Bombay / Mumbai

This is the beginning of the blog for my most recent trip - Bombay, Delhi, Amritsar, Batala, and Chandigarh.

We took the direct flight from Newark, New Jersey to Bombay, India. Arriving at Newark we found out the gate had changed which ended up being a good thing since the new gate was right next to the one we came out of. It was quite obvious which gate it was too because the "line" to board looked like this.


The plane was having some electrical problems with reading lights so we got delayed. Newark airport, although crowded, was quite nice. I caught a glimpse of the NYC skyline on the way in and it was visible from the airport as well. Pretty cool to see the Statue of Liberty, I'll hopefully see it up close sometime.


The flight from EWR -> BOM was already long (~14.5 hours) and the heavy incoming traffic in Bombay made it even longer. On future trips, I would much prefer a layober in Europe or Dubai or something. The Continental plane had a newish looking entertainment system with touchscreens. It was loaded with plenty of movies, TV shows and music to pick from. This is an important fact to remember because there was a distinct lack of user-controlled entertainment options on the way back to EWR from Delhi airport. The entertainment combined with some good walking around and standing in the back and a few futile 25 min naps passed the time.

On landing in Bombay, we de-boarded and walked to immigration. I tried to tell some old guy how to use the touchless sinks in Punjabi and he answered in English but at least he was happy. The airport was fairly empty and under construction but we did land late at night local time. When exiting the airport around a corner, we came upon a HUGE crowd of people waiting just beyond the barriers outside. I actually did a double-take and mentioned that I should take a picture from inside. As I seem to do so often in these situations, I did not take a picture and am regretting it at this very moment. It was just weird to leave an empty airport and suddenly come upon so many people standing quietly in the night all focused intently on one door. Ahhhhhh I should have taken that picture. If anybody reading this has a similar experience, please have your camera ready. :)

Now as we walked towards our vehicle, a couple guys started walking with us and trying to help move our cart. We didn't need any help and let them know about three times before they got the message.

Note: This will happen to you. They will probably follow you until you get to where you are going and try to help you load your luggage into the car especially if you have a lot of stuff. If you need the help, take it but it isn't free. It is expected to give a tip somewhere in the range of 10-20 rupees. If you don't need the help make it known.

We were picked up by family and after somehow fitting all the luggage into the car, it took a good 15 minutes to negotiate a way through the packed parking lot. There is a lot of construction going on, a theme I saw repeated throughout India.

Bombay is known as the city of people and as we drove towards Juhu beach at 11pm, it could have been the middle of the day - traffic was heavy and there were people EVERYWHERE. The driving can make the first-time visitor nervous as the concept of patience is alien and there are few (followed) traffic laws. Stop at intersections if you want to, otherwise try your luck. It is fairly safe when taking a taxi/auto/rickshaw but its always good to make sure the driver is in his senses (not drunk). Watch for the 3-wheeled auto-rickshaws to scrape wheels as they pass each other.

I saw a Pizza Hut and a Subway on the way and so far it seems that the city of people is appropriately named.

More to come - Leave a comment/question and I'll get back to you!

---

---