Aaron's 30th Birthday in Mumbai

As I woke up this morning, barely able to open my eyes, the familiar feeling of being back in reality (though this reality is one that we're lucky to have), made the mattress feel firmer, my body heavier, and my spirits drearier. As I woke up this morning, I hoped that I would open my eyes to Mumbai again, as we had for the past 3 days, and that we would return to Leopold Cafe today to enjoy milkshakes, fish-n-chips, and the neverending dish of peanuts the waiters are so attentive at keeping supplied. Thankfully, as I awoke this morning, Aaron received a phone call from one of our co-workers, who informed us that September 21st is a national holiday, and we get the day off. That's the best way to return to reality- gradually. So now, the story of Mumbai.

I didn't realize until early August (during the Mumbai Xpress) that Mumbai is an island, much like Manhattan. In fact, Mumbai is the Manhattan of India. From celebrity stories to terrorist attacks (and not to make light of that), Mumbai and Manhattan have quite a lot in common. Most people who visit New York and who aren't from there generally think that once you get past the crowds and the obscene number of people, it's a very enjoyable city. Well, getting over the crowds is something you learn to do quickly in India, no matter where you are, so Mumbai automatically becomes the perfect destination for the open-minded, open-hearted, lively bunch who like the excitement of "civilization," the energy of human activity. And that, perhaps, is what makes Mumbai my favorite city in India. It's alive. Like wedding vows- for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health- Mumbai is alive.

From Chennai, it's a 24 hour train ride to Mumbai. Though a whole day on a train sounds exhausting (and it kind of is), time passed quickly as we travelled at 50 mph over the subcontinent. We travelled through the states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Goa before arriving in Maharashtra, the same 4 states along the route of the Mumbai Xpress (naturally). As I've probably mentioned before, western India reminds me of Hawaii. It's green, lush, tropical, and hilly. Along the route, we had a very comfortable seating situation in the second class, air conditioned car, where we could sit up, play games, then fold down the seats to make beds to sleep on. Though not top quality in comfort, it provided a sufficient place to rest our ever-shifting bodies for a few hours at a time. Here are a few scenes from the window of the train:

We arrived in Mumbai 5 minutes early, at 6:03 am. Immediately upon exiting the train, we were swarmed with offers of taxi rides, hotel reservations, dining spots, and a variety of other tourist-friendly offers. One of the biggest rules about travelling in India (or abroad in general) is to decline offers until you see the product, or as much of it as you can. If you say "yes" to a taxi cab driver without his taxi present, you really don't know what you've said "yes" to, especially considering the number of unofficial cabs in Mumbai, a ride in which will almost guarantee a rip off, a threat, or maybe even death. And though they may pester you for quite some time, constantly saying "no" usually does the trick. They generally don't have much time to waste listening to "no." So, as we made our way toward the front of the Dadar Terminal, we were stuck between a rock and a hard place. We couldn't check into our hotel until noon and Leopold's, where we planned to hang out and have breakfast, didn't open until 7. So, we had about an hour to shoot the breeze (with luggage in tow) but no idea of where the breeze was coming from or where to shoot it. In the constant bombardment of taxi, hotel, and tourist offers, we finally starting telling people we were meeting someone at the terminal. Word got around quickly among them and soon, Aaron and I were standing by ourselves with our bags waiting for 7:00 to come along. When it did, we went out into the world of Mumbai outside the terminal. By this point, most of the cab drivers had seen us standing there for quite sometime. We found a guy who seemed to speak good English and told him we wanted to go to Colaba, perhaps the most popular district of Mumbai, where our hotel and Leopold's were. Unlike Chennai, where you negotiate a fare in advance (which is illegal, actually, but that's how it's done), Mumbai cab drivers are required to use a meter, then convert the "units" of the meter into rupees based on a fare chart that they are required to carry. We asked to see the fare chart and it was shown to us, which proved the cab was legitimate (though some drivers do carry false fare charts). Once we got in, the man who we initially talked to got into the passenger side next to the driver. This was sketchy. We hadn't talked to the driver, only the guy sitting next to him. Aaron asked why there were two people in the car. The guy said he was only helping. Aaron, with the fare chart in hand, asked the price to go to Colaba. "30...31 units," the guy said. Looking at the fare chart, that amounted to 600 to 650 rupees ($12-$13). Waaaay too much money to be paying, considering that the website for our hotel suggested 150 rupees as fair fare (ha) from Dadar to Colaba. We told the driver to pull over, that we'd pay him for taking us this far, but we weren't about to pay $13 for an untrustworthy ride to Colaba. We got out and started down the street to find another driver. At least three other drivers we asked gave us outrageous quotes. 500 rupees. 600 rupees. 450 rupees. All of these numbers quoted after looking us up and down and deciding we didn't know better. Finally, we asked a young driver who looked fairly tired. "200 rupees," he said, so we got in and made our way to Colaba.

