Cloud 9

 I looked up rooftop bars on MumbaiBoss.com and found one called Cloud 9 in south Mumbai. After walking the area in circles for over an hour I finally managed to find the place and get up to the top. I was the only person at this place and the staff showed after 5 minutes from downstairs to serve me. The view from the windows and the deck was the only reason to visit, I'd recommend getting one drink and then getting out.

Wet Mumbai

I made it down to South Mumbai today in time to witness the beginning of the monsoon rains. Due to the recent humidity my Nikon stopped working so I took my shitty Kodak with me. After enjoying a couple beers at the Taj and Leopold, I made my way back over to the Gate to admire the dreary scenery looking toward the east. Here I chatted with some guy named Mayur who's known as the slum-dog tour guide who directed me to a nice rooftop bar near the gate.

Lake Powai

So I made my way over to an inland area for a change today. Lake Powai is kind of a less talked about part of Mumbai. It appeared to be the most civilized also, one of the people I work with told me it was like visiting a foreign country. After failing to find what I wanted at the GNC there, I asked the driver to take me too a shop called "natures basket" which has a branch in Powai. This caused about an hour of phone calls and meandering, he even passed the phone to me multiple times so I could communicate to a more multilingual friend of his. We eventually made it to "natures basket", and even out to the lake edge for some photos.

Aer Bar / Sunset

I made an effort to go to the races today, only to realize there were no more races. I think they are wrapping up the season for monsoons, Instead I was able to get some pictures from atop the Aer bar looking down on the race tracks, and the other things below.

Band Stand

Today I ventured out to Bandra in search of the BandStand. This place is kind of a mix between the walk of fame and the venice boardwalk, with some tide pools thrown in for good measure. Indians were crowded around the star tiles in the road the bronze statues of there favorite celebrities trying to get photos.

Crawford / Aer

I found myself at the Crawford market area in south Mumbai today. My attempt to discover the scope of this market was useless, it was kind of an endless maze of shops spanning out from the Crawford. Among the more interesting things I noticed were the bats which seamed to be following me around the fruit market.

Linking Road

I guess Linking road is where Mumbians go shopping. The place has maybe 200 shops, each no bigger then 5 feet wide. All kinds of goods were on display, but the more interesting thing to me was the amount of people shopping here. There were enough of them that they kind of merged with the traffic, every once in a while a motorcycle would go right through the crowd, and visa versa. I stopped at a couple of bars along the way for sanity.

Back Road

Driving to and from camp we normally we fit 5 in a van plus a driver but yesterday we fit 6, this was a mistake. There was a crazy traffic jam on the road through the jungle which we normally take to camp and after about 25 minutes sitting in the same spot the AC started straining and the passengers became unruly. The drivers solution was to turn around and take the back road to the camp.

different advertising strategies are used in India

Races

I made my way down to the Mahalaxmi Race Course today. After attempting to enter the course through the jockey entrance I was directed by multiple men with guns to enter through the civilian gate. I quickly found my way to someones reserved box and made myself at home until the reserver showed up next to me. I found another seat and then was able to witnessed my first race.

I decided to go grab a beer after this, I wandered all over the park with no avail. There was only one place that would sell me one on the third floor of the stands, I found a sign there warning people not to bring there servants inside of the establishment.

After the beer I watched one more race in the stands and then made my way down to the fence on the side of the track to watch my final one for the day.

I decided to venture back over to Juhu beach yesterday and found a little bar called Vie. Throughout the afternoon planes were flying directly overhead from the domestic airport east of Juhu. After enjoying a couple beers and some prawns I tried to get the bill. The confusion that ensued from the language barrier somehow got me a half of discount. From the entrance of the restaurant I was able to walk onto the beach and get some pictures of the sunset while dodging cricket balls.

Odd Car Rides

I've been recording videos of my more interesting car rides in Mumbai, I figure I'll go ahead and post them. On the second one down you can see my favorite site in Mumbai, pigs eating near a dumpster of burning trash. Sometimes the trash piles on the ground light on fire and the pigs eat right off of them, which may be why the pork is so tasty here.

More South Mumbai

I made it down to south Mumbai again yesterday. Not much has changed, I just kind of explored some of the bars and stuff, one was on top of the Intercontinental hotel with a nice view of the queens necklace. I was able to get some absinth shots here, I'm not sure if it was real absinthe, however I felt pretty strange when I got up today. Btw there was a spot on the lens so all my photos from the day are tainted...

Holikotsava

Today is an annual celebration known as Holi. On the eve of this day people gather all types of trash and wood and make big piles in there villages as a tribute to their evil god. They then light these piles on fire in what appears to be a very dangerous celebration, I'm pretty sure this is symbolic of a sacrifice. On the morning of Holi, you're expected to drink a THC based milk shake called Bhang that's only legal on this one day of there year. And then as the day commences people wander around the street high and throw water balloons at each-other and smear paint on each-others bodies.

Slums and Cricket

After yesterdays experience getting stranded with no cab to take me home, I decided to keep my exploring local today.  I found that as soon as got off of the main road and ventured into the slum I started getting weird looks. I managed to see a couple of goats, one guy was carrying a goat like it was his baby and another guy was chasing his goat that had gotten off the leash.

Outside the slum

Exploring the Immediate Vicinity

I went out today and took some pictures of the area immediately around where I'm staying in Mumbai. While I snapped photos here and there, I encountered dozens of wild dogs roaming the street and packs of persistent rickshaws in a frenzy to grab my attention. The sight of the extreme poverty, smell of raw sewage, and sound of construction brought on a bit of culture shock in my already jet lagged brain.

Here's a more run down area at the end of the road.