Mumbai bye bye!

After three amazing days, it's time to say „bye, bye” and depart for Aurangabad. This is my first trip by train in India, so I was quite excited. Everyone said one should be at the train station at least an hour before train's departure, as it is so confusing and difficult. Only train tickets are like that – you need to book them 3-4 weeks in advance at least. Otherwise you can try your luck with waitlist or last minute tickets. Online booking is a huge convenience, and it works wonders (as opposed to Poland).

We reached the station 1.5h early, found the platform in 20 min and even found the right carrige even before the train arrived. However if you're lost, you are doomed. There is no english speaking information assistance anywhere. The guards that sit in ”How can I help you?” booths do not seem foreigner-friendly. But, everything is very clearly marked, so as long as you read numbers rather than look for English writings, you should be fine.

The train arrived an hour early. In case a passenger was an idiot, they glue passenger name lists next to the door with seat number and destination (to hell with privacy policy). I'm writing this sitting on the train, and so far the ride was quite pleasurable. Having Chai every once and then, leather seats and a lot of leg room...I think back to the times I travel with smelly, chaotic and sometimes dangerous trains in Poland.

We too the AC chair Mumbai-Aurangabad and reached the destination on time – something Polish trains seem incapable of doing.

Even the food served on board is quite decent, better than some airplane food I daresay! 

Mumbai day 3: Dharavi

As YHF challenged me to see the slums, I booked the trip with Reality Tours (http://realitytoursandtravels.com/) and set off to see the biggest slum of Asia. With the image that Slumdog Millionaire engraved in every foreigner of extreme poverty mixed with „don't stop your car at a red light here” image, I was about to experiance the enterprenourship and sense of community that I have not seen before. Lonely Planet says not to go there on your own, but I now know it's not for safety, but you will never deepdive into the 50cm wide dark alleys on your own, or witness the small scale industrialism. Out of respect for the privacy and work of locals, pictures were not allowed.

One would think that people living in Dharavi don't do anything and live from what they steal. This is a totally wrong image. Instead the business activities bring 665mln USD revenue every year. The area does have the population density of arnd 5700 ppl/sq km. It's a city within a city. There are all amenities one would expect form any city: electricity, running water, cinemas, hospitals or even private doctors. And it's not only the uneducated poor that live here, but also the white collar workers who refuse to move out of their community. Here, muslims, hindu and tamil work together and live together (not exactly – they have their separate districts in the living area).

In the industrial area, the recycle business is very well established, with plastic-crushing machines, aluminium furnices and cutting devices designed, made and used in Dharavi only. Nowadays, most of people working here come from villages from all around India, to supplement the agricultural earnings with industrial weges. Workers here earn something close to 150 Rp a day, work in toxic environment and have no union rights. The textile or leather factories are what you'd imagine a sweatshop to be. FYI, this is where LeeCooper makes it's leather jackets (so the guard says). Life expectancy of Dharavi inhabitants: 50-55 years. Workers here do not wear protective gloves or glasses, but not because they are not given any, but rather it's too hot in them. They say, they value money more than their health. Despite the difficult conditions, people are very friendly and welcomed us with a smile. The living quarters may be small and congested, but each and every one has a TV – one of the basic need of Indians (so the guard says).

The NGO that runs the travel agency does an amazing job teaching youth English and soft skills. They have a day care and run several artistic programs like dance or photography classes. If you want to get involved and volunteer, please google Reality Gives organisation.

On our way back, we stopped by the famous Dobby Ghaut - Mumbai's loundry district. Apparently, if you give your dirty stuff for washing, it is bound to pass through this place.

Mumbai day two: bike trip

Walking in the heat of 30-something degrees and a late night did not stop us from waking up early for the Bike tour of Mumbai. There's only as much as you can see and find out on your own, so having seen the historical buildings, we got on the bikes and saw some more of contemporary Mumbai districts. It's streets on a Sunday morning were quiet and ...safe to ride :)

 Apart from the station, which we must have seen more than 3 times by now, we visited the fruit / meat / pet market – usually bustling and too busy to go through, it was quiet and easy to explore at this time of day. The butcher shop was a surprise – you might become a vegetarian for a couple of days after you see the hygenic conditions there. And rght next door there is a pet section. This location makes you wonder whether the pets are for being kids' cute friends at home or are they a source of fresh sub-product for the butcher section. Also, everyone should visit at least one spice shop. When we did, we got to sniff many colorful powders.... „this ma'am you add to chicken – this is spicy, this one you add to chicken – different different masala, this is tandoori, and this one you mix with tea......”. I never had a taste for spices, but even in this matter India trained me well. Eating potato wedges later, I was craving for some masala.

