Mumbai, Kolkata, Darjeeling

[Happy Holidays]

This is going to be a little about our holiday & hopefully post photos of our food. i'm going to try something different every day.


Saturday 30th
We arrived in Mumbai at 1:45am, its still warm, our driver brought us to our hotel.
Breakfast is on the roof terrace & its omelette & toast. We hire a driver for the day & visit a lot of sights. Mumbai is more cosmopolitan than other places in India we have visited. Everyone is friendly, I've had my photo taken with a few of the locals, OH thinks I'm now going to circulated around some dodgy internet sights !!!!! Lunch was beer:/ I just didn't feel like eating, i did try a lemon drink which was freshly made on the streets. Back to our hotel for shower & relaxation, then a walk on the prom, all the locals seem to hang around there, it was a really nice walk. Tea was egg curry & rice for me, chicken & bread for OH, 3 sprite £4 inc a tip!!!!! Back to the hotel for beer on the rooftop.


Needless to say I've not been sticking to plan!!!!

 

[SlimmingKitchen]

Looks great so far Hun, can't wait to hear more xxx

 

[Texty_F]

Wow that sunset is beautiful - im so jel lol glad you arrived safely hun

 

[Barmel]

wow all i can say

 

[Mrs.S.]

Ah love this Michelle! Can't wait to hear more xx

 

[Happy Holidays]

Thanks, we're having a brill time, its just nice to be warm!!!!

Sunday 31st
Elephanta Island -RS150 (approx £1.90) return each - boat trip approx 1hr
Walk up to Canon Hill for our first Indian geocache; we must be mad, its 30+ degrees!!!!
Then off to see the caves, which Elephanta island is famous for. There are lots of local people here & we had our photo taken with them.
Stop off at the bar for a well deserved beer.
Back to Mumbai & we took a walking route suggested in my 'Time Out' book, so we saw a bit of colonial Mumbai. we were thirsty so had another of those lemon/salt drinks which are surprising nice, RS20 (25p). We also stumbled across a bar - bingo more beer! This time just 300 RS (approx £3.80) inc a tip.
Hotel, shower, relax & tea.
Tea was a veggie curry thing with rice, then back to the bar for a pitcher of beer, just RS300 (£3.80).
Photo 1 me with our first Indian geocache & yes i have been blessed!
Photo 2 back from Elephanta Island, no health & safety here
Photo 3 OH & guy with our lemon/salt drink
Photo 4 something new for today a mango sweet, like jelly
Photo 5 my veggie tea, it wasn't too spicy, quite creamy & a taste of coriander.

 

[Texty_F]

Wowee 30+ degrees we can only dream lol. It looks like your having an amazing time hun, good on ya trying different things every day. The prices arent too bad either you could get drunk on a tenner lol

 

[and]

I went to India in Dec - it was brilliant. Despite eating like a pig I lost weight so don't worry too much about what you eat.

Looks amazing and I wish I was there! I'll be checking this thread regularly

 

[Happy Holidays]

This is our 3rd time in India & already I'm planning our next trip!!!!

Monday 1st
Today we are off to Sanja Ghandi National Park, its about 1hr drive away, our driver picked us up at 10:00am.
The park is famous for its caves, which date back to the 6th century, Buddhists monks lived here. The caves are truly spectacular, some caves have Buddha carvings but the most impressive is as you walk in to the first cave, the Buddha is 60ft high, its beautiful & amazing.
Back tothe bar for beer & snacks, my new thing for today is simply called 'snacks & tomato' the snacks are like rice krispies, but just before they fully crisp if that make sense.
Photo 1 me & Buddha carving
Photo 2 the caves
Photo 3 bar we went in
Photo 4 our snacks

 

[Texty_F]

Gotta love a bit of history Michelle - those snacks look really refreshing, loving the puzzled look on the guys face in the background lol and no i dont mean the carving

 

[Happy Holidays]

Gotta love a bit of history Michelle - those snacks look really refreshing, loving the puzzled look on the guys face in the background lol and no i dont mean the carving

I really do love the history, when you're there in real life its just amazing when you think about it. Not a lot of locals have seen an ipad & we do get a few strange looks!!!!

