Feb 4, 2025

Narda in italics and Terrell whatever. Sometimes it seems we say the same thing - however, we are speaking of the same only we say it differently. Choose who you want to hear - I would suggest both of us.

Good grief.

Mumbai Airport was a shit show. We were the only flight so that was good, no waiting in line. But then we tried to get to an ATM…..all broken. Then we tried getting a Sim card but were refused as we did not have a Mumbai phone number. In the end we got rupees from aggressive money changers all shouting at arriving passengers. We had no choice. They charged us 12 ½ percent.

Mumbai Airport was not good. All new and clean but we did find a nice coffee shop and were able to get onto the airport's WiFi to get an Ola cab to our destination which Narda had printed out.Narda has printed all our tickets, hotels, AirBnB, Homestays, trains, flights, House-exchanges (we never do house-exchanges in Asia just Europe and the States) for the past twenty+ years of travel. We always have this big folder of printouts for every trip and it has saved us many times. WiFi sometimes is down or it does not exist or we do not have a sim card or whatifs.

Border guys were great though and explained how our new 5:year visas worked. We can be in India as often as we like but the total time in each year cannot exceed 180 in total and only l up to 90 days at a time.

Our host is an interesting guy with lots of knowledge about India and Bombay. We had lots of interesting conversations. He is a fan of Modi. Likes his strength in standing up for India worldwide. “He does not let China bully India” was his comment.

The area is beautiful. Leafy and lots of nice houses.

Our area is Bandra West, Mumbai. Bandra West is known as the 'Queen of the Suburbs', apparently the word on the street is that Bandra is an upmarket neighbourhood in Mumbai known for its perfect balance of old-world charm and heritage with a cosmopolitan culture and modern luxuries.

Bandra West owes its hip vibe to trendy craft-beer bars and upscale global restaurants, as well as stylish cafes that serve chia juice by day and creative cocktails at night. The area’s old-world bungalows sit alongside chic fashion boutiques, wall murals and street stalls. Restored 17th-century Bandra Fort, which hosts music performances, is at one end of waterfront Bandstand Promenade, a popular meeting point. ― Google

Well, I am not sure about the above. It is a dangerous walking spot, but isn't all of Asia? It is a nice area with lots of trees.

Passing a bookstore in our local area, I decided to pick up a copy of a book I had chosen for my next book club turn. I went into the shop and had a blank moment forgetting both the title and the India author. So I said to the owner “I'm looking for a book that is quite famous and the author has won awards.duh. He pointed behind him and asked if this was it. And it was.

“The ministry of utmost happiness” by Arandhati Roy. I've read it before ages ago. She also wrote “The god of small things”.

It's about a community of Hijras, who are people who are physically both male and female. 

Anyway, enough about that.

PS. I left the book in my previous homestay. Bummer. Won't be going back for it. 12 hours in the train. Can't quite come at that. So off today for another second hand copy. 🥴

On our first walkabout in Bombay we found a groovy bookstore. A funny little thing...Narda needed a book for her upcoming book club in April, she is the leader for that month and she had picked, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy for the group. We saw this bookshop with very high piles of books. At the moment Narda was unable to recall the name of the book and told the dude that she was looking for a book by an Indian author but had forgotten the name of the book and of the author. He immediately went to a pile of books (easily seven feet high) and took the book right from the middle of the pile. We thought it was quite cosmic and Narda happily walked off with her book. We later left the book in another place when we rushed out one morning to get a taxi to a train station, but we did find another copy in a shopping centre in Goa. And today (April 09) Narda will be leading the discussion on this book. BTW Narda is on her third copy of this too easy to lose book.

Not sure where to toss in this tidbit, but here is what we spent on food per day (I write everything down): In USD, Vietnam $28.90/day - 30 days, India, $20.50/day 30 days, Penang $35.46/day 14 days and to add another, Lahore Pakistan last year was $29.85/day. Last month (February 2025) two weeks in Penang where we combined eating out with cooking at our our lovely flat on the 24th floor (called floor 23A as they are superstitious of the #4 - not sure why) we spent $35.50/day for food. That is mostly meals at restaurants. Comparisons in Europe (Holland = $31/day over a four month period - we had a house exchange and mainly ate at home) and Valencia Spain = $40.33/day - we did eat out some - it was Spain. USA seven-weeks in 2023 = $43.63/day with a mixture of eating out and at where we stayed Australia, we rarely go out as I like to eat at home to control my low-carb diet. Side-note, we rarely eat out in Europe or the States so that is primarily grocery bills with some lunches out.

