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Monday, January 27th – arrive in Mumbai
The bus rolls into the Long Distance Mumbai Bus Depot early in the morning, when Monday rush hour is in full swing. I am groggy and bleary eyed and so ready to sleep but life doesn’t work that way when you need it to. Frank and I load up our bikes and try to figure out where we are. Our guide book shows we are on Boman Behram Marg, quite near the YMCA International Guest House. But it is still several kilometres for the core, and we down want to ride in Mumbai traffic every time we need to go somewhere.
The guide suggests the cheapest hotels are in a strip called the Colaba Causeway, right in the city centre beside the Gateway of India, the most famous landmark in Mumbai. We ride south until we reach Back Bay, a semi-circular bay between Malabar Hill to the west and the southern point of Mumbai to the east, which is Colaba Causeway. It is just to the behind the Taj Mahal Intercontinental Hotel.
We follow Marine Drive east, around the shore of the bay. It is a scenic route, obviously designed by the British. At the end of the drive, we are only a kilometre away from the Causeway, which is on the opposite side of the peninsula. There are a myriad of cheap hotels in the Causeway, but it is good that we are here early because they fill up fast. The one we choose is the Carlton, which has reasonably priced rooms and the rooms and hallways are cleaner than the first one we looked at. It is immediately behind the Taj Mahal Hotel and only 200 m from the Gateway of India.
I am so dead tired after my shower that I go straight to bed. Frank does too, but when I wake up around 2 pm he has already slipped out. I decided to head out and do my errands. The consist of visiting the Tourist Office, which is in Churchgate, a kilometre north and closer to Back Bay. Streets in the Causeway are a calm chaos but near Churchgate they are all broad avenues. The tourist office is open and busy. The staff are efficient and show me a host of brochures. I only want a local map with more detail than my guide book, and they have them.
Churchgate used to be one of the gates of the city before the walls were torn down in the middle of the last century. Now it is know for its huge train station, the second largest in the city. It stands impressively high for a train station. I presume, until I see the sign, that it is a cathedral, perhaps responsible for giving the neighbourhood its name.
The largest and most famous station is the Victoria Terminus Railway Station, back on the east side of the peninsula but further north. It’s a fifteen minute walk from the Tourist Office. I head there because the main post office is across from the station, and I am hoping I will have some mail waiting for me. I haven’t received any main since Istanbul.
But I am disappointed again. I suppose everyone thinks I will be home soon enough anyway, but other than speaking to my parents I haven’t heard from any of my friends in months. Perhaps my mail was returned too early, or lost or stolen.
I walk back south past the old Custom House, the majestic Town Hall, the tiny St Andrews Church and the Prince of Wales Museum, the latter being one of the splendid buildings in the core. From in front of the museum I can see the Gateway of India, a heavy basalt structure that was built in 1911 for George V and Queen Mary’s visit. It sits at the end of an expansive dock that is full of activity. But I am too tired to take any more in. I make it back to the hotel and return to my bed.
Frank wakes me up when he comes in an hour later. He has been to the tourist office too, as well as the post office and has done some banking. He is hungry and ready to go eat. I pull myself together and we head out. We find one called the Apsara, which specializes in Indian and Chinese food. It is delicious, but with a meal in my belly I am more tired than ever. Frank is too so we stroll back to our room. We are both in bed by 9 pm.
PHOTO 1: in the Colaba Causeway
PHOTO 2: Churchgate Station
PHOTO 3: Victoria Terminus Railway Station
PHOTO 4: Prince of Wales Museum
PHOTO 5: the Gateway of India
PHOTO 6: Taj Mahal Hotel/Palace in front of Colaba Causeway
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