We arrived in front of Leopold's around 7:15, only to discover that it opened for breakfast at 7:30, not 7. So, we went down to the end of the block to Cafe Mondegar, a nice little cafe and obvious expat hang out. Aaron had two sunny-side-up eggs with some chicken sausage and toast and I had the "petit dejeuner," a delicious breakfast with 2 scrambled eggs, toast, french fries, tea, and orange juice. Perfect start! We sat there for awhile, stalling as much as possible in order to check in to our hotel and put our luggage down. Finally, after about 2 hours, we decided we'd try to check in early... 3 hours early. So, we walked around the neighborhood looking for the street of our hotel, which didn't take us long to find. Thankfully, at 9:15 am, the Bentley's Hotel staff let us check in and we were escorted to our room, which was three blocks away from the registration building in a different building altogether. Our room was like a hostel room, with two beds pushed together, a t.v. in the corner, an old wooden closet, a desk, and the distinct smell of mold, but the ceilings were high, the room appeared clean, and we were tired. We set our stuff down and locked the door with the padlock provided. We turned on the t.v. and watched "The Island" before taking a much needed nap. When we woke up, we showered, dressed, and got ready to celebrate Aaron's 30th birthday. We had plans to meet with Sharell and Pradeep, our friends from the Mumbai Xpress, at 6:30 pm, so when we woke up around 5, we had some time to kill. We made our way down to the Gateway of India and spent time hanging around there before heading to Leopold's to party.

Finally, it was time to go to Leopold's, which was only a couple blocks away. We took a seat at table #16 and were greeted by a waiter who immediately asked if we'd read the book Shantaram. When we said we had, our waiter told us that table #16 is where Shantaram himself (Gregory David Roberts) always sits when he dines at Leopold's. It could've been something he told every customer about their table, but we felt special anyway. After all, it only really is through Shantaram that we knew about Leopold's in the first place. So, from Shantaram's table, we ordered drinks, had some peanuts, and talked about how wonderful it was to be in Mumbai. Oh, and of course, photo op!

As it turned out, Sharell and Pradeep had been at Leopold's for a short time while we were there, but they had been sitting in the upstairs, air conditioned area, which we did not know existed. They came down to greet us and we all went upstairs. Sharell and Pradeep gave Aaron two fantastic presents- a carrom game board and a musical Ganesha murti (which I will take video of soon). We ordered some food and the famous Leopold's beer tower and enjoyed the night! Aaron calculated that at 10:30 pm India time, he would officially turn 30, so when 10:30 rolled around, so did the cake (a surprise to Aaron and I both). Sharell had been in touch with Aaron's dad to make the cake as personal as... well, as Lambie Pie, Aaron's childhood nickname. Sharell and Pradeep also brought silly animal masks (playing on the Lambie Pie bit) and we all displayed our animal styles! With beer, cake, french fries, and good friends around, we all were very thankful for Aaron (and Allen and Tricia) for giving us a great excuse to party! :)

It's at this point that my camera battery died, so for more pics of Aaron's fantastic party, check out Sharell's photo album. Completed with a champagne toast, it was a fantastic night and quite a way to bring in Aaron's "dirty thirties!"

The next day, Aaron and I slept in late, which felt fantastic. The night before, Sharell had offered to take us around the city and show us the sights, so just after noon, we met Sharell at Leopold's and made our way to a nice rooftop restaurant called Bayview. I enjoyed a club sandwich (India style, with cucumbers, tomatoes, chicken salad, and eggs) and Aaron had chicken fingers and french fries (another reason why we love Mumbai- normal American food)! As the restaurant name indicates, the view from the rooftop was quite lovely, especially looking over towards the Gateway of India and the famous Taj Hotel.

After our delicious lunch, Sharell got a taxi to take us to the Hanging Gardens. We're not sure why they're called "hanging," but gardens, they definitely were, and quite beautiful at that. We took the famous Marine Drive to get there. After sundown, the lights on Marine Drive light up and it's then known as "The Queen's Necklace." On our final night there, we took pics of The Queen's Necklace from the Hanging Gardens. We walked around the gardens, imitating the garden creatures and enjoying the irony and hilarity of the signs.

