Blogs from Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, Asia - page 10

Right after biting into some spicy breakfast sandwich that Nikhil bought at a train station on the way to Pune from Mumbai, I’ve decided that the only way to soothe the chili taste in my mouth is to write a blog entry on Mumbai! Suzi is resting after only about 3 hours of sleep tonight, and for some reason I don’t feel tired at all. But let’s start at the beginning. We arrived in Mumbai on December 28th, very late. We checked into the Cricket Club of India (member only club that is connected to the former national cricket stadium – thank you Sahil for letting us use your membership!). CCI is located in the most developed and urban part of the city in the south. When we were done with basic unpacking, we went quickly ... read more

After years of planning, farewell parties, hangovers and emotional goodbyes...we finally boarded an old and tired looking British Airways 747 to Mumbai. We both had a mixture of feelings from tiredness and nerves, to eventually, excitement. This was be a long trip of at least three or four years, so emotions we running high. A smooth nine hour flight with crummy food, cruddy on-flight entertainment, and frumpy trolley dollies, saw us land safely in Mumbai. As we left the plane the humidity hits us "yes, we're somewhere exotic!". The feeling soon evaporates as the stench off dirty diesel, human waste, and curry vibrantly lifts the room. It's 4am, and there is only three or four thousand people waiting for a mere two hundred and fifty passengers, most of them taxi drivers frantically awaiting our overpaying custom. ... read more

Van alle plaatsen die we in India bezochten is Bombay de meest bizarre en fascinerende, vandaar een extra blog over deze megastad. Bombay is een soort uitvergroting van een toch al uitzonderlijk land (of eigenlijk continent), een stad met het op een na duurste huis ter wereld, terwijl ruim de helft van de Mumbaikars (zo heten de locals) in krotten woont. Dit bijna duurste huis ter wereld (176 m hoog, compleet met bioscoop, parkeergarge en zwembad) wordt overigens niet echt bewoond, waarschijnlijk omdat de eigenaar en zijn familie het niet veilig vinden volgens de Indische variant van Feng Shui. De oostgevel is namelijk erg gesloten en de westgevel open en dit zorgt, aldus een expert in dit soort zaken, voor ruzie en veel negatieve energie die via de westgevel binnen kan komen. Voor de zekerheid is ... read more

I wake up with my heart smiling, the lips follow suite The sun is itching to shine, but the sky needs a little more preparation The birds are chirping to glory, as if announcing the arrival of a special guest I wonder, are these birds screaming in happiness or merely fulfilling their daily chore? A quick stroke of the toothbrush, track pants and tee adorned, My feet stride forward first slowly and then faster into a jog The air feels abundant and full of cryptic messages Similar bodies pass me back and forth, different lives yet in unison we begin our day The sky is now ready, yielding a beautiful pink on its canvas I wish to believe, the sun is aiming its rays on me first, for I am the special one Tring tring rings ... read more

La publicité touristique dit "L'Inde incroyable" et c'est vrai. Du sublime a l'abject, du nirvana a l'enfer, tout est ici. PALITANA C'est ici que j'ai retrouve l'Inde de mon imagination: sereine, méditative, apaisante. Palitana est un petite localité en Gujarat, renommée comme lieu de pèlerinage jain. Nous sommes descendus de Udaipur une journée entière, en bus et taxi, pour joindre cette petite ville. Le lendemain nous sommes partis tôt le matin pour monter les 3200 marches qui mènent en haut d'une montagne ou se trouve les 869 temples jains. Vous avez bien lu, ce n'est pas une invention: 3200 marches et 869 temples. En bas de la montagnes il y a un lac immense (comme le Champlain) qui serpente entre d'autres montagnes. Dans la montée il y a 7 paliers avec eau et repos pour ceux ... read more

My last night in Varanasi ended more spending. I was hunting the markets for a present to get my nephew, more specifically, an army style watch with a compass. I asked someone (who I later found out was named Rahul) who sure enough knew someone who owns a quality watch shop. And of course, in the land of India where anything is possible, a small watch shop had one army style watch with a compass. Rahul, who was very sweet, bargained with me, took me for some aluchat (a local street snack which is like a potato dumpling served in a leaf with a spicy dahl type sauce for 10 rupees), after which I felt very much obliged to 'see' his shop. No obligation to buy, right?! I walked out having spent 3000 rupees on spices, ... read more

I arrived in India on Oct. 13 – I think. Flew here from Hanoi. Spent about 3 weeks on a beach in Goa, which seemed to be much needed after the chaos of Hanoi. It was a pretty idyllic setting – a nice open, palm fringed beach – where the sea was perfect for swimming every day. I rented a small, very simple bungalow right on the beach and settled into a routine of yoga every other day and running every other day. Nice to start being healthy again! Cows definitely rule here – they hang out everywhere, including in the middle of the road. Nobody dares raise a finger to them. Traffic simply goes around them. After about 3 weeks on the beach, I decided it was time to move on – and had heard ... read more

Mumbai Airport was our first taste of what we expected in India. Baggage claim is bad at British airports where few stay outside the yellow lines to claim their bags, however, in India they do not bother painting yellow lines for obvious reasons. As you can guess chaos prevailed but no harm was done as our luggage, in typical Indian fashion, did not appear for one and a half hours and after most people had left. Our taxi, which had been waiting two and a half hours (plane was 40 mins late), was waiting and after a very slow 90 minutes journey, through the slums of Mumbai, deposited us at our hotel which was surprisingly nice. We do not normally eat in hotels as they are usually expensive but we were too tired to go elsewhere. ... read more