(Mumbai spice shop)

Next stop was the flower market and a „small zoo” where people come to feed cows and pigeons. With several compartments for „special” cows, pregnant cows, small cows, the über-awesome bulls, and a rather big open cage for roof-shitters. Here, it's not allowed to take pictures, as this is a sort of a holy place (a home for holy and special cows), but you can buy grass (1m long straws) and feed the holy animals. The pigeons, so despised in where I come from, are praised here for having been the postmen and peace symbols.

The last stop after a Marina Drive ride, was the fish market, or rather a harbour. It was not allowed to take pictures here as well, as this was the way terrorrists got here in 2008 (I still don't understand the logic, but I stopped trying), alas. This place would make you a vegiterian for another couple days. Fish being offloaded from the boats, decapitated at the spot, prawns sorted on the dirty concrete, fish insides lying around... Increadibly colorfull place, as every woman would wear a „fancy” saari peeling the golden prawns, squatting on the concrete.

As a nice finishing touch our cool guides took us for indian breakfast – fried Parata with mashed potatoes and spinach and some Chai. Yum! Doing no sports, and eating fried food at all times, no wonder the poeple are a little heavy. Not if this ever made anyone feel bad about themselves, seeing ladies proudly exposing their bellies in saaris.

As it was too hot to spend time relaxing on the beach we took a cab to the Hanging Gardens. From there, one could admire the overdone, over-designed, single-family skyscraper. I'm sorry but some Indian billionaires simply have no style (remember the guy who had a gold shirt made for him?). The place is also famous for the too-early-for-me morning view of the bay.

(view on Chowpatty beach from the Hanging Gardens)

Havng some time to waste, and having spotted a UNESCO Heritage island ont he map, we decided to board a 2 hour ferry to see it's famous caves. It's hard to call them caves, as they hardly go underground. The first one had sculptures of Vishnu and Shiva, but the others were quite disappointing, as filled with rubbish and not well preserved. Actually, despite having trash cans on the walkway (must be the only ones in India), the place was quite dirty. It especially slapped me in the face, when two women in burkas angrilly tossed their empty plastic bottles into the grass. Made me wanna hurt them. UNESCO, what the hell were you thinking not imposing some basic preservation rules ?! Overall, not worth the ferry ride or the foreign-price ticket (250 Rp, versus 10Rp for Indians).

To wash down the bitter experiance of Elefanta Caves, we headed to the Colaba Causeway street for some pub crawling. Recommended by everyone, the Leopold Cafe – deffinately worth a visit, but if coming with more people and in the evening, better book ahead. Seems like the major hangout for foreigners, so if you feel lonely – thi is deffinately the place to meet other travellers. Here I had the most amazing Indian food (and I thought i was a lost cause in that matter). The Mondigar Cafe, not 200 meters away, offers cool ambience with its cartoon covered walls and the highlight of the evening...sangria pitcher :)

A walk through old Mumbai

Waking up to the lively buzz of Bombay's streets, which notably are not as annoying as in Delhi. It seem that drivers here do not honk at everything that moves (or doesn't) all the time ... only sometimes. Walking down the street, ornamented with 100s of small shops and the micro enterprises of ppl selling bananas or boiled eggs on the sidewalks. It's amazing that regardless how small the shop is, it's allways called „Enterprises” or „Corporation”, so you see a shop selling door knobs by the name of „Shree [something] Enterprises”.

Another notable detail of the city – there are no rikshaws, but the black&yellow taxis are everywhere. They appear on neraly every picture I have taken, populate every traffic jam. But they're awesome, and cheaper than rikshaws in some places (read: my beloved New Jersey). Most of the cabs have seen the times of India's independence (1947) and sometimes you might think the weels would fall off, but they really are an experiance in themselves.

Staying close to the old Victoria station we had the whole historical district in walking distance, so we decided to take the Lonely Planet walking tour of Mumbai.. The city is increadibly green, with trees creating a corridor over the street sometimes. Many parks filled with colonial style fountains, gazeebos and guarded by iron gates offer an escape from the heat.

The starting point of the Walking tour is the Gateaway of India – an Arc' de Triomphe-like construction built to commemorate King George's visit in 1911. Now, apart from reminding Indians about colonial times and giving a nice view over the polluted bay, it's a tourist hell with tout's offering to take and print your picture, priests (fake or real – who knows) tryng to bless you in exchange for donation and people selling all sorts of plastic crap (pardon my language). Also, regardless of the numbers of caucasian tourists, we are still superstars, whose pictures will be taken with or without our knowledge. Some Indians will ask your permission, some will just click a picture with their phone of someone with you in the background.

