and Charlotte came to visit {Mumbai - part one}

As most of you know, Charlotte is in her final year of school in England as a full time boarder. During her summer holidays Charlotte came to visit! I was quite emotional whilst we were waiting for Charlotte at the airport; what joy it was to finally see her! She looked like a seasoned backpacker when she finally walked into the arrivals hall on Friday the 24th July!

As we did a LOT whilst Charlotte was here, I'm going to break-up our sight-seeing and travels into a number of posts. This one will focus on Mumbai {as will the following post or two depending on how things go}

After fetching Charlotte from the airport, we dropped Andrew off at the office and headed 'home' to our apartment. Later that evening after dinner, we walked around Powai in the rain showing Charlotte the various shops etc in the area stopping for an ice-cream.

eating ice-creams

The following day we headed to Mumbai downtown along with Nick who is a work colleague of Andrew's {he reminds us - in a good way - very much of one of Andrew's brothers, Alastair!} We wondered past the the Gateway of India and the famous Taj Hotel as we made our way to a Mumbai legend for lunch - Leopold's Cafe on Colaba Causeway {which happens to be known for shopping}! The menu is fab as is the decor. Leopold's is mentioned in countless novels, magazines and travel books….despite it's fame, it has a welcoming, unpretentious atmosphere and it's a place we'll return to time and time again with those who come to visit!

the Taj Hotel

where we ate yummy food

some of the desserts on offer

After lunch, we had time to 'kill' before our street food tour in the evening. The four of us walked to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya previously known as The Prince of Wales Museum {which is a little easier to pronounce} in the heat of the day! I thought it was a fascinating museum; it is housed in a grand Indo-Saracenic building designed by the George Wittet. Its foundation stone was laid by the Prince of Wales {the future George V} in 1905. The building once served as a military hospital during WW1.  It is renowned for it's sculptures and miniature paintings; generous gifts from private collectors have enabled this museum to build quite a collection of rare artefacts.

inside the museum

some of the treasured artefacts

this corridor housed early paintings and manuscripts; the room is kept relatively dark to protect the art

an early map of Bombay {now Mumbai}

a few of the large collection of snuff bottles, a pretty impressive collection too!

on the right, a painting by Thomas Gainsbourgh

one of the many Mughal miniature paintings 

and another miniature painting

one of the galleries

At some point during the afternoon we called it a 'day' with the walking around the museum and headed to an air-conditioned cafe for a welcomed cool-drink before walking to Church Gate Station for the start of the Street Food Tour. Some of the sights we saw on the streets as we walked to the station are not easy to see….scenes like these never fail to move me….I am reminded once again of the privileged life we live!

a lady selling mangos

 a lady with a fantastic head of grey  hair; I think she sleeps right there

this little boy just wore a t'shirt; we're guessing that is his mother sleeping…..no one else was around….

this little boy was playing whilst his family slept…no one watching over him…..

We met our street food guide Sid at Church Gate Station. We had no idea that we were going to travel by train to the start of our street food tour! It wasn't quite 'rush-hour' so the train was pretty empty….we didn't real mind…we were on a train in Mumbai!

inside Church Gate Station

inside the train

doors open….

everyday in Mumbai, at least five people die, whether from falling from a packed train or suicide; the trains are not stopped….they continue to run as too many people rely on trains for transport

A couple of stops down the track, we got off and walked to Chowpatty Beach. Chowpatty Beach is a very popular, inexpensive evening destination with the local residents. You won't see anyone swimming in the sea here. It's a place of gathering. You'll see families arriving for an evening meal, whether they bring their own or eat from one of the various food stalls where excellent vegetarian meals are served. Socialising carries on till late in the evening. This is where we started eating food on the tour….

we think he/she is a 'local'

the 'local' eating pink plastic

this is where the street food stall started

Malabar Hill; an area crowed with high-rise apartment blocks , home to Mumbai's rich and famous

local fisherman's children playing

dusk falling

the food stalls offer large mats to sit on when eating

From one of the food stalls, no 23 Bhim Singh Cold Filter Pani Puri {yes, that's the stall's name} our tour guide Sid started to bring us food….I do have to say that after we dined on a rather larger lunch earlier on the day combined with the heat, we weren't particularly hungry! That didn't stop the food coming….I think we had 5 or six courses of vegetarian meals. Okay, they were't large, but the time were done eating from stall no 23, we were full and there was more to come! We then walked over to another stall that sells kulfi - 'Famous Radbi Kulfi'. This stall sells the Indian equivalent of what we know as ice-cream. Kulfi is traditionally prepared by evaporating sweetened and flavoured milk, which is boiled over a low temperature. This is done with almost continuous stirring to prevent the milk burning on the bottom of the pan until it has halved it's original volume. By doing this, the liquid will thicken which increases its fat, protein and lactose density. The semi-condensed milk is then frozen slowly and the result is a delicious, smooth kulfi that is devoid of ice crystals.

