Wednesday, 30 December 2015

Mumbai – Final Stop In India

Day 1 – Budget Hotel

Having avoided the hell train we arrived at Mumbai airport around 2.00 and swiftly found a cab office where we asked to be taken to our hotel.  The only drama on this trip was because the car was so small our luggage had to go on the roof rack (unsecured) which had me worried most of the drive, especially round the bends, I imagined some Indian suddenly inheriting my wardrobe albeit a smelly wardrobe.

After around an hour we arrived at our less than plush accommodation for the night, which was at the low end of our budget as this was an extra night that we hadn’t planned on (getting the flight instead of overnight train).  To give you some idea the wardrobe was built into the wall and about 2 inches deep and the walls were cream with some lovely brown staining (not by design), however we were not that bothered as we knew what we had coming for the following three days.

We dumped our gear and headed out to see what Mumbai had to offer and shortly found ourselves sitting on a rooftop bar overlooking the sea and to our left was the Gate of India (Built for when King George the something arrived here in the 30’s?? – I could google it but am sitting by a pool with no internet connection – tough life!).  It was a lovely view the only problem was the beer price at about £5 a pint!!  As this was not in our budget we decided to move on after one.

Next we thought we would check out our accommodation for the next three nights (The Taj Mahal Palace) and found it was just a short walk up the road.  We then had a wander around the local markets and looked for cheaper beers but struggled to find any pubs at all so we returned to a rooftop bar that was next to the first one we found.  The beer price was slightly less so we figured that Mumbai may be a little expensive, so we had a couple of beers and a nice spinach curry dish with Naan bread and decided we would go home for the night and watch a film and look forward to tomorrow.

Day 2 – Having it Taj!!! (Xmas Eve)

A nice rude awakening by a crow squawking its head off sat on our window ledge which sounded like it was in our room (and also a bit like Shell’s nagging!!) was what got us up this morning.  Whilst we got washed and dressed (into the smartest thing I have - also the only clean clothes I have) we ordered breakfast, which was room service as they had no restaurant.  When it turned up it was a couple of slices of toast with butter and jam and a cup of tea.

We checked out and dragged our luggage up the road to the Taj Mahal Palace, we were not arriving in style in an air-conditioned limo, the clampet’s were arriving at the Taj!!  Arriving two hours early (wanting to get our monies worth!) we entered via the main palace entrance rather than the tower back entrance, to be greeted by salubrious décor which included very tasteful Christmas decorations, in fact it was so posh Shell and I had difficulty in working out what was the reception area.

A big thanks to Des as the package you sent to The Taj arrived containing Shell’s replacement rolling tobacco tin (After a month of hand rolling fags for her I am finally off duty!!).

As we were early we checked in but had to wait for our room, so we were asked to wait in the lounge whilst our room was prepared and were given welcome mocktails whilst we waited.  About half an hour later we were shown up to our room, through corridors that had little pots of scented oils burning along them.  After weeks of smelling raw sewage and other unsavoury smells it was like we had arrived in heaven!


The door to our room was opened and we could not contain our excitement and happiness to be in a beautiful room with a massive fluffy bed, massive flat screen TV, dressing area, gorgeous bathroom with all the freebies you could imagine including loads of fluffy white towels (Usually used to one less than clean one between us in most of the places we have stayed), full array of tea’s/coffees, mini-bar, glasses, arm chairs and a fabulous view over the sea and The Gate of India. I could wax lyrical about this room for a few pages but all I will say is you have no idea how happy we are with our massive upgrade in accommodation (Thanks Mum/Dad for this Xmas gift!).

After checking out all the amenities our room had to offer we went downstairs to the garden/pool area which had a real colonial feel to it with pillars and wicker armchairs and got some mats and towels from the pool attendant and set about relaxing on the grass area next to the pool.  It is like a little oasis in a dessert that is india!

We then decided to go to the smoking area and order some drinks as it was getting very hot (I’d say about 85 degrees).  Unfortunately the one draw back in staying at a place like this is that it’s going to be expensive - £20 for two gin & tonics!!  So I don’t think our alcohol consumption will be very high here.  Whilst very slowly consuming our drinks we got speaking to a guy who had been there a few days and he pointed us in the direction of a few cheaper bars nearby. The guy we chatted to booked the Taj as he an his wife had seen ‘Hotel India’ on the TV (like Shel), there were quite a few English at the hotel so we imagine the program has done a lot for their business.  He mentioned  that they had seen a few celebs there too but we didn’t recognise anyone.

