Weekend in Mumbai (Bombay)

This weekend it was finally time: our long-awaited trip to Mumbai! Unfortunately there were slight problems with the outbound flight, which was moved by five hours (from 18:15 to 23:00). Luckily we were told by text message beforehand, so we didn't have to spend that time at the airport. The only shame was that we missed a party in Mumbai. We finally took off around 23:40 and arrived safely in Mumbai about two hours later.

In Mumbai we stayed with Theresa from Chemnitz. The building (15 floors) has three AIESEC apartments with four to six residents each. Surprisingly, very few of all these people were still working: either they had quit or they were already done. Here in Chennai the internship dates aren't quite as uniform; pretty much everyone has a different departure date.

Anyway, the morning after we arrived (Friday) we tackled the centre of Mumbai. In the Lonely Planet (the bible for India travellers) we found a little walking tour, which we followed. I was the guide and explained the sights to my fellow travellers. Without the Lonely Planet, though, I wouldn't have known that many of these things were sights at all…

In the evening we had planned to go to an Irish pub (Mumbai's nightlife is said to be extremely good), but it rained so hard that we just met up in one of the AIESEC apartments and partied there a bit.

The next day we went back into the centre, this time without a plan, simply following our noses. We came across a very beautiful mosque built on a peninsula. On the way to the mosque there were countless mutilated beggars. I had never seen anything like it in such concentration.

After the mosque we were a bit too lazy to keep walking, so we hopped on the public buses and watched Mumbai from the bus for several hours. Especially when it started pouring again, the bus was really rather pleasant. This time the evening plan was to party in a club. But (surprise, surprise) because of the torrential rain we once again didn't leave the AIESEC apartments and partied with the AIESEC people again (this time a bit longer and with more stamina).

The next day (our day of departure) we went out to a suburb of Mumbai and had a look around. By the way, unlike Chennai, Mumbai has a strict rickshaw ban in the city centre. So we spent most of the time on overcrowded trains, also a very special kind of experience…

Anyway, we strolled through rainy Mumbai a bit longer and then flew back to Chennai in the evening (this time without delay). The timing of our Mumbai trip was very unfortunate, because we hit the monsoon season head-on. I'll pay more attention to that on the next trips…