Once we had eaten lunch at Novotel, had another nap, and a G&T, it was 3.30pm and I really wanted to see Mumbai south with the epic gate of India!
So we called an Uber and for under £5, we had an hours taxi ride to the gate of India.
The taxi ride was brutal, no seat belts, no such thing as giving way, no rules or so it seemed. People darting in and out on Tuk tuk and motorbikes and people carrying many a range of things on their heads and whatever they could manage. It is a really bonkers place.
The gate of India is surrounded by beige clad police and lots of Indian people! I couldn’t see a single tourist! They all gawped at us like we were 8ft green aliens, and sent their children to us to have photos with us (!!). We obliged and slowly made our way round the monument, little rowing boats litter the bay surrounding.
We went and sat with some of ‘the locals’ on a set of steps that had a pretty view out to sea through the gate. The parents were urging the children to say hello to us, and they giggled amongst themselves, peeking out from behind their family curiously.
As we walk away, they became brave and shouted hello. They were thrilled to bits when we waved and said hi back! There was also a baby in full on Cleopatra eye make up!! That was odd.
We then went to find the Taj hotel (another safe haven from Emlyn) and upon finding it, they wanted to scan and search us, so we hopped across the road to an inviting looking bar, ‘social colaba’. It was about 5.30pm and dusk was upon us, so we scurried in, and the staff saw us to a table (VERY hospitable and couldn’t do enough for us!).
We settled down and I had a peach ice tea (which literally was served in a mini bath!), and leon had a Diet Pepsi. We looked at their newspaper-like menus and ordered some fried food (we had been advised by Ali, our house sitting chum, fried food is safest). My gosh it was tasty! Sesame, honey, & chili fries with fresh samosas, and a super tasty sriri something or other sauce, yum yum yum!! The waiter kindly informed us how calorific our food choice was. With 2 satisfied tums, we ordered our Uber to ‘T2’, the magnificent international flight Mumbai airport (rather different to that of which we landed in!), the pillars that were holding the giant lozenge shaped spacecraft of a roof, resembling a babao trees made from origami.
We were segregated by gender for security and after I passed through, and leon was given the 9th degree, we made it to another Starbucks to gain som phone juice, wifi, and update the blogs before all the precious detail fades. It’s now nearly 11pm, I have wished Aunty Hazel a happy birthday, and am ready for a vast quantity of water. Onwards to sri lanka, again with Jet Airways, which leon is very happy about as he says it is the best plane food ever! (Veg curry)
Oh and for those Mooncup ladies and curious, I have used mine successfully on the plane (didn’t get mistaken for drug smuggling in the X-rays) and in Mumbai loos! Hoorah! They have a handy hose pipe thingy that you can use to wash it with. Prob TMI, but it’s my blog, so there!