Anyways, the walk offers a nice overview of colonial architecture – a mixture of British emperial and oriantal influences. A must see is the University of Mumbai, but only from the outside, and of course the famous Victoria Station, where the 2008 terrorrist attack happened, and which seems to be the symbol of Mumbai.

As it was a Saturday, we were lucky enough to stumble upon a park (?), or rather a huge cricket field. Indians usually don't do sports. At all. The only exception – cricket, which is more of a religion than a sport, is played by everyone and everywhere. In that park, one could see the devotion in which this religion is worshipped. 100s matches played simultaniously, and every team had an appropraite matching outfit. Even proud men of 50+, with conspicuous beer bellys would swing their bats, as if they were 20 again.

More notable details: they did not loose all the British legacy, apart from cricket, taxis, legal system - red double decker buses, however dated they might be. 

As the sun was going down we reached the Marina Drive. This ocean-side walk is filled with people jogging, riding bicycles, or just chilling. The extremaly expensive Dome lounge on top of InterContinenal Hotel is also a must-visit. We were lucky enough to watch sunset from this posh rooftop. Oh, and on the way back to the hotel, we got lost- of course. But thanks to that, we saw anoter cricket game, among kids this time. Also bought my favourite Indian sweets – Jalebees !! Yummy end of the day :)

Good morning Mumbai!

Day One of the two week long trip of South India. Starting with ... Mumbai.
I must say, that the over 12 mln citizens city is quite different from Delhi. I've heard that it's more cosmopolitan, less traditional and more open. I landed in Mumbai airport around midnight, took a taxi to the hotel, and that was enough to see that these are actually true. When I tried speaking Hinglish with taxi driver or hotel reception, they just looked me as if I was a retard, an answered in perfect English.
The air seems cleaner, the general ambience - more welcoming. Although, this might be the first impressions after getting out of the New Jersey of India (read: Gurgaon), I already like Mumbai!
Of course, one can't avoid the images of homeless people squatting on the road sides in their make believe tents, but the skyscrapers and old British architecture mixed with blinding and colorful lights make you think that this city is ALIVE!! But I am biased, after all I love cities at night!
Now let's see what it has to offer during the day ;)

Welcome (back) to India !!

Coming to India for one year was one of the boldest decisions I have made travel-wise. Having lived here for a couple months already, going home to Poland and returning, I can now confirm the first impression that I ever had about India: It’s the most complicated (I use this word to be politically correct here) country I have ever experienced, and my dear readers know that this is not the first developing country I visited.

The first thing that hits you the moment you leave Indira Gandhi International Airport, apart from the unbearable heat, is chaos. There seem to be no road rules and everything that gets you from point A to B is acceptable, including insane speeding, not keeping to the lane lines (if there are any …), driving the wrong direction (!!). Red light is not a sign you have to stop, it means you slow down, check if there is anyone whom you have to give way to and you whether do so reluctantly or you just keep going honking at anyone who dares cross your way. Now imagine this traffic when you’re in a rickshaw. Surely, you can squeeze in between cars when traffic gets intense, but there is much less steel protecting you from all the madness. The only reason I have not gotten a scooter yet is the car I saw once speeding insanely from a side road, unable to take the turn despite 4 lane wide road size.

The second thing that hits you, is the amount of people living in his country. Gurgaon alone has over 1,5 mln registered citizens, and India has a mare 3 bln people! Duh! What did I expect?! A short economics lesson for those unaware: this is the reason why labour intensive goods and services are relatively cheaper. Technology and capital intensive goods are on the other hand relatively expensive, as the energy prices seem to be spiking the price together with the difficulties of maintaining quality of output.

I was told not to have any expectations coming to India and experience it as it comes. I will make you expect the unexpected though as nothing works the way it should around here. You’d think shops are closed on Sunday here as everywhere else? Nope, they’re closed on Tuesdays. Why? “Welcome to India!”. You can’t imagine living without electricity? We experience short power cuts couple times a day, and trust me, wifi cannot function without electricity – Internet does not come from the air. The country which is the homeland of Kamasutra, erotic scenes are censored on tv and you cannot spot a couple (even married) holding hands.

People told me that one either hates or loves India. Let’s say I just want to understand it and make sense of what seems like craziness at this time. 

Oh... and when you get here for the first time, you get one response for all the stupid questions about Indian logic you might have: "Welcome to India" !! 

The Long way home

I can’t say I have not been afraid of coming home and the whole reversed culture shock thing. I have tried to soften my tough landing in reality by visiting my dear friend in Singapore again – after all, I don’t know when will I see her again, from there I travelled to Kuala Lumpur (KL) – just cuz I have not had the chance to be there during my 100days of conquering SEA, and from there I took a flight to Vienna via (dum dum dum dum) Jordan. I would not be myself if I hadn’t had any adventures on the way.

