Welcome to Mumbai…A Rough Start to a Great Stay
Right after our cooking lesson, we left directly for the bus station. We were taking a 17-hour bus ride to Mumbai. My stomach was rumbling, too much food for the cooking class and something wasn’t agreeing with me. [Side note: if you are avidly following this blog, you might remember that I have been sick already on two other long-haul bus rides.] We had a sleeper, a double bed with just enough room to sit up with your legs stretched out. “It’ll be okay,” I told myself, “just a little time for the food to settle.” Okay, I was wrong. I spent the next 17 hours completely green and searching for little plastic bags that didn’t have holes in the bottom. Don’t think that I’m bitter or that I don’t have a sense of humor about this (I don’t think Fabs does anymore), but why me? There is plenty of time when I’m not on the bus (refer to earlier trips statistics post) when I could be sick. But like each time before, I survived and by the time we reached Mumbai (Bombay), I had pulled myself together and was back in survival mode- completely necessary for what would greet us.
The morning started when Fabien woke me up, “honey, we’re here,” but we were still 50km from the city. It was an honest mistake as the suburbs were immense and densely populated. An hour and a half later, we heard “Colaba,” (the area of town we were headed to) but by the time we scrambled out of our seats the bus was on its way again. I asked the driver if we had missed the stop, and he told me to sit down, there would be another. A half hour later we reached the end of the line (somewhere near the airport we determined by the low flying planes overhead.) No one would give us honest, reliable information about how to get to the city (another 15km.) Thankfully Fabien had made friends with on the bus with a guy from Bombay who advised us to take the commuter train into town (cheap and fast!) 10 minutes later we had our tickets and we were searching for the platform. After 3 trys with 3 different answere, we found our way to the packed platform. It was rush hour! We watched several trains pass, packed like sardines with huge groups of men spilling out of the doors. How would we ever manage to get on with our huge backpacks? We were also gaining a lot of attention from beggars; waiting around on the platform was getting very uncomfortable as well. We finally decided to JUST DO IT and followed the hordes who literally fought their way on to the train. I was the first in, and immediately trapped in a very uncomfortable position with my backpacking pulling against my chest and my (weak) stomach. I couldn’t see Fabien so I yelled for him to make sure he was on the train. He was hanging off the side of the train with his backpack on the outside. A man yelled at him to get it inside before he hit another train or a post in the station. After 9 weeks in India, I was sure that this was the day, when I would be either strangled by my own backpack or crushed in a stampede. We tried to get off, but the next stop was on the opposite side and nobody would (or could) budge. Finally, we got off about 10km from where we started, completely drenched in sweat and out of breath. We actually waited for a few more trains hoping that the women’s cars or 1st class would be more civilized, but to no avail. We admitted defeat and caught a taxi. Words of advice: DO NOT TAKE A TRAIN DURING RUSH HOUR IN MUMBAI. And if you must, DON’T DO IT WITH A 30lb BACKPACK!
Our taxi driver was friendly and took us exactly where we wanted to go. We passed through some rough neighborhoods (Mumbai has the biggest slums in Asia) before reaching the very modern and pretty Colaba (Mumbai is also the most modern city in India.) We were prepared for the worst, New Years in a city of 16 million, we were going to pay a lot for low quality accomodation. As long as we find a room… We followed a sign to a guesthouse through a decrepit building where we passed a lot of electrical wires and people sleeping on the stairs. The owner greeted us wearing a wife-beater (that’s a sleeveless white shirt reserved for rednecks) and told us there were no rooms available (thank God, I mumbled to myself.) We then found a guesthouse that was recommend on Indiamike.com and got virtually the last free room. No window, no toilet and a cold shower- twice as expensive as our average- but it was Mumbai and it was New Year’s so we took it. The story up to here sounds like a nightmare, but don’t let it discourage you from coming to Mumbai. We ended up having a great time, I’ll tell you why.
1) Shopping: even crazier than Jaipur, you can buy anything and everything here. We rounded off our souvenir shopping, and sent 11kg back to France. Then we found some nice things for our wedding and sent another 10kg two days later. There are numerous government emporiums, so you can find things from all over India at fixed prices. (Actually, even they will negotiate if you buy enough.)
2) Nightlife: there actually is a nightlife here. We really like the vibe at Cafe Mondegar, which seemed to be where the young hip Indians hung out after work. For New Year’s Eve we bought tickets to an all-you-can-eat and drink party at Ali Baba’s Clay Oven. We expected a buffet that would run out by 10pm, but what we got was a full sit down meal (unlimited) and the food was phenomonal. The party was good too, dancing to Hindi music til the wee hours of the morning.
3) Adventure: I was asked twice to be an extra in a Bollywood movie. The first was at our hotel while I was still recovering from my bout with food poisoning. I declined because I wasn’t up to spending 5 hours on a hot movie set. The second time, Fabien and I were approached on the street by a guy looking for a couple. Unfortunately we had already bought train tickets to leave the next morning. I’ll have to save being a film start for the next trip to India.
Fabien and I have discovered that we are indeed city people, true urbanites. We can’t go for too long without a good dose of tall building, happening bars and restos and overcrowding. Then we need a few days in the country to recover from it all. That’s why we chose our next stop, Matheran.
It’s from here that I’ve written the last two posts, the old-fashioned way, by hand. There is no internet access; there are no cars or motor vehicles of any kind. To get to this tiny hill station, you can walk 2.5km uphill, take a horse, or a handcart (someone pushes you.) Of course we chose to walk. Apparently this little oasis was founded by the British 150 years ago and since then it has been preserved as a tranquil get-away place for the wealthy from Bombay. We sat on our terrace the last three days reading, writing and playing cards. For part of the day, we are invaded by mischiveous monkeys, so we have to keep a close eye on our food and belongings. Just watching them playing in the trees and chasing each other from the roof, through the garden and across our terrace can provide an afternoon’s entertainment. It’s only in these moments when you really slow down that you realize how tiring traveling can be…and how good it is to do nothing.
Tags: BIG TRIP 2005-2006, In English 2005-2006, India
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