Blogs from Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, Asia - page 97

We arrived here yesterday morning and it was raining quite a bit, my first impression of India was seeing a dog run across the runway in front our plane after we had landed! The airport was very sparse and it is very humid everywhere. After filling in about 4 forms and waiting in as many queues we finally managed to work our way out of the airport only to be told that the hotel I had pre booked for us was a dump and in the middle of the red light district (Grant Road) with no places of interest nearby! We therefore decided to change accommodation to a more desirable location (Colaba) and took a "cool cab" (AC included) to the city centre. After driving through probably 10 miles of shanty towns we arrived in central ... read more

Hooray!! Time to go to India! After enduring what seemed like an interminable period of incredibly boring food, it was time to go somewhere where they used spices!! We had been looking forward to India for a variety of reasons. Apart from the food, there was the culture, the insane traffic, and of course several centuries of history and architecture to look at!! We were also steeling ourselves for the horde of beggars that we imagined descending upon us even as we left the airport... Our lonely planet told us that June is NOT the time to go to India, as this is the really really hot season, but hey, we didn't have a choice but figured that if we could cope with the desert in Tunisia and Egypt, we could cope with anything India could ... read more

Neverending tour On & off. Where do we go? Need to learn Hindi! I decided the best way to see some of Mumbai was to sign myself up for a City tour. The first tout that approached me must have thought I had sucker written on my forehead because he quoted me 1150Rs for a three hour private tour by car and then gave me a "special" deal of 850Rs for being his first sucker (I mean customer) of the day. Then I told him I'm not spending more than 400Rs and said that I'd go the cheaper bus option. Even over there they tried to charge me 200Rs but I told him I was quoted 150Rs previously...betcha the going rate is 100Rs?? Oh well. Since I had about 1/2 hour before the bus took off, ... read more

My first impressions of mumbai (bombay) was driving in a dodgy taxi with a top speed of 11km/h through what I thought were backstreet alleyways but were infact the main roads of this confounded city. It was 2am and not a creature was on the street except for the occassional stray dog. Garbage was strewn on every corner, the air stunk of rotten sewerage, and I found myself asking what I was doing here. My first adventure involved catching the train down to Bombay downtown. I decided to be thrify and travel second class on the train. Terrible mistake. In india, the local trains travel with their doors open so that they can cram as many people in (leaving the doors open allows people to precariously dangle out the sides of the train). People have NO ... read more

We arrived in Mumbai with only two full days left in India. After the standard process of bargaining with a cab driver and having to force him to take us to the hotel we requested, we stepped out onto the amazingly clean streets of Mumbai. We had heard horror stories about the extreme amount of people in the city, but we were quite suprised to find that it wasn't very crowded. The traffic almost seemed to have some sense of order to it. I think one reason it was like this is because the city has laws that prevent rickshaws within the main city area. This left only cars and taxis on the streets, and it left us with an uncanny feeling that we were back in the US of A. Mumbai is definitely the wealthiest ... read more