Dharma & Nita travel blog

Kids were very excited today – Dilesh & family were in the same hotel – hence the chance of meeting Jeetal and Sachin. Did not really want to disturb them – they had only checked-in around 3 am! Nita and I went down for breakfast and hopefully meet foi/fua before they departed for Navsari – found out foi had an upset tummy, no problems – went to our mobile dispensary (we were carrying lots of medications for the just in cases!!) for the same stuff that fixed Nita – hopefully that would work for foi. Bid them farewell soon after – they were off to Navsari in Manga bhai’s car.

Back in our room, Neha told me how Jeetal had rang our room – obviously she must have been excited the same. Was a big reunion in their room, chatted about each of our holidays so far, kids were running mad, they were all very happy to be together. Sachin was still the chubby one, had to squash him a bit!

Met Kaka and Kaki, they were very happy to see us all, they were seeing the kids for the very first time!

Next Dilesh took us to a wonderful Chinese restaurant, now that we were 8 in the group, took 2 taxi’s, I travelled with all the kids, Dilesh, bhabhi & Nita came in the other. Along the way Sachin commented on how the cars kept sounding their horns – just wait till he goes to Navsari, it is horn madness there.
The Chinese restaurant was in SOBO Central – next to Hera Panna, and luckily there was a McDonalds directly under the restaurant. Quickly got 2 Maccas meals  – for Pooja and Sachin.
The Chinese place was brilliant, however the service was shockingly slow -which did not help Dilesh, he had to be at the airport by 7 and still had lots to do. Food when it did arrive was very nice.

(Nita and Bhabhi having a great time)

From there, we split up, Dilesh was heading to Chetans office, we had to go to Bhuleshwar to finalise the murti’s.
Were now headed to “Hari OM Shringar”, same place Vinod kaka bought his murti’s from. (Had spoken to kaka earlier to get the name of the shop and its location), Taxi dropped us off @ the edge of Bhuleswar – apparently the place is sooo crowded it is not a good place for cars – and correct he was. Lots of people in the market. This place is packed with small stores, and lots of em. Finally found the store we were after, luckily 2pm is not a very busy time for them, we all could seat and then the slow process of selecting the murti’s and then all the Shringar – took us close to 3 hours there, was surprised Neha was enjoying the browsing with Nita, however Pooja had a difficult time, she was getting bored and annoying Neha for time pass!! The guy at the store were great, ordered softdrinks for them, then some chocolates – they wanted Pooja to be calm so we could spend more!!

Finalised all and headed back to Gulistan around 7 pm, all very tired. At the hotel, we all just crashed, very long day it seemed.
Had also forgotten to organise something for New Years tomorrow, rang a few other places with no luck for entertainment with kids, finally got lucky @ Taj Hotel, they had a special New Years dinner with live band, unlimited drinks (alcholic as well!!) all till 2 am and the best bit kids were very welcome, Taj has around 11 restaurants and this one was specifically catered to families – awesome struck gold. Made a tentative booking – wanted to check with Chetan first (was told payment was required by end of day to retain booking!!)
Tonight we were invited @ Chetans place for dinner. From the moment I mentioned to Neha & Pooja that Chetan kaka had two daughters – they wanted to meet them (this was before our holidays started). Tonight they were excited at the chance of finally meeting them. Reached his place around 8:30. Bhabi looked the same since we last saw her 5 years back, however the girls had grown – 5 years is a long time!! His kids were gorgeous, and Sneha (grade 12) also got in to entertaining Neha Pooja, she brought out lots of their board games – it was great.
Re: New Years dinner, Chetan recommended the Taj, rang in and paid for our table of 4, it was 5500/rs per person, luckily Neha and Pooja were free (Had to pay to reserve it, they were not holding any reservations without payment), was told to pick up the tickets tomorrow morning – which would be required for the Dinner.
Back @ Chetans dinner, a wonderful dinner it was, although Bhabi was vegeterian, she had cooked an amazing chicken dinner for us – and the best part – they also prefered not too spicy, just want I wanted and also prefered by the kids!

Neha and Pooja with Sneha

with Henna, playing Wii

Left Chetans place around 11pm, by the time we got to Gulistan Neha and Pooja had dozed off in the cab.

Nita was feeling much better today – no more upset tummy, had to rush everyone and got out to breakfast around 9:30. Had hired an AC taxi to take us around Bandra, Juhu and abouts – we had hoped to leave by 10….it was more like 10:30 by the time the car arrived!

