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).

Marriage: Our Silliest Fights

In 2 months, we are gonna have our wedding anniversary, early March. It will be our first wedding anniversary. Before that, since 2015 is just over. I would like to reflects on it and share some wisdoms.

We had a couple fights but since we are still at the honeymoon stage, mostly they were not serious fights, some of it were actually pretty silly. Let me share the stories with you guys;

1. Husband's Smelly Fart

I have talked about this on my previous post about Things I have to get used to after marriage. His silence yet deadly fart was starting to become a treat in our relationship. Fortunately He doesn't fart as often as me, however that occasionally silence yet deadly fart is hazardous. When he caught in the act, he would just grinned and resume to his activity without feeling guilty. I would probably stormed out of the room, not because I was too upset, I just need to breath cleaner air.

2. Toys R Us vs Toys Kingdom

Lately we have been looking for puzzle and other adult board games. We have been going to Kinokuniya, Periplus, etc looking for jigsaw puzzle and board games. So we decided to check Toys store adjacent to Grand Indonesia's Ace Hardware. Husband said the name is Toys R us and I said Toys Kingdom. We were arguing and the signs says Toys Kingdom. Husband still think it was suppose to be Toys R Us but somehow they changed the name. We had to ask the staff about the name and I was right. So, I won a bet of 50k rupiah. I am too cheap. Sigh.

source: Kontan

3. Where to Eat tonight?

We both are a big Zomato fans

This is probably happens to everyone in relationship. This is some of our silly dialogs;
Me: Where do you want to eat?
Husband: Up to you.
Me: Don't say that. You make it sound like it is always up to me and I didn't give you any option to choose. I always bla bla bla bla bla bla bla...
Husband: Okay..okay. What about Hacienda?
Me: Hmmm don't feel like eating Mexican food tonight.
Husband: What about that Italian place in Kuningan? (-_-")
Me: Hmmmm Italian ya? You know I can only it aglio oglio there. Mostly cheesy and I am lactose intolerant.
Husband: Okay where to then? (-_-") (-_-")
Me: I don't know. You tell me. You get to pick option now.
Husband: What about Indonesian food? (This time should be safe!)
Me: What Indonesian food tho? Padang, Manado, Sundanese, Javanese, Madura, Balinese, etc?
Husband: Padang? (Grrrrr...)
Me: We ate Padang food this morning.
Husband: Manado? (slightly pressing his chest)
Me: Another spicy food after Padang?
Husband: You know what, I am doing fasting today!!!
Me: (Grrrrrrr......) Okay okay we will go eat at Korean restaurant in Senopati ya.
Husband: Okay.

4. Changing My Mind

On the Taxi otw to Korean restaurant;
Me: Actually you know what let's go back to our place, I feel like Indian food from the restaurant near our place.
Husband (Face palm)
Fortunately he is well prepared for all the occasion where I changed my mind immediately.

5. Aqua vs Amidis

Have you heard of Coinage?

For example in Indonesia; Naming all brands of noodles as Sarimi, all brands of tooth paste as Odol. It also happens with mineral water, people tend to call it Aqua but really it refers to lots of brand. Like when you go to restaurant or cafe and orderd for Aqua and instead you got Ades or Nestle.
This really grinds my gear at least for the last one. I am a big fan of Aqua like particular brand of Aqua. And husband is in charge of replenish our mineral water stock on the fridge. Once in a while I would remind him to buy Aqua. But couple days ago he came back with Amidis. So we had argument and for 2 days I keep complaining about how it taste funny while making 'yikes it is gross' face. Finally we run out of that Amidis he bought and he said he had enough of me complaining about Amidis. There won't be any Amidis for us in the future. So, Goodbye Amidis.

6. Husband: Where is my Sarung?

source: Idolabolanews

Sarung or sarong made from fabric batik that can be used as blanket too. Husband got his sarung from my dad. And he loves his sarung so much. Because it was from his father in law when my dad finally accepted him as his son prior to the wedding. Usually he put his sarung in the bottom of the closet. Lately I might have re-arrange the position and he flipped out when he could not find his sarung. I had to call my mom in case we left it there, also I had to ask the lady that does our laundry. All of us look for the magically hidden sarung. After a week of searching for the sarung, finally he found it on the bottom closet behind the matt.

7. Grammar Nazi

source; reshareit

Okay here is the thing, I am not a Native English Speaker. I did take English Literature as my major in university. So, I would say my English was not that bad. I am pretty confident about it. But there are things here and there that I am not so good at. For example the used of idioms, proverbs, filler words, complex grammar, etc. Also the biggest flaw is that I have sundanese tongue which means 'f , p , and v' are basically similar 'p' and we don't have 'sh' , 'ee', 'oo' on our character.
I would say things like;
I. 'Honey we should wash the bed sheet' but sounded like 'Honey we should wash the bed shit.' He had the best laugh on this one.
II. 'Aa is this por me?'
III. 'I want to read Panity Pair.'
I have no problem him fixing ( 'pixing' lol ) my grammar, but when he did while I was upset that was like pouring alcohol into a burning fire.

