Mumbai and Trip Coming to a Close

Mumbai is a city of contrasts: it is India’s busiest, “cosmopolitan” city but it has some of the worst slums (hence Slumdog Millionaire). Not that I saw the slums, but there’s a travel company called Reality Tours that’ll bring you there if you’re brave. The hotel concierge was like, Mumbai’s exactly like New York City! I was like, I don’t know about that…I went to see the Gateway of India, their version of the Arc de Triomphe. It’s at the waterfront, and verrry busy. Lots of people trying to sell you things. Right next to it is the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, which is very ritzy and has stores like Chanel and Dior. If you look like a tourist with money, they’ll let you in. I’m like a jackpot, everyone thinks I’m Japanese or something.

I also saw the Prince of Wales Museum, Victoria Terminus (cool British architecture), Crawford Market (indoor market with produce, spices, and more), Chowpatty Beach, Jain Temple, and did lots of my shopping here. Zaveri Bazaar, known for jewelry, was closed because it was a Sunday. I don’t understand why all of the stores would close though because I see it as a good opportunity to get tourists if you’re competition is closed. I never understand why stores that sell the same things are always concentrated in the same aisle, but Vietnam does that too. I didn’t have much luck with shopping in other cities, but Mumbai is def the place to go for that. They have state emporiums which are more expensive but the quality is better and a lot more selection. Plus the salespeople leave you alone, which is a huge plus b/c everywhere else they attack you with kindness, and call you madam a million times. Traffic here is a nightmare, I also happened to hit an area where hundreds of Muslims were celebrating some festival so traffic was at a standstill. Interesting to see though. I walked around most of the time, which is always a good way to see a city, but I also took some autorickshaws too because my feet were killing me. I ate at some restaurants that were rated well in my travel books, and then went back to Pune.

I’d prob rank from best to worst:
1. Maldives
2. Goa
3. Agra
4. Mumbai
5. Pune
6. Delhi and Bangalore tied for last (which were only my long layovers anyways so I didn’t pay to go here and they’re not mentioned highly in travel books too)

If I was here longer, I’d also go to Rajasthan, which I’ve heard is an old world state with lots of palaces. But it’s spread out so it takes more than a weekend to visit. I don’t regret my weekend trip choices, I think I visited the best places for my time here. Maldives and Goa were definitely the highlights and the Taj Mahal is worth going to Agra for.

Pune was a good in between because it’s not as busy and hectic as the bigger cities. I stumbled upon the most amazing market with produce and baskets of flowers. I had originally gone to Laxmi Road and that area because it’s known for gold jewelry. So intimidating though with crowds of locals in the stores, and they take they’re jewelry seriously. They sell 24K gold by the gram, so it’s not as easy as looking at a price tag. My coworkers were giving me advice about price quotes, but it wasn’t worth it for me to buy stuff, and I didn’t see anything that good. No good deals because they’re so into jewelry. It’s either cheap in quality, or expensive it seemed. But cool to see how many stores they had. My hotel was near Koreagaon Park, which was walking distance to restaurants, so that was useful. Not a ton of time in Pune since I was working and then travelled to other cities on the weekend. My coworkers were super nice and always went with me to lunch to help explain things.

Indian food is good, but not 3 times a day when everything is spicy. I’ll be glad to eat some pork and beef and raw vegetables! I think I like Indian food in the US better though, same as Vietnam. Although I could eat Viet food 3 times a day for a month and not get sick of it. A month was a good amount of time, and now I’m happy to go home and see Dumpling. I took thousands of photos of all the places I went to, so I’ll filter through them and post a lot when I get home to good, fast Internet. Going to the airport for my 20+ hour journey back home soon.

Maldives

i am in the maldives for my last weekend trip. it is the best place ever, i can see why so many people honeymoon here. it's 2 hours flight from bangalore. staying at a beach bungalow and i am right on the beach, like 10 steps away from the water. my bed would be where we would put our towels on the beach! i am paying for the difference of what it would cost if i were in pune, so half of the cost. the island is small and the water is clear. i can walk around the island in like 30-45 minutes. i go snorkeling and it is amazing, i can see big and colorful fish, and i saw a mini shark which they say is safe. so many coral reefs too, which is where i see all the good fish. they say turtles are sometimes here too, i'd like to see that.

skyped with ty a little so she could see the bungalow, but it was still dark outside (her 8pm but my 5am). i will take video on my iPhone though so everyone can have a virtual tour.