Our First Local Train

If I said I'm going to Mumbai what would you picture in your head? Remember all those documentaries that you've seen about the traffic and the ram packed trains with people hanging off? You're probably thinking oh my goodness they've done so well but now they've met there greatest challenge of Asian cities. Well let's see...

Our first stop we decided to not attempt a rickshaw in fear of being robbed so we decided to walk for 40 minutes in 10am heat to a Parsi restaurant that turned out to only cater in advance for large orders... Wups... So we wandered around the area ate street food instead and I had Kanwi and Patra, two child hood favourite gujarati snacks. Will had a masala dosa and a Bhataka Pav (a deep fried spicy mash potato ball in a bun). We were then in desperate need of the loo and a sit down so we took refuge in the a McDonald's.

When we gathered our senses again we jumped on the local train. Now I must admit my first experience of the local train was great. We accidentally got on the luggage cart but everyone was very friendly and we got a seat straight away. It wasn't super busy and we got all the way into South Mumbai in 45 mins for 10 rupees each. Me and Will noticed that from the outside it looks like the train is packed because men hang on the side and don't seem to move in. But the inside was completely empty!

We then spent the afternoon seeing the sights of Mumbai. First Stop was Victoria Terminus, we then went for a quick Pepsi in an aircond cafe and then carried on with the day. We visited Fashion Street, which is a street full of fakes for super cheap, Hutatma Chowk, Flora Fountain, which was covered up due to the development of the new metro, Bombay High Court which was surrounded in very well lawyers and barristers, Rajabai Tower (Mumbai's Big Ben), David Sassoon Library, Jehangir Art Gallery, Prince of Wales Museum, the iconic Taj Hotel and Gateway of India where we sat and watched the ferry boats come into the Dock.

In the evening we were spoilt to death by Will's friend from uni Adi. She met us with her driver near the Taj Hotel in her hot red Jaguar!! Sweeeeet!! She then took us to Leopalds Cafe which is a famous cafe for tourists owned by an Irani Zoroastrian and was involved in the 2008 terrosit attacks in Mumbai. There were still bullet holes in the walls that they have kept as a memorial.

Then we jumped back in the Jag and went to the elite members only club - Cricket Club of India where we ate an Indian/ Chinese feast and I even had my first Old Monk. Old Monk is my favourite rum, it's an Indian rum, god I was in heaven! Honestly it was like we were back in the British Raj, with full table service. It really was an elite club full of quite old Indians that must be unbelievably rich! We were so honoured to be there!

What an amazing 2nd day in Mumbai!!Read more