Exploring the city of dreams Mumbai

• bey0ndM@gz!ne
• July 20, 2019
• Default, Travel
• 0 Comments

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]We reached on an early morning in the buzzing coastal city – Mumbai. My first – the place I always wanted to visit. Now – ticked off the bucket list.

One of the perks here is the auto rickshaws. If you are in Mumbai – don’t forget to take an auto ride. We went to Juhu – famous for Amitabh’s Bungalow ‘Jalsa’; stayed for a while and then headed towards Juhu Chaupati Beach.

Juhu beach has a huge shoreline, where people take a stroll and watch the sunset. It’s best to visit the beach in early morning or at dusk.

We kept on wandering around Juhu for a bit and then left for the hotel. That was the starter for the day. Our dear friend had provided us with his car and driver for local visits. He took us to Infiniti mall at Andheri West; we had our lunch at Dosa Place. I ordered for Paneer Cheese Dosa and Onion Masala Dosa – filling and yummy, one of the best dosa spots I have explored in the recent times (see pictures).

“Juhu is also a foodie’s paradise with endless street food options such as Pani Puri, Chaat, Bhelpuri, Ragda Pattis, Dahi Puri, Faluda, Kala Khatta Gola, Sarbat, and more! We had Pav Bhaji and Kala Khatta gola – the taste is still lingering in my mouth.”

We were good to go for a long ride – ended up going to Marine Drive via Sea Link to see the sunset. The drive was beautiful and the sunset view breath-taking. We saw people jogging, talking a stroll, watching the sunset, clicking pictures, chit chatting etc. We too clicked some photographs and headed back to Andheri. It takes an hour or more, if you’re stuck in traffic. Traffic does kill the time you have during your short stay. We headed for restaurant near our hotel for dinner and called it a day soon after.

I always wondered what’s so special about the chai in Mumbai. People going on and about in the city take a break with the chai no matter how hot it is.

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Our purpose of this trip was for a family friend’s wedding. We booked for The Retreat at Malad, Madh Island. The Retreat is a great location, if you want to go for a quiet time. Their courtyard is massive and swimming pool is huge compared to others at the same locality.Only drawback was the fishy smell during the afternoon.

The Resort is about 3 km from The Retreat, where the wedding was to take place. We got ready for the Sangeet function. It was a wonderful function with relatives and friends of the bride and groom dancing on their own choreographed songs. How the three days went by was incredible – as we just get so immersed by the whole event from morning to evening.

We headed back to Andheri after the wedding. To cut the time short, we took the 3 min ferry ride to Versova from Malad. Yes, you read it correct – 3 mins! A rather short trip to and from the city by sea but a good 1.5 hours from the city by road.

We checked into the same hotel as we were familiar with the surroundings already. We decided to head for Bandra and watch the sunset. While taking pictures, three little girls carrying tissue paper packets, books and pens came to me and asked me, “Does your camera give out instant pictures?” I told them, “No, it doesn’t.” Then they asked if my camera screen will show the picture of us if you take one. I told them of course and they posed. Need I say more – the pictures show it all. They asked for rice and sugar and we could not resist. They left a mark in our journey. We moved forward with the plan – went to a friend’s house for a quick catch up and coffee at Bandra; headed back to Andheri, had our dinner and went to sleep.

We were just around Andheri all the time – going about finding new places. But there is a lot to see in Mumbai which we missed as time didn’t allow much. If you are going to Mumbai, make sure you travel before the rush hours.

At Lokhandwala market, where you get to buy from local brand shops, sweet corners, etc., we came across a book store which rents out books on a percentage per book. They had new and second hand books. We ended up buying a few.

Mumbai is very safe even when you are alone. People are very helpful in all aspects. I would say, this is one of my best trips to India.

Mumbai – vibrant, full of life and and working 24/7 non-stop. People work day in day out, well, that’s how I see it.

We were booked in a hotel, near the airport, at Sahar Road. After the hectic journey, we wanted to let ourselves loose and take some rest, before eventually venturing out for some shopping and sight-seeing.

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