Mumbai

Editor's Pick Award

Our Editors awarded this travel blog entry for providing relevant information that may be useful and inspiring for other travelers.

For those of you for whom this is old hat, see the bottom for Questions for Experienced Indian Travellers!

First entry attempt:

We have arrived in India and are doing....it’s hard to sum up in one word. We are fascinated, exhausted, exhilarated, dusty, but never hungry. The food is amazing! I think my appetite for US indian takeout is forever spoiled. And despite our fears food is not too spicy for the likes of us. My current food project is to keep the various kinds of bread type things straight. Every day another kind or two. For the first time ever, I am able to distinguish the chutneys before tasting them. Our favorite food experience so far were the pani puri - thin hollow balls of fried ? that they poke a hole in and then dip in a broth with vegetables, lime, and spices. We first got these in Mumbai at Chowpatty Beach. We paid the vendor and he scooped one (about the size of a squash ball), with its ‘juice’ slopping about onto a paper plate just big enough to contain it. What we didn’t realize it that as soon as we downed that one another one came and then another, 6 in all, which created a comical scene of serial dipping, scooping, and slurping. Despite the major finger germ exposure there....Rot watch: Rot=zero, us=at least 3 rot-tempation episodes! We have gotten used to and in fact prefer eating with our -right- hand, and my one-handed roti tearing fingers are becoming quite strong--I’m sure this will improve our guitar and piano playing when I return.

Well, I should start from the beginning but not much time now, and we are quite tired (I think exhaustion and fixation on food must be neurologically linked). Tried to upload some pics but chose the wrong internet cafe and connection is too slow. Will upload pics and fill in stories in a couple of days when we're in relaxation mode on the beach in Goa.

Second attempt:

Pictures have arrived!

On our first day in Mumbai we did a little walking tour on our own--saw the "Gate of India" then walked to the "Oval Maiden"--essentially an open area where there were many cricket matches going on--anything from kids with sticks stuck in the ground to official looking chaps with uniforms and referees. After several attempts to watch cricket, even with commentary on TV, we are still mystified.

Thought we'd have culture shock when we arrived and didn't--we prepared ourselves for crushing crowds of humanity and chaos and experienced only seething crowds and significant randomness.  The shock arrived more subacutely though, by the 2nd or 3rd day we were very drained. Think it had more to do with the fatigue of having to figure out how to do every little thing we had to accomplish during the day. Also the fatigue of dodging the zooming, careening traffic (quite a suicidal mission everytime) and breathing the fumes and dust.  After being in Goa for a while, having figured out the basics of food, transport, communication, bathrooms, and breathing clean are we are very rejuvinated, and also relived to hear that most travellers have the same experience after a few days in Mumbai.

That said, we had a lot of great experiences in a short time in Mumbai. Stumbled across a homey vegetable market, that reminded me of those in villages in Africa except with tall buildings in the background.  Had a great time at Chowpatty beach eating, checking out the human powered carnival rides, watching families play tag, and evading the propositions of head masseurs. Bought a salwaar kameez to wear--baggy pants with a tunic over and matching scarf--this and saris are the two kinds of clothing typically worn by the women. Interestingly, men for the most part wear 'western' clothes but women almost never. May have to do with the fact that the salwaar kameez is very comfy and cool in the heat, or maybe, as my friend Ana proposed, they might like looking more feminine. In general, it has been frustrating soliciting answers to questions like these. People generally speak enough English to communicate about the basics, but more complex or philosophical issues have been impossible to discuss with most of the people we meet.

Before we left Mumbai through the beautiful train station (see pic!) we immersed ourselves on one of the busiest shopping streets in the city.  You can buy anything or get any service from a stall or mat on the sidewalk: samosas, CDs, cellphones, books, Bollywood posters, copies from a copy machine, a shave, a shoe polish.  I was tempted to try all the interesting snacks I saw, and I'm sure I still have significant lung inflammation from inhaling rather than swallowing the copious flavoring powder on my tomato-flavored popcorn.

Questions for Experienced India Travellers:

1) Why do so many of the men have reddish streaks in their hair? Our guess is that they are trying to cover up the grey with henna?? Let me tell you, it doesn't really help.

2) What are you supposed to do with those big balloons anyway? I'm suspicious...