The car was bigger than Mumbai taxi’s, so definitely more space for the 6 of us (Nita’s foi/fua were with us) to squeeze in! First stop was Hari Om murti’s, we needed to pick some Murti’s for our home mandir and needed to start browsing. On the way there, we stopped at Aakaar, another murti gallery. They had some great pieces, however they must be totally catered to the high end, prices were beyond us! Hari OM was better in its range, however the browsing was taking too long – fua was getting bored, back in the taxi, headed towards Juhu for lunch – the place where the driver suggested did not seem like much, luckily Chetan had suggested a good seafood outlet in Juhu – Mahesh Lunch, asked driver to take us there – a bit further from where we were in Bandra, but definitely worth it.

Ordered Lobster, King Prawns & Fish, Neha and Pooja had Fish-n-Chips. Lobster was very nice, however the best was the BALTI Fish – a goan dish! Perfect with a chilled Kingfisher. Whilst in there, Pooja remembered she had left her toys in the taxi and was getting all upset over it, rang the driver – he promptly dropped it off at our table – service!

Kids wanted to see some bollywood stars, no luck yet, so decided to view some of the celebrity homes in the area – saw Amitabh, Jitendra and Raveena Tandoons places. Amitabh has two bangalows there and rotates between them!!

No stop to Juhu is complete without a stop at the JW Marriott, headed there for afternoon coffees. The place is magnificent and very posh. Kids had ice-cream, we settled for coffee and cakes, nice but nothing to rave about – bit disappointed, was expecting more from this place!! We still had not made any plans for our New Years celebration, checked out their new years festivities, unfortunately the only family friendly event was a buffet, dancing areas were off limits to kids – had to find something exciting for New Years, still had 2 days to figure it out!.. think Dharma think!

(@ JW Marriott – Juhu – bit of a let down in coffees)

Headed back to our taxi, it was already close to 5pm, asked the driver to drop us @ Hari OM (Murti shop) @ Mahim , and foi/fua continued their ride back to the hotel.

We spent close to 1.5 hours selecting the murti’s, price seemed a bit high, so needed to confirm with mum if all was ok – am glad I did that!!
By the time we left it was close to 7pm, on the way back stopped over @ the Atria mall – it has a Rolls Royce showroom there!! Rang foi/fua to update them on our whereabouts – they were too tired/full and decided to take it easy in the hotel.
Mall was ok, but the food court was crap – half the shops had closed down.

Took another taxi and headed to Chowpati – wanted to try Cream Centre. It was close to 8:30pm, and the queue was massive, was a 45 minute wait, decided to hang around. Finally we got in, ordered some chaat which were very tasty, for mains a Noodle dish with stuff (cannot remember what, saw it on the table next to ours and asked the waiter for the same), also got Paneer masala and roti (Neha and Pooja loved that). Food was amazing, the noodles were simply amazing – and it was all VEG – why can’t we get similar veg varieties back home!! And Finally had to have the sizzling brownie!

(@ Cream Centre, opp Chowpati, great noodles, the sizzling brownie)

Had lots of rice left over, got it packed up for the kids waiting outside, it is always heartbreaking to see sooo many kids on the streets with little to no food, this time around they were also asking for our bottled water!

Nita’s upset tummy had kept her up most of the night, however the worst had passed and she seemed to be recovering.. (must be Docs medications, it was working)
Today we had planned to visit Chandu Kaka and Bhanu kaka @ KALYAN (north Mumbai).

By the time we had breakfast and were out of the hotel, it was close to 11am. Took a taxi to VITI (CST) station to catch the train to Kalyan, (even though VITI is further away in the opp direction, it is much easier for the likes of us to board at the starting station – less crowd and train waits longer!!) Buying the ticket was easy, however finding the correct platform was mind boggling. Had to ask around lots and could not understand why some people did not understand the difference between an express train and non-express train!! Finally found someone who guided us to the correct express train/platform. Train was departing @ 11:53 (was a further 10 min late).

(train to kalyan @ CST station aka VITI station)

Found seats easily, (lucky we bought 1st class, 2nd class was already getting crowded). This was the kids fast ride on a Mumbai train, and they were excited, first surprise to them once the train moved “hey the door is still open!!”, had to explain that these doors always stay open! Train ride was just over an hour, reached Kalyan around 1:15pm.