8. Husband's Uniqlo's Shirt

source: Uniqlo

For a week, husband hasn't seen his favorite Uniqlo's Shirt. He asked me for the shirt whereabout. He asssumes the laundry lady might has it.
We live in sort of studio apartment (kosan..ciye gaya bener ngakunya apartemen) and there are at least 4-5 doors on our floor. He saw Uniqlo shirt hanging on someone's door. The laundry lady usually hangs the clothes on our door. He took the shirt. I insisted it was not his. I clearly remembered that I haven't give it to the laundry lady this week. It has to be somewhere in the closet. We had argument whether or not it was his.
Then I met our neighbor who were complaining to the lady about his missing shirt. Turned out my husband might have 'steal' someone else's Uniqlo's Shirt. I found his at the bottom drawer and we immediately returned the original shirt to its rightful owner. Oooops sorry!!!
9. W'Dank vs Wedang

his fav brand

Recently, husband declares himself as 'Sundanese' after finding out that he loves a lot of Sundanese foods like combro, wedang jahe, bajigur, oncom, tahu sumedang/kuningan/sindangkerta, sambel oncom, nasi tutug oncom, etc. On a trip to Bandung which has become his favorite culinary destination, he has been crazy about bajigur, wedang jahe, and sekoteng.
Before going back to Jakarta, afraid of missing out on his favorite beverages, he went out to look for instant version of wedang, bajigur, etc.
When I asked him what did he buy, he said he bought double yu dank. I was like what the h*** is double yu dank? And he showed me the picture. We were arguing on how to read the brand name. Clearly it is wedang, but the brand trying to be more up to date by writing it in a more popular 'Americanize' name. To this day he still call it double yu dank. I gave up.

India: Petualangan si Neng di India

Jujur aja ya Aa dan Teteh sekalian, Neng mah sudah suka sama film India teh dari zaman heubeul, dari zaman si Neng masih sakola TK sampai sekarang oge masih suka pisan.

Film India yang pertama Neng tonton teh film yang ada gajah na. Lupa judulna apa, tapi Neng inget sediiiiiiih pisan nontonnya. Kalau gak salah yang mainnya teh Mithun Chakraborthi. Dia teh yang terkenal di film Disco Dancer. Mungkin ada yang pernah dengar lagu "Jimmy Aaja Aaja" hits dari film Disco Dancer?

Tak disangka tak dinyana, si Akang nawarin buat jalan-jalan ke India sekalian nemuin temen-temen kerjana. Oh girang tiada tara hati si Neng ini. Segera kami teh cari tiket murah. Ternyata tiket Jakarta - India lumayan murah. Berangkat dari Jakarta - KL - Goa cuman kisaran 800ribu dan pulangnya 900ribu per orang.

sering-sering si Neng joget Bollywood di India

Kata si Akang mending jangan bawa banyak barang biar gampang jalan-jalannya. Jadi berbekal tas ransel kecil dan tas slempang, si Neng berangkat ke India. Kebetulan si Neng penggemar film India dari kecil dan suka tuturutan (belajar) bahasana dari film. Tujuan si Neng cuman satu, ketemu Aa Shahrukh. Semenjak nonton film Bazigar si Neng sudah jadi penggemar Aa Shahrukh.

Yang Biru punya Neng, item punya Akang

Sayangnya begitu si Neng sampai Mumbai dari Goa, ternyata Aa Shahrukh berangkat dari Mumbai ke Goa untuk merayakan ulang tahunnya di Goa. Atuhlah kan Neng jauh-jauh buat nemuin Aa. Kirain teh bisa tiup lilin bareng-bareng.

Si Neng di Mumbai dgn dandanan ala India

Di Mumbai, Neng sama Akang numpang hidup di rumah temennya si Aa. Alhamdulilah ya Allah, Neng sama Akang bisa berhemat. Mumbai teh ternyata tidak sekotor yang selalu digambarkan di berita. Kalau liat Mumbai berasa liat Bandung area Kiara Condong atau Jakarta area Pasar Baru. Rame dan sibuk, tapi gak terlalu kotor. Tapi duh gusti panasnya seperti Cirebon atau area pantai utara.

