Travel to Bombay (Mumbai)
- Sights in Bombay (Mumbai) : the city was less difficult than
I had expected, thanks to the fresh sea air I could breath better than in sticky New
Delhi. There are no cows or rickshaws in the centre, wide pavements and more
modern than New Delhi with a beach walk with palm trees where you can watch beautiful
sunsets against the flat blocks. The Elephant island is a nice day excursion
from Bombay by boat (the boat costs 85 rupees + 10 rupees for a place on the
deck for a 1.5 hours trip). On the island it's worth getting away from the tourist
path and walk around in the village on your own.- Travel by public transport from Udaipur to Bombay :
- the best possibility seems to be by train. There is a daily train that arrives in Ahmedabad at about 18:00, which gives you half an hour to change to the train destined for Bombay that finally arrives at about 8:00 the next morning. A second class ticket for the train costs 200 rupees, a first class ticket costs 530 rupees. The only problem is that during busy festival seasons (for example second half of december) you have to book up to a week in advance to get a place in the train.
I chose for a "deluxe" private bus at Paneer Travels, but was in the end not happy with my choice. The ticket was quite expensive, 400 rupees, because of being high season. My ticket was changed only minutes before the bus would leave and I soon realized that I had been fouled. The luxury bus turned out to be an overfull ready-for-the-car-grave-yard-bus. The floor was full of sleeping people and a kid puked in my neck. The road was so bad that I couldn't sleep during the entire 20 hour ride (I had ben told that it would take 14 hours). Finally I was dropped off in the suburb Sion and not as had been promised, in the Central bus station of Bombay. There are also Government night busses with the fixed price of 250 rupees, that apparently are both more luxurious and trustable than the private companies.
- Bombay Chowpatty beach : you can make a cozy walk from Nariman point
to the beach. Along the beach boat companies offer boat rides, a four person
speedboat costs 100 rupees per person for 45 minutes driving. The slow family
boats take 6 people and 150 rupees per person. The prices include popcorn and
Coca cola. The Bombay aquarium (4 rupees) is nothing special but if you happen
to be there anyway...
- Bombay Prince of Wales museum : interesting, but not worth the 300
rupees that non students have to pay. With a student id the entrance costs
only 6 rupees !
- Budget hotels accommodation 2 : try in Arthur Bunder Rd (Colaba) Gulf
Hotel telephone no 2856672, gulfhotel@hotmail.com, 195 rupees for single room,
450 for double room. The single room was the smallest I have ever seen but
also the cheapest in Colaba. Tourist Home telephone no 2840307 costs 400 rupees
for a double room. i think that these two don't give commission and can there
for be used to get rid of unwanted street guides.
- Sending parcels by post : there are two possibilities, book-post,
a very privileged way of sending books. I paid 111 rupees for sending about
3kg books to Belgium, 5kg would cost about 150 rupees. You have to make sure
that you get charged the right amount, first they asked 760 rupees, than 490
rupees and finally 111 rupees! You can get your books get packed by the packing
stalls opposite the GPO for maximum 50 rupees.
A normal parcel (non books) is a lot more expensive, 670 rupees for 2.25kg.
This has to be packed in the post office since it has to be checked by a custom
person and then sealed, the best is to bring your own box along. The parcel
sending department is in the new building on the back of the post office on
the 3rd floor.
- Colaba warning : in between the masses of Indian and foreign tourists
in the area of the Gate of India and Salvation Army Hostel there are lots of
non trustable types trying to get your money. The place is always full of normal
people too so it's not a dangerous area but just don't accept the flowers etc
that people try to put into "your hands as a present", don't exchange
dollars with the friendly student, don't go along with the man who would like
to show you around, don't buy stuff here - you'll pay more for sometimes worse
quality. If you are here for more than 10minutes wearing a back pack you will
have a bunch of hotel hustlers pulling in your arms, these get 50 rupees commission
from the hotel owners per new guest. Of course if you want a hotel and are
too tired to go and search for one yourself or everything is full these guys
will probably be able to help you finding one. If you know a hotel, let yourself
be dropped in front of the door to escape the commission.
- Outside sport : there is only one outside sports shop in the whole
of Bombay (Great Outdoors, see in the yellow pages), near Ladha, 298 Narshi
Natha street next to the Mashid railway station, tllco@indiainfo.com, telephone
no 3421942. Here you can buy a tent for 3000 rupees. For treks in India check
out www.explorersindia.com.
- Saoudi visa : Akbar travels, telephone no 3403434, can perhaps help.
A visitors visa costs 2667 rupees, a multiple visa costs 6667 rupees, but it
seems that you have to wait months for the application to go through. A Meningitis
vaccination is necessary.
- Traveling from India (Bombay) to Oman : is not so simple anymore.
- By ferry Bombay - Muscat - Dubai has existed by since the flight tickets have become so cheap that the ferry had to stop because of lack of customers. The Omani consulate in Bombay refuses to stamp the visas with anything else than "air only". If the ferry would start working again and you really want to go by boat it might be better to try to get the visa in New Delhi. Tylos ferry did to the stretch during a month in 2001 from Bombay to Oman, has stopped with their ferry services because of too much concurrence from the airlines.
