India vs. China

This is my first post from Mumbai, India, where I arrived this morning. My timing was bad; three terrorist bombs have gone off in the city tonight, killing several, and spoiling my initial impression of the country.
My initial impression of India was much better than I expected. I have long been warned off India by people who told me tales of gastro-intestinal woes. I imagined Mumbai to be crawling with beggars, snarled with endless traffic jams, grindingly poor.
I arrived just after midnight, and booked a taxi to the YWCA at the airport. There was some rubbish in the streets, but they were not very dirty. There is an elevated flyover being constructed, but as it is not completed, we went the whole route on the ground.
The taxi seemed only and wasn\'t very comfortable, mainly because the ceiling was rather low, so that I could not see very well. It appeared to be a 1950s model, like most of the taxis in the city. But what it lacked in convenience it made up with antique style, and later on I found this applied to other aspects of life, such as the slightly run down colonial architecture.
The driver spoke little English, and I was slightly worried when he stopped the cab several times and left me setting there. I assumed that he had gone to ask for directions. The drive went on and on, but just when I was starting to worry that he was driving me to a remote place to rob and kill me, he stopped in front of the YWCA. The 350 bill, about five pounds, seemed very reasonable.
After checking in, I was shown to my room by a white suited gentleman who the reception rerered to as \'the boy\'. This must be a colonial custom. In any case, this middle aged man politely explained things, most of which I have now forgotten, apart from the tea and coffee room service.
I would have thought the bed some what expensive, as it was in a room to be shared with three others, but since I was the only guest, it seemed fair value. With no aircon, I slept with the fan on.
Waking at five in the morning, I decided to catch the bright lights on Marine Drive before dawn, and caught a taxi there. The taxi driver asked for 200 rupees, about ten times the correct fare, but then dropped to 50, which seemed reasonable. It turned out to be a two minute ride to Marine Drive, which is a long, wide promenade on the sea front popular with joggers and strollers, even at that time of the morning.
I took a few photos but then it started to rain, and I decided to go back to the hotel to look for an umbrella. The clerk advised me of a shop which opened at nine, so I had a two hour wait.
In the meantime, I had breakfast at the Y, which was quite tasty and a mixture of east and west; oat meal porridge with milk, eggs and toast, accompanied by veggie samosas, coffee and tea.
I also had a look at the papers which were refreshingly free of government propaganda which I have got used to in China. One article which caught my eye was a comparison of several free web mail services; GMAIL came out with the best recommendations and I learned several new GMAIL features in the article. In China, the propaganda department does not allow any positive coverage of gmail at present.
The next few hours are already a blur in my memory as I got rather exhuasted walking around in the rain. Eventually I found an umbrella to purchase and paid 200 rupees, a bit more than I would have paid in China, but it seemed slightly better made than those ones. It was made in India. I think I would be happy to pay a bit more in general for things made in the free world, if it could encourage governments to behave in a more liberal way.
As I wandered around, I passed the Modern Art Museum several times, and eventually I found it open, and had a quick look. It was a bit disappointing, with somewhat derivative works on the whole. Probably the best aspect was the building itself, with seemingly endless staircases leading to a large circular hall under drum-like roof which echoed as I walked round.
After this I needed a rest, so I checked back into the Y, and slept for a couple of hours. When I woke, it was after three and the rain had finally stopped. I took a taxi to CST, the main railway station, expecting to feel inspired about visiting the rest of India. After wandering around and taking a few snaps, I was approached by a woman named Sandy, who offered to be my guide for the rest of the afternoon. She took me to a Jain Temple, a bookshop, the so called hanging gardens and other tourist sights. These were all interesting, and she herself was good to talk to. She seemed to be quite a feminist, and critical of the attitude of Indian men to girls. She said that they prefer to abort female fetuses to such an extent that the ratio of girls to boys is 900-1300. She said husbands beat their wives if they give birth to girls.
When I got back to the hotel, I had supper and asked the clerk where to go to enjoy the evening. Better stay in the hotel he advised, since there have been terrorist bombs going off in the city...
This news spoiled my impressions of Mumbai. Up until then I was surprised by how safe the city felt. Even so, I still have a positive impression of India than China. India is not so much poorer than China, and I would prefer to take my chances with the occasional terrorist bomb than live in daily fear of a dictatorial government.
this photo was taken on 2011-07-13 at Mumbai, India

Water shortage. Mumbai seems to suffer from water shortages, internet outages, terrorist bombs, endemic corruption and other problems. But I would still prefer to live with all these, rather than live in a country were the government terrorises citizens who just want freedom of speech.

Tour Guide Sandy. She showed me some interesting places, but the most interesting thing was Sandy herself; a feisty, confident woman in a society were women are second class citizens.