Walking around Mumbai...

Some of my friends from the UK arrived on the 25th of October, to holiday in Goa.

I had arrived the night before on a Tuesday, and had discovered most of the bars and clubs in Mumbai centre don't open till Thursday ! So the nightlife is quite dead till then.. (perhaps i just didnt know where to go ?)


Before departing to Goa, we had 3 days to spend in Mumbai, so on the first day, we went walking around the city...


We started off at a Chai (tea) shop...these are everywhere and the Masala tea's delicous..
Here's the owner (grey vest) who was quite proud cooking the Masala tea...


We then had an Indian breakfast from a road-side stall for 30p each, while the other clientele started at us curiously...

before making our way to CST (or Victoria Terminus railway station) :



Mumbai taxis and the the High Court in the background (i think)...




After lunch, we walked past the University of Mumbai, and the reading rooms of the library (many of the buildings are of the beautiful, old colonial architecture) :




to the 'Gateway of India'...





A lot of people were on holiday due to the Diwali festival (kind of like New Year) so the place was packed. Indians also seem to love taking photos with foreigners, so the white people in our group kept getting asked to take photographs.. needless to say no one asked me for a photo :)
Its funny to think that my friends' grinning faces will be gracing many a mantle piece in villages across India for years to come...

...after a while there were so many requests, we escaped to the Taj for tea..

This was one of the hotels attacked by the terrorists in 2008 when an entire wing was burnt down and large parts of the hotel damaged. To their credit and in defiance of this act, the hotel was repaired and functioning again within only 3 months, and it has indeed been restored beautifully ..

A formerly damaged wing...





A super falooda ( a drink made of rose syrup and milk)..







Later that evening we grabbed a cab and went up to the markets of Chor (Thieves) Bazaar and the antique and fine reproduction markets of Mutton Street :





This seemed to be a Muslim quarter and there were a few large goats tied to the front of shops ...I even saw one guy take a goat for a walk by its lead in the evening ...



We ended a long day on Chowpatty beach, from where you can see Mumbai at night (and drink more faloodas and eat Kulfi - a delicious, sweet, slightly spiced Indian ice cream...)