Mumbai... Bombay

November 22...

November 23... outside of the Central Railway Station in Bombay. 

So I have now been in India for five full days, Bombay was full on to say the least. I stayed in a really nice hostel which I helped... Its pretty cool when you don’t have to kill roaches before you go to bed. 

I didn’t make the most of my time in Bombay by hitting up this night-life my Lonely Planet talks about or going to the infamous Leapolds although perhaps if I am passing through again I will try to stay in the Colaba district where its apparently “pumpin”. I did however, spend a lot of time wandering around, observing others observing me. 

I ended up staying in Khar which is basically right in the middle of suburbia. Suburbia in Bombay though, is quite different from say, Millwoods. Not that this would be surprising to anyone. Despite some of the apartment complexes looking like they were in need of a coat of paint most of the places where quite nice and I could actually see myself living in them.

I spent a day doing some sight seeing and a lot more aimless wandering. I started the morning by trying my best to decipher the train system and which line was going to take me towards Colaba. I think I kinda sorta got it right... I didn’t end up at the right station but I was close enough and able to walk quickly to where I wanted to go. 

I spent an hour wandering around the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya or Prince of Wales Museum for us white people. The layout and design reminded my of the Provincial building in Edmonton but was housed with a lot of interesting shit instead!

Its hard to see the museum behind all those lush palms and lack of snow...

After that I wandered down to the Gateway to India, which was built during colonial times for the visit of English Royalty. It was finished just in time however, to parade the last of the English out of the country.

The square surrounding the Gateway was full of tourist, people selling the most random shit that they insist you need such as oversized balloons... really? Balloons... And beggars, I learned a quick 1000 rupee lesson that day... eyes down stern no!

Ooooo itsa nice in der.

Oh right and there are really cute puppies everywhere just chillin. I held back with the puppy pictures but there will be more!

Balloons and beggars just outside of the Gateway to India... Beggars wearing more expensive jewelry then I would ever imagine owning...

Badass Swami dude looks so badass

This hotel is directly across from the Gateway of India, I am pretty sure its the Taj Mahal Palace... All I know for sure is its pretty flash.

I was just sitting outside my hotel and three or four of these lil guys walked by. I am not sure how keen they are on silly white girls taking pictures of holy animals, but their so cute and its that our give them hugs.

So all in all I am pretty happy with the start to my trip big cities are always a bit hectic but I survived and have made my way down to Goa, where I intend on soaking my feet and forming some kind of loose plan for the next month and a bit.