After wonderful goodbye dinner (thank you Kim for organizing it and for being such an amazing friend to me!) and a less wonderful, yet still entertaining goodbye party, I managed to leave Taipei – not without some relief. I admit, I was tired of those 9 months away from everything familiar, living on fried rice and noodle soups. So yes, I finally was going home. But before that, one last quest for a little adventure.

I arrived in Singapore around 2am (sorry dad). I booked a hostel beforehand but I was full of fear that they will simply be closed as they have not answered any of my emails confirming my late arrival. I was right. I knocked at the knobless door several times but all I could get in response was hearing someone approaching the door just to turn the key and lock it even mire secure. Awesome! Fortunately, my friend booked the hostel I stayed at previously ‘just in case’. On the bright side, I knew I had a place to stay, on the dark one – I did not remember the address. I took a cab and asked to be taken to Little India. The driver insisted that I told him the street name instead of driving around until I recognized where I am, but was deaf to my explanations that I simply did not know. That was a bit stressful but I made it! Safe and sound.

Singapore was as amazing as last time, and even though I did not meat such cool and crazy people as last time, I discovered a great Tapas place (Little India), which has a rooftop and a décor that reminded me of Portugal nights. Well, maybe it was the Sangria. Anyways -awesome place worth visiting. I also asked my friend to take me to an Indian restaurant as I have never had Indian food before, and she’s of Indian origin. We went to “Banana Leaf”. OMG was the service slow. The food – yeah not my favorite, but not too bad on the whole. The only little turnoff was some people eating with their hands. I admire the dexterity when eating rice, after all that’s one of the reasons why India is such a good outsourcing destination – because cheap labor often involves dexterity, which the nation possesses thanks to the eating habits. These are the words of one of my professors from Taiwan.

Other than that, I have visited places that I hadn’t had the chance to check out last time – Arab street, Chinatown and Santosa island. Santosa was somewhat disappointing, but I guess I had my standards set after Philippines and Thailand. The mosque on Arab street is definitely worth seeing and Chinatawn, well I lived in one for the past couple months so not so exciting. Also visited old places like Esplande and the Marina Bay area – beautiful as always and a must see. I tried looking for the famous Raffles Hotel, but void of my travel guide I did not know where it actually is. Trying to think logically I took the MRT to ‘Raffles Place’ – only to discover full of skyscrapers financial district. Only later did I learn that MRT stops have little to do with the places they are named after. Surprise!

Another adventure awaited me in KL. I followed the instructions on how to get to the hostel only to get lost at the MRT station, taking the wrong alley according to one lady’s advice and ending up circling the place for about 1 hour only to arrive at the sealed door. Fantastic!- I thought – Another closed hostel. Only this time I didn’t know anyone in the city and I had no alternative accommodation. Fortunately my phone miraculously worked and I was able to call the hostel. It turned out this was the old entrance and all I had to do was to go around the corner. I stayed at “Te Travel Hub” run by this amazing woman and her daughters. They gave me a free welcome coke to cool down my nerves and allowed to check in at 9am. Really sweet people.

KL was a really pretty city. It reminded me what it means to walk a lot. The architecture was not like anywhere else in SEA – a meeting point between Middle and Far East. Splendid!! I spent there 3 days and in that time I have seen most of the ‘must see’s’. The night visit at the rooftop “Luna Bar” of a hotel right next to the KL Tower and with a great view on Petronas Towers was the cherry on top of my Asia trip. Although I have never had more expensive drink, ever. Other than that, I must concur with my fellow backpackers, that KL is not the most exciting place. One observation, shopping malls here and in Singapore are humongous!! It is a consumerism in pure nature.

Also, naturally I was intrigued by the Muslim culture and the way women dress. I tried to be respectful and wear longer pants and at least a tshirt to cover my shoulders even though the heat was unbearable, but seeing Asians wearing very short shorts and very revealing tops I was at least frustrated. As to Muslim women, I categorized their outfit into 4 levels of hardcoreness. Level 1: regular clothing, but hair covered. Female police officers had to have their hair covered as well, whether they liked it or not (apparently that’s the law). Level 2: Apart from having their head covered, usually in some flowery higab, they were also wearing matching outfit (dress, gown – no idea how to call it). Level 3: a black higab with black outfit (yes this one is also matching, but nota bene it is all black and the sun is merciless there). Level 4: is a level 3 enriched in covered face so than you can only see eyes. Respect to those women.

To be continued…