After exploring the Hanging Gardens, the Three Musketeers (which I've just now named us) headed to the Haji Ali Mosque. When the tide is high, the mosque looks like it's in the middle of the ocean, since the walkway to the mosque is covered. However, the tide was low and we were able to walk out to the mosque that afternoon. It's a fairly long walkway, lined with beggars, salesmen, and children asking for money. It's here that I learned from Sharell two key words that I used frequently (and unfortunately) afterward: "Chpral," which basically means "remain silent" and "Niklo," meaning "get lost." These are words that you use to peskering beggars, begging children who won't leave you alone, or other people with their hands in your face following you until you give them money. Saying these words once is about the equivalent of saying "no" a hundred times, so it worked nicely. When we finally got to the mosque, we decided not to actually go inside. Of course, you're required to take your shoes off and cover your head, and since none of the Musketeers are Muslim, it wasn't a high priority to see the mosque from the inside. So, I took pictures instead.

After returning to the "mainland," Sharell suggested we go see the dhobighat (doh bee gat), the area of Mumbai where most of the city's laundry is washed. It's an expansive area, completely uncovered, kind of on the outskirts of the big city and scenes, but definitely worth a sight. We arrived at the dhobighat and watched from the stairway about the neighborhood for awhile. Sharell explained that each of the "pools" was filled with water or chemicals, and that much like developing a picture in a darkroom, the laundry went from one pool to another, along the way being beaten against the concrete to "clean" it, before being laid out or hung up to dry. Despite the fact that Mumbai is the capital of the richest state in India, it is still India, and this is how things are done. I think it is safe to say that the sheets we slept under in our Bentley's Hotel room were likely washed here. We went down the stairs into the dhobighat neighborhood, where most of the workers in the dhobighat live. There was a local gang nearby that wanted to charge us 100 rupees each to get inside the dhobighat. Sharell knew better, and knew that the 100 rupees per person was a made up charge and wouldn't buy anything except maybe cigarettes for these boys, so Sharell said she'd snap a picture of the inside since we couldn't go in. So, much to the boys' disapproval, Sharell snapped a pic (the last one before the next paragraph) and we walked away without paying a dime. And that was our visit to the dhobighat.

After seeing the dhobighat, Sharell concluded that we had seen most of the sights of Mumbai and since she lived in north Mumbai and we were staying in south Mumbai, the dhobighat was a logical place to part ways. So, sadly, we did, but with promises of staying in touch and meeting again. Aaron and I returned to Colaba and had some chicken wontons at Leopold's before returning to our room. Later on that night, we walked down to McDonald's and enjoyed some McNuggets, an indulgence every American must make at some point when travelling abroad. Knock them all you want in America, but when you live overseas, WalMart and McDonald's are heaven.

Now we're up to the 18th. We had plans to meet with another friend of ours from the Mumbai Xpress, but he was called out of town, so our meeting was postponed. The day was ours. We slept in quite late and bummed around in our room watching movies and enjoying being on vacation. Finally, when we felt too lazy for our own good, we went back to Leopold's for a snack and souvenirs. Then we wandered back toward the Gateway and the Taj and decided to inside the Taj and have a cup of tea. The inside of the Taj Hotel is incredibly beautiful and smells so wonderful! Oh, I could've spent a lifetime just sitting in the lobby. We asked the receptionist where we could get a cup of tea and he recommended the Shaimana, the hotel's 24 hour restaurant. We got to the door of the Shaimana and saw the host was wearing a tux. Looking at our jeans, t-shirts, and flip flops, we decided we were drastically underdressed and that we'd come back the next day looking a little more suitable. So instead of tea, we sat in the lobby for awhile and discovered where most of the Americans in Mumbai stay... and it's not in the hostels, the street hotels, or even the nicer bed-and-breakfasts. It's at the Taj. I asked the front desk for a tariff card (rate sheet) and discovered that a single, basic, city view room (though with 5 star amenities) is 18,250 rupees ($365). The luxury suite at the Taj is 95,000 rupees ($1,900). Upon noticing that tidbit, we figured most of the Americans were in Mumbai for business and very few for pleasure. Though, it could be the other way around. Hard to know why people are spending money in a recession, but there they were at the Taj, spending away. I wondered for a moment about working at the Taj, wearing a sari and a bindi everyday and working in that beautiful smelling lobby, but the prospect of learning Hindi and Marathi combined with the fact that they probably don't hire non-Indians... and remembering that things like this always look better from the outside... the thought passed quickly and I instead enjoyed the comfortable lobby couches for awhile longer. We walked down the streets of Mumbai for a little while and just as we were about to call it a night and go back to our room, we decided to grab a bite to eat and a little cafe called Picadilly was right there to greet us. Still stuck on my hot beverage craving, I had a cup of coffee and Aaron enjoyed a chicken shawarma. Then we went back to our room and watched the movies that were on WB.

