Day One in Mumbai

Mike – Unable to sleep due to jet lag and excitement, Teg and I woke up shortly before 6am and decided to head out to find some breakfast. I went down first to pay for another night, and nearly stumbled over the night manager, who was passed out on the lobby floor. Alright, so we’ll have to pay him later.

We figured that we’d walk towards the Gateway of India to find some food. It was a longer walk than we’d expected but it was good to get our bearings. I found it quite difficult navigating the city because the street names were very long and hard to remember. One minute you’d determine that you needed to walk down “Chhatrapati Shivaji Marg” and take a left on “Nathalal Parekh Marg”, but it was forgotten shortly after putting away the guidebook. By the end of the day, I found a little trick to remember. Instead of thinking “Nathanal Parekh Marg”, I’d look for “Nathan Peter Margaret”. It seemed to help because we made it back to the hotel without a hiccup.

We walked through the Churchgate and Fort areas, which is home to the University of Mumbai. The area surrounding the university was simply awesome. Many colonial era structures, and a large cricket field smack-down in the middle of it all, overlooked by a Big Ben-esque clock tower. We had the pleasure of watching teams of all age groups (all men though) practice and compete in cricket. I still don’t understand the game, but it was cool to see such a well-maintained green space in an otherwise sprawling mass of crumbling structures.

After that we wandered back into Colaba. By chance, we stumbled across Leopold’s Cafe, which is a famous landmark for all foreigners and ex-pats. It was also featured extensively in the book Shantaram, which Teg and I both loved. Anyways, we figured we’d grab some grub. The food was mildly over-priced, but still below the going rate in Vancouver.

Afterwards, we continued through Colaba where we ran into a lady named Betty who offered to show us around. She was very genuine, and although I knew that her kindness didn’t come free I enjoyed talking to her and I didn’t mind throwing her a few rupees at the end of it all. She offered to take us to some of the tourist sites – Gateway of India, mainly – but we knew how to find those on our own so, instead, she offered to show us through the back streets of Colaba. She took us to “Rex Bakery”, a Jewish bakery, which was one of the sites of the Mumbai terrorist attacks.

On the left of the door you can see where they painted over the bullet holes. I remember watching the events transpire on CNN, but the coverage mainly revolved around the Taj and Oberoi hotels. I can see those being targets, but why this one?

Shortly after, we left Betty and continued down towards the Gateway of India. At each corner there were ladies preparing floral arrangements – bracelets, necklaces, etc. – in anticipation of Diwali.

We arrived at the Gateway of India, and all of a sudden, we were surrounded by tourists and hagglers. Up to this point, the haggling hadn’t been that bad, but being one of the principle tourist sites in Mumbai, it was in full force. There was no begging per say, as the “Mumbai Tourist Police” were patrolling pretty heavily. But, in the spirit of India, there were ways around it. Hindu priests (if that’s even the right way of putting it) would offer to “bless” you, and then ask for a donation. Ladies would, without asking, tie a flower bracelet around Teg’s wrist, and then demand payment. We realized that nothing ever comes for free.

In the 30 degree heat, we grew weary with the persistence of the hagglers, so we decided to return to our hotel for an afternoon nap. And… we woke up at 1am… I don’t know what time zone we’re on right now; it’s not Vancouver nor is it India time. I guess we’re halfway there…

Tegan – I’ll be brief. One thing in particular that I think is worth mentioning about today in which Mikey forgot was our walk through the Sassoon dock. First half of it was filled with shrimp smells, a product of the many huts filled with women pulling the tails off shrimps. The second half was filled with scents of much larger fish (I expect myself to be mentioning scents on most of this trip)haha! Here, there were ice trucks everywhere, men everywhere, and nets being untangled for the next mornings’ catch.

Okay, my mistake, there were a few men helping lol.