Mumbai Mania!!??!

I've been in Mumbai nearly 4 days now and I'm starting to get to grips with the areas I've stayed in- Kemps Corner (centre-north) and Churchgate (centre). Sadly I can't upload any images as, despite the much lauded cyber boom that's meant to be hitting India, it's nigh on impossible to find a decent computer for public use. But then I am crap at finding things so give me another couple of days.
Because of my fear of crowds, noise, filth and general agarophobia (sorry for spelling error), I decided to 'Bill Bryson it' and do as many things as possible each day in a 5 hour period at which point I would crawl back to my room and watch horrendous rubbish on CNN, order room service, do yoga and recover. It worked for the first three days- I saw the hanging gardens (not sure if it's a popular suicide destination but I didn't see much hanging. Good view of CHowpatty Beach and cityscape though), the Ghandi museum (very inspirational), the Mahalaxmi temple (where I prayed more more wealth for everyone), the ALi Haji mosque (where I had my first major encounter with lots of beggars- it is shocking how many poor and disabled people there are here and it's a big issue for me that I have thought about for years and haven't reached any decisions about yet. I just know that if I was in their situation I would probably want someone to have pity on me and give me some money. And it makes me feel so grateful that I'm not in their situation. I also got asked for money twice through a taxi window by some transvestites- they are famous in Mumbai for causing havoc at weddings etc where they threaten to put a curse on you if you don't pay them for their entertainment. They were really cute and much more convincing than any I've seen back home!). I also went to an amazing place which is a hamlet of people who wash clothes- they all live there and there are huge washing tanks and loads of clothes hanging up to dry. I got some good photos of that.
Yesterday I changed hotels from a bit of a dump in Kents Corner to a nicer place in Churchgate and hibernated/ hid for a day. The pollution, noise and general bonkersness became too much and I felt I needed to regroup, watch Oprah and American Idol (thank god for TV) and eat Western crap food.
Today I'm back at 'em- I walked past the Oval Maidan where the cricket was on, saw the court house, university, modern art museum and Chatapatri Shivaji Museum which was all very nice and interesting. Bill would be proud of me- I even carefully examined the military section of the museum, comparing swords and daggers (YAWN!!).
Now I'm off to Mocha for an...Iced coffee and to finish my really bad poem- the only thing I like about it is the title which is all I'll be sharing:
'Don't Mocha Me!' (sorry- I'm lonely and don't have anyone to talk to and I've only got bad AmericanTV to watch etc!!). It's about how whenever I've run into a coffee place in India to escape from the lunacy and heat, I've ended up being bombarded by either heavy metal or banging house music!

Changi International

Ok I'm not going to pretend that I've actually been to Singapore but I have just spent a very pleasant 8 hours of the night here waiting for my onward flight to Mumbai. Top tip from me if you ever have to do the same thing: pay 25 quid and get 6 hours sleep plus shower and refreshments (including a semi decent little brekkie) at the rainforest lounge. I actually got some sleep and may be able to arrive in Mumbai with my wits about me.
So off to my next adventure- I don't mind sharing the fact that, not really being a city or large crowd gal, I am bricking it about staying in Mumbai so long but I have found a yoga place with an authorised ashtanga teacher where I can sweat out my fear and I am rather looking forward to getting on the Shantaram (google it/him) trail.