The swimming pool was also a nice reason to be here as for the first time since Sri Lanka we were able to cool off in the water.  We dried off and then headed back to our room, just to check it was still there and not a figment of our imagination!
Relaxing for a bit and having the best shower experience of our trip so far I then caught up on some blogging before we set off out for the night.

First stop was a bar we had been recommended and the beer was indeed a bit cheaper at around £3 a pint. The bar/restaurant was very busy with cartoons all over the walls and a Wurlitzer duke box in the corner that was cranking out cheesy rock music, Queen, Bryan Adams and the like.  We stayed there for a bit and fed the duke box (and ourselves) putting on the least cheesy songs we could find finishing with the one Metallica track I could find (One) just to annoy the locals!

The next plan of action was to find an off-licence to stock our mini-bar with some cheaper alcohol of our own.  Fighting our way through the crowds that were shopping we were approached by a guy who apart from selling Hash and Cocaine was also touting for a nearby bar that did cheap beer.  We followed him along the street and then up into a very dirty/seedy looking bar, where we were sat and then given a drinks menu.  Indeed the beers were cheaper at around £1.80 but the guy intended on sitting with us until I got him an expensive whisky,  I pointed him in the direction of a cheaper whisky which he didn’t seem interested in, so I gave him 50 Rupees instead which seemed to do the trick as he buggered off.  Although the beer was cheap we only stayed for one as it was a pretty dingy place which was a totally male dominated, so I’m not sure Shell fitted in there.

So back to our plan and after a while we located a beer shop and purchased a bottle of Smirnoff Vodka, tonic waters and a bottle of the local prosecco (Xmas Champagne!) we then sat at the side of the road and decanted the Vodka into my water flask for smuggling purposes (They scan all bags going into the Taj and we were not sure if bringing your own bottles in were allowed).  Before heading back to the hotel.

Pleased that our smuggling operation had been successful we returned to our fantastic room (Did I mention we like our room!!) which had been turned down for us by our butler and had some very large Vodka and Tonics whilst lying in our massive fluffy clean bed watching a movie on our massive flat screen TV, before drifting off for the best night’s sleep of our trip.

Day 3 – It’s Chrrriiiissssmmmmaaaaaassss!!

No it wasn’t a dream I am still in a lovely hotel room.  So we get up and make ourselves (Well Shell did) some nice cafetier coffee and sit around in our armchairs waking up whilst admiring our lovely view.

Eventually we had to leave our room for breakfast (included in the room price), opening our door we found the days papers hung in a bag round the handle and also found that Santa had visited as there was also a Christmas Stocking that contained chocolates & Christmas cake (How good is this hotel!!) 

So we went down to the breakfast lounge, unfortunately as we had left it  late we had to queue to be seated but were given fresh fruit juices whilst we waited.  The wait paid off as we were seated right next to the window with a sea view.  We then proceeded to make the most of the breakfast as they had everything you could imagine.  Starting off with some cereals, then ordering your eggs at the egg bar and adding a full English to it after which I eyed the cheeseboard which had a big lump of Danish blue/stilton on it (well it is Xmas after all).  However after my cheese and biscuits I just didn’t have the stamina for the fresh fruits, pastry’s or chocolate muffins!! (Shell stopped after the Full English)

Back to the room (to check it was still there) we then prepared for a day round the pool, which included adding the rest of the tonic water to the remaining Vodka in my water flask (A handy trick picked up in Pushkar!) to save us buying drinks around the pool.

It appears that there must be a strong German contingent in the hotel as yet again there were no sun loungers available so once again we got the mats and towels from the pool attendant and spent the afternoon relaxing.  Whilst you are baking in the heat from time to time the pool attendant will come round and furnish you with cold water bottles – which is a nice touch. Another great thing about being here as our annual Christmas swim was a lot easier this year (Beats the English Channel!!).  One thing I did miss whilst popping up to the room, to make sure it was still there,  was that Santa Claus had found his way to the Taj Mahal pool and when I got back Shell was sat there with more chocolates (As Tub mentioned on our facebook photo – Santa did have a rather healthy looking tan!!).  After a few hours and the fact that we had finished our ‘Water’ we headed back to our fantastic room (Did I mention how good it is??) to make some calls back home to our folks.

The first people on line were Des and Pam and it was great because of the good internet connection that we were able to video skype them and have a good conversation with them (Apologies for the chin’s quip Pam – but I think I’m safe as after 10 months you may have forgotten!!)

