Much Preferred Over Delhi

Fisherman Boats, Mumbai, India
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The train from Aurangabad arrived around 6am and Nik and I took a short taxi ride as rickshaws to our hotel aren't allowed in that part of Mumbai. We were able to drop our bags off, but our room wouldn't be available for quite a few hours. I was concerned when I saw that they had my name under our departure date, but figured there was nothing we could do until the manager came in.

Nik and I headed off in search for breakfast. Our neighborhood wasn't looking to hot, with lots of trash around when we arrived and there didn't seem to be anything open. We decided to head down to Colaba, the next neighborhood south of where we were staying in the Fort area. We grabbed a cab in which the guy I think had just woken up from a night's sleep and it really didn't seem that he knew where we wanted to go. We finally got out of the cab, thinking we were further up than we needed to be. We walked and walked until the road narrowed and it was looking too residential. Upon inspection of a map, we realized that where the cab had dropped us off was where we had wanted to be. As a side note, I did see my first rat. I think I might have mentioned before that I have been surprised with all the trash that there haven't been more. We headed back up the road, passing Sassoon Dock, which we didn't know at the time but would have been a cool place to check out as that is where all the fishermen come in to deliver the fresh catch of the day. We walked around checking out the few places that we had noted in our guidebooks, but nothing was open. We looked for things open not in our guidebook, but also with no luck. We headed over to Mumbai Harbor and enjoyed the sunrise and killed some time, thinking maybe 8am was the magic hour of when things would be open.

Sunrise, Mumbai, India
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Still no luck! I know that Indians go to work late, but doesn't someone need a coffee before 9?! We headed back up to Colaba until we came across Leopold's, a place that Nik had wanted to go to after reading Shantaram, one of the main books people are reading right now in India. It was open and so we happily sat down and ordered breakfast.

Once done, we continued heading back north, checking out the neighborhood, but it was still too early for anything that we might have wanted to see to be open. We headed back to Hotel Oasis, in the hopes that our room would be ready, if we had a room. Once back in our neighborhood, we were pleasantly surprised that it looked a whole lot better with some sunlight! Turns out we did have a room, but it wasn't quite ready yet and took about half an hour before it was.

Church, Mumbai, India
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In the very small room, but at a reasonable price at 980 Rs (approx $25.12) for Mumbai, and clean, I told Nik that I had to rest for about an hour or so. Despite being in 2 AC which was soooooo much better than 3 AC I still didn't get a lot of sleep. Nik decided that he would head out and check some stuff out and would meet back for lunch.

Not really sleeping, but feeling better after lying down for a bit and a shower, Nik came back to the hotel and we headed out for lunch at a place that he had seen in his travels. We decided to risk the steak sizzler platter, my first real steak in weeks. It was very tasty and there were no ill consequences :)

Bicycle Sculpture, Mumbai, India
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Bellies full and Nik happy to have something other than a Kingfisher beer which seems to have the monopoly on beer in India, we headed back towards Colaba taking our time. We made a stop at the High Court which was very reminiscent of a German castle. We had to go through a metal detector and were asked to leave our cameras at security. As I was singing for my camera, one of the security ladies asked if I spoke Hindu, to which I responded no. Then she started saying something to the other people working there and they started giggling at me. With no clue what they said, we headed off.

Double Decker Bus with Tin Roof Added, Mumbai, India
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The High Court was full of people, with the lawyers all dressed up in dark suits and white cravats. We peeked into one courtroom, but felt kind of out of place. It was a short visit and soon we were back to pick up our cameras. When we did, one of the security guys from before pointed down to my feet and asked why I had toe rings on. I didn't quite understand his question because in my mind it was obvious, because I liked them! He then asked me again and then noted that in India, women only wear toe rings if they were married. That is what they had been giggling about earlier!

Horniman Circle, Mumbai, India
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We continued on, walking through Horniman Circle that had a very nice little park in it that was filled mostly with men and so I definitely got a few stares as Nik and I ventured through. One thing I have noticed in India is that there is no affection between men and women in public, but there is between men. It seems a little out of place to me to see so many men, of all ages, who are just friends, holding hands as they walk down the street, or with arms around shoulders and not men and women.

Mumbai, India
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The architecture in Mumbai at times was quite European looking, making it a much prettier place than Delhi, plus all the trees down the streets really made it feel less of a big city. Nik and I headed to the National Gallery of Modern Art that had a lot of South African art that at one point, I thought I was there!

From there, we headed back into Colaba which now was very bustling with street vendors set up along the sidewalks making it much harder to walk down the street than in the morning. We made a bee line for a bakery that we had tried to visit in the morning and had some killer chocolate desserts and some tea and coffee.

High Court, Mumbai, India
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Back up north we went in search for a Reliance World being told it was near a specific building. After walking around and around, we finally found it. With still quite a few rupees left to spend and both of us having blog stuff to work on, we spent a few hours even though we had originally planned to head up to Chowpatty Beach. Instead we opted for dinner close by at Mocambo Cafe and Bar, feeling brave after the steak at lunch, we opted for burgers. Well, weren't we surprised when the food came out and we took a bite only to have mouthfuls of veggie burgers! Thankfully, they were mostly potato, so it wasn't too bad ;)

Church, Mumabi, India
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Exhausted from the train ride the night before, we decided not to head up to Chowpatty Beach and to save that for the following day.