Tuesday, February 2, 2016

India: Adventure in Mumbai

Namaste. Mere naam hai Pavitra. My name is Pavitra. Pavitra = Suci = Pure/Holly
Mumbai or Bombay, the city of Bollywood Movie was our next destination. We were planning to stay here for 4 days. We were offered to stay at husband's friend's parents. We were staying with them at their 2 bedrooms apartment in central Mumbai, Worli.

Unfortunately in Mumbai, we didn't really see too much attraction places. We only went to India Gate and some shopping places like Palladium Mall and street shopping in Linking Road where I bought my Indian bag.

1. Mumbai India Gate

If I remember correctly, there are 2 India gates which are located in Mumbai and Delhi. Mumbai's India gate located close to the sea in Colaba area, South Mumbai. Unfortunately when we visited, they were getting ready for a huge concert. So the area of the gate has been closed.
In here, people mistaken me as Indian a lot. It was a great advantage tho because the street sellers mostly ignoring me and proceed to 'seduce' other foreigners/tourists to buy their products like sun glasses, fan, key chains, etc.

2. Shopping in Linking Road

Use your ability in haggling for price
I need to get a new sandals and sling bag for traveling more comfortably. So we decided to visit Linking Road, a street shopping area. I got one cute Indian sling bag for only 100k rupiah ($9) and sandals for 50k rupiah ($4).

3. Palladium Mall

Beer & Wine event in the mall's courtyard
It doesn't take too long until this spoiled city girl to miss her natural habitant, malls. After googling for informations, we decided to check Palladium Mall. We wanted to watch Bollywood movie in India to get the feel. Unfortunately during our stay there was no super Bollywood filmy type movie. So we had to settle with a movie that looks good enough. We decided to watch '
Main Aur Charles' which turned out to be a good one.


4. Bazaar in Bandra and Madras Cafe

Bazaar/Pop Up Market in Bandra, Northern part of Mumbai


Small joint always full of people, not a lot of tourists.
the one with the onion was probably the best...I wanna go back to India again just for this one
A friend of us told us that there is a bazaar in Bandra area and we went there to check it out. But first things first, we had to check out the highly aclaimed South Indian foods from Madras Cafe which has been going on for more than a decade. The foods were really really delicious. The price was super cheap but the flavor was definitely better than some expensive Indian foods we have ever eaten. Madras Cafe was probably my most favorite place to eat during the whole 2 weeks trip in India.

5. Strolling in Colaba

The Pantry in Colaba, south Mumbai. 

They served a really delicious salty caramelized chocolate made from almond milk and their snacks&dessert were also scrumptious.

Husband's friends live and work in Colaba, southern part of Mumbai. We spent most of our time in Mumbai hanging out around Colaba area. Mostly because we were trying to get sim card to use while we are there. Colaba is currently a new hip place to hangout. There are a lot of hidden cafes in the south. It is probably similar to Senopati area in Jakarta.

6. Dine In

Last night in Mumbai, we chose to cook and dine in with a couple of our friends. Especially since the hosts where we stayed in has said that they wanted to try Indonesian food. With limited ingredients, I tried to cook Balado Terong (Eggplant Spicy Gravy) and Tumis Tahu (Stir fry Tofu).