Dec. 29 : Bombay, India

Wednesday, December 29 :: Bombay, India :: 67km today / 1253km total

The food last night wasn't great and I couldn't force much down my throat. Only 15km into today's ride I was feeling weak, tired, exhausted. I adjusted my day's expectation and decided to try for Daman, only 100km from where I started. It was NOT fun, riding along sluggishly, a slow cadence, head down, just making miles for the sake of making miles.

Almost fortunately, my knee started "twanging" again 50km in. Being quite familiar with IT Band Syndrome, I knew that last night's icing and stretching would probably not be a fix, and I was right. So again, as with my ankle 2 weeks ago, I was faced with a few options. a) stop and rest in the middle of nowhere and be back on the bike in a few days, b) ride on to Bombay and be off the bike for a week, or c) take a train/bus to Bombay, rest up, and be back cycling in a few days. Well, it's obvious, isn't it?

I pulled into Navsari, found the bus station - no buses to Bombay. Strange. They had a train station, though, and over to it I went. I managed to get a ticket, for myself and my bike... and soon enough (after lots of tipping for the bike-handlers), I was rolling South.

I was in 2nd class, the lowest class available. For a short train ride, I didn't think it would matter. There was nowhere to sit most of the time, except for on top of my bag, which is where I ended up when I was tired of standing. And yes, the toilet emptied directly to the tracks below.

As the train entered Greater Bombay it passed mile after mile of some of the most hopeless slums I've ever seen in my life. It was truly sad and depressing, particularly watching the children play games among garbage piles, swamps of... who knows what. Homes made of tents, tarp, metal siding, barely held together. Row after row of bleak, post-apocalpytic-looking apartment buildings. Quite unreal. I sort of staggered off the train in a stupor, this really was the worst I'd ever seen... worse than Mexico City, worse than Cairo, worse than Bangkok.

On the bike, I spun towards the Colaba district of Bombay through the night. The route took me along the waterfront and past some of Bombay's most flagrantly weathly hotels, restaurants, nightclubs. Completely awful to see this, immediately after seeing all the slums. The contrast was too much. I pulled into my guesthouse ($12/night! outrageous!) and found some great, protein-rich food (2 orders of chicken tikka and naan).

I'm not sure how long I'll stay here in Bombay. Hopefully not long. There's lots of full-of-themselves locals walking around, mostly rich because of genetic luck as opposed to any other reason. Its certainly not "real India" here, and the people do not have the gentle, easygoing, friendly nature of the rest of the Indians that I love. As well, in only 10 minutes of walking around for food etc, I've been hassled to buy hash, marijuana, go to massage parlours, as well as the usual begging. I'll fill up on protein (bigtime!), rest the legs for a few days, then get the hell out of here.