Another day in the City of Dreams...

So, having settled in, visited Eagle's Nest and the Creados in Santa Cruz, it's time to head into the city for some light shopping and a visit to my aunt and uncle in Colaba, at the southern tip of the peninsula that is downtown Mumbai.

I could take an air-conditioned car from my hotel but, instead, I've taken the slightly more complex and rather cheaper route of walking to Santa Cruz station and catching bus number 83 to Hutatma Chowk. When I was younger, and before the local Marathi nationalists (think "North Indians go home!" and you'll get the idea...) started renaming the city, it was universally known as Flora Fountain, after the fountain commemorating Sir Bartle Frere, who did so much to create the modern city by infilling the gaps between the original seven islands.

But, as I mentioned, I'm here to shop - first stop the Khadi and Village Emporium, an exquisite caricature of what shopping must have been like in the last century, with a three-stage purchasing process, select in one place, take receipt to another to pay, then take the slip that remains to collection where your purchase has been wrapped for you. A batik style cotton shirt in deepest purple costs about £4 (you may wonder how I can be so precise about that... sorry, Ros...), and I picked up a relatively sober summer shirt for about £2.

Next stop, Chimanlals for paper goods. Sadly, they don't sell the wonderful notebooks they used to have, but for exotic thank you cards, they can't be beaten.

A quick stop for hydration in a bar with a desire to play Madonna's back catalogue, and it's off to Colaba. It's nice to catch up with my aunt and uncle, and my cousin Julian comes home from work, so the two of us head off to the Catholic Gymkhana for dinner and a couple of drinks whilst we talk about travel - he works at a travel agency and is an experienced traveller too.

But, eventually, it's time to head back to the suburbs. Julian walks me back to Charni Road station for a train journey back to Santa Cruz. Luckily, my body clock still thinks that it's about 9.30 p.m. when I arrive back at the hotel at midnight...