Eventually after texting Daryll and Shuan we managed to get my Mum and Dad online which was great but made even better as Mum all good to go sat on the arm of the chair and quickly slipped off disappearing from camera view you’ve been framed style (I wish I had a video of it!!) which had Shell and I rolling on the floor.  Once we stopped laughing we had a nice long conversation with them and it was nice to be able to see them as well as speak to them.

The only people we didn’t manage to speak to was Pat and John which was a shame as they did not seem to come online – what kind of excuse is that you’re packing up your house to move to Devon!!!!! (That or John is busy on the 7th course of his Xmas dinner!)

Phone calls done and sitting in our reindeer and Santa hats (purchased for the skype calls) we polished off the not so nice prosecco and got ready to hit the town. We were going to treat ourselves to dinner at the Taj but after finding out that it was £70 a head for a buffet style Xmas dinner we decided to go with one of the recommendations in our guide book instead.

We did our loop of cheap(er) bars and then decided to get our xmas dinner, this turned out to be a Kebab! Well, the write up was good and the que was massive so instead of turkey and trimmings we each had a chicken tikka kebab and sat on the pavement munching it after deciding to take the party back to the hotel room (well you have to get your monies worth don’t you?)

The fairy had been again and the bed was turned down so we poured ourselves a couple of drinks from our contraband and settled in for the night. MERRY CHRISTMAS ONE AND ALL X





Day 4 – Boxing Day

Another great night’s sleep was followed by another very big breakfast (making the most of it) I was going to take it easy and leave out the cheese and biscuits this morning but they provoked me by  replacing the Stilton with a large lump of Ementhal – what can I say I’m a cheese whore!!

Our plans to explore Mumbai including Elephant island (there are no elephants there, just a statue) do not seem to be materializing, we are just enjoying our room and The Taj Palace Hotel, we spent quite a bit of the time in the room today, making sure it didn’t disappear!

Some of the nice touches that happen when the room is cleaned are any personal effect you leave are placed on top of a sheet of paper.  When Shel left her sunglasses in the room a sunglasses cloth was placed underneath it, some of our electronic cables were tidied up with cable ties. In the afternoon bed is made up with loads of pillows and cushions and when you get back at night the bed has been turned down and the curtains have been drawn (I love this room!!)

Another lazy day around the pool again today,  I think after 7 weeks of chasing round like nutters it has  finally taken its toll and we are just happy for a bit of R&R.


Returning to our room later in the afternoon we opened our door to a pattern of flower petals on the floor and some gifts for Shell (or me if I have the inclination) of some Bangles, Earrings and Bindies.  Shortly after Shell also discovered a small Jewellery box had been placed next to her earrings that she had left in the room (I hope these are not going to be added to our bill!! We are going to leave an empty wallet next in the hope that he fills that too….



In the evening we popped out for a couple of beers and possibly our final Indian Curry for a while. We had another quick beer in another seedy little bar that was packed full of locals and with a ceiling clearance of around 5 ½ foot so you can imagine how oversized I felt in there.   Anyway we returned early to make the most of our final night in the room (Also because they were showing Premier League Football on the TV all night -  Just don’t tell Shell!!).  Unfortunately Shell did not go to sleep as early as normal so we ended up watching a film until her snores enabled me to get my football fix!!


Day 5 – Back to reality!  L

Our last breakfast at the Taj so we eked it out as long as possible, letting our food digest so we could go and fill up on another plateful. True to form Glenn finished with Cheese, this time Brie.
After packing including everything that wasn’t nailed down: Shampoos, Lotions, Coffee, Teas, loo roll!) We checked out at 12 and headed to a shady area by the pool to wait it out until it was time to leave for our 1AM flight to Bangkok. Fortunately Glenn spotted a couple of loungers in the shade and sent me off to grab them Ninja style…jumping over beds, pushing small children out of the way and generally elbowing my way through I secured them! Yay!, we could snooze, read and fill up on free water till it was time to go! It made our wait pretty painless. Only popping out to grab a bite early evening.



Unfortunately staying here felt like turning left on the plane and now it’s going to be hard going back to economy class!

Checking out, the concierge flagged down a taxi (£10 as opposed to the £45 they wanted to charge for their transfer service!) we set off for the 1 hour drive to the airport. Unfortunately I think our driver had a touch of the Delhi Belly as he periodically stank the car out and then would open up the window to let in some not so fresh air in on the pretence of adjusting his wing mirror. The gear box was on its way out too and he had to have his foot permanently on the accelerator for fear of it stalling. So we were glad to get to the airport in once piece despite feeling a bit queasy from the journey!.

That’s it, goodbye India, hello Thailand (I’m getting the impression that Glenn is quite pleased this leg of our journey is over!)

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