Mumbai - A city that never sleeps. There are action on every angle of the metropolitan. A fast growing, congested, super polluted environment. But nothing stops from the people moving around. From dawn to dusk, you will see thousand of people walking in and out.
The railway network is one of the largest in Asia with more than 6 million people using it's services daily. You may not want to try this during the rush hour as you basically will not have any space to move around. Can also be a victim of pick pocketing and abuse. People will push you and you may push them, but don't worry you will not offend anyone. It is the norm for traveling on the Mumbai Transit.
There is a big gap between the rich and poor and you can clearly see the difference in the quality of the people life. Just imagine this, a person taking his bath out of his small hut, just a meter away you see a baby defaces, within a feat or two a housewife is preparing the lunch in an open stove and so on. But you will be surprised that when you turn the other side, there is a Rolls Royce waiting at the junction. Maybe you won't see that many foreign high end cars even in Singapore. Slums are aplenty. One of the places which you should add in to your itinerary. You can get in touch with Realty Tours. They have the facilities and experience to do the most sought after "Dharavi" Slum Tour. But please take the half day tour and not the full day tour. It costs more but a few extra minutes strolling in the Red Light Area "Kamathi Puram" and a glimpse of the Dobby Ghat is not worth it. You can actually do those two parts on your own. Just remember, some places you are better off without a camera.
Keep your eyes wide open in Dharavi. You will see lots of very friendly people and kids. It is very safe and you have nothing to worry about. Just remember, some people may not like cameras, so be invisible. You will walk through the small allies and back streets of the houses. Some even will be as tiny as 1-2 feet. The whole slum is full of small and medium level factories. About 90% people who are staying in Dharavi work within and most of them are from elsewhere and not Mumbai-tizens.More than half of the population sleeps in the half baked homes of slums. No proper pipelines means no clean water supply. No proper sewage. At times, during the wet season the place can get so flooded resulting in many people dying not because they drown, but due to the disease it carries. But again, don't ever miss the Dharavi if you happen to visit Mumbai.
You will enjoy visiting other major attractions in Mumbai including the Gateway of India. Catch a Hindi or English movie which cost about RS 250-300 nowadays. Tamil movies runs at Arora Theatre near Matunga. There are quite a huge Tamil community living in Dadar and Matunga area. You also can get good South Indian Meals there. I felt like being in a part of Chennai. Fortunately I had the opportunity to witness the opening show (First Show) of Tamil movie Mappillai starring Dhanush in Matunga. It was an awesome experience! Also don't forget the Briyanis! Mumbai is one of the best place to try all kind of briyanis. So check out the medium range restaurants and who will enjoy a thrilling briyani experience at a very reasonable price. Generally Mumbai is a bit more expensive than other cities in India. You may only get a Motel range for a USD 30-50 or RM 100-150. A decent hotel would cost you a minimum of RM 200-250, and would be quickly gone before you knew it. So plan your travel well ahead. Some of the hotels have direct online booking and may be cheeper than Agoda or similar websites.
I have visited almost 70% of Indian cities and from my experience, if you plan well ahead you may be able to reduce cost to the max and get the best hotels and transportations. Air travel is cheep in India. So you also have option of flying or taking the trains within. But no matter what is said and done, I have fallen in love with India a decade ago, the only country that I feel has everything from snow mountains to the sunny beaches.
Alright, have a pleasant journey!
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