The next day was our first and only real day in Mumbai as we had heard mixed reactions from various people and decided 1 day in the city might be enough to see for ourselves. Our hotel was about 15 kilometers outside of the main city so we decided to take a train into the city for 8 Rupees (About 18 cents) each. This was certainly an interesting experience. As we saw the train pulling in there were people literally hanging on the outside of the train as it was going full speed. We saw that there was no more room to even cram into this train before it had even stopped in the station. Somehow, dozens more people still managed to stuff themselves into the train. We waited for the next train that came 5 minutes later hoping to have better luck. We did, and were at least able to fit inside the doorway where we stood packed in for the 45 minute ride. While riding we could see people in the train driving parallel to us looking at Liz and I laughing as they must have noticed as well that Liz was the only woman to be found in the men’s cars. That same train we saw several men hanging on for dear life with their hands on the roof and their toes clinging to an inch of ground as the train was going at least 60mph.
First rickshaw ride
We made it to the city early afternoon when the monsoon rains started to come. It was an all-out downpour unlike much we had seen before. The weather was still warm but it was as if someone spraying a fire hose from above on anyone not under shelter. After getting drenched enroute to finding an umbrella, we purchased it only to find the rain stopped for the remainder of the day. We were making our way to the Gateway of India which was a little walk from the station when we decided to get lunch and enjoy our first authentic Indian meal. We found a Parantha restaurant (Indian bread stuffed with various items) where we had an amazing array of food including rice, dal (curried lentils), unbelievably spicy pickle/onion salad, curried tofu, stuffed Paranthas, and washed it down with some Lassi (sweet yogurt/milk drink that helps deal with the spiciness). It was such a deliciously huge meal that cost each of us about $3.50 total. A few minutes later we reached the Gateway where we surprised by a random Indian family we had not met who asked if they could get a picture…naturally we assumed they wanted us to take a picture of their family in front of the Gateway, but instead they wanted to take a picture of Liz and I posing with each of the them. It was a funny experience, but as we came closer to the Gateway, which is a huge stone arch erected in honor of King George and Queen Mary, we were asked to take pictures with dozens of random Indian people. We must have taken 50 pictures and plenty more when we were not posing…we could see people trying to sneak in pictures with their camera phones. We did not mind the attention but were wondering if perhaps they had us mistaken with someone actually famous. After we went into the gorgeous Taj Palace hotel across the street from the Gateway to see just how amazing it was…our guidebook said the cheapest room was around $1,000 per night. We pushed on through the city stopping at various monuments and fountains that had been there for hundreds of years and just enjoyed the people watching and very different culture around us. One thing we did not see as much of was the constant begging and poverty that many people had warned us would follow us everywhere. With the exception of the occasional beggar only targeting the tourists, we were pleasantly surprised to find that this was not so much the case here in Mumbai.
Gateway of India
First Indian meal
That evening we found a restaurant called Gaylord where they served veg and non-veg food and one of the few restaurants you could get a glass of wine as well. We had some unbelievable curried chicken with naan bread and enjoyed a drink to celebrate our arrival in India. We took the train home again that night where it was far less crowded and we were even able to sit down. We took another short rickshaw ride back to our hotel where we were completely stopped in gridlock traffic with cars all around us facing different directions, cows walking as they pleased, and regular pedestrians getting out of the cars to direct traffic. We made it back to the hotel went to bed as we were headed off to Udaipur that next afternoon.
Bollywood Theater
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