May 25-28, 2016

Sleeper Bus to Mumbai

We spent the night on an overnight bus from Udaipur to Mumbai. Goodbye little lake side town, hello big city (one of the biggest in India with a population of approx. 22 million).

Locating the bus at the road side station in Udaipur was tricky. It was at an informal street-side location with no signs or any indication of bus destinations, times, or numbers. Somehow, with only a few minutes to spare we stumbled upon our bus.

What an interesting bus it was- two levels of beds in cubbies with sliding doors for privacy (and air conditioning, thank goodness). To the left of the center aisle were double beds and on the right, single beds. We found our second-level double bed and settled in. We quickly realize that the second level is not the best choice- we bumped around all night and were unable to watch a movie or read for fear of motion sickness. But we had a nice reprieve from the bumps at a road side stop for dinner- delicious veg biryani, chana (chickpea) masala and chapati all for only $2.70! Interestingly enough, the quality of the food seems to be uniform across restaurants- whether roadside stand, rest stop, local restaurant or fancy restaurant, it's all comparable and good. The only difference really seems to be price. Despite the location, the ingredients are pretty much the same and the preparation the same, so the dishes ultimately taste very similar. Which is great because a $2.70 meal will taste just as good as one for triple that price at a fancier place.

Back on the bus, we tried to locate the bathroom which was promised. We opened a door in the front of the bus but only saw a small empty space like a closet, it did however smell like urine. A guy on the bus peeked in the closet too and we determined it couldn't possibly be a bathroom. Later in the night however, I woke up really needing to go, and approached the driver to ask if he could stop for a bathroom break, instead he pointed to the smelly closet. I tentatively stepped in and noticed a hole the size of a quarter on the floor in the corner. How silly of me not to have known earlier that a hole in the floor constituted a toilet (definitely the most primitive of squat toilet's we've encountered). You have to be a cautious pee-er to make sure you don't get splashed when the bus makes abrupt turns or stops.

Arriving in Mumbai

The bus arrived into Mumbai two hours later than expected. The traffic slowed to a crawl as we approached the city. The humidity and presence of palms trees confirmed our more southern and tropical location. We passed by large slums which makes for an interesting contrast against the large buildings and sky scrapers of the city. We read that 55% of Mumbai's population live in these slums, making them the biggest slums in all Asia. A funny sight on top of almost all of these small buildings with corrugated tin roofs are the presence of satellite dishes.

A Day of Sight Seeing

Arriving in the morning allowed us to get an early start for exploring. We covered a large portion of the city on foot. We walked to Girgaon Chowpatty, a small strip of beach, which was unfortunately strewn with litter and rough looking people sleeping under palm trees. Lonely Planet warns against going in the water stating that it is toxic. We continued walking along Marine Drive and stopped by Crawford Market. This half indoor-half outdoor market had a bountiful fruit selection. We couldn't resist the ripe red pomegranates and bought one to share.

Enjoying a Pomegranate at a Market in Mumbai, India

From the market we headed south passing the elaborate train station Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus. We walked through a public cricket field and found our way into a more European looking part of town. The presence of street vendors disappeared replaced by larger buildings with more intricate architecture, fancier stores, more orderly traffic thanks to traffic lights, and nice hotels. We arrived at the Gateway of India which was incredibly crowded with Indian tourists. Of course we were stopped by some of these tourists for obligatory, "it's a white person" selfies. Usually we don't mind and even get a kick out of it. But we appreciate it much more when people ask permission to take our photos.