Some time ago we (me, my gf and 2 of my friends) went for an over 2 weeks trip across India. Always in farther trips i have this dilemma – I have limited time off from work but on the other hand I want to see as many places as possible and rest a bit at the same time. So we came up with this plan - first few days were very busy, we basically were changing cities daily so after that we could spend a week on a south of India (Goa state) just chilling and checking out Goa. For transportation we used what was available and suitable for us – tuk tuk’s, taxis, trains and airplanes. It was my first trip outside of Europe and it was perfect! In this series I want to show you what suprised me, intrigued me and generally what i like the most during that time. So, fasten your seatbelts, this is part #1 – Mumbai.

Colonial architecture of Mumbai is nothing less than impressive! Very often you can come across interesting buildings, tenement houses not to mention beautiful Victoria Terminus (Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus). The first locomotive departed from there in 1887, and novadays terminal hosts over 2,5 million passengers annually.

Other example is one of the greatest monument of colonial era – Gate of India. Designed by George Wittet, triumphal arc was build in 1924. Even though it is the most recognizable and turistic place in whole Mumbai, some taxi drivers didn’t know the way to it :p.

Mumbai is a huuuge city. Acording to travelguide, at the time we were there, the city had about 20 million citizens, but if consider taxi driver as a reliable source (and i accually did believe him) – correct number was more than 30 mln. For comparison whole Austalia has now about 23 million inhabitants. So, given that evening wasn’t so hot as rest of a day we decided to visit one of the city beaches, which turned out to be totally not original idea, because apart from us there were hundreds of other people :).

We were lucky to visit India at the time of Gandhi birthday celebration. Not only whole city was cleaned up, but in the evening streets turned into dancing areas, where people happily dance in circles. As you can imagine we were invited to join them, which we did without hesitation! ;)

In Mumbai you can easily spot the difference between higher and lower castes. On one hand there are skyscrapers and expensive cars, on the other poverty and slums, where you can find lack of basic stuff like running water or food. The most prominent example is the bigest laundry under the open sky – Dhobi Ghat. Over 200 famillies work there, everyday cleaning clothing from all over the city, earning 2$ per day. Whats interesting is that hardly any piece of clothing is missing, and clothes return to the owners perfectly cleaned and ironed.

Other example is common view of old, dirty building against brand new highrises.

Not far from Mumbai, about 45 minutes by fairy, we can fell different climat than crowdy city. Over there, on Elephanta Island, is located a network of sculpted caves. Listed on UNESCO World Heritage Site, sculptures has been created between 5th and 8th centuries. Although it’s not my cup of tea, for someone who likes that kind of stuff that must be quite a treat ;).

Thank you for reaching to the end – that would be all from Mubai City. In next episode i will post photos from Jaipur – beautiful city, futher north of India. Since it is my first post of this series I would be more than happy to receive your feedback, so if you believe that next time I should change something just go ahead and leave a tip in comment! :) I will be more that happy to read it.

If you liked what you’ve just read please upvote! ;)
Don’t forget to follow my profile at @wbucko, to be up to date wih new India stories.