Bottom line - India is the cheapest. USA most expensive of wherever we have been over the past few years. India is also the cheapest for accommodation with sometimes 4-star hotels around $30 USD and homestays around $10. Europe is the most expensive for accommodation. Of course, Australia is the most expensive with our food bill being more than $40 USD/day ($67 Aus). Or maybe USA is more -- I ramble on here.

I will try to refrain from posting lots of motorcycle pictures - I had a folder with about a hundred in the Vietnam last month's trip but decided to just leave them on my computer. Here are only a couple to remind us of lovely India.

before we get too far into Bombay/Mumbai here is a four-moments clip we threw up onto YouTube.

Narda pushes the local school bus to school (just kidding)

this is our street

Mumbai has buses just for women

even buses that are toilets just for women - there were none for men, so often they are peeing on the side of buildings and fences or whatever tree may be lurking nearby. Not me I went to McDonald's to download and reboot.

Our local strawberry dude - we did buy a bag full then worried whether they were safe to eat. I suppose they were as months later we are alive and never once become ill on this trip

And Narda went shopping at the local deli

Then there are the trains. We decided to take the local into town. Coming in was easy, plenty of seats, but coming home was a challenge hanging off the straps, with boys hanging out on the doorframe. Just like you see on movies.

they always manage to squeeze one more in - because we are bigger than most we manage to be those extra ones squeezed in.

The train station is beautiful - Brits did a lot for India putting in railroads to everywhere and throw together great looking buildings.

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, also known as Victoria Terminus (VT), Bombay station code: CSMT (mainline)/ST (suburban)), is a historic railway terminus and UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its construction began in 1878.

In March 1996, the station's name was officially changed from "Victoria Terminus" to "Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus", after Shivaji, the 17th-century warrior king and the first Chhatrapati of the Maratha Empire who founded the state in the western Marathi-speaking regions of the Deccan Plateau. In 2017, the station was again renamed "Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus" , where the title Maharaj has literal meaning, "Great king; emperor.

The terminus is the headquarters of India's Central Railway. It is one of the busiest railway stations in India, serving as a terminal for both long-distance and suburban trains with a total number of 18 platforms.

The station itself, an amazing building, was very busy and full. We had to wait one time for several hours for our train to our next stop, Goa. People tried to sleep on the floor but some bad-ass dude in uniform would come along and poke or hit them with a long stick.

There was also a lovely park nearby on the ocean. They call it ,”Joggers Park”.

This is the view from Joggers Park.

There was an area nearby where we got some nice tomato soup a couple of times. Outdoor little cafe.

Joggers Park was a five-minute walk from our homestay. It is along the shore and we could see downtown Mumbai as well as some massive bridge going up and out to somewhere. Lots of folks go here to run, or sit (that is what we did ) and watch sunsets and probably sunrises though we didn't see them as we were asleep and the sun most likely doesn't rise here.

Slums are a big thing...we did not do the slum tours. It just seemed too weird to be from a rich nation looking at how the ultra-poor live. I did take a few photos from our train stop which shows the outskirts of the slums.

Overall, I liked our stay in Mumbai. If anything it was way too short so we just hung around our area, avoiding getting run over by buses, cars, tuk-tuks. Our other stays in Mumbai were in different areas and those times we saw the Gate way to India and heaps of other cool things, took ferries to interesting islands etc. We did take the commuter train a few times into what could be considered a centre of town. That is all highlighted above. I found our homestay a bit of a challenge. We had a room in a person's apartment, which is what homestays are. He was always around along with his about 40-year old son who is on some spectrum. I do not personally know anyone like this so really do not understand it.

Autism spectrum disorder, or simply autism, is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by repetitive, restricted, and inflexible patterns of behavior, interests, and activities, as well as difficulties in social interaction and social communication. Wikipedia

He had a good memory and was always walking into our room and repeating our names and other information we had given about ourselves. Breakfast was good as our host made Mumbai-influenced things, which I don't recall or in fact never knew the names of. He was a uni-professor before retiring and was incredibly knowledgeable and we had lengthy and good discussions about world events. Unfortunately, I have forgotten all of them. Next time I will record these kinds of talks with locals, so you too, will know what I am rambling on about.

Then it's time to move on.

10103. Mandovi Express running late to Karmali station, Goa

Panaji (AKA Panjim) Goa

Feb 8, 2025

We left early with a driver to CTS (Central Train Station) Lovely trip on 1AC with the cabin to ourselves. An 11 hour ride with 2 naps on the top bunk. No problem getting up there with my sore knee. It was a little staircase to get to the top.

Goa

First impression

It's full of casinos all on the river. We were not expecting that.

A long taxi ride to our beautiful stay. The home stay was in a little Portuguese style enclave. Our host was generous and attentive. We would go daily to the nearby restaurant called Soul Curry for our free breakfast. We had great dinners there too.

This is our lovely homestay, one of the best so far.

