Mumbai (Bombay)- September 22nd - September 25th
Mumbai was not on the top of my list of places I wanted to go in India. But I'm so glad I went! I had the best time here and the contrast to Delhi was so interesting to see. I expected everything to be relatively the same but it was SO different. In fact the first night I didn't even feel like I was in India. We stayed at 'THE' Taj Mahal Hotel and it was all Americans and Europeans - or at least way more than the Taj in Delhi. The second two nights we stayed at another Taj property but there were more Indians there.
One of the main differences were the accents - I would hear someone talking and almost think they were British. But when I turned around to look they were in fact Indian. I guess when the British ruled India it left more of its influence in the Bombay region. Also in Delhi there are more trucks and commercial vehicles - not the case in Mumbai. Mumbai is on the ocean so that was a nice change too. Mumbai gets a lot more of the monsoon than Delhi so it was a lot greener and not as dusty and dirty. There were also a lot more tourist in Mumbai than I have seen in Delhi. Before I arrived in India I was actually expecting Delhi to be more like what Mumbai is actually like - more metropolitan and a lot more tourist.
The cabs in Bombay were decorated a lot more than you see in Delhi!
Taj Mahal Hotel where we stayed the first night! It has the original hotel and then you can kind of see the towers to the right. We stayed in the original hotel (102 years old) and it was much nicer than the towers (30 years old). They are in the process of renovation the original hotel and we got a renovated room.
Room at the Taj! Almost looks like a painting.
Indian Marble is a very popular thing in India. The Taj in Delhi has a lot of marble through out but no bathroom like this. The entire bathroom was very nice!!
View from room. It wasn't a very nice day. It rained off and on both Thursday and Friday but the rest of the weekend was nice.
Another view from our room. This is the Gateway of India - a big tourist attraction.
Inside of hotel. Very detailed!
Another inside view from up above.
View of pool.
Leopold's Cafe and bar. This was a restaurant that I really wanted to visit because it was a main hang out for the characters in the book Shantaram that I read. We ended up eating there 3 days in a row because the food was good, cheap, and it had a fun atmosphere.
I included the picture above because the guys with the balloons in the picture are very memorable to me. They were the most annoying part of the trip. By Gateway of India and on the streets of Colaba Causeway where we were shopping these guys would not leave you alone. They kept bugging you to buy the balloons. We finally did because we thought it would make a great gift for kids but realized once we got home that we got the smaller version. So basically we were deceived. Every time we went out again they would just hound you to buy the balloons and run into you with them when they were trying to get someone else to buy them. It was annoying!!
Another picture of the Gateway to India. It was built as a triumphal arch to commemorate the visit of King George V and Queen Mary, complete with four turrets and intricate latticework carved into the yellow basalt stone. Ironically, when the Raj (British rule) ended in 1947, this colonial symbol also became a sort of epitaph: the last of the British ships that set sail for England left from the Gateway.
Chowpatty Beach during the day. This is a favorite evening spot for courting couples, families, political rallies, and is where crowds gather to watch images of the elephant-headed god of good fortune, Ganesh, be immersed in the sea after it is paraded through the city streets. We missed the festival by a week - but it would have been a mad house if we had been there. They televised it on the TVs in Delhi and I could not imagine the number of people that were packed in this area and all around the city.
Haji Ali's Mosque. During high tide, the connecting causeway is submerged in water giving the impression that the mosque and tomb are floating out at sea in splendid isolation. The Haji Ali Dargah, the floating tomb of a wealthy Mohammedan merchant who renounced his worldly ways before embarking on a pilgrimage to Mecca.
View from our second hotel that was further north in Mumbai.
Beautiful sunset on the beaches near our hotel.
I can't remember if I mentioned this before but you see a lot of people sitting this way quite often. To me (especially after 3 knee surgeries) I can't imagine anyone sitting like this - let alone being able to get up after sitting this way.
Night out for the group!!