 

[Texty_F]

Yes I know what you mean, when we went to Rome last year OH was in Awe at the colosseum he just couldnt take it all in. We also went to the vatican which is hugeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee we were there 3 hours and still didnt see everything as it was a guided tour so we were limited to the rooms we were allowed in. I loved the sistine chapel, so big and colourful. ( I am by no means religious) but it was beautiful.

 

[Happy Holidays]

Tuesday 2nd
Breakfast at the hotel, then we got our internal flight to Kolkata, which took 2hrs!!!!
We arrived to find a driver hadn't been booked so we got a taxi to our hotel.
Oh my word, hat a place, its very busy, so many people, lots of beggars, such a difference than Mumbai.
Our room is small, but we have free wifi, air con which works and hot water, so its not too bad.
We made our way to Eden Gardens & bought tickets for the IPL Opening Ceremony at Salt Lake Stadium & made our way directly there.
Well what a show, there were flying drummers, acrobats, and a woman flying through on balloons holding the IPL Trophy, she then handed this to the captain of Kolkata Knight Riders who won last year.
Then the captain if each team signed the declaration.
We then watched two Indian superstars & Pitbull perform which was truly amazing.
Back to the hotel for beer on the terrace.

Wednesday 3rd
Breakfast which was a buffet and a fair bit to chose from, i had idli, potatoes & some grain stuff.
Back to Eden Gardens for tickets for tonights opening match the tickets booths opened at 10:00am, supposedly but they didn't open until about 10:30 by which time we'd had a young lad trying to sell us tickets, saw a fight, had the locals, obviously stare at us and had another guy try to sell us tickets. Anyway we got them ok. Then off for a walking tour off Kolkata, we saw lots of things, people photocopying for a living, people typing, food sellers,of al sorts, so many interesting things, we saw the Howrah bridge which is famous - not too sure what for though!!!
Back to our hotel for beer & food, i had spicey paneer & cheesy potatoes, it was delicious.
Rest, shower then off to the match.

match was brill, i got a t-shirt for about £1.10, something else now crossed of the bucket list!!!

No photos as the 'net here is poo.

 

[Happy Holidays]

There hasn't been any updates 'cause I lost the ipad:cry: Now back & I'll try & post updates & photos soon.

 

[Mrs.S.]

There hasn't been any updates 'cause I lost the ipad:cry: Now back & I'll try & post updates & photos soon.

Oh no :'(

How'd that happen? Hope it didn't mar the rest of your holiday xx

 

[Texty_F]

Awww Michelle sorry to hear that hun. As Mrs S says hope it didnt spoil the rest of your hols x

 

[Happy Holidays]

Oh no :'(

How'd that happen? Hope it didn't mar the rest of your holiday xx

No it didn't spoil the holiday, I was rather grumpy as I'd taken photos at the IPL (we weren't allowed to take camera's in) so I was upset about that, but as my sister said it can be replaced. We contacted the insurance company today & hopefully we can claim on that. I had the iPad when we were at the hotel rooftop bar, I put it on my bag so I didn't forget it when we went. We then went to catch the overnight train to New Jalipuri (near Darjeeling) & when the alarm didn't go off I noticed it was missing. So it's either been stolen or I've lost it. I contacted the hotel but they've not been very helpful. Fortunately after OH lost the gps last year & we couldn't claim for it, he took out 'gadget cover' it only cost £25 & covers the ipod/iphone/ipad & GPS.

I'll get round to uploading photos in the next few days but this one is my favourite from Tuesday night at the IPL, there were quite a few freebies going about the lads glasses were one of them, he looked so cute & when OH said he'd take a photo he just looked so happy, I'm thinking I'll have a photo mug done with him on it, it just makes me so happy looking at it. grrrrrrrrrr flipin photo won't upload, going to keep trying though, it's just so nice.

 

[Happy Holidays]

Ta,dah, how cute is he???????????

 

[Barmel]

View attachment 86042

Ta,dah, how cute is he???????????

omg that is cute & funny too.

 

[Texty_F]

Awww he looks great lol