Mumbai

About a month ago we went to Mumbai over the Diwali weekend. Formerly known as Bombay, it is the commercial and entertainment capital of India.

A few hours before our flight in Bangalore, we went to the Leela palace and saw this brand new Ferrari F430. The son of the owner of the Leela Palace was driving it. It was a little bizarre to see such a new Ferrari amongst the auto-rickshaws and bustling streets of Bangalore!

Side View of the Ferrari
Side view of the Ferrari

Rear view of the Ferrari
Rear view of the Ferrari

Our hotel in Mumbai was just by the Gateway of India. We visited the Taj Mahal Hotel, Bombay Stock Exchange, Marine drive and a few other sights of the city on the first day.

Fu-Wing and me at the Gateway of India
Fu-Wing and me at the Gateway of India.
Photo courtesy of Jeetandra.

Typical taxis we rode on
Typical taxis we rode on

Bombay Stock Exchange
Bombay Stock Exchange

A random flock of birds
A random flock of birds

The Victoria Terminus railway station
The Victoria Terminus railway station

Sunset at Marine Drive
Sunset at Marine Drive

We had dinner at “Tendulkar’s Restaurant”, a restaurant bowled up by India’s famous cricketer Sachin Tendulkar. As expected, the decor was heavily based around cricket and Mr Tendulkar. Even the menu had labels such as ‘Sachin’s favorite’. I had a delicious crab masala and Bombay duck, although it was not really a duck.

Tendulkar’s Restaruant
Tendulkar’s Restaruant

Next day we met up with my cousin Jamil and his work mates (all from the UK) who are currently working on an engineering project in Mumbai. Their client is Reliance Industries, India’s largest private sector company.

Infy group meeting up with Bechtel group
Infy group meeting up with
the Bechtel group

The Mumbai museum was interesting. I learnt a alot about India’s past. It was very hot though and water was prohibited.

Prince of Wales Museum
Prince of Wales Museum

Jamil and his workmates actually live in North Mumbai. It takes so long to get down to Colaba, South Mumbai, they actually stayed over at the Oberoi hotel. The promotional channel had this memorizing song by FC Kahuna – Hayling. Have a listen at exactly 2 minutes into the song.

View from the room with Jamil and Gary
View from the room with Jamil and Gary.
The curve of the street lamps is known
as the ‘Queen’s Necklace’

We later went to a beach bar/restaurant and then a jazz club called “Not just jazz by the bay”. The theme of the night was classic rock. The signer and guitarist were pretty good. I left early and missed out on a cover of ‘Black is Back’ by ACDC, nevermind!

Beach bar/restaurant
Beach bar/restaurant

The band at ‘Not Just Jazz by the Bay’
The band at ‘Not Just
Jazz by the Bay’

Next morning Marco dragged me out of bed (I promised to wake up!) to join in with the laughter yoga clubs around Mumbai that start around 7am, but we failed miserably. Instead we took photos with the golden morning sunlight.

Marco with the Gateway of India in the background
Marco with the Gateway of India
in the background

On the way to the airport to catch our flight back to Bangalore, I saw this taxi on the highway:

Maximising the load
Maximising the load

One more thing, being the Diwali weekend there were a lot of fireworks being set off that lit up the city at night. Some were set off right in the middle of roads! All in all Mumbai was a nice big city break.

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