Blogs from Maharashtra, India, Asia - page 11

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Asia » India » Maharashtra » Mumbai June 10th 2016

Leaving Nepal we encountered some of the bureaucracy that this area of middle Asia is known for. The number of stamps needed post X-ray, the number of searches, the number of people to check the stamps and so on. None of us have ever had a bag search at the steps leading onto the plane! We're at Mumbai airport and Cas is off getting food for Tom and Hat, Bob and Ed are deep into a game of chess. Earlier today we walked into Indra Chowk and found five toiletry shops, one of which had a good bristle shaving brush. Ed and Hat also picked up their self designed T shirts. I rounded up at couple of taxis and we were off to the airport, we had the windows down as it was hot and the ... read more
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Asia » India » Maharashtra » Mumbai June 5th 2016

Hi all, Tuesday 31st May – Bangalore to Pune Now Uni was done I was back on tour with work! I had to be up at 5am to catch an 8.10am flight. We left at 5.30am and was at the airport for 6.45am, still a ridiculous amount of time given the time of the morning and the actual distance from my apartment to the airport. For once… my flight was on time! I was so tired I slept on the plane… we had to stop at Hyderabad on the way, bit of a detour but not many direct flights from Bangalore to Pune. And then I heard that the next stop after Pune was Goa! I was tempted to stay on the plane J The flight was remarkably uneventful, NOBODY talked to me (I guess I ... read more

Asia » India » Maharashtra » Mumbai » Colaba May 7th 2016

As the title suggests we weren't overly impressed with Mumbai. I've been here before on my previous trip and only stayed one night because it's that bad. The train station is in the top 10 things to do! Followed by a park...etc you get the picture. Already knowing there wasn't much to get up to other than spend money, we'd planned to be in and out in a day. We arrived from Pune around 11pm and headed to Colaba, the tourist district. This is home to the Taj Mahal Palace hotel, and for just £400 per night you can have a royal experience. Of course, if you're on a budget you could always stay in one of the cheaper £200 per night rooms situated OUTSIDE of the actual palace. I'm fairly certain (The internet had gone ... read more

Asia » India » Maharashtra February 26th 2016

Geo: 20.5312, 75.7487Riding the train, Kochi to Goa This started well with an air con compartment with 4 beds to ourselves, which we thought we had booked in its entirety, so we were rather horrified when incessant loud banging at 2.00 am woke us and the conductor turfed Peter out of his bottom bunk for an Indian man to join us, and another arrived later about 6.00. It was a bit intimate, Indian style, and we were decidedly unfriendly, being used to more personal space and privacy. Surprisingly this shabby train with dirty windows and toilet rated highly on the India railways survey, confirming that standards of cleanliness are entirely relative.We worked out from the timetable that it would be better to get off the train at the 2nd Goa station,which Peter explained to the conductor ... read more
and sunset
the Portugese Cathedral in Old Goa
and another of their lovely churches

Asia » India » Maharashtra » Aurangabad February 26th 2016

Geo: 19.8853, 75.3197... read more

Asia » India » Maharashtra » Mumbai February 19th 2016

Mumbai is a strange & fascinating mix of celebration & disaster! Though, this is quite true for all of India but it’s adequately obvious in the ‘Maximum City’. It’s full of people – starlets, dreamers, fantasizers. It houses India’s most prolific film industry & some of Asia’s biggest slums. Mumbai is exactly like it is portrayed in Bollywood movies. It’s jazzy & glitzy & then hard at times. The city has maddening energy & amazing of all, everyone seems quite settled with this fusion. On 12th Feb’16, as I stepped out of the Mumbai Airport after an early morning flight from Delhi, I was greeted by palm trees (precisely, 3 trees ;)) & warmer humid (not so much though) winds & for a moment I thought I was in Goa ;) However, ... read more

Asia » India » Maharashtra » Malshej Ghat February 17th 2016

Malshej Ghatis a mountain pass nestled in the towering rough hills of the Western Ghats. The mountain pass is about 150 KM from Mumbai & 130 KM from Pune. I got a chance to drive down to Malshej Ghat from Mumbai & the 3 hours long drive was one of the best experiences of my life ever! The majestic Western Ghats have narrow, curvy road with deep valleys & numerous blind spots & sharp turns. Thankfully, the roads are well-made, especially the one that led us to Malshej Ghat from Mumbai. The continuous elevated crest of mountains and hills offer breathtaking view of nature. Driving along the Western Ghats in the midst of clouds, dense fog & greener-than-green valley is a blessing for any outdoor enthusiast. It is definitely more about the journey than the destination ... read more
The drive
View of the ghats

Asia » India » Maharashtra » Mumbai February 7th 2016

07/02/16 catch a 6am 2.5 hour flight to Mumbai, locate a local guest house/hostel, a little crowded but a bed none the less. Venture south via metro & train to visit a couple of art galleries, exhibitions around a seasonal street arts festival while stumbling upon the odd sight. 08/02/16 move into the Salvation Army hostel in the south, I spend the rest of the day with a small group voice dubbing a Bollywood movie, my few lines as a policeman in what looked like a Bollywood attempt at a thriller, set in Ireland made a fun afternoon & an insight into how things get done. 09/02/16 head off first thing on a tour of the Dharavi Slum; Asia's largest hosting a fascinating collection of back street industries grossing estimated to be well over $400 million ... read more
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Asia » India » Maharashtra February 6th 2016

So today is the last day of a busy, diverse and very Indian tour. It would be great fun to continue, but the other places to see will have to wait. I am sure I will be back in India, perhaps back to Ladakh. There was plenty of inspiration for other trips in the museum today. On the trip with our guide this morning it was a mixture of culture and architecture. The architecture included the university and the main station. We couldn't do the guided tour inside the admin block of the station because it wasn't available due to government holiday. We saw the outside and the ticket hall. The cultural side was the laundry, the tiffin boxes and the fishing village. These are like you see in the documentaries. The laundry was the best, ... read more

Asia » India » Maharashtra February 5th 2016

The visit to Elephanta Island was a relaxing way to start the visit to Mumbai. The boats to the island leave from the gateway to India. This is next door to the Taj Palace hotel. This is the hotel that was bombed and has been rebuilt. There was a very pleasant breeze on the boat, but it was very smoggy so there was no view of the coastline. The air pollution was a news item. It has been made worse by a fire at a rubbish dump. On the way to the Island we passed an oil tanker, a huge beast, and an old fashioned fishing boat, small fry. Elephanta island was named by the Portuguese because they saw an elephant sculpture on the island. The island still has a thin belt of mangroves. Generally Mumbai ... read more




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