After experiencing Cochin and Delhi, I was excited for Mumbai. We had a ship tour booked, and then we booked a private food tour through Viator.
Our bus stopped at the Victoria Train Station for a photo or two. The building was just beautiful, as you can see from the pictures below.
We then went to the Gandhi Museum, which is where Gandhi lived between 1917 and 1934. I was even lucky enough to get a selfie with Gandhi himself!
“True morality consists not in following the beaten track, but in finding the true path for ourselves and in fearlessly following it” Gandhi
We then drove to the Churchgate Railway Station, where we observed the ‘food delivery system’ that is used in Mumbai. The wives cook lunch for their husbands, drop them off to be delivered by men who carry them. Once the men have finished their lunch, they have the empty lunchboxes carried back to their wives. Fascinating…
Churchgate Railway Station
From the Churchgate Railway Station, we took the train to the Mahalaxmi Station (about a 20 minute ride) and walked to Dhobi Ghat, a place where locals take their laundry to be soaked, soaped, boiled, beaten and thrashed. It is then air dried, pressed and wrapped – ready by the next day.
Next up was the famous Gateway to India, built in 1911 to commemorate the visit of King George V and Queen Mary. You can see that the well-known Taj Hotel is right next door (where the terrorists took over the hotel in 2008 – I watched Hotel Mumbai before I left for the trip).
Finally, the bus stopped in the city where we could shop for a few minutes. I bought some spices – Mumbai curry and green curry.
We went back to the ship, had some lunch, and regrouped for our next tour, a Taste of Mumbai. Our guide, Anthony, met us (Leslie, and I were joined by a father and daughter duo that we met on the ship – Bob and Lauren) at the Cruise Terminal, and we were off. The first thing we told Anthony was that we had to be back to the ship by 6:30pm (we really didn’t have to be there until 7:00pm, but I wanted to make sure we didn’t miss the boat – literally).
He first took us to a beach for a taste of the local cuisine. We tried Pani Puri, which was chickpeas, wrapped in a flour shell, and then it was dipped in water, with cilantro and other spices. You had to eat it all in one bite, or it would dribble down your shirt. It was actually pretty good and pretty spicy. We then tried some other dishes that I don’t remember the names of, and some chai tea. All delicious.
We had a walk along the beach to work off what we ate and make room for our next food stop.
Anthony led us off the beach and into a part of town that was 95% Muslim (Kalbadevi). This was the most exciting part of the trip. I wish I could post the video that really shows what we experienced when walking the streets. They were packed with people, cars, motorcycles, carts, and even a cow. The best words that I can use to describe it are crazy, nuts, exciting, bustling, out of this world.
We arrived at our last stop around 6:30pm (which, if you remember, was the time we were supposed to be back at the ship) and sat down and had more local cuisine. We received a lot of stares (I think we were the only non-Muslims there). Again, the food was delicious, and we were all stuffed.
We left after about 15 minutes are hightailed it out of there to get back to the ship. Anthony seemed to be contacting our driver to meet us somewhere, but it was such chaos that we just started walking, following blindly, hoping Anthony would get us back in time. Finally, he hailed a cab, and we made it back to the ship at exactly 7:00pm. Whew! I wouldn’t have changed a thing. This was probably one of my favorite moments of the trip so far. I really felt like we were in the heart of Mumbai, it was exhilarating!
Next - 3 days at sea, then Salalah, Oman.
Great adventure in the culinary world! I think I would be needing Cipro by now (lol)!!