Mumbai, India - October 2012

October 5, 2012 - Mumbai, India

I was very surprised with Mumbai.  It was not nearly as dirty as I expected and there weren't animals in the streets.  But the traffic was horrendous.  I went to a local restaurant for breakfast.  I had absolutely no idea what I ate but it was a vegetarian restaurant so it was probably a vegetable concoction.

I then walked up and down the main streets.  You constantly hear the horns blaring and there is not a crosswalk for pedestrians.  You take your life in your hands when you cross the street.

In the afternoon I contacted a local chemist, recommended by the hotel, and ordered most of my prescriptions.  They will be delivered this afternoon and are much, much cheaper then at home.

In the evening I had an adventure I will not soon forget.  I met my local guide and took a nighttime motorcycle ride through Mumbai.  Whatever traffic laws there are were not being obeyed.  Was that a red light we just went through?  But I did survive and will attempt this fate again tomorrow night.  Imagine this - we had dinner at a Chinese restaurant in India.  It was excellent however.

Most of the buildings were in ill repair.

October 6, 2012 - Mumbai, India

Today I played super tourist.  I wanted to see the Gateway to India monument.  I had to figure out how to get there.  First I tried a tuk tuk, but the drivers speak no English.  I did find out that they are not allowed in that part of city.  That made no sense to me at all since nobody obeys any traffic laws.  Finally I hired a private car with air conditioned and a driver who spoke English.

So off I went on my adventure.  The first stop was the Bandra Worli Sea Link that was a short cut to the south part of Mumbai.   Next we stopped at a small Buddhist temple.

Sea Link Bridge

Vegetable Market

View of South Mumbai

After that we visited a park that had an overlook of South Mumbai.  The park had flowers and huge topiaries.

The traffic was hell. I don't know how anyone can drive in Mumbai.  We eventually made it to the Gateway of India.  While not very impressive it was nice to see it.  We were now at the southern tip of Mumbai.  I spend some time visiting the five star Taj Mahal hotel.

Gateway to India

 Taj Mahal Hotel

After lunch we continued our journey.  We stopped at a number of impressive government buildings.  I must mention that most of the buildings in Mumbai have not been painted since the English occupation ended.  This is true in the wealthy areas as well as its poor.

Next we stopped at the Queen Victoria train station. They changed the name to Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus.  I wanted to go inside but there was no way to get across the traffic.

Queen Victoria Train Station

Our final stop was was Dhobi Ghat which is where they still do laundry for all the large hotels in the river.  You could see thousands of sheets and towels and clothes hanging everywhere.

Dhobi Ghat

Driving through the slums

That evening my tour guide from last night came by.  Tonight went to a Hari Krishna Temple.  The tune they chant is still in my head.

 We had some excellent Indian food for dinner.  That makes sense because I am in India.

Hari Krishna Temple

October 7, 2012 - Mumbai, India

Today will be a day of leisure.  I can't face the traffic a second day in a row.  So this morning I went out for a nice cappuccino.  I follow that with getting some cash at an ATM.  Its amazing how many rupees I spent. The exchange rate is about 50 to 1, so a cup of coffee cost about 100.  I went to the fitness center for the first time on my vacation.

I went to the pool - finishing my book on tape, and making a good dent in my Kindle book.  It is so much better then lugging books around.

JW Marriott Mumbai

October 8, 2012 - Mumbai, India

Another day of relaxation.  The tragedy of the day was losing all my library kindle books.  The lending period had expired so whenever I opened them I had to make sure that I wasn't connected to the Internet.  I forgot once and in two seconds all my library books were gone.

So I signed onto the library site and downloaded eight more.  The book I was in the middle of was unavailable, so I will have to wait on that one.  So in three weeks I will have to avoid reading while the Internet is on.

Not much else happened today.  I'm in the hotel lobby waiting to take a cab to the airport.  My flight is at 1:30 am - great.

So I saved 500 rupees ($10) to get to the airport.  At 9:00 pm I got my luggage and the concierge let me take the hotel limo for free.  I don't think I can ever get used to the traffic here.  But I made it to the airport on time.

Then security would not let me in since I didn't have a written confirmation.  Finally a Cathay agent took my passport (scary) to get my boarding pass.  Security was worse then anywhere in the world xrays, pat downs, strip search - not.  Finally I made it through only to find out the BA lounge wasn't open yet.  And when it did open I found out it was a "dry day" - no alcohol until after midnight.  I survived the ordeal and got on the plane at 1:30 am.  As soon as we took off I was out until breakfast.


October 9, 2012 - Mumbai, India to Hong Kong to Sydney, Australia

I arrived in Hong Kong at 10:00 am.  I flew business class from Mumbai and will be in Business to Sydney on Qantas, but my boarding pass said first - so I'm back in the amazing Cathay first class lounge.  I'm in a private day room where I can sleep.  Traveling does have some great moments.

And the champagne keeps flowing.  And the chocolate is amazing, as is the food.  After six hours I moved to the Qantas first class lounge.  Definitely a step down.  But I will survive (sounds like a song lyric).

My flight is from 8:00 pm to 8:00 am.  I think this is the first time I've slept on planes two nights in a row.

Qantas changed the equipment so there is no first class cabin, but since I was planning on sleeping all night it really didn't matter.  And Qantas is refunding 800 dollars, which is probably what I paid for the flight.

So I had a meal, had a few drinks, and slept the rest of the flight.


October 10, 2012 - Sydney, Australia to Brisbane, Australia

I was really tired after 2 all night flights.  I was in Sydney and had a short flight to Brisbane.  I transferred from the international to domestic terminal and just made my flight.

I took the air train into town and walked a few blocks to my hotel.  I rented an apartment hotel here mainly because it had a washing machine.  There's a limit to the number of times you can re wear your clothes.

I took a nap before orienting myself with the city.

I had a nice meal in Chinatown for dinner.