I nearly missed my train ride from Ahmedabad to Mumbai last night. It normally would take me 20 minutes to reach the station but that night there was so much traffic on top of the usual traffic. There's a kite festival coming up in India on the 14th of January. So one of the main streets leading up to the station had turned into an overnight kite market. It was chaos. People were running left and right to try and buy the best kites. There's going to be an international kite-flying competition in Ahmedabad on the 13th, which I'll be missing.

Anyhow, I reached Mumbai safely around 5am and suddenly got scared. I met a young woman on the train who told me I was crazy for traveling to Mumbai alone being a woman. And then a few Uncles' I spoke to prior to leaving were very concerned about my well-being. So I got off the train regretting my decision - what was I thinking?

I headed towards the closest rickshaw stand and told myself all I needed to do was get a ride to the international airport - easy. But the drivers at the stand were all looking me up and down. I didn't want to get in with any of them. I took my time negotiating a fixed price with some of them, but really I was trying to get a vibe for which one of them would be decent enough to take me directly to the airport. An Uncle had warned me that when he got into a cab in Mumbai one time, the driver left him stranded on a deserted street and demanded he empty out his wallets.

All the drivers were telling me they'd take Rs 250 to get to the airport, but I got the price down to Rs 150. I chose a driver that seemed the least sketchy out of the bunch and pretended to give out his rick and employee number to a pretend person over the phone.

Long story short, his rickshaw suddenly "broke down" about 5 minutes from the airport. He asked for his Rs 150 and conveniently his other sketchy friend drove by who said he could drive me the rest of the way up for Rs 50. My driver didn't even attempt to restart his engine, I knew something wasn't right, especially thinking back on my Uncle's story. I wasn't scared as I had noticed a police officer standing about a block away. So I got out of the rick and told my driver I'd go ahead and find my own rickshaw to get me the rest of the way up. The two started asking for more money and tried to intimidate me by getting closer and louder. Without even thinking about it, I just started yelling at the two men as loudly as I could in English. I was so upset and at the same time knew I had to get some attention going. How could they pull a prank like this on a woman traveling alone?

Everything happened so fast. In the end I only paid my driver Rs 100 for getting me as far as he did before they sped off as they noticed the cop I had seen earlier approaching. The cop asked me if everything was okay and waited until I found another rickshaw.

At the airport I was four hours early for my flight and still nearly missed it! Jet Airways was having so many technical difficulties. When it came time for check-in everything was a mess. No one knew which line to wait in and staff members weren't explaining or directing anyone as to what was happening or what passengers should be doing. I was re-directed to a different line four times.

Alas, I've made it to Bangkok safe and sound. I made a friend on the plane who was a total gentleman and insisted he help me find a proper cab driver. That wasn't too difficult as the airport deals with an official taxi service called AOT and keep tab on where passengers are being taken. I've made it to my very luxurious abode, which I have to remind myself is only temporary; it's conveniently located in central Bangkok. Let's see how the week goes.