Mumbai

---

So the first leg of my journey albeit a short one is over. I’m typing this in Mumbai Airport with a rather long wait for my flight to Singapore (An my first dip in a pool Woooh).
The flight from London was great, really recommend kingfisher. Had my first curry on the plane, it came with two other pots of what turned out to be mint yogurt and some semolina type goo, I did a sneaky glance to my left to see what order the Indian bloke next to me was eating. Hands down the best plane food i’ve ever had. Only complaint was they were a little stingy on the drinks. I only managed to get one Jack Daniels and Coke! The 9 hour flight flew by (literally) as I watched a film and slept the rest of the way.
The only frustrating moment was having to listen to 3 Cambridge students congratulating each other on being masters of the universe. The worst being a gobby apple stuck in her mouth girl was exclaiming how she’d done rather well to be on 35k as a first year Teacher at 23 and how she thought she could pass any GCSE with a B+ given an hour to revise (even subjects she hadn’t studied). I couldn’t help but think how Sam would have turned round and given it to her double barrel when she exclaimed that you send your children to private school because you care about the company they keep. Their arrogance and attitude was grating on me so much I had to stick my headphones in.

Touchdown in Mumbai! As soon as I stepped off the plane I was struck by the intense humidity I’ve never felt anything like it, overcast but not raining it was certainly Monsoon season. On entering the airport terminal India’s distinct aroma hit my nostrils, it’s a combination of incense, spices and sewer. Compared to Goa there is more frequent nose wrinkling, stomach churning sewer smells in Mumbai although this is to be expected since its huge city. After all the backstreets of Liverpool are no different on a Saturday and Sunday morning.

I had an idea of what hotel I wanted to go to but had not booked anything in advance, I jumped in a pre paid taxi’s so’s not to get ripped off and set off towards Bagan East. I was enjoying watching the organised madness of the traffic and it struck me, Mumbai has traffic lights.. and they are adhered to (mostly), this is a first for me in India. Just as I opened my mouth to comment there was a high pitched pop from the rear of the car and we lurched left. I looked to the taxi driver and exclaimed “You’ve just had a blow out”, in response I got the famous Indian head wobble as he calmly said “It’s no problem”. Brilliant I though, I’m definitely in India.

Turns out there is not as much haggling needed in Mumbai, on arrival at the hotel I tried to the i’ll go elsewhere routine, it didn’t work 1800rs for one night in Mumbai.. Well there’s my daily budget blown! The hotel was adequate by Indian standards and horrific by UK standards so I was quite happy. I dumped my bags got changed into some cooler clothes and went for a wander. Turns out I was right on the edge of a slum, and little else. I was also the only Westerner around, stranger still hardly anyone was starring and not one person hassled me. To be honest it was a little lonely after a while.
Since I was pretty jet lagged I headed back to the hotel for some sleep and to edit the footage i’d taken.
Later that evening I supposed to be meeting Preeti who’s an acquaintance of Tims from his last trip to India to film for the Starz foundation. Unfortunately she was delayed in work so I had time to kill. I jumped in a Rikshaw and was taken to the Band Stand which also has a fort. I’ll let the pictures and video tell the story. It was at this point I was treated to my first Monsoon shower. I was impressed, not only were the rain drops huge they came at me from sideways on and did a sterling job of soaking me! None of that pathetic UK spittle rain here!

After cowering under a rusty bit of corrugated iron for a while I decided to go all Forest Gump. I ran and kept on running down the sea front for quite some time (practice for the kickboxing), the humidity and uneven surface ensured I didn’t get bored after a while hunger took over. I ducked into a restaurant call Sizzlers. Had a cracking garlic chicken but it wasn’t particularly Indian.
By now I was completely and utterly lost, no one had spoken to me and I still hadn’t seen another westerner. Luckily it was approaching 9pm and I was supposed to be meeting Preeti at a station I had no clue how to get to! Rikshaw time, turns out I’d covered some serious ground.
I met Preeti just as I was replying to her text asking what I was wearing, bit pointless really since I must have stood out like a sore white thumb.

Preeti and her three friends were all lovely, I had an amazing night in a little backstreet bar. Was great to be drinking Honeybee and Kingfisher again. What was even better was the bill. 200rs each for drinks and nibbles. I look forward to meeting them all again as they were truly welcoming and have really put me on a high about meeting new people and discussing topics you just don’t touch on back in England.
Nothing more to note other than me school boy error challenge to myself of walking to the Airport with all my bags. The fact no one could give me proper directions and all looked horrified when I mentioned walking put me off after a while. Good job I did! It was bloody miles! Still saved myself 300rs from my first airport taxi.

---

Photos

My first Chicken Sizzler
Not very indian :(

Comments

[Paul Davies]

Hi
Well written blog, keep it up. I can't believe you've had your first 'Gap Yah' experience already haha.

[Nick]

Awesome
Sounds like you're having a blast mate...miss you!!