Blogs from Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, Asia - page 19

After a long, hot and arduous 11 hour drive we arrived in Mumbai. We stopped enroute at the only fully fledged western style motorway service station we would stop at in all India. Normally none of us or anyone in their right mind would be excited about stopping at a motorway service station, however ub this instance the Indian services gave the group their first opportunity (and last for a long time after Mumbai) to eat McDonalds. Predictably (myself included) we all ate at the golden arches, some going back for seconds. I ate a fiery chicken burger, fries and coke. I was disappointed, although not surprised, to see that beef wasn’t served here, strictly chicken and paneer only. My meal was like all McDonalds meals, shit. However, I did enjoy the build up throughout the ... read more

Today the first part of our tour was on the bus, trying to see the historic buildings from British times through the windows. The sun was almost always in the wrong position to take photos, and we could only see bits of the buildings. Frustrating, even though our guide was knowledgeable and interesting in how she introduced the sites and their architecture. Most significant was the last cast-iron buildingin Mumbai – the hotel that refused entry to the “original” Mr Tata, Mumbai businessman, because he was Indian. He got his revenge by opening the Taj Mahal Palace, open to all. Six rupees per room then. Our first stop was at a Jain temple. This one was quite new, with part still under construction. A few weeks ago the historic temple was closed to tourists, because a ... read more

Namaste! As usual, I feel like I could take one day here and fill an entire blog with the minute details, the people I met and the things I saw, the food I ate and the sounds I heard, but in the interest of time (and in the interest of people ACTUALLY reading my blog and not falling asleep), I will try to provide a big overview of everything that happened while in Mumbai, another city that is on my “Favourites” list. Mumbai began with a 24-hour train ride from Bangalore in Sleeper class, which is my personal favourite train class because you get to see so much more – and, obviously, we were a bit of a curiosity for some leering men, especially when we busted out the travel Scrabble board, but it was worth ... read more

A city of contrasts. Skyscrapers stand next to stately Victorian buildings. Slums scattered throughout the city providing homes for many.The law of the jungle prevails when it comes to traffic control with the horn being the most vital piece of equipment required. Everywhere is busy and hectic and yet despite what appears to be organised chaos the city is at the heart of the drive forward by India. Tomorrow we retreat from this hive of activity and head for Kerala... read more

We arrived in Mumbai in the evening on January 3rd after a short flight from Goa and headed outside to get a taxi, where the chaos and poverty of this huge city was evident straight away. It was dark by the time we got a taxi but we could clearly see the massive slums we were driving through, with people sleeping on the dirty streets, dogs and children sharing water, and people begging. Checking the taxi doors were locked, the driver slammed on the brakes when a fight broke out on the road in front of us and someone went flying across the bonet of the battered car. Sleepy Goa this was not. We had underestimated the sheer size of Mumbai and almost 2 hours later finally arrived in South Mumbai in the Causeway area where ... read more