Mumbai was not on the top of my list of places I wanted to go in India. But I'm so glad I went! I had the best time here and the contrast to Delhi was so interesting to see. I expected everything to be relatively the same but it was SO different. In fact the first night I didn't even feel like I was in India. We stayed at 'THE' Taj Mahal Hotel and it was all Americans and Europeans - or at least way more than the Taj in Delhi. The second two nights we stayed at another Taj property but there were more Indians there.
One of the main differences were the accents - I would hear someone talking and almost think they were British. But when I turned around to look they were in fact Indian. I guess when the British ruled India it left more of its influence in the Bombay region. Also in Delhi there are more trucks and commercial vehicles - not the case in Mumbai. Mumbai is on the ocean so that was a nice change too. Mumbai gets a lot more of the monsoon than Delhi so it was a lot greener and not as dusty and dirty. There were also a lot more tourist in Mumbai than I have seen in Delhi. Before I arrived in India I was actually expecting Delhi to be more like what Mumbai is actually like - more metropolitan and a lot more tourist.
The cabs in Bombay were decorated a lot more than you see in Delhi!
Taj Mahal Hotel where we stayed the first night! It has the original hotel and then you can kind of see the towers to the right. We stayed in the original hotel (102 years old) and it was much nicer than the towers (30 years old). They are in the process of renovation the original hotel and we got a renovated room.
Room at the Taj! Almost looks like a painting.
Indian Marble is a very popular thing in India. The Taj in Delhi has a lot of marble through out but no bathroom like this. The entire bathroom was very nice!!
View from room. It wasn't a very nice day. It rained off and on both Thursday and Friday but the rest of the weekend was nice.
Another view from our room. This is the Gateway of India - a big tourist attraction.
Inside of hotel. Very detailed!
Another inside view from up above.
View of pool.
Leopold's Cafe and bar. This was a restaurant that I really wanted to visit because it was a main hang out for the characters in the book Shantaram that I read. We ended up eating there 3 days in a row because the food was good, cheap, and it had a fun atmosphere.
I included the picture above because the guys with the balloons in the picture are very memorable to me. They were the most annoying part of the trip. By Gateway of India and on the streets of Colaba Causeway where we were shopping these guys would not leave you alone. They kept bugging you to buy the balloons. We finally did because we thought it would make a great gift for kids but realized once we got home that we got the smaller version. So basically we were deceived. Every time we went out again they would just hound you to buy the balloons and run into you with them when they were trying to get someone else to buy them. It was annoying!!
Another picture of the Gateway to India. It was built as a triumphal arch to commemorate the visit of King George V and Queen Mary, complete with four turrets and intricate latticework carved into the yellow basalt stone. Ironically, when the Raj (British rule) ended in 1947, this colonial symbol also became a sort of epitaph: the last of the British ships that set sail for England left from the Gateway.
Chowpatty Beach during the day. This is a favorite evening spot for courting couples, families, political rallies, and is where crowds gather to watch images of the elephant-headed god of good fortune, Ganesh, be immersed in the sea after it is paraded through the city streets. We missed the festival by a week - but it would have been a mad house if we had been there. They televised it on the TVs in Delhi and I could not imagine the number of people that were packed in this area and all around the city.
Haji Ali's Mosque. During high tide, the connecting causeway is submerged in water giving the impression that the mosque and tomb are floating out at sea in splendid isolation. The Haji Ali Dargah, the floating tomb of a wealthy Mohammedan merchant who renounced his worldly ways before embarking on a pilgrimage to Mecca.
View from our second hotel that was further north in Mumbai.
Beautiful sunset on the beaches near our hotel.
I can't remember if I mentioned this before but you see a lot of people sitting this way quite often. To me (especially after 3 knee surgeries) I can't imagine anyone sitting like this - let alone being able to get up after sitting this way.
Night out for the group!!
posted by Angela Cooley at 4:08 AM
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