. Moonshiner is about two hundred metres away.
In the famous Leopold's, Mumbai wearing garlandy thing and red spot...I was Hare Krishnaed, told I was being given good luck and then he asked for some money! Cheek!!
Val (Angel) and I went for a carriage ride around. Nice way to see the city and we were a bit of an attraction as I think they normally use these things for weddings.
This is Santa who worked very hard to pull us around. I love the ears. An Indian breed called kathiawari if I remember. Never thought I'd see one in the flesh!
And I just had to include Gandhi in his nappy...Now for the other part that I wrote before......
I have never understood why some writers have to detail every single meal their characters eat unless the end result of all that food is something like terminal flatulence which might make the character behave out of character and is particularly relevant to the plot. I also don’t enjoy reading in a blog for example about every single course of a meal that someone has eaten. I’m talking Blue Water rally blogs here of which a number can be found on mailasail.com (click on “List all users” to find names if you’re ever so slightly curious….). Hmmm
So, having said all that, I am only going to write about food once although I have probably mentioned some of these things before…. We like meat and it can be very hard to find decent stuff. For some reason(!) most supermarkets in the second and third worlds only seem to supply strange chunks of unidentifiable flesh like chicken feet and backs and cow heels and pig tails. Yuk! I suppose all the best cuts go to the hotels and restaurants. We therefore try to stock up when we can. It’s quite difficult to buy meat in India as I expected. The only meat in the only supermarket in Cochin sold frozen things in poly bags called “veal bits” or “pork bits”, so we bought some! After pressure cooking, it was really quite nice. Enough said.
Other strange things I have eaten on the way round the world have been……
St Lucia….breadfruit….incredibly boring
Guyana…guinea pig…tastes a bit like chicken
Vanuatu….cassava/manioc…..looks feels and tastes like soft paraffin wax (don’t ask!)
Mackay, Oz….kangaroo…...looks and tastes like horse…better stewed than eaten as steaks!
Darwin, Oz……crocodile….tastes (you guessed) a bit like chicken
Singapore…..durian fruit…..tastes and smells like onion that has already been digested!! Don’t try it unless you’re barking mad!!!!
Indonesia……café luwak……the most expensive coffee in the world; tastes very nice and even smells like the civet that previously ate the coffee beans…..so there!
In Salalah, Oman, we may be subjected to eyeballs………….no thanks!
In the meantime, we are now happily and thankfully sitting peacefully at anchor in Mumbai. This is an unscheduled rally stop but one that has become slightly necessary for reasons I am not at liberty to divulge. Make what you will of all this!! We are slightly bemused by it all too.
The 650 mile slog here from Cochin with an overnight stop at Goa en route was not without incident…..surprise surprise! It went like this:-
I was just about asleep and going on watch in four hours when Dick woke me up to say we had a problem. The boat was filling up with water! No immediate panic but some concern to find where it was coming in before the level got too high and things started to get damaged. Just why do these things always happen in the dark with horrible lumpy seas to boot? I “womanned” the pump and managed to get the level down but was really hoping that I wouldn’t have to keep on all night. We called the nearby Rally boats to stand by just in case and started to look for the leak. It turned out to be just ever so slightly funny (if you can imagine being in the situation). An incontinence pad (!) which was used by the engineers in Thailand to mop up excess oil had been left under the engine where it couldn’t be seen and with just enough water in the bilges from seas over the bow, it had started to float, risen up and jammed the stern gland which in turn led to more than a trickle of water coming into the boat where it really shouldn’t have. A bit of skilful manoeuvring under the engine by Dick brought it under control within about an hour. Phew!!
So no more peaceful sleep for me after all that. It didn’t help that we were in the middle of hundreds of fishing boats at the time too meaning that we should have been keeping a permanent lookout.
First impressions of Mumbai? I spent a couple of hours ashore and it seems like an amazing place, bursting with colour, sound and life. It’s also pleasantly cool and February is the best month to visit so they say. Angel Val and David and I managed to find the famous “Leopold’s”, as described in the book Shantaram which you must read if you haven’t already. Not sure if I want to find the infamous Madame Zhou’s brothel though (as also mentioned in the book) but it must have been nearby…….
Tomorrow, we try to book a tour of the city as we have only a couple of days here and we must also visit the awfully posh Bombay Yacht Club before we leave. I shall try to get a couple of photos to go with this post but no promises… No idea at the moment if I can get online either but hoping.
After this, I have no idea when I shall next be online. Our arrival dates in Salalah are a bit vague for security reasons but it should be before the end of this month I hope. If not, you may hear about it on the news (only joking!). We have to take the threat seriously of course though there is very little risk to yachts apparently…we’re just not enough of a catch…..nice to discover how much you’re really worth!
We are trying to stay upbeat but some yacht crews are more nervous than others. We want to stay with the brave ones!
Watch this space…….
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