Mumbai Hotels

We arrived in Mumbai on Jan 16, 2009 just six weeks after the November 26th terrorist attacks. And since we had purchased our Yangon to Mumbai via Bangkok plane tickets at the end of December, we arrived with no hotel reservation.

Our first stop, after surviving the airport money changers (we used the ATM), the queue at the airport's train ticket window (no luck), a prepaid taxi scam (resolved in our favor), and a free tour of VT, Fort and Colaba Districts with our clueless taxi driver (got some great photos), was the Oasis Hotel, a popular backpacker joint according to Lonely Planet. Took a look at a Double for 1600 RS – way too small. Deluxe Doubles were 1800 (47RS = 1USD) but they were all full. The nearby Welcome Hotel was also full.

The Railway Hotel had a corner room for 2300 + tax = 2530 RS, over $50 US, with breakfast included. We also went by the nearby Ship Hotel which has non-AC rooms for 200 to 300 RS. Looked like a great place if you were a seaman. So we take the room at the Railway.

After snagging train tickets to Goa from the Foreigner Ticket Window at VT, we headed out in search of dinner and had a tasty evening meal at Mangalore Naaz Restaurant. Well run with friendly proprietor and waiters, and located just a few blocks south from the hotel, we ended up eating there at least once a day during our stay in Mumbai.

We were out the door the next morning at 9:00 AM with a plan to search for a cheaper/better hotel in the VT District. We noticed that while our room key fob says Railway Hotel, the room stationary and invoice say Fort Landmark Inn. Hmm. We check back at Welcome Hotel - still full and more expensive than the Railway. On to the Princess, a sister Landmark property, which is even more expensive. The Grand, The Benazeer, all were either full or too expensive or we didn’t like the “available” room(s).

After changing more money (hotels wanted cash) and enjoying a tasty McVeggie at the McDonald’s across from VT, we were headed back to the Railway resigned to spending another day there, when we spotted the Hotel Victoria right next to the Welcome Inn and we took newly renovated room #202 for 1500 RS per night. Great! And there was a Wi-Fi signal if we perched our netbook on the window sill. Awesome!

And there was a mad dash to get back to the Railway before noon to check out. Haha!

Hotel Victoria:
255 Shahid Bhagat Sing Road, 1st Floor,
Near G.P.O., V.T., Mumbai - 400001
Phone: 2261 1642 / 2265 1322

All the hotels mentioned above are within easy walking distance of Victoria Terminus (Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus)

The Railway Hotel


The view from the Railway Hotel


The Hotel Victoria (left) and Welcome Hotel (right)


The Mangalore Naaz Restaurant

Various updates

I've finished uploading the Indian Modern Architecture photos to flickr.

Bombay
Calcutta
Bhubaneswar
Pondicherry

Last month Sun-Ling And I took a trip to Western Virginia and West Virginia, visiting my brother's family in Sutton WV, my old high school buddy Tony and his family in Athens WV, and biking the New River Rail Trail near Galax VA.

Sun-Ling on the New River Trail


Spent last weekend at the beach with friends and Hurricane Bill. On Thursday I rescued a young boy from the rip currents. The sea was angry that day my friends. Well, it wasn't much of a rescue. I was standing in water up to my waist, jumping the waves in the pounding Outer Banks surf when I heard a boy crying for help. He was really "in over his head" in the raging waters clutching his boggie board. I was just a few steps away so I plucked him out and put him back on the beach in the arms of his mother.

Here's a photo from Saturday. The red flags were up and even the surfers were not in the water.


We are thinking about traveling to Egypt next Spring. Any tips?

That's all for now.

Mumbai Photos

One of the things we liked about Mumbai (Bombay) was the amazing amount of Art Deco and Art Moderne buildings within easy walking distance of our hotel.

On returning home, I checked out these books from the library - gotta love the Wake County InterLibrary Loan program - which I've been pouring over to help identify the buildings in my hundreds of photos.

Bombay Art Deco Architecture, by Navin Ramani
A Concise History of Modern Architecture in India,by Jon T. Lang
Buildings that shaped Bombay, Edited by Kamu Iyer

It has also been quite a learning experience for me regarding modern Indian architecture and architects, and modern architecture in general. Jon Lang's book is particularly interesting and is searchable on Google Books - click link above.

I'm almost finished with the Mumbai photos. Then it's on to Kolkata. Then back to the "Shanghai to Yangon" trip report. Whoa!

Freedom: India vs China

I have been meaning to write this entry for a long time. On the 20th anniversary of June 4, I should no longer put this off.

During our earlier 1997 India trip, we were so busy getting over culture shock, fending off scams, and keeping our wits about us, that the fact that India was largest democracy in the world eluded us. Being older and wiser and having lived China, this time the clues were everywhere.

