Mumbai, Part 2: Suburban Stroll and Elephanta Island

Happy Valentine’s Day from Delhi! Happy to be wrapping up my blogging on Mumbai, where Matt and I spent four days exploring India’s financial and entertainment capital city. For a thorough post on the first half of our Mumbai activities, check out “Mumbai, Part 1: Kala Ghoda Arts Festival and Architecture Tour.” If you’re interested in seeing more pictures from our India trip, a full album of 200+ pictures can be found here.

We next sought out the wealthy and highly-recommended suburb of Bandra, hoping to expand our understanding of Mumbai beyond the touristy areas in the south. Only 8 miles from our AirBnB, the trip to Bandra took us an hour and a half by Uber due to crippling city traffic. As we neared our destination, the streets grew cleaner and fancier, with many boutique clothing shops, cafes, and jewelry stores. The area reminded me of entering the Upper East Side in New York City. We clocked over 26,000 steps that day, wandering around Bandra after an expensive breakfast at a hip restaurant called “The Bagel Shop.” We trekked through an old part of the suburb called Ranwar Village Square in search of the many murals that had been written up in our guidebook. We also climbed 128 steep steps to reach Mount Mary Church, which had a beautiful blue and white interior depicting religious stories with darker-skinned people throughout, which was a first; Since we arrived in Asia, all depictions of Christian stories had featured only white characters. The old chapel behind Mount Mary Church also housed a 400-year old statue of Mary brought to India by the Portuguese. We rounded out our Bandra walk at the Bandstand and Fort at the south end of the suburb. The Bandstand is a small amphitheater surrounded by a woodsy park, where dozens of young couples were scattered around staring into their partner’s eyes and making out. It was so funny to see these hidden-away displays of affection in the depths of the park, and Matt and I nicknamed the location “Lover’s Park” as we tried not to laugh at the angsty teens. The Fort provided us with a hazy but impressive view of the Mumbai skyline before we jumped in an Uber to our next stop.  

Murals in Bandra depicted Bollywood stars.

View of the Mumbai skyline from Bandra Fort.

Mumbai is well known for its wealth, and along with wealth comes a market for high-end shopping. Malls are popular hang-out spots in the city, so we visited the High Street Phoenix Mall to see what all the buzz was about. The shopping center did not disappoint. We entered through the five-star Saint Regis Hotel, checked by intense security before browsing upscale grocery markets, passing by designer stores, and eventually stopping at the outdoor food court for a snack at McDonald’s. Not typically my scene in the US, McDonald’s in India features an almost exclusively vegetarian menu with just a few chicken-based sandwiches and absolutely no beef! It was goofy and fun trying the unique—and cheap—offerings at the global fast food chain. Other than the menu, the restaurant felt like any McDonald’s we would find back at home. I wish our McDonald’s were more veggie-friendly, not only for my sake but for the environment’s benefit!

Eating a veggie burger and drinking a McCappuccino at McDonald's.

We wrapped up another long day along the coast, fighting through traffic to make it to Girgaon Chowpatty Beach before sunset. Dozens of high school boys happened to be at the urban beach, and they started crowding around us asking for selfies—especially with Matt. We gave into the pressure, offering a few pictures before having to essentially run away from them because more and more boys kept approaching us asking for more selfies. It was funny and all in good humor, and we continue to ponder what they will actually do with the pictures they took with us. We’ll never know! We strolled the Marine Drive Promenade, a quaint and busy walking path along the coast, and treated ourselves to ice cream at a Mumabi chain called Naturals that our friend Anna had recommended. The sunset was pretty but extremely hazy from the air pollution, and before the sun dipped below the horizon it first dipped below a solid layer of smog, which was somewhat disturbing despite its beauty.

Hard to see with the sun in the background, but many teenage boys were interested in taking pictures with Matt. I can't blame them, given how handsome he is!

Sunset in Mumbai. You can see the layer of smog just above the horizon.

Our last day in Mumbai, we Ubered south to the Gateway of India to catch a ferry to Elephanta Island, which is located 10 kilometers east of Mumbai. Elephanta Island houses the Elephanta Cave Temples that were carved out of rock between the 2^nd and 5^th century BCE and are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The ferry ride takes an hour each way, and though I typically enjoy a breezy boat ride, I was fairly sickened by the air pollution that was so visible on the water. We could barely see boats in the near distance and the Mumbai skyline quickly disappeared behind a thick fog. Adding to the unpleasant ride, people on the ferry were throwing breadcrumbs to flocks of birds that were flying and squawking within arm’s reach of our ferry. Didn’t these people realize that 1) Feeding these birds is not healthy for the birds and 2) the rest of us passengers may hate the non-stop squawking sounds they were provoking in our faces? Regardless, they continued to throw scraps to the birds and we made it to the island before I could break down and asked them to stop.

Birds surrounded our ferry as we traveled to Elephanta Island.

Elephanta Island and its caves were super interesting, with big, stone sculptures of Buddhist and Hindu iconographies including the Nataraja (Lord of Dance) and Yogishvara (Lord of Yoga). We milled around the caves, snapped a few pictures, and watched pesky monkeys steal snacks from tourists. At one point, a mischievous monkey grabbed a bottle of milk from a mother who was feeding her baby. The mother shrieked, dropped the bottle, and the monkey scurried up a tree to unscrew the bottle and drink the milk. So dexterous! After the monkey dropped the bottle, the mother started wiping it down in preparation to use it again for the baby—gross! We took a return ferry to Mumbai and relaxed the rest of the day. Onwards to Delhi!

Ancient sculptures inside the Elephanta Caves.

The exterior of the cave structures, carved out of rock. They reminded us of the ones we visited in Dambulla in Sri Lanka!