The next morning, we had to check out of our room by noon. We intended to wake up at 9 so that we could pack and make our way out in time, but after we let two hours pass of alarm "snoozing" (like we all do sometimes), we finally decided that 11:15 was a good time to wake up and rush instead! So we did! While Aaron settled the bill, I packed our stuff up. Aaron returned to tell me that the front desk agreed to 1) arrange a car for us for the day, since our train didn't leave until 8:30 pm and 2) to store our luggage. So, for 600 rupees, we had a car and driver arranged for 3 hours, from 5 to 8. The weather was especially hot and we thought of no other place we'd rather be than in the air conditioned room of Leopold's. So, dressed slightly better than the day before (with the intent of going back to the Taj), we "dried out" in the cool air of Leopold's and enjoyed another fantastic meal there. After Leopold's, we walked across the street to an internet cafe and plugged in for a little bit, then made our way back to Shaimana in the Taj. Feeling a little more confident in our appearance, we took a seat and I ordered a masala chai, Aaron a vanilla milkshake. Thankfully, the masala chai came in a rather large tea pot with a larger tea cup, so I enjoyed about 2 and a half cups of chai while Aaron and I talked about what we loved about India. It was a good couple hours spent in the Taj, relaxing in the luxurious atmosphere, among clean linens and fresh beverages, with attentive, well-dressed waiters attending to us. We enjoyed the finer things for a little while, and then the bill came. In retrospect, I would pay $7 again for a cup of tea, but it reminded us both that the finer things are things of spoil, indulgence, and otherwise not to be too heavily included in your daily lifestyle or they won't be so much finer. So, as 5:00 pm approached, we made our way back to Bentley's to meet with our driver... except that we found out that the driver and car had never been arranged. Much faster than we expected, the manager on duty ran out to the front of the building and asked one of the drivers waiting for passerbys if they would be hired for 3 hours for 600 rupees. An obliging man named Alogar agreed, so we gathered our bags and got into the car. Since we wanted to see the Queen's Necklace and we had about two hours until sunset, we started a Nariman Point, the southernmost point of Marine Drive. Parts of Shantaram take place here. I took a panoramic photo, which I'll upload soon, but also snapped some shots of Mumbai from Nariman Point.

We then asked the talkative Alogar to take us to Chowpatty Beach, the beach we saw from the view at the Hanging Gardens. Along the way, Alogar told us about Mumbai, his childhood, his family, the neighborhoods, the road, the car, and even showed us a letter of recommendation about him written by another passenger. He was a very friendly guy and kindly awaited our phone call to return after we explored and spent time on Chowpatty Beach. The tide was way out, so there was an area between the sandy beach and the sea that was soaked, but still dry enough to walk across. So, we walked out toward the sea. It was there that we waited for the sunset, with plans of returning to the Hanging Gardens and then going back to Dadar, which is exactly what we did. Here are some pics of Chowpatty Beach, followed by the pictures of The Queen's Necklace, looking back at Chowpatty Beach and along Marine Drive.

We left the Hanging Gardens around 7:15 pm, a bit later than we intended to leave, but with enough time to make it to the train station, which Alogar said would take 40 minutes to get to. Mumbai, as we had heard, is notorious for its traffic, so the 40 minutes actually turned into 60, and by the time we reached Dadar Terminal, Aaron and I were more in a sweat about the possibility of missing our train than we were over the hot, humid air. Still, Alogar got us there in time and we thanked him for being so accommodating, so friendly, and so concerned with getting us to where we needed to go as quickly as he could. We quickly made our way to our train car, with the same second class, air conditioned accommodations, and found our seats. It turned out we shared our area with a young couple and their newbon son, which proved to be a trying experience and we attempted to sleep amidst the crying and shouting. Another 24 hour train ride back to Chennai... time went slower, but it always does when you're leaving rather than going... and in this case, it was leaving Mumbai, not going to Chennai. We arrived home last night at around 9 pm and tried to sleep, but were restless and anxious for our next outting, which hopefully will be the Maldives! (We gotta stick to places that start with 'M' it seems- Mahabalipuram, Madurai, Mumbai... Maldives!)

So there you have it... the story of Mumbai and the reason it was difficult to wake up this morning. I've been blogging for most of the day now... it's 4:00 pm... so after I post this, we're off to the grocery store and then back to our room, where we can enjoy some more time together without work before we return to our daily grind. And I think the daily grind is the same grind, no matter where on Earth you are.

We're happy to be in India and fortunate we got to return to Mumbai, though we do miss home quick a bit. We hope you are all well and we look forward to hearing from you! Love you!