Mumbai

I had flipped back and forth about whether to stop in Mumbai or not and then about three weeks in to my time in India I got an email from my friend Julia, a woman I'd met in Croatia, telling me that she would be in Mumbai for a week for a job interview. Coincidentally it happened to be while I was passing through the area so I thought I'd stop and say hello. Deciding to avoid a repeat 'Sleeper bus' experience I opted for the 'super luxury, just like flight' Volvo bus ride and after a comparatively easy 17hrs on the bus I arrived in an overcast, rainy Mumbai. The first order of business, and really my only other reason for coming to Mumbai, was to go and see the 'Leopolds Cafe' that is such a fixture in the book 'Shantaram' that I read while I was in Europe. I have to admit that I'd had high hopes and was pretty disappointed by what I found. I had been expecting a dark, dingy, smoky interior where shady business took place, but instead found a light, cheap feeling interior with unfriendly staff and overpriced food. I admit I was a bit perturbed when my waiter told me there was no way I could get scrambled eggs, only fried eggs, and even worse I couldn't get Masala Chai (a staple of any Indian meal) only Mint Tea! But it was worth it, and I met an Australian couple who were there for similar reasons having just stepped off an 18hr late train ride which had lasted a total of 40+hrs! I spent the rest of the day playing phone and email tag with Julia , due to some cell phone issues with my Indian SIM card, but finally managed to sort out a place to meet up the next day.

I spent the day time walking around and getting lost in the Colaba area of Mumbai, along Marine Drive, and over to Chowpatty beach, another key location in 'Shantaram', before making my way to meet up with Julia at the grand 'Old Taj' hotel near the India Gateway Monument. We finally caught up after some more confusion and did a walking tour of the India Gateway, and some of the surrounding Colaba area where a lot of the old British architecture still remains and had a great meal, with my first chicken in 4 weeks.

I didn't have a chance to see a whole lot of Mumbai and unfortunately due to my short time I didn't get to see the massive outdoor laundry mat (apparently a must see), or make it to Bollywood or be an extra in a film like a lot of other travelers had done. The Colaba area was a nice easy area but it seemed like an oasis, outside of Colaba Mumbai is an incredibly populated, polluted, and very poor city.

Photos: Mumbai