David Coats » india

Slums of Mumbai to the towers of Singapore

David — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 12:23:10 +0000

Yesterday morning I finally escaped India. Humppppffffhhh

Ironically, my last day was probably the best. I went on the famous ‘slum tour’ of the Dharavi slums in Mumbai with Reality tours. The biggest slum in Mumbai and the highest earning, dubbed the economic miracle and even visited by Richard Branson, Dharavi has an economy of around $700m a year in recycling and manufacturing and about 1million slum dwellers in a tiny section of the city. The way these guys live and work is truly incredible. Narrow alleys and tiny buildings all perfectly functional like a normal city – running water, electricity – even schools and police, however incredibly incredibly poor.

First we saw the tiny micro factories which make heavy industrial crushing

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Rajasthan pleasures

David — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 07:53:02 +0000

I arrived in Jaipur on 25th from not-so-special Agra. The Taj Mahal is a bit of a disappointment to be honest and Agra is a pretty terrible place to be. The Taj is too packed with people to really enjoy its beauty. Kids screaming and running everywhere, Indians rudely fighting and barging into people to get the best photo opportunity. I wanted to go at sunrise to avoid the crowds but – PAY ATTENTION HERE PROSPECTIVE TRAVELLERS – the Taj Mahal is closed on Fridays, so I had to go on a Thursday afternoon (probably the worst time).

There is little to no power in Agra, so every guest house or shop has its own generator in the street. This means

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India and Sri Lanka photo highlights

David — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 13:23:46 +0000

Today I thought i’d just let the photos of my Sri Lanka and India travel experiences do the talking:

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Sweaty Punjabi nights

David — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 07:55:48 +0000

I’m in Amritsar in Punjab, near the Pakistan border. When I arrived yesterday (Tuesday I think), I was greeted with the intense heat and a million turban’s of the Sikh men who reside here. I met a fellow Brit at the station, David, who was staying at my hotel – the Grand, which is just near the station. I was originally going to stay in the Guruwandas – the free accommodation for Sikh pilgrims at the Golden temple, however I have a nasty cold coming on and was felling pretty grotty after my booze fueled night the day before.

The Grand is a massive rip off so be careful if you stay here. The rooms are nice – air conditioned

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Finally – A Delhi Delight

David — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 12:12:22 +0000

Yesterday I finally had a fantastic day of fun in India. I woke at around 8am with a renewed sense of enthusiasm to find fun in India after several pretty frustrating days, so after breakfast I started talking with the first people I met – an American couple called Ben and Kristin. I asked if they’d like to go with me to the Laxmi Narayan Birla Mandiala Temple – a large Hindu temple not far from our Hotel in Parahganj. They had it on their list for the day so off we went via the Delhi subway. Which was my first big WOW of India!

Now there are plenty of you who see me as a bit of a train geek,

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