Next Stop - Mumbai

Juhu Beach - people as far as the eye can see.

Happy but lonely ice cream vendors.

Something for everyone. A sight and sound sensation.

The dancing monkey guys and their moneymakers. The monkeys didn't get to dance for us.

Everyone is selling something.

Waders and swimmers as the sun starts to go down.

The mysterious guy with the flaming plate.
Some local guys who attempted to explain the festival and who really wanted their picture taken.

The sun finally slips into the ocean as darkness sets in.

After Goa we headed up to Mumbai. We got the royal treatment on Kingfisher Airlines business class. Unlike in the US where you are lucky to get a smile from a flight attendant on a short hop, on Kingfisher we had 4 lunch entree choices on the 1 hour flight. Mumbai, formerly Bombay but still called Bombay by mostly everyone, is India's largest and most cosmopolitan city. It is said that it is the most populous city in the world. There are over 13 million people officially in the city, millions more metro area, perhaps 25 million total. It's really big and really crowded.

Upon arrival we met up with the guy from the Marriott who called us a car. The relatively short distance from the airport to the Marriott on Juhu Beach took at least 40 minutes as traffic was staggering. At every traffic stop we were approached by beggars and people selling things like books, magazines, flowers and towels. The poverty is striking. People are everywhere in cars, on foot, in tri-shaws, taxis (all old 1950s Fiats painted black and yellow). The buildings old and new all look old and decayed. The sidewalks, where they exist, are cracked and broken and there are piles of dirt and rubbish all over. We pulled up to the imposing hotel driveway. http://marriott.com/hotels/travel/bomjw-jw-marriott-hotel-mumbai/ Security guards checked out the car while I am not sure they would have found anything, even if it were there. Whenever I see these security guys who use a mirror to look under the car I truly believe that the only thing that would stop them from waving the car through would be if they saw a big red sticks with fizzling wicks tied together and marked with large letters "TNT".

The hotel is kind of boring looking from the outside but once inside there is a large well appointed lobby looking back towards huge picture windows with a view of a beautiful garden with water features, an elaborate pool and then the Arabian Sea. Quite a sight. We were shown to our small but comfortable room (no complaints as we used Marriott points). It was about 5:30PM so we decided to take a walk on the beach. http://www.mumbainet.com/travel/juhubeach.htm

http://www.webindia123.com/tourism/beach/juhu.htm


As we walked outside around the pool to the wall and gate to the beach we were met by a security guard. He had us sign out and told us to be back by 8PM. Once on the beach it was a carnival atmosphere. 1000s of people of all shapes and sizes. Women in colorful saris, men in traditional Indian dress, people in short, tee shirts, Nikes, Adidas, Louis Vuiton and Abercrombie. Many were swimming or wading as the sun sunk in the Western sky. The women swam in their saris and many of the men in long pants. Families were having fun, playing, laughing and getting relief from the hot humid city air.

As we walked down the beach we saw vendors selling Chai Tea, samosa, lime drink, paan, circus toys that fly or light up and cotton candy. There were guys with strange suitcases set up on pedestals, a DVD player, screen and a mat on the sand. I figured out that these were fortune tellers. You paid them some money, stand on the mat and the TV comes on and someone tells your fortune in Hindi or Mararathstra. Others had dancing robots and we were approached by two guys with monkeys on leashes asking us to pay to see them dance. I guess we should have but we passed. There were also small carnival rides for kids like a tiny Ferris wheel and merry go round and then just off the beach were very colorful and good smelling food stalls. Everyone was there to cool off and to watch the day end.

On the way back to the hotel we saw a bunch of people gathered around an older white bearded guy in a yellow frock. The guy was holding a bronze tray that held something that was on fire. as people approached he dabbed his finger onto the tray and rubbed some sort of yellow powder on the people. We chatted with some young guys who were hanging around nearby and they said it was a festival, the name of which we did not catch. They wanted me to take their picture so I did (see above).

That outing got us ready for the rest of our visit. The next day we were ready to venture into the city....