The trip was your typical 24 hours of traveling with a reroute through Chicago instead of New York and a quick shower in Heathrow. But the flight from Heathrow to Mumbai was atypical. The plane was nearly empty. A big 777 with probably 56 business class seats but only 9 business class passengers. It was like having a private jet. It also made us wonder why nobody was flying to Mumbai.
Well, we wonder no more. Having arrived at 1am, we didn't see much on the way to our airport hotel but what we did see was pretty run down and sad looking. But we withheld judgment hoping that by the light of day things would appear less bleak. Not so. Pretty bleak. After catching some sleep and a quick breakfast we grabbed a cab to take us to a couple of the relatively rare tourist spots here over an hour away from the airport downtown at the harbour. Still a pretty bleak place. In fact, I'd probably have to place Mumbai at the bottom of my ratings list of the "Cities I've Visited". And remember that I've been to Bangkok and Hanoi and Cairo.
Nevertheless, we saw Victoria Terminus and the Gateway to India arch below.
Outside the pier at the arch are all the hawkers trying to sell youballoon s. No idea why. And not regular balloons and not helium filled balloons but just big, honking balloons. (Not the ones the woman is blowing up in the photo below. Look at the green one behind the guy on the right or the one the guy is holding in front of himself in the back left.) Of course, as is always the case in these situations, there are 6 or 7 people within 50 ft of each other trying to sell you the exact same balloons as if, having walked past the first 5 of them, you will suddenly be taken by the urge to purchase a massive balloon from this, the 6th one. Michael politely told the guys thanks but he already has a big one!
While there we chatted with an American sitting at the next table (apparently locals start showing up at 8:30P). We remarked on our impressions of Mumbai, and he told us that it's the nicest place he's been in India so far. Woah. But he's been to Varansai (not going), Chennai (not going) and some other places I hadn't heard of (so clearly not going).
We on the other hand, head south to Kerala tomorrow. By all accounts, it should be beautiful there. Fingers crossed.
Well, we wonder no more. Having arrived at 1am, we didn't see much on the way to our airport hotel but what we did see was pretty run down and sad looking. But we withheld judgment hoping that by the light of day things would appear less bleak. Not so. Pretty bleak. After catching some sleep and a quick breakfast we grabbed a cab to take us to a couple of the relatively rare tourist spots here over an hour away from the airport downtown at the harbour. Still a pretty bleak place. In fact, I'd probably have to place Mumbai at the bottom of my ratings list of the "Cities I've Visited". And remember that I've been to Bangkok and Hanoi and Cairo.
Nevertheless, we saw Victoria Terminus and the Gateway to India arch below.
Outside the pier at the arch are all the hawkers trying to sell youballoon s. No idea why. And not regular balloons and not helium filled balloons but just big, honking balloons. (Not the ones the woman is blowing up in the photo below. Look at the green one behind the guy on the right or the one the guy is holding in front of himself in the back left.) Of course, as is always the case in these situations, there are 6 or 7 people within 50 ft of each other trying to sell you the exact same balloons as if, having walked past the first 5 of them, you will suddenly be taken by the urge to purchase a massive balloon from this, the 6th one. Michael politely told the guys thanks but he already has a big one!
After a brief escape into the air-conditioned Harbour Bar at the Taj Hotel for a beer, we headed back to our hotel. This evening we ventured out across crazy, crowded busy streets teeming with people, cars, buses and tuk-tuks to a local restuarant called the Seven Flags, though, and had a wonderful meal. Michael ordered tandoori chicken, some fried potatoes and a vegetable curry. I remembered to ask for the curry to be medium-hot. THANK GOD. The chicken was absolutely wonderful. The potatoes were fried potatoes (you can't go wrong there.) And the curry was great; but if that's medium-hot, there'll be no eating the really hot stuff! And the whole bill with drinks was $14US - less than the beers at the Taj Hotel.
While there we chatted with an American sitting at the next table (apparently locals start showing up at 8:30P). We remarked on our impressions of Mumbai, and he told us that it's the nicest place he's been in India so far. Woah. But he's been to Varansai (not going), Chennai (not going) and some other places I hadn't heard of (so clearly not going).
We on the other hand, head south to Kerala tomorrow. By all accounts, it should be beautiful there. Fingers crossed.
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