I'm going to assume that this is Mr Bhim Singh in the pink shirt on the right!

Mr Bhim Singh

Sid, our tour guide

this is yum!

this is GOOD! it's called pave bhaji 

Bhim Singh's stall no 23 at dusk

so we decided not to try these cool drink mixers….

the kolfi stall

Charlotte with mouth cooling kolfi {very helpful if you've been eating spicy food}

chatting before we head off to catch a bus

Our next stop was the Muslim area for non-veg street food. We walked to a bus stop and waited around 20 minutes for the right bus. The bus journey to Mohammed Ali Road which is north of Crawford Market  took around 30 minutes passing briefly through Mumbai's red-light district…quite an eye-opener! After getting off the bus, we walked though some of the busiest streets I think I've ever been on as we made our way to more food! At the first street stall, we samples tiny deep fried balls of 'meat'. Beef is banned in most states of India and Maharasthta is one of them. What we were eating was buffalo. The buffalo is minced and is mixed with spices, rolled into tiny balls, deep fried and then then served on a large leaf with wedges of lime. They are quite delicious.

on the bus

one of the busy streets {but not the busiest, I was too busy making sure I didn't get run over so no photos}

where deep frying balls of minced buffalo happen on the street!

very tasty deep fried buffalo meat balls

We then walked to a street food stall selling a selection of meat. This stall was part of a restaurant. The four of us collapsed into our seats gulping down ice cold water {it was a very hot and humid evening} waiting for yet more food! The food bought to us was very very good. It was such a pity we didn't know that we really had to pace ourselves {which we had half-heartidly tried to do throughout the evening} as we were full! We sampled chicken dishes and sausage wrapped with fried egg in a tortilla type flat bread. The chicken burger was exceptionally good…by this stage, I could only have a small bite of two or three of the four dishes bought to us and there was still more to come! Sid our guide kept wanting to bring us more food! When we could eat no more, we moved onto dessert which was another 15-20 minutes walk away for which I think we were grateful although, I could have done with a mobility scooter at this stage of the game!

the selection of various meat on offer {we declined the offal}

more good food!

Dessert started off with some very good ice-creams! The company was established 125 years ago and is still family owned. They specialise in fruit flavoured ice-creams using fresh seasonal fruit. We have a friend Mona who lives in Norway and Mona is convinced without a doubt that we humans have a second stomach just for dessert and do you know what? I think she's right as I don't think I could have eaten anything else if I only had one stomach!! And we still weren't done! There was still more….

After eating ice-creams, we walked to our last street food stall for jaleebi. Jaleebi is a deep-fried Indian sweet which is then soaked in a sugary syrup. The batter is commonly made of chickpea flour and the yellow colour is derived from saffron or artificial food colourings. I just about managed to eat one of them. They are very yummy but they are not what we expected to eat at the end of an evening where all you seemly have done is fed you face! They remind me of a koeksister which is a South African doungut that is platted dough then pretty much cooked the same way as a jaleebi. And yes, they are incredibly sweet!

this is hot work!

 Sid : "are you not eating my friend?" me : "no Sid, no more food thanks!" {Sid calls everyone his friend…helps if you can't remember everyone's name!}

I literally had to stand back and watch…so over food by this stage! {this is Nick on the right}

Seen on or from the street

okay, who seriously would buy a gigantic balloon shaped like a light bulb?….they seriously think we would as we have been asked on more than one occasion!

Mumbai is known for 'flying foxes', a large fruit eating bat. they can be seen during the day and there are plenty of them around….we have them flying past our apartment in the evenings 

a 'flying fox'
adults have an average wingspan of up to 1 m (3.3 ft) and can weigh up to 1 kg (2.2 lb).

a book seller….

and the stock…mostly law books {I think}

one of the mosques 

a common sight; bedding and clothing hanging form balconies or washing lines either airing or drying

I'm sure that his older sister is removing nits!

a grain store

washing takes mere hours to dry

I have found that India is an assault on ones senses……every time I have been out and I get back into the cool, quiet of our apartment I realise that I am shattered. Your mind is constantly been fed. I am always looking about me as I never tire of the vibrant, loud, busyness of what's going on around me. As a result, my eyes are constantly sending images to my mind; you are never ever out of earshot of a horn….people are constantly driving with their hands on their horns {just to let others know that they are 'here'} so your mind is also having to deal with noise. Then there's the different smells which sometimes is pretty pleasant {mostly not} and your mind is trying to identify them mostly without you realising it. You're also trying not to get run over when crossing the roads. Yes, it's pretty much exhausting but I'm loving it!

Till the next time…...