Much better than expected!
Trip Start
Jan 31, 2011
1
7
57
Trip End
Jun 15, 2011
Where I stayed
Guesthouse Prosser
Mumbai (Bombay), Maharashtra, India
Friday, February 11, 2011
We arrived in Mumbai CST train station which is lovely - really grand old victorian architecture and this kind opf architecture can be seen all over Mumbai. It's bizaare - it's like a smaller, much friendlier version of London; there are black cabs (but they are old classic cars) there are pavements (and pedestrian crossings!) and there are actual rules to the road that are (usually) followed - cars go around roundabouts in one direction and they actually stop for a red light, wow!
It is very touristic (a new word that all foreign travellers seem to use) and westernised but for aa couple of days this made a welcome change - the people of Mumbai are so friendly and helpful and the sights are great.
We headed into Colaba (the area where most travellers stay) started with a few beers in Leopolds cafe - a very western place where the beer is served in a giant mobile pitcher with pump so you can pour your own pints at your table :-)
We were helped to find a room by a guy off the street with not many teeth called Daniel! he was very helpful and found it very funny that he shared a name with Danny. He showed us to Guesthouse Prosser which at 600R a night in Mumbai was a good find as everywhere seemed to start at 800R and most places asking for over 1000R. The hotel owner was really nice and asked us if we'd like to take part in a Bollywood movie as an extra, of course we said yes even though it was a night shoot which meant we would have to be there from 7pm to 6am!
The next day we got a picnic from 'Falafel' (yummy hummus, pittas, falafels and pickles) and did a walking tour of Mumbai from the lonely planet book, which saved us lots of cash due to it being free :-) We saw lots of grand old buildings but most importantly and Danny's favourite bit of Mumbai - we sat and ate our picnic at the Oval Maiden. This place is amazing - we've never seen so many games of cricket being played in one place - it's ace... surrounded by palmtrees and old buildings. We sat with one of the league teams while we ate our picnic on chairs under their canopy - high class style!
We also wandered over to the two cricket stadiums but couldnt get inot either - the first was members only and the second was still in renovation ready for the world cup - we even tried getting up a nearby skyscraper to take a peek but that was closed so we had to give up. Later we headed back to the guesthouse ready for some bollywood action. Unfortunately though we got a call to say that the main actor had hurt his leg so the shoot was cancelled; we were secretly relieved as we were dreading the all nighter aspect and later we found out that another couple had got all the way to the studios a few hours away before they found out!
So instead of being bollywood extras we went to a bar and watched the manchester derby and saw Rooney's super goal, then we went to Mondys bar and ate with 2 people from Mumbai about our age who invited us to sit with them as there was a huge wait for tables - the girl left early but the guy 'Ronnie' stayed out so when Mondys closed we headed over the road to club 'HQ' - was v pleased as they were playing eric morillo (hooray!) but we didn't stay long due to 2 drinks costing about 8 quid - eek!
On our last day we kept it pretty chilled and did a bit more wandering about , spent some more time at the Oval Maiden watching Cricket and at night walked through Mumbai to the CST station stopping at Pizza Hut on the way for a takeout! :-)
Mumbai is fab - definately a welcome break for a couple of days but not very 'India' so after a breather of westernisation we were ready to get on our way to Goa on our posh 2A train class!
Comments
Really look forward to reading your bloggs, they're so good, full of interesting stuff and I feel I'm there with you (how I wish) enjoy goa and look out for the soft drink limca, fab with gin! Was sorry that you didn't get to be in a Bollywood film though! Enjoy your travels xxxxx
This is brilliant Julie, it sounds brilliant. Have a wonderful time, and take care and come back safe and sound - but leave it until the summer, it's freezing here!
Love Lynn, Park Hill