camera in a bowl of chilli :)I'll hopefully be back in Mumbai early in 2007, so I will make sure I am more prepared and see a little more of this bustling city. Driving around in the taxi, its quite amazing to see how many grand old English buildings are around. The beachfront areas could be taken right from a seaside resort in the UK. I definitely want to see more!

Alan :)