There was a spectacular walk from our place along the river which we enjoyed. Then we would take a random bus somewhere, often meeting interesting people.

(Get off the bus and do some yoga)

Our random bus rides.

A couple from Candolim beach…in their late 70s or 80s. The guy -(English) sat next to me…..his first comment was. 'I just spoke with some folks from Iceland. Iceland! who could live there with volcanoes popping up everywhere.' Then he laughed at these foolish Icelanders. 

He told me that they come to Goa every English winter. They love it

Then there was the woman from Kazakhstan who had no English at all but wanted to talk. So we took a number of photos instead.

Or the German lady who also loved  Goa and attended many free concerts at this time of year. Her name is Ellen.

We exchanged phone numbers

A cafe where we found a loo. This was after several hours on another random bus. Just in time I think judging from his smile.

I found some high-quality, life-affirming books in the local casino for peasants...I didn't collect all 8 titles as they would not sell them to males in their advancing years.

We found a local busy market a couple of blocks away...

and some night celebration with lots of people celebrating though we did not have clue what they were celebrating so we celebrated alongside them.

We wandered on to another area. First an Ola driver (or the Goan equivalent) took us up a steep road, then we crossed a walking bridge, sat for a bit in a public library to cool down,

then walked through a Portuguese area, complete with a busy market.

We found a nice restaurant for dinner and tried using our taxi app again to head home. Not much English.

By that time it was really dark. We waited for the taxi…no-one came. Finally we got a phone call saying “ come here”. No idea where he was. I passed my phone to a friendly local who informed us that we had to walk a kilometre. He was parked somewhere. No idea where. So we cancelled the ride.

Then we decided to go back to plan A , which was a local bus. We started walking in the dark. It was a pretty creepy. I looked over at Terrell and there was this guy right behind Terrell. It looked like his head was on his shoulder. Enough. 

Thankfully a passing taxi slowed down for us and took us home….which was actually surprisingly close.

there was this groovy saying on a wall

The colonial Portuguese Baroque style church was first built in 1541 but after a bit some folks got together and built the church there now and completed their little project in 1609, this Baroque-style Catholic church with a grand facade sits atop a small hill. Spoiler, it is not a small hill and we were totally stuffed by the time we clambered to the top of the 'small hill. I can not imagine something built now, probably with a 3D printer lasting for 400+ years. I can not imagine anything still being standing in 400+ years.

As you would know

The beautiful Church of Our Lady of Immaculate Conception in Panjim has featured prominently in numerous Bollywood films, including Simmba, Aashiqui, and Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani

Took a tour against our better judgement. A boat on the river to see a bird sanctuary. We were lucky to see 2 or three, the rest was plastic bags. 

But……,

We did see this enormous croc laying on the shore. (notice Narda's reaction)

Next day we headed off in a bus to Old Goa. This was the real Goa (on an island) which was decimated by malaria and cholera driving the survivors into Panjim. We hired a driver to show us the houses where the remaining descendants of the Goan population now live.

Old Goan house

We took a ferry across with our driver - our Ola taxi.

We drove past lots of old groovy looking homes from long ago - I think the 1800s

Chandor is the oldest known capital of Goa. A thriving settlement of yesteryears, Chandor, earlier Chandrapura, is located in South Goa on the banks of the Zuari and Kushavati rivers. It served as the capital from the Bhojas period to the Kadamba dynasty and, thus, has many ruined forts. It derives its name from ‘Chandreshwar’ or ‘Lord of the Moon,’ aka Shiva, though locals most associate it with the ‘Queen’s Curse’ prompted by the treachery of the warriors of the Kadamba kingdom. internet

If you are totally sold on Goa and its history, really who isn't? A really great page is at https://www.peepultree.world/livehistoryindia/story/eras/chandor-goas-ancient-capital

The main part of the island  is full of beautiful ancient Catholic churches dating back to the 1500s.  

We looked at and went inside of lots of churches - they are hundreds of years old. It was a very hot day and we really dragged around to get to the top five or was it two?

Old Goa contains churches including the Se Cathedral (the seat of the Archbishop of Goa), the Church and Convent of St. Francis of Assisi, the Chapel of Our Lady of the Mount, the Church of St. Caetano and, notably, the Basilica of Bom Jesus which contains the relics of Saint Francis Xavier,

Time to move on. Our host presented us with on of the door handles he still had in his storage TFT t by Dr, knowing that we really liked the door handle on our little flat.

The next morning the long drive to Madgaon station where we took the train

That's all for Mumbai and Goa. We were going to continue with Kannur, Trivandrum, and finally Kochi before leaving India but this is getting a bit long. So, that will be next. Of course, that will include our being roped in to doing a commercial at the local super market.