Mumbai

The flight attendant warned me about the monsoon season that is currently going on in India and I immediately can tell by the wet runway that it’s gonna be a wet day probably for the next month.

My arrival in Mumbai has been the toughest of all I have been to for the past couple of months, they don’t have any wifi for people who dont have any local number. I didnt see any place that sells SIM card inside the airport. I went outside the airport hoping to find a coffee shop with wifi so I can at least but a temporary roaming package from my Singapore Operator. But to my surprise they said the airport doesnt allow them to provide wifi to the guest due to security reasons. What a way to start my trip in a foreign country.

I opted to use my last resort, the pay-as-you-go roaming from Singtel, which ended up costing me $300 just to activate my Asia roaming package. I ended up sleeping at that Starbucks for the night since I picture it would be a nightmare catching a public transportation to the city after 12 o’clock at midnight.

After series of bus changes I arrived at my accommodation and immediately went out to get myself a sim card. The operator guy told me that i will be needing a local reference number to get a prepaid sim card. If all that airport saga wasnt hard enough for me to deal with, this one is almost make me too desperate to continue my travel in India. How are the tourists supposed to have a local reference number? They said the most common way is that they can ask the accommodation host to give their number as a reference number. But my host didnt want to do that. Luckily, a local friend, Jay whom I met in Tokyo whom earlier last year is in town and more than happy to give his number to help me to get my local sim card.

Spending the next couple of days in Mumbai was tricky due to the rain. I went to a book store and found some photography book about the faces of Mumbai and found some reference shots and location in Mumbai. But i ended up not having any clear days to visit any of those.

Also, I noticed the noise pollution in Mumbai is far too bad for someone who lives in the countries where honking is really restricted only if it’s really needed. All I was hearing while I was on the street is nothing but the vehicle’s horn hoking nothing in particular nonstop.Read more