Monsoon Rains and Moving in

Way back on Wednesday, the 25th June, Andrew and I returned to Mumbai in the middle of the Monsoon Season. For those of you who don't know, the Monsoon Season is when it rains! And it rains and rains and rains! We stayed in the very lovely Marriott Hotel for a couple of nights before moving into our apartment on Saturday, the 27th June, the place we'd call 'home' till the end of the year.

Views from the plane {the blue is plastic tarpaulin to keep the water out}

The Marriott

the pool by day

& the pool by night {we didn't get to swim in it!}

Andrew waiting for his waffles!!

yummy ice-cream & toppings!

Setting up our apartment took a little longer than I thought it would! We shopped and shopped and shopped…for lovely home-ware goods which we had fun doing so {even if it was pretty tiring} We were taken to a large shopping mall not so far from where we live called RCity Mall and that's where we did our shopping. The Mall has nearly everything!

We found some things to be reasonable and other things at a bargain. Throws and cushions and bed linen/towels are priced wonderfully low for Westerners and they are of a good quality too! Pots and pans are of a high standard too. I think they'll ALL {as in throws and cushion covers, pots and pans etc} be coming back to the UK with us - just need to find a reasonably priced company to shift the stuff back!

A few of the many shopping bags!

We went back to the fabric market to buy pieces of fabric to make into wall hangings. That was the easy part! Finding thin, light pieces of wood wasn't too easy! Our trusty driver George drove me around whilst I peered out the car windows looking for wood! We eventually found long pieces of skirting board….I sewed a fold on each piece of fabric, Andrew pushed the wood through. We tied light-weight string at each end of the wood and voila! we had wall hangings! Happy us. We also bought a new sewing machine and walked for hours looking for thread…I think I have enough thread for the next 20 something years!

The view from our
apartment

Fabric Market

Buying a sewing machine

The new Singer!

The thread shop

the chap in the blue is the great grandson of the founder of the shop….

a window display

my thread stock!

throws over the fake black leather lounge suite!

our wall 'art'

the kitchen 

Charlotte's room

A few days after we moved in, I got an email to say that our excess luggage had arrived. Well, 7 trips to the cargo section of the airport, a lighter wallet - there are 'fees' for everything - and we had our stuff.  The 'agent' appointed to me - I asked for one as I had no idea how one goes about collecting excess baggage  - was helpful until he asked me how much was I willing to pay 'under the table' for the custom official who'll turn a 'blind eye' to my baggage?! I mentioned number, he said no, double that. I agreed as it was only £30. After I had my luggage, I stood next to the taxi paying the agent his fees {which he gave me a receipt for the agreed amount} then I handed over the money for the customs official, who by the way didn't even bat an eyelid at the contents of my baggage! I asked the agent for a receipt for that too as the company was going to re-emburse us. He very quickly said, don't worry about it and me my thirty back! My guess was that he was trying to score extra cash for himself on top of what I'd already paid him! I got away with not 'feeding a shark'! 

Somewhere at the cargo section

those are our bags waiting to be 'released'

baggage in my possession

And then there's rain! When is rains here during the Monsoon Season, it rains!! I'll add in a few photos but they don't do the rain falling any justice! The Monsoon Season starts to ease towards the end of August, there was a bit in September however, we have just returned from a fabulous week away in the Maldives {more about that in another post} and it looks like the rains have gone! The heat is still around but the humidity has almost gone which makes going outside a lot more pleasant!

Rain!

photo taken from our lounge with the sliding window open

We have found a really lovely church. I love the worship! The teaching is pretty much spot on too! Sadly, as we are travelling quite a bit, we have missed a number of Sundays. We jump into an auto rickshaw which costs about 30p for a 10min journey and we walk back home which is only 30mins. We would probably walk to church but we'd arrive looking like we'd just stepped out of a shower; either from the rain {if it had been raining} or from sweating - it's an uphill walk and the humidity has been crazy high these past few months. The church is called 'The Church at Powai'

On our way to church

Inside

The church is on the 1st floor
on the left - people are gathered
outside chatting after the
service

across the road form church!

We have a lake not too far from us called Powai Lake. The bird life is interesting. Apparently there are lots of crocodiles in the lake…..when the rains go and the water levels drop, you get to see crocs! Will let you know if we ever see any.

The Lake

Food shopping is not bad at all! I buy our fresh fruit and veg from street stalls close to home {within a 10min walk} the food is unbelievably well priced…I do wonder if the stall owners make any money let alone the suppliers! I also head over to a market called IT Market occasionally. I get George to dive me as it's a little too far to walk back laden with fruit and veg! We are eating well….lots of seasonal veg and fruit! Custard Apples are currently in season and they are delish! So is custard apple ice-cream and custard apple smoothies! I buy dry goods/cupboard staples etc from three shops, one is called DMart where you can buy rice at a very good price in bulk {we are eating lots of curry & rice!} and lots of other stuff I have no idea what it is! Another is called Cheap is Best {and no, their goods are not always cheaper than other shops!} and the other is a more of an upmarket shop called Hyco. Hyco stocks a lot of everything. From Magnum ice creams {which I don't eat 'cause I still don't eat chocolate} to Special K cereal to drinks to spices I've never heard of before to frozen meat and veg dishes. Also cleaning stuff, toiletries and wine! It also sells fruit and veg but they prices are double if not more than what I pay at the street stalls. Hyco is like the Waitrose of England and the Marks and Spencer of SA {well, by Indian standards!} We get our fresh meat from a butcher called 'Josephs Cold Storage' in Bandra. It takes about one hour to get there. We buy good quality chicken breasts, buffalo fillets, buffalo mince, lamb chops, pork chops and loins. The cost again is far less than what we'd pay in the UK. It is illegal to sell beef in the state of Maharashtra hence the purchase of buffalo meat. It is very tasty, quite like beef! Our water is delivered to our apartment. I call the shop, order 3 or 4 20lt bottles and within 30mins, there is a knock at the door. A 20lt bottle is 90 rupees….90p or just under R19! Bargan! This water is used for drinking, cooking and brushing our teeth!

A local street stall

IT Market

Buying meat

waiting for our meat order

our water dispenser and stock

Seen on/off the street…..