After a long, sleepless, vomit worthy bus trip comprising of a stinky single bed (smelling
of body odour and sour milk) that they told us was a “double”, we arrived in
Mumbai! Mumbai was already pissing me off, mainly because I was tired, hungry and
craved a shower after that travesty of a bus. The taxi driver took us first to
a hotel costing RS 4500 (about 115 bucks) haha what a joke! We have only been
spending around RS 350- 500 (8-12 bucks)
per night! So we tried to track down something cheaper, a young bloke was
showing us some cards of some places that he knew. Everywhere you travel in
India the rickshaw drivers and other random people you meet will try to get you
to stay at hotels and hostels because they get commission for bringing you in. Regardless
we decided to have a look at some of the places this fellow knew! The first
place was a shoe box in size with only enough room to squeeze two filthy single
beds into and then have the audacity to charge Rs700 for it! The second place
he showed me req uired him
taking me in this rickety old elevator which could only hold about 5 people in
it! We squeezed 5 of us in their while Kiara waited in the taxi. To my
frustration, but not my surprise, the elevator got stuck just before the 5th
floor! The Indians inside tried pressing every button in the elevator, shaking
the doors, and yelling for help! I was quietly hoping we wouldn’t be stuck too
long as it was quite hot, there was not much room and these blokes smelt like they
hadn’t showered for a few days! After a
while the power went out then switched back on and we were on the move again.
This room better be worth it I thought to my self... it wasn’t. So on to a
third hotel that was only slightly better so we conceded defeat and just
decided to stay, hey at least it was right near Maccas!
After a maccas breakie and a nap we were feeling much better
and decided it was time to let Mumbai redeem its self. We wondered around all
day very much impressed by the city. Its an extremely modern place with obvious
English influence! There were plenty of trendy places to eat and also plenty of
places to go grab a beer after dark!
Mumbai was like none of the other cities we had visited so
far, the cars were all very new and the city itself would easily pass in any first
world country! On the flip side to this magnificent city are the slums of the
outer suburbs which are the biggest slums in India! Unfortunately we didn’t
have the time nor the know-how to visit the slums (despite a bloke claiming to
be the Jack sparrow of Mumbai telling us he could take us because no one would
mess with us while we were with him!)
After chilling in the main park of the city and watching
about 15 cricket games going on at once we tracked down one of their cinemas
showing an English movie! So we got our tickets to harry potter and headed
inside. Australia could learn a thing or 2 about how to show a movie. Before
the movie started all 10 of us in the cinema stood for the national anthem and
then half way through the movie paused for an interval in which time staff came
around to see if you wanted any more popcorn or drinks!
Kiara’s imput :
Mumbai is a cosmopolitan, trendy and beautiful city. Only
being there for a day or two we only saw the popular sights but that was enough
to convince us. We spent most of our time wandering around the clean streets,
gazing at the gorgeous colonial architecture and stopping to chill out in the
parks to watch the numerous cricket games going on. The lack of blaring horns,
crazy rickshaws and random cows and goats made it feel a far way away from
other parts of India. However the market stalls, chai wallahs (dudes serving
chai tea), food stalls and constant haggling for business reminds you where you
are.