Si Neng joget Bollywood di Hawa Mahal, Jaipur

Dari Mumbai, Neng sama Akang pindah ke Jaipur. Di Hawa Mahal (Istana Jendela), Neng mah nangis da. Bukan kenapa-kenapa, cuman terharu dengan betapa megahnya. Di kampung Neng mah gak ada yang begituan teh. Istana yang berwarna pink tua dihiasi banyak jendela dan kaca berwarna. Indah sekali. Jendelanya banyak sengaja biar selir-selir dan putri-putri raja bisa melihat keluar tanpa terlihat dari luar. Iya menurut Eneng mah rajanya teh meni pelit. Tapi da Istananya mah indah pisan.

Hawa Mahal

Di Jaipur juga Neng kena tipu. Di Mumbai Neng kecolongan. Tapi ya ikhlas da. Namanya juga pengalaman. Di Mumbai mah emang salah Neng sendiri. Buat yang mau tau ceritanya, mangga baca post sebelumnya. Sepulangnya dari India, kenangan paling berkesan justru malah Jaipur sama Mumbai.

Neng sama Akang pose di Agra Fort

Dari Jaipur kita berangkat ke Agra dengan kereta gejes yang lucu. Lucu karena ada kasurnya di kereta teh. Seneng bisa selonjoran kaki sambil baca buku atau kalau Neng mah bobo sepanjang perjalanan mumpung ada kasur.

Di Agra, Neng dan Akang lihat Taj Mahal yang memang indah dan pantas jadi Situs keajaiban dunia. Tapi neng gak seterharu pas pertama liat Hawa Mahal. Gak tau kenapa. Rasanya Hawa Mahal itu dekat sekali di hati. Neng sama Akang datang pagi-pagi pun antrian masuk Taj Mahal sudah memanjang seperti ular. Saran Neng, habis dari sini segera liat situs Baby Taj mumpung masih sepi. Lumayan dapat pemandangan bagus cuman buat berdua.

Baby Taj 

Sikandar, Makamnya Akbar yang di Jodha Akhbar tea

Selama di India, Neng belajar praktek bahasa India sama mamang bajaj, mamang/bibi yang jualan. Ternyata Bahasa India Neng lumayan banyak vocabulary-na. Yeuh ku Neng bagi-bagi siapa tahu mau dipake nanti kalau Aa sama Teteh mau main ke India.

1. Salam : Namaste / Namskar
2. Nama saya...: Mere naam hai Neng
3. Apa nama anda? : Aapka naam kya hai?
4. Berapa harganya?: Kitna paisa hai?
5. Mahal: Mehenga hai.
6. Minta air : Pani chahiye.
7. Minta makan: Khana chahiye
8. Saya suka ini : Mujhe yeh pasand hai.
9. Saya mau ini: Mujhe yeh chahiye.
10. Tidak mau: Nahin (Nehi) chahiye.

Semoga berguna buat Aa dan Teteh yang mau joget/main ke India nanti.

India: 10 Tips for Traveling in India

India was definitely a land of beauty. But certainly it was not easy traveling in India. I heard someone once says 'If you can travel and survive in India, you can travel and survive anywhere else.'

With these words carved in my heart, my husband and I decided it is the right time to travel India. So, we did travel in India for 2 weeks and it was experience like none other. It was not luxurious trip nor an easy trip like we used to do in Korea, Singapore, and Bali. We thoroughly enjoy our experience in India despite the ups and downs. Everything happens for a reason and it gives us a chance to learn and be wiser.

Taj Mahal, Agra

But if I could share my/our wisdom and experience with you guys, I hope this 10 tips will help you for your upcoming adventure in India.

1. Triposo India

I am truly grateful for this app. Not only you can use map and gps when it is offline. You can also check recommended places to see, foods to eat, things to do while offline. But of course if you are on online mode, you will get more of it; like you would be able to see pictures of places to see, booked hotel and see the reviews first, etc. This app helped us booked 4 hotels on our journey, one in each cities; Jaipur, Agra, Delhi, and Goa. Our favorite hotel were the one in Jaipur (H.R Palace) and the ultimate one in Delhi (Hotel Holiday Inn, Airport City). Also it helps to navigate offline with the offline gps and map every time you need to walk around the area or looking to find the hotel's address.  *Hotel Review on the next post

Front side of Hawa Mahal 

2. Learn the basic Language

Sure, there are a lot of people that speak English in Mumbai and Delhi. So did in Jaipur too. But it is always nice to be able to say thank you, hi, etc in local language. On our case, I can speak a little bit of Hindi since I have been watching Bollywood movies since I was small. I picked up some words that I used a lot on the trip. I find it a lot easier to haggle and people tend to be nicer and more willing to help when I speak the local language.

3. Polite but Firm

There will be plenty and believe me when I said plenty..because it will be plenty of scams and people trying to offer you things to sell. They always act super nice and tend to be helpful. But then they will ask you to visit their store and buy something. I bought 2 overly expensive pashminas for 1000 rupees when I can get it for even cheaper price. I also bought several clothes and other fabrics for quite expensive price when I can always get it cheaper somewhere else. Sigh. It will happen more often in Jaipur and Agra. Not so much in Mumbai. Lesson learned, be polite yet firm when it comes to say NO.