- A one-way flight ticket Bombay-Muscat (8000 rupees inc tax) turned out to be very hard to buy. No single travel agency agreed to sell me that you need to have a proof of "confirmed onward booking". Which they wanted to solve by selling me a return ticket for 14000 rupees including tax. I managed to convince a travel agency to book Bombay-Muscat and Muscat-Dubai for me, with Muscat as a stop over (with Gulf or Omani Air not Air India) for the same price as the one-way Bombay-Muscat. The first agency did not want to do this because they wanted me to make a "confirmed onward booking" from there too. Ambassador travels, opposite the Oman embassy finally accepted my request after a bit of doubt. The visa for the Emirates you automatically get upon arrival in the airport but to get this you have to show a confirmed onward booking. Count on that the tree air companies (Air India, Gulf Air en Oman Airways) who all have their office very close to the Omani Embassy on Nariman point charges the double price for booking a ticket than the travel agencies. Taking a taxi to the Bombay airport costs maximum 250 rupees from the touristy quarter Colaba.
- Traveling from Bombay to Goa by train : the trains are all full from a week in advance, so your better off leaving from another city. The train from Bombay to Goa leaves from the Bombay Victoria Terminus train station at 7:00 and 22:30. If everything is full you can always try the last minute train tickets in the Tourist Quota ticket boot 7-8 in the Victoria station. The ticket boot opens at 8:00 but it's better to be there already at 7:00 and wait outside. The quoted tickets are released 24 hours before the departure of the train, in the morning for the night train. On the day of my visit there was only 4 tickets released for Goa.
- Traveling from Bombay to Goa by bus : all busses (20 private busses and one government Kadamba bus) wait in rows on the Mahatma Ghandi street (next to the park), they only depart between 14:00 and 17:00, outside the peak season (the week between christmas and new year) there is normally plenty of place and if you arrive at 13:00 you have plenty of time to compare the leg space and comfort of the different busses. The private busses ask 400-600 rupees (the prices fall to 180 rupees in low season), the Government Kadamba bus asks a fixed price of 250 rupees. I was very pleased with the confort and quality of the Government bus, but you have to avoid all the cheeky tricks of the private buss companies to be able to find the Government bus because they all say they are the government bus... It is possible to buy the ticket for the government bus in advance in the Kadamba kiosk (with the iron net in front) in front of the Fransiscus Xaverius College in Mahapalika Marg (near Victoria Terminus station). The busses arrives at about 5:00 in Panjim in Goa.
- budget hotels accommodation: rooms in Bombay cost 3 to 4 times more than in the rest of India,
- the cheapest hotel possibility is a 130 rupees dormitory bed in the Salvations Army guest house, but if you have not reserved in advance (phone no 2841824) or arrive later than 10:00 you won't get a place. In the area there are some very smart hustlers wanting to help you finding a room but after they have gotten their commission from 5 full hostels you might feel that you have wasted your time.
- Other cheap options are India hotel and Maria Lodge hotel, two big buildings that on every floor house another guest house all of more or less the same simple quality (250-350 rupees for a single room without shower, 400-450 rupees for a double room with shower, 600 rupees for a "luxury" double room with shower.
- you can also stay in bed and breakfast or Home stay via the Paying Guest Accommodation program from the Tourist office (office situated opposite Churchgate station, they simply give a list of selected addresses and prices of guest rooms, the rest you have to do your self. There are many addresses in the outskirts of Bombay. The following addresses are from home stays in the centre of Bombay and are cheaper than 500 rupees: Krishna Dowan, phone 2027156 and Vasant Pradhan phone 2029040, 2022445. You can also contact the tourist agency yourself for more addresses :
- gitobest@bom5.vsnl.net.in.
- more budget hotels and accommodation in Bombay can be found in the Arthur Bunder Rd (Bombay Colaba area) the Gulf budget Hotel (phone 2856672, gulfhotel@hotmail.com costs 195 rupees for a single room and 450 rupees for a double. Their single room is the smallest i have ever seen, but also the cheapest in Colaba.
- The Tourist Home Hotel is also situated in Colaba (phone 2840307, 400 rupees for a night in a double room). I think that these two don't give commission and can there for be used to get rid of unwanted street guides. The Colaba area is full of tourists which attracts all sorts of people such as fake guides and scammers.
- Consulate of Belgium in Bombay (phone 4938115)
- Consulate of Oman in Bombay (phone 2876038, 9-15:00, mon-fri, the Omani visa is ready in 2-3 days, lasts for two months, 3 weeks visiting time).
- Consulate of the United Arab Emirate and Dubai - UAE (phone 2183021, western tourists gets a free stamp in their passport op on entry in the airport of UAE that entitles you to stay for 30 days.
- Consulate of Iran (Swapna Lok, Napeansea Rd 47, 9:30-13:00, mon-fri, phone 3630073, the visa is ready in 10 days and entitles you to one month stay, the visa lasts for 3 months.
- consulate of Bahrein (phone 2185856/7, the nervous consul could only tell me that I would get bankrupt if I would visit his country.
- Getting cash or exchanging money : there are lots of cash points in Bombay (Cirrus and VISA).
