Mumbai or Bombay, call it what you want.

The arrival to Mumbai was smooth at the central station. My next train to Goa was from the CST at about 10.15pm. Things in Mumbai already looked different, Taxi cabs had replaced autos, Saree's were mostly replaced by pants and the street scene had also changed. The taxi to the next station cost me about 200 rupees, seemed a little high to me but heck I had to pay. It was only about 1 pm and I had roughly 9 hours to wonder around. I found the Cloak Room and checked my bag in after a scan that didn't really mean crap since the cop monitoring the scanner didn't even look at the screen. Army posts were visible all over the station, which I must say was huge.

The Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus(CST) or Victoria Terminus was built in 1887 by the British. It is Asia's busiest train today with about 2.5 million passengers passing through.With about 15 or so platforms, it seemed liked the busiest in the world. I knew something was up with my bank card and had to talk to my bank about it before I ran out of the small amount of money I had. Making a international call was going to be expensive so I decided to chat with the customer service rep online. I was informed that my card was blocked in suspicion of theft and I had to call customer service to speak to them directly. I had no option but to call and face the huge phone charges. After holding on the line for a few minutes I was connected to someone who mentioned that it was certainly blocked and my defence that I had already notified the bank of my travel was o f no value. I had to call the international fraud department to clear things up and they weren't going to be open for another 3 hours. Well I had all the time in the world so why not!!

I walked around the city for about a few hours, nervous and worried. The worse that can happen to you when travelling internationally is when you cant access your funds. I was finally able to clear things up and sat inside the phone booth breathing a sign of relief. I bought some Ladoos(Indian sweets) to celebrate and headed towards the train station. I didn't get to explore Mumbai much, but then it wasn't my idea to do so anyway. Mumbai has way to many people, it is still dirty like most other cities and I didn't find it safe to wonder the streets by myself. Maybe someday when I can find a travel companion I shall return here to check out the hot spots and become a Mumbai expert.

The train was on time and I had for the first time a lower seat where I could sit and read without having to hunch over all the time. It was time to say goodbye to Mumbai and head over to Goa.