Mumbai

Sporting summer tans and sand in all the hard to reach places it was time to see what Mumbai (formerly Bombay) is all about. The city is heralded as the economic Powerhouse of India and rightly so as it is responsible for producing 40% of the country’s GDP (according to our guide book). If you understand how a city of only 16 million people in a country that is 1.2 billion strong is capable of doing this then you’ve passed India 101.

Colaba is the tourist area in Mumbai and that’s where we based ourselves. It also happens to be a very nice location, clean wide nicely sealed streets, green trees, no rickshaws (they are banned from central city areas) and no general disgusting-ness which too often typifies large collections of Indian dwellings.

With only a short time to look around we battled the intense heat for the umpteenth time and in the process ran the risk of being potential terror targets by spending the day taking in the main sights. The Gateway of India was particularly cool as you can see below.


The India Gate was built by the English and as their last platoon left India in 1948. They marched through the gate whilst possibly singing ‘God Save The Queen’ into their awaiting ship where they may have casually sipped tea and nibbled on club sandwiches and scones as they sailed off into the sunset eagerly anticipating a Sunday Roast back in the motherland.

In many ways Mumbai is leading the way for the other Indian cities to follow. One example of this is the recent horn honking ban that was imposed in the central city. During the ban 36,000 motorists were fined for unnecessary honking. An amazing statistic, but if you’ve spent some time in India you’ll know all about the locals love of the horn.


Down an alleyway we spied something almost as unnatural as cows living on beaches. We saw three cats feeding on only Rajjy knows what whilst two impossibly large rats hovered about like hyenas. Who would have thought that natural enemies such as Tom and Jerry could co-exist seemingly peacefully, only in India


Desperate for more tourist activities we decided to scrape the barrel by dining at Leopold’s. Leopold’s is a long standing icon in Mumbai but it’s been tarnished for us by reading the book Shantaram – as it should have also done for any others that have taken the time to read the book.

Random Fact: Bollywood is based in Mumbai. Any foreigner wondering the streets will likely be asked to be an extra in a movie - great idea if you've got a day to kill

Highlights:
- McDonalds at the train station. Running late to our train and starving from no dinner the golden arches were like an oasis in a greasy, spicy, curry filled desert.
- Possibly discovering where Indian television commercials are filmed. For months now we’ve wondered where the clean, wide, modern and well sealed streets are that they used in commercials. We now know that Mumbai is a possibility but our money is still on them being filmed abroad.
- Cut throat shaves for $0.80 NZD. These guys are all around India but before you expose your throat to a stranger you must evaluate his skill with the blade- Dan went first… Mumbai had the goods and left us as smooth as a hard training Teddybear

Lessons Learned:
- Every city has its unique junk that people try to sell to you. Mumbai has large balloons shaped like bowling pins. If you buy one, blow it up to make sure it is in fact a large one
- Following the terror attacks guards are now positioned in key strategic points. Every single one of these guys looked they were ready to lay their life on the line… for some more sleep…
- Don’t watch the movie ‘The Watchers’. It is absolutely terrible.