Went and got a few recommendations for dinner.  Ended up with Barbeque Nation.  This was a fantastic choice. Was a little bbq dropped into your table.  Also sorts of meats put on skeweres and put over the bbq.  I had a table to myself and was served by 4-5 staff.  Also they kept bringing out prawns, fish, mushrooms, lamb on the swewers and salad, dips sauces on the side.  Then had buffet with other meats, roti, curries, sweets.  Was one of the best meals I have had for quite a while.. total cost 650RP or around $13.    Couple of phots below, midway through one of my servings.

BBQ Nation - Mumbai

Meat skewers that are laid across a portable bbq with hot coals built into the table.  Pretty neat. Food was delicious these were the appetisers and they kept reloading skewers - I had to tell them to stop so I could sample the buffet.

Day 2 - slept well,  gym and big breakfast.. they have these traditional breakfast of rice pancakes filled with potato baji.. very filling and the cook a bit better than me.. Have a couple of meeting today but will still fit a bit  of sightseeing in for sure.

This pic was near the victoria station mumbai - it is a government municipality builing.

outside victoria station in the 1800's orignially as train station.

India - Day 1 Mumbai

Pretty hectic schedule of late... spent 4 days on the gold coast at a conference and then flew back into Perth on Sunday.

Had one night at home with the kids, making pizza and catching up on their lives.

Now Monday 18th Feb... at the qantas club, about to take off on first trip to India.... I got lucky at the desk and managed an exit row for the first leg of my journey.  I am really looking forward to the trip and expect some sensory overload, with the crowds, poverty, smells, food etc.. At the same time have an overwhelming sense of excitement and the unknown.

Arrived at hotel at 11pm and didn't see much.. Slept ok was beautiful hotel once inside.. Slums just over the road, look like any slums in 3rd world country I guess, similar to favelas in brazil. 

Got up pretty early and took at taxi to the south end of town to see some of the old english buildings.. gateway to india, victoria station.  As expected traffic was chaotic but was told not bad for mumbai standards.  I allowed 90 mins to get to the start of my walking tour with mubai magic and was ahead of schedulde so stopped of at Chapati beach..

Local tour was great, saw the usual sights but also caught local buses and trains as part of the journey.

Had some great street food, at a local restraunt that specialises in this.. was really tasty and all vegetarian.

I caugtht a blue cab which was 2-3 times the price of the normal cabs.. found out that most cabs (normal black and yellow ones are not allowed to have air conditioning as it is illegal and you need a special licence ) apparently no good for the enviroment.. The 10 million cars on the road don't help either.

Chapati Beach Mumbai around 9am

In frount of the Taj Hotel - famous landmark next to gateway of india.

Train journeys locally cost 5rp or about 10 cents. Everything pretty cheap as expected and heading back out this evening to local beaches and resturants.

Where clothes for hotels and rich locals are washed.  Dhobi Ghat.  Men here work 18hrs a day 7 days a week.

Living the dream if you can afford it.  Highrise living downtown

OK - this is the first of many blogs - I think.. It is February 2013.

Like to use this as a way of keeping a track of my adventures, thoughts and feelings and hopefully a good way of staying in touch with family and friends.

I am 42 years old and already done a fair bit of travel both with work and on holidays, one of the main  passions I have in life.  Some of my previous highlights include Moscow, USA, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Cook Islands, UK, France, Prague, Brugge, New Zealand and Asia (hong kong, china, malaysia, bali, thailand).

Rather than trying to capture old thoughts and uploading old photos I want to start from now and just record photos and comments, insights from now on... who knows maybe one day will have time to go back and add others in.

a few  paragraphs / Bio on me....

Generally happy demeanour (although maybe sometimes grumpy) basically pretty easy going and love life.  However feel that work tends to suffocate this somewhat and sometimes end up over tired and not as relaxed as I know I would like to be.  I consider myself pretty balanced, still love sport, now more watching than playing. Great relationship, married nearly 20 years, 3 wonderful kids.   Still dream of getting really fit again.  Although a real introvert ironically enjoy people watching and life.  Always had a fascination for travel and conquering the unknown.

I am probably attracted to people who take on live and live with passion,  generally people with strong personalities,  like kirsten.  I  can't tolerate things that are inefficient,  pretentiousness, bureaucracies and  stupid people.  I  can be a little stubborn, cynical & skeptical by nature.

Have a great family that I am really proud of and we are all very close,  this is the guilty balance I have with travel.  Hate being away from Kir and kids but love the rich experience it brings. So I plan to also include many of future trips with family and kids.