So we tick of the Mumbai landmarks in one fell swoop, not too hard considering the Gateway of India and the Taj Palace are right next to each other. Like any major landmark you are commonly plagued with camera touts wanting to take your photo in various positions (although I've found many places will just super impose your face onto a background, humorous enough if you want to appear to be emerging from the ocean or be seen as a Mount Rushmore-esque figure). After a reasonably thorough security check we entered the Taj hotel and after being pointed in the direction of the closest bar we started wandering around the foyer, my friend, desperate to soak up some final rays, discovered the door that led out to the gorgeous pool, alas this was strictly for guests only and at $250 per night it was a little beyond us. After failing to find the bar we decided just to use the toilets and leave but not before checking out the tea menu in the foyer, at 5 quid for a cup of tea we decided not to linger should we be pressurized into buying anything from an overly helpful waiter.
We meander through the chaotic streets back to the hotel in preparation of our trip to Chowpatty beach, the only strip of 'golden' sand in Mumbai. We walked the 2 kilometers along marine drive which was labeled every 100 meters with the distance you had walked, at every checkpoint I announced we had walked another 100 meters a novelty which wore off on my friend after the first three hundred. We got to the beach were I treated my self to a well... deliciously different iced treat, I think it was mainly just a block of ice with different flavourings dispersed through it stored in a cup of rola cola, nonetheless I enjoyed it. So we stood tentatively on the beach fending off advances of touts wanting to rent us mats so that we didn't actually have to sit on the sand, neither of which appealed, believe me standing on it was bad enough! As we strolled the length of the beach we noticed that we had picked up a stalker, a middle aged Indian man who seemed harmless enough but after switching directions numerous times and having him mirror our moves we decided to leave, the sun wasn't down yet but the Mumbai smog had engulfed it sufficiently to justify our departure. We crossed over a road bridge were we seemed to attract the attention of a group of young men, a couple of which ran in front of us and down the stairwell we were about to descend, we hastily made our way down and practically jumped into the first taxi we saw, maybe just paranoia but you can never be too sure. It was at this point I realised how badly the tourists actually get ripped off by taxis and rickshaw drivers, we traveled back the 2Km plus the little extra to the hotel and as we were on the meter we paid the proper rate, a grand total of 33 rupees (around 38p), something we would have struggled to pay more than triple that by haggling a price.
After our eventful day we decided to eat close to home and both the guides we had listed a place that was just across the street, Gaylords. We were so taken away by the name we kind of underestimated the fact we were no longer in the holiday, and tax, haven of Goa and were taken aback by the prices. Having done a quick itinerary check on our wallets we decided we had enough for two mains and 2 breads but alcohol was strictly of the menu. The waiter, a little surprised out our minimal order quickly produced our dishes and we started to tuck in. I had ordered a medium heat dish but like with most places its a game of chance what you get, however Gaylords manager misses nothing. Noticing the beads of sweat appearing on my forehead and my rationing of water (although this was for monitory reasons also) he inquired if my dish was too hot, I assured him it was fine, and I was actually nearly finished, but this didn't stop him from rolocking our waiter and demanding that some yogurt be brought out to cool my dish. We finished up and decidsing we didn't have enough money to eat a dessert in we went to the in house bakery's and got ourselves a cake each wrapped up nicely in a gaylords box. We went back to the hotel and ordered room service, a pot of English tea, and got into bed with our couple of Gaylords, it was 9pm.
We meander through the chaotic streets back to the hotel in preparation of our trip to Chowpatty beach, the only strip of 'golden' sand in Mumbai. We walked the 2 kilometers along marine drive which was labeled every 100 meters with the distance you had walked, at every checkpoint I announced we had walked another 100 meters a novelty which wore off on my friend after the first three hundred. We got to the beach were I treated my self to a well... deliciously different iced treat, I think it was mainly just a block of ice with different flavourings dispersed through it stored in a cup of rola cola, nonetheless I enjoyed it. So we stood tentatively on the beach fending off advances of touts wanting to rent us mats so that we didn't actually have to sit on the sand, neither of which appealed, believe me standing on it was bad enough! As we strolled the length of the beach we noticed that we had picked up a stalker, a middle aged Indian man who seemed harmless enough but after switching directions numerous times and having him mirror our moves we decided to leave, the sun wasn't down yet but the Mumbai smog had engulfed it sufficiently to justify our departure. We crossed over a road bridge were we seemed to attract the attention of a group of young men, a couple of which ran in front of us and down the stairwell we were about to descend, we hastily made our way down and practically jumped into the first taxi we saw, maybe just paranoia but you can never be too sure. It was at this point I realised how badly the tourists actually get ripped off by taxis and rickshaw drivers, we traveled back the 2Km plus the little extra to the hotel and as we were on the meter we paid the proper rate, a grand total of 33 rupees (around 38p), something we would have struggled to pay more than triple that by haggling a price.
After our eventful day we decided to eat close to home and both the guides we had listed a place that was just across the street, Gaylords. We were so taken away by the name we kind of underestimated the fact we were no longer in the holiday, and tax, haven of Goa and were taken aback by the prices. Having done a quick itinerary check on our wallets we decided we had enough for two mains and 2 breads but alcohol was strictly of the menu. The waiter, a little surprised out our minimal order quickly produced our dishes and we started to tuck in. I had ordered a medium heat dish but like with most places its a game of chance what you get, however Gaylords manager misses nothing. Noticing the beads of sweat appearing on my forehead and my rationing of water (although this was for monitory reasons also) he inquired if my dish was too hot, I assured him it was fine, and I was actually nearly finished, but this didn't stop him from rolocking our waiter and demanding that some yogurt be brought out to cool my dish. We finished up and decidsing we didn't have enough money to eat a dessert in we went to the in house bakery's and got ourselves a cake each wrapped up nicely in a gaylords box. We went back to the hotel and ordered room service, a pot of English tea, and got into bed with our couple of Gaylords, it was 9pm.
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