4. Dress Modestly and Comfortably

Whether you are a man or a woman, dress modestly in India is always more appreciated. Don't forget to pack a scarf or you can buy some in India as they have so many of those beautiful scarfs. Jaipur offers a satin/sutra made scarf, I bought mine for 500 rupees. But I think you can still get it cheaper. It won't hurt to bring your own scarf too. In case you won't have any time for shopping. On hot humid India, we prefer to wear sandals. As it is a lot easier to take it off if you want to visit temples.

5. Best Season

Best season to go to India especially North India is October-November. As it will be lest hot. Train journey will also be faster before December for a trip from Agra to Delhi or Jaipur to Agra as there might be sand storm on December which we will make the train goes super slow and the journey will be longer twice than usual.

Akbar's Tomb in Agra

6. Careful with Auto rickshaw or Tuk-tuk Driver

I was really upset when I first dealing with Tuk-tuk driver in Jaipur and then Agra. They appeared to be nice. The one in Jaipur offer a cheap trip of 200 rupees to 4 different places that was currently free of charge. He said there is some event for the elephant. He would take us to Elephant house, water temple, Maharani's pool, etc and we don't have to pay a dime for the ticket. Turned out those places were Elephant's cage where they will guilty trip you to get an elephant ride for the benefit of the elephant (yeah damn right it is for the elephant!?), Jal Mahal and a small pool which cannot be entered to begin with..obviously there won't be any ticket selling there. The worse, he said he will take us to Mughal's village to see local people's home business; like printing and stuff. But he took us to a store where the owner explained how the printing was made from a handmade block print. I had to bought 2 overly pricey pashminas there. Fortunately I can give it to my mom who loves pashmina. The driver's name is Ali and he is a tuk-tuk driver in Jaipur. He drives like a mad guy in small alleys or cramped road. Make sure if you get a tuk-tuk driver, said No if he offers all the think like I mentioned above. Stick to your plan and to do list.

beautiful Jal Mahal or Water Palace

7. Pack Lightly

India is hot and humid. It won't be fun to walk around with suitcases every time you move city to city. It is always better to pack lightly in India as it will be easier for you to pay attention to all your stuffs and less chance of it getting stolen. Don't forget to pack sunblock and lotion too. Sunblock is the best protection against the sun. And despite of its humidity, it is always best to put on lotion right before sleeping to keep the moisture inside. Because it is also very dusty in some parts of India. Scarf will also help you breath when it is really dusty. Bring sling bag too, it is easier to walk around with sling bag instead of backpack since we won't be able to see if pickpocket try to steal something on the crowd.

8. List to Do and Places to Go

It is better to have a list to do and places to go before going to India. It will give us brief information on our plan and will help you to navigate from places to places avoiding wasting time in between places thinking where else to go. However, let live decide the next plan. Don't get too upset if it is not exactly as you plan it. Because you will never know what will you encounter there. You might like a certain place a lot more and decided to stay there longer. That could works too. But having a list to do and places to go/see definitely help the decision making. My advice, no need to stay longer in Agra and Jaipur as you might finished all the sightseeing in the major tour destinations within 2 days. You can even do one day trip to Agra and coming back to Jaipur. We regret not spending more time in other part of Rajasthan like Jaisalmer which I heard even more beautiful.

Our list

9. Be Alarmed but Don't be Paranoid

Yes, there are a lot of bad publications about India. You are entitled to be more cautious but no need to be paranoid. I found Mumbai pretty save even at night. Jaipur especially, we would just randomly sitting some where at night while waiting for the night entertainment to start. Just use your common sense. Don't go out too late at night and better if you have company.

10. Have sense of Humor and Enjoy the Ride

Yes, India is super beautiful. They have rich culture and beautiful palaces. But there are also parts where people peeing on the street, lousy traffic, scammer tuk-tuk driver, etc. I let myself becoming to engross in the feeling of being upset and mad that it almost ruin our journey. I almost cried in Fatehpur Sikri, a palace outside of Agra, because people keep swarming us and offering to sell things or to guide us. I have said No to this one but the next one coming. I could not event count it. They are super persistent. I yelled and cried. All they did was amused and confused. But after I look very upset. They stop bothering us. However, it almost ruin the experience. Actually it is pretty ruined. Because of all the things that happened to us in India including getting stolen in Mumbai, Fatehpur Sikri was really awful experience. I almost think it was not worth it to go 1 hour tuk-tuk drive from Agra. Lesson learned. Enjoy the ride and the rest is history or exciting story for the future.