• I had already covered TV in an earlier post.
• Every city, at least the ones you have heard of, but not even able to place on a map, has at least one English language newspaper, in addition to all the papers in the various Indian languages. We would get those papers at the door of our hotel rooms, in hotel lobbies, and castoff on the train, which is pretty much the same as when we travel in the US. In China there are not nearly as many papers, let alone the English ones, which I can probably count on one hand.
• Those Indian papers are very entertaining to read. In addition to their quaint usage of the English language, the content is interesting, though the format is the pretty much the same as in the US. There is a lot more news and commentary, ranging from International (e.g. presidential elections in US), Regional (e.g. how to deal with Pakistan), National (e.g. bashing politicians and political parties), Local (e.g. elephant stampede at a temple festival). Sports must be 80% cricket, 10% soccer, and 10% other. Bollywood stars get loads of attention. Every paper we came across had at least one piece on the movie Slumdog Millionaire.
• We left before the recent big Indian elections, but there were pretty many billboards. Since these are typically in the local language, is hard for me to tell what they are pitching. I had thought some were gurus looking to increase disciples. Yes!
  

In China, there is none of this press freedom. Don't even think about full fledged political parties or elections. There are plenty of temples and a few churches for the appearance of religious freedom. They all really report to Beijing. I would not be surprised that the abbot of a Buddhist Temple is a card-carrying Communist party member, much like the president of Bank of China. There are gatherings, but no organized clubs of any kind, unless it's about making money. The persecution of Falun Gong pretty much saw an end to that. 杀鸡给猴看 (Kill the chicken to show the monkey).

Most Chinese simply do not associate the word "freedom" to political freedom as there is plenty of personal freedom. For example, one of John's coworker's reported that he bought a car for the "freedom" to drive where he wanted.

There are four vices in the Chinese tradition, 吃喝嫖赌 (dining, wining, whoring, gambling).

• Dining: Today, people gorge themselves with every kind of food. In the past, by necessity or culture, Chinese pretty much ate anything that was eatable. The tradition continues even though there is a excess amount of protein, medical technology, etc., while the natural supply of certain "foods" are diminishing or extinct. I don't really want to get into that here. In India, Hindus do not eat beef and most are lacto-vegans. Muslims do not eat pigs. The two countries stand at the very opposite ends of the spectrum.
• Wining: In most states in India, the alcohol tax is pretty high. Not many people smoke to start with and no smoking signs are strictly observed. In China on the other hand, alcohol is widely available and cheap, though not to our taste. The effects of alcohol are not easily observed publicly, unlike smoking. This is how John puts it, Chinese men smoke everywhere, as Indian men pee everywhere. The only "No Smoking" signs that are observed are those on airplanes. No smoking hotel rooms are unheard of. In fact, you can easily smell your neighbors smoking through the walls? or electrical outlets?
• Whoring: In China, houses of ill repute can be anywhere, like next to a daycare, since there are no zoning regulations to speak of. If you are not careful, you may walk into one thinking you are getting a haircut - I once did that in Saigon, Vietnam. I learned to spot them, but did not spot any in India.
  
• Gambling: Mahjong and card games are all over China, in shops, parks, sidewalks, courtyards.... At first I had naively thought people were just killing time. Then someone said to me during our travels, "everyone in this town is either gambling or owns their own business. Those are the only two ways to prosper."

One of the favorite things we liked about India is the MRP, Maximum Retail Price. It is printed on all the packaged goods. This is very useful, especially for us travelers. In China, businesses feel free to charge whatever they want, whatever the market will bear. You are free to do anything to make money like polluting rivers, enslaving underage miners, and adulterating baby food until something bad happens.

An oppressive regime must allow excessive personal freedom, since the hold on the people is tenuous to start with, otherwise there may be uprisings to deal with.

Kerala Backwaters

A snap of the two of us in Kerala, India in February 2009.

TV: India vs China

Indian TV is amazing. We stay at very average places that do not solely cater to international visitors. Usually one third of the 30 to 60 channels are in English and most of the time there are three movie channels including HBO (same brand, different programming, I think), not to mention the movie channels in the local languages. Indians love movies. What's surprising is that a lot of the time we also get American channels that we know and love, such as History, Travel and Living, and National Geographic channels. They feel familiar yet weird, since we have not regularly watched TV for the last 6 years.

This is a far cry from China. Traveling in China we stay in the same class of hotels as in India, maybe lower, since hotel standards are higher in China. Though the TV sets are invariably better, the programming is dismal. If we are lucky, maybe one quarter of the time, we get the sole government run English language channel CCTV 9. Since all media is state controlled, all programs sprout the same party propaganda. Every now and then I would try to catch some local news on the Chinese language channels, but invariably I would be so disgusted by the same slogan that I grew up with;e.g., "Follow ___'s lead, uphold ____ principles ...." I end up clicking off the TV in frustration, cursing. Though CCTV 9 is only slightly more tolerable, when we do get it, I am glad of the change and watch in earnest, I have stooped so low.

When we were traveling in China last spring, TV was all about the Olympic torch relay, in excruciating detail; e.g.,which big wigs waited at the airport, the plane lands, so-and-so steps out and waves at the crowd.... Then the Tibetan protests happened. Happy Tibetans fill the screen....life is so much better now compared to under Dalai Lama....ungrateful Tibetans. All dissenting Chinese language sites were blocked on the Internet. English languages sites seemed to be censored less. We were glad when the earthquake happened -- I don't really mean that, not for the people -- as we thought we would finally see some real news. What a mistake! All we saw was the government troupes and officials leading the rescue efforts, and lines of people dropping 100 yuan notes into collection boxes. There was hardly any "disaster" coverage; that is, the destruction, the damage, and the dead. I could go on ranting, but it depresses me too much.

