48 hours in Mumbai

Taj Mahal Hotel and the Gateway to India
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Arrived in Mumbai a bit before 5am local time, which meant sometime after 2am East African time, having flown from Nairobi.  Managed to find my pre-booked taxi driver who then drove me accross town to my hotel in Colaba.  The drive was very intertesting and he pointed out and commented on various areas of the city.  In the darkness of the early morning I could see the streets lined with people sleeping, some under blankets just on the road, others on beds on the road.  Besides the road there was an assortment of shacks, made from wood, canvas, metal, tarpaulin and plastic sheeting.  Fires were alight by the roadside as people were starting to get up and prepare food and drink for the morning.  Trucks were on the road delivering to markets and auto rickshaws weaved in and out of what traffic there was on the road (as did the taxi - my first taste of Indian city driving!!).  Eventually got to the hotel where the grumpy night porter showed me to my room.  Slept until 9:30 am local time.

Tourist ferry to Elephanat Island
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After my first two or three hours in Mumbai I hated the place.  Probably because I was still tired, much too hot and was traipsing around the business district visiting airline offices to sort out future plans etc.  However, after a much needed lunch and drink break I relaxed a bit and realised that much of Mumbai is really rather pleasant. I wandered around looking at various old colonial-style buildings, booked a train ticket from Kolkata to New Jalpaiguri for the following Monay and then sat for a short while at the Oval Maiden - a big open space in the mddle of the city where people play formal an informal games of cricket.  A very pleasant late afternoon atmosphere and some shade as well! I headed back to my hotel and then out for a meal in Colaba, the nice district I was staying in.  I wandered freely along Colaba causeway (a road, not an actual causeway) where there was an abundance of stalls selling beautiful scarves, shawls, jewellery, handicrafts etc.... I was very strong and only looked! The next morning  I left the hotel reasonably early to get to the Gateway to India - built on the sea front during for a colonial-era royal visit.  I found myself a ferry and after an hour arrived on Elephanta Island, about 9km offshore.  On Elephanta I explored the caves, for which the island is famous.  Some amazing Hindu sculptures and carvings inside man-made caves.  Not all in brilliant condition (I think the Portuguese were responsible for some of the damage) but impressive nonetheless! Above the caves, I climbed to top of a hill to a cannon (not so impressive or interesting) where monkeys were hassling locals carrying food.  I steered well clear of the monkeys (not wishing to test my rabies vaccination) but rather enjoyed watching them! After a few hours on Elephanta we headed back to the mainland where a pleasant afternoon was spent walking around the streets of the Chruchgate area, back to Oval Maiden and then onto Victoria Terminus (Chatrapathi Shivaji Terminus these days) - an impressively large colonial-style railways station. For there we negotiated the Friday afternoon rush hour traffic to walk across to the seafront of Marine Drive.  We walked along Marine Drive northwards to Chowpatty Beach - a local evening ahngout for many Mumbai people where masseurs, food sellers and all sorts of other tradespeople sell their wares/services.  brave locals paddle in the filthy Arabian Sea (not recommended according to guidebooks!) and others sit and eat snacks from the fairground-type stalls as the sun sets and the evening draws in.  A very pleasant and bargain-value meal and a drink later, it was back to bed for a few hours sleep before heading eastwards to Kolkata.  After my first few hours I had really rather taken to Mumbai - it had a lovely atmosphere and I felt relaxed and safe there. People trying to sell things actually took 'no' for an answer first time and I didn't feel I was being stared at all the time as I had in African towns. Apart from the ridiculous heat, I had had a most enjoyable time!!