Mumbai, surprisingly, was a bit of a chill out for us. I doubt many people go to Mumbai to relax but that’s kind of how it ended up, even though it was our first stop.
We treated ourselves by booking a hotel in advance that would usually be way out of our travel budget and were so glad of it when we arrived, exhausted from the whirlwind of English Camp, Bangkok and our flight!
We slept late most mornings, making the most of our time off and our swish room. Then we’d venture out to the bustling market area close to our hotel for some Indian style brunches.
Colaba – the downtown shopping district – just doesn’t feel like a place for tourists, at least not foreign tourists. But that was great, just how we like it. Everyone was friendly and enthusiastic with us and virtually everything we ate was fantastic.
We spent our afternoons wandering through the streets and markets of south Mumbai; we watched a dramatic festival; played Holi, shopped, and picked up delicious snacks and refreshing drinks as we stumbled across them.
Mumbai is a huge city and we only explored a very small part of it. It is loud and bustling – there are people, cars, bikes and scooters everywhere making a lot of noise. But we felt really comfortable, as though we were experiencing the calm before the storm people call ‘India’.
As with a few post-colonial cities we’ve visited, Mumbai had a familiarity about it; parks surrounded by black railings, wide rambling avenues, and busy people everywhere. We didn’t receive any unwanted hassle from touts – the most attention we got was people who wanted selfies with us!
It was a gentle introduction to our travels in India, we think there was a big psychological factor involved as we always had a great place to go and relax. We were a little sad to leave, and by the time we left it felt like we were throwing ourselves into the unknown, the real India.
