Thursday, April 8, 2010

Mumbai, First Night

Off to Mumbai, "city of dreams" for a few nights...
Some quick random stats (and approximations of stats) about Mumbai

Metro area population: 22 million
Percentage of residents living in slums: 55%
Average income: Rs 190/day = 3x national average = $4.10/day
Largest slum: Dharavi, population 1 million +
Tallest buildings: 60 stories.
Humidity: Off the charts
Quality index: very low

Ok, so Mumbai got off to a good start. Their airport is amazing. We show up and see ads for carlsberg everywhere, which is a good and welcome change from the (approximation of a beer) we'd seen everywhere else. Getting a prepaid taxi to the hotel was easy.
We're headed toward the happening neighborhood, Colaba. It's a peninsula way down south at the bottom of the city. Apparently this is where the high concentration of bars, uppity hotels, night clubs etc are. We check into our hotel, the Hotel Diplomat. It was recommended to Yvonne by some guy on a plane on the way to New Delhi. We went for it, because it had open rooms. I understand why they had open rooms...

So, we set out in Colaba in search of a good bar. We found one, sort of. Some hole in the wall with a big back bar where all the foreigners hang out (NOT LEOPOLD'S!).
We ordered several rounds, had some indian food and chatted with a group of girls from europe. The beer was crap, but the rest of the spirits weren't so bad. The prices hurt a little after having been treated to a jaipur bar.

After we finish at the late hour of 11:30 (what the hell INDIA!?) we run into several rather unsavory characters who offer me all manner of drugs.
"Weed, grass, hash? Come on man, amsterdam, don't be shy."
Amsterdam!? Doesn't this guy know that all the world's best marijuana is grown in india,pakistan,afghanistan? Idiot. Oh well, he didn't get my money that night...
It turns out, that would be a constant theme in colaba.

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