Another thing we noticed is that Indian TV commercials actually look like commercials to us, not that much different than the ones in the US. On the other hand Chinese TV commercials are so bland and cutesy, one would think we are still living in the 1950s. It's no wonder China is the only country in the civilized world where the young are turning to the Internet for entertainment more than the TV.

Heatwave

It's been hot the past week in Tamil Nadu. Hot, sunny, and sticky. It's affected my photography as quantity and quality are both down. Just don't have the energy to always strive for the perfect shot(s). And the strong midday sun makes it harder to get a good exposure.

But you say it's supposed to be hot in South India. Well this heatwave has made the newspapers. Schools have been ordered to close early. We spent two days this week in Bhubaneswar and each day the temperature was 40 C or 102 F. The second day we went on an AC bus tour of Konark and Puri... Of course the AC stopped working at 10:00 AM. Sigh. We did get a partial refund. Woohoo!

Yesterday we arrived in Calcutta and it's much cooler. The high today was only 88 F. We spent the whole day around Sudder Street, the so-called backpacker's ghetto, looking for a better hotel (we decided to stay put), trying to contact a travel agent in Kathmandu (no luck), eating, and shopping (I bought a set of 5 pens for 10 rupees). Tomorrow we start seeing the sights.

Big Temple - Thanjavur - Tamil Nadu - India

The locals call it the Big Temple and it's an impressive UNESCO World Heritage site officially called The Great Chola Temples of Tamil Nadu.

We liked it a lot as the admission was free and non-Hindus were allowed in the Inner Sanctum (the tall structure at left center).

On the downside, I was under the weather with a sinus infection and felt like crap the whole day. That evening we measured my temperature at 102.4; time to break out the antibiotics and Vit-I.

Having fun in India

We first came to India in 1997 for four weeks in the Northwest. When I got back to work, I was asked about the trip by some coworkers.

"How was India?"
"It's unbelievable, just like you see on TV. Animals, domestic and wild, mingle in the streets; people of every religion are engaged in activities, trade, transportation, and technologies that cross centuries; all generating waste that is left to perfume the air. By night, shelterless people slumber on the sidewalks, street medians, any kind of surface..."
"But did you have fun?"
"Uh... no, India was not fun. India is an experience."
"Hmm... will you go again?"
"Absolutely!"

There was so much hardship, misery, and suffering, that no matter how specular the Taj Mahal, I could not enjoy myself. Besides, we had to fend off beggars, street urchins, touts, scam artists of every kind. Yet every single day, we would experience something that was simply out of this world.

Now that we have all the time in the world to travel, it seemed that we could no longer put off returning to India any longer. John and I thought two months would allow us to finish off the rest of the highlights and we would then be done with India, though we had serious doubts about our ability to last two whole months in India.

We arrived in Mumbai on Jan 16th, picking up exactly where we left off the last time and headed to the south. Two weeks into the trip I began to realize that I am actually having fun. Could it be

• We are in a different part of the country?
• India has made a lot of progress in the past 10 year?
• We are different?

Whatever the reasons, I am beginning to catch the fragrance of jasmine garlands, beyond the constant assaults of human and animal waste that permeate the Indian air.

• Even though life is hard, people do have fun. They go out to eat, have sightseeing outings and picnics with family and friends. They take their grandchildren to the beach park. They smile; they laugh. The temple festivals are simply amazing.
• While the government may not believe in public toilets and trash collection, the public transportation, trains, buses, and ferries, are outstanding compared to the level of development (more on this later). It is easy and fun to travel around.
• I love the food. Most vegetarians adore Indian food. In the past, John and I merely enjoyed the occasional Indian food. In 1997, we got tired of India food pretty soon into our trip. This time we cannot have enough of Indian food. I can hardly believe it myself.

If the weather was not getting hotter and we did not already have plans to meet a friend in Nepal, we would keep on traveling in India. We are having so much fun that we are already plotting our next trip.

Eating in India

Eating in South India has been awesome. There are many restaurants with friendly staff, tasty food, English menus, fair prices (less than 2 USD feeds two people), tons of vegetarian options, fresh veggies and juices, and a variety of cuisines: Chinese, Western, North and South Indian.

We have slowly been learning the local names for the different dishes, the restaurant protocol (tipping, toilet, table sharing, tap water, etc), and how to order coffee that is not too sweet.

Here's a photo of Sun-Ling about to dig in to a Paper Dhosa in the Santosh Hotel Restaurant in Mysore.

Mumbai

Arrived in Mummbai on Jan 16 via Bangkok and so far our time here has exceeded expectations. The sites are great, lots of cool Art Deco buildings for example, the weather almost pleasant (not too hot), the people are friendly, the food is tasty and cheap, and we have an awesome corner room at the Hotel Victoria for a reasonable price (about 35 USD per night).