(Pooja reading in the train!)

KALYAN seemed very different from our last visit 5 years back, soo much bigger and many more high rises. The train station was now linked to a massive(and impressive) skywalk – had to ring Piyush to find out which was the correct exit! the Skywalk was great, avoids crossing the busy station roads.
Took an Auto to Bhanu kaki’s new place, found it without too much hassle – Bhanu kaki was by the window side awaiting us, as we got out of the Auto – heard her from their level 4 flat – felt like I was home! Felt so good meeting them all, Chandu kaka seemed so much better now, after all that he and the family had been thru, it seemed like an amazing turn around!
Piyush’s daughter “Arya” (sorry if the spelling is wrong) is a cutie, she did not really come to us, however she was enjoyed playing with Neha and Pooja – Pooja loved playing with Arya’s fluffy toys and in turn, Arya had a ball with Pooja’s little disney figurines!

(Neha playing with Arya, Pooja playing with little Arya’s toys)

(with the family)

Bhanu kaki had prepared a yummy Chana Bhatura lunch for us, with some very tasty Ghajar Ka Halwa.  After lunch we all sat around just chatting, soon it was afternoon tea time, was soon 5pm!, time flies when you are with family. Had to bid farewell, which was quite difficult – only took a few hours to get soo well reconnected with Bhanu kaki, and now time to go.

Piyush, Manisha and Arya dropped us of at the station, am so grateful they came along, it would have been very difficult for me to work out which platform/train to be at. We had to wait on the overpass for the correct train and platform announcements, before heading down to the platforms.

Got off @ Byculla station around 7:30pm, had already contacted foi/fua on our location, we were to have dinner together. On the way to Gulistan, had to make a quick stopover @ McDonalds for the kids.
We were all out of Gulistan soon after, heading to Nariman Point – dinner was at “Spaghetti Kitchen” (Italian restaurant, in the INOX building)

(time for Italian cuisine)

Ordered a pizza and some pasta dishes – all very very good, beats my favourite Italian outlets in Brisbane!! Neha enjoyed her favourite Italian dish – fettuccine carbonara

Finished off with some Gelato next door in the Spoon food court – which was still open @ 11pm – love how eating out places stay open till late!

Second morning in Mumbai, got a surprise – Nita’s foi & fua (Arjun lal) had arrived early morning and checked in to the room next door. At around 9 am, when placing our laundry clothes out in the corridor, foi came out of the room next door – they had both showered and ready to hit the road – whilst we were still all in our PJs taking it easy. (I would have been soooo jet lagged if I had come in around 3 am!!)
Met them for breakfast around 10:30 @ the Gulistan lounge. They were in Mumbai with no major plans and joined us in our Mumbai explorations.

First stop was to be Sidhi Vinayak Mandir – problem was, we were 6 people, and Mumbai taxis are not known for their size – they are small, had to cram in somehow, shared the kids between front and rear seats – still a squeeze but manageable.

Being a tuesday, Sidhi Vinayak Mandir was super busy. Queues of people were being quickly ushered around the main mandir, the darshan only lasted for around 10 – 20 seconds at most.
Apparently Amitabh Bachan visits this mandir every tuesday around 5 am!

Next stop was the expanding Pheonix Mall in lower Parel. Along the way there spotted an Audi R8!

First stop in there – McDonalds, had to fill up Neha and Pooja – the standard Nuggets and fries.
Following that, we headed to the Chaat corner in the open air centre court – kids were busy in the middle with all the Disney activities (Hong Kong Disney was running a promo and lots of free activities were taking place there – perfect timing! Kids were loving it).

(Kids in the Cinderalla magical pumpkin carriage, Nita, foi & fua – Chaat time)

Had a variety of Chaats, they were delicious, I also ordered some Pani Puree – this is one place where I know they use CLEAN water.

They all then headed in the malls for some window shopping, I was more than happy to stay with the kids – they were having a good time, did not want to spoil that. Pooja and Neha got free hair braiding there…

(kids getting the complimentary hair braiding)

Nita, and her foi/fua came out of the mall soon after and were raving about how good the new mall was looking, whilst they kept watch on the kids, I quickly ducked in for a view of the mall – it was very impressive and filled with super expensive designer labels.

(in High Street Phoenix Mall)

By around 2pm, I think foi/fua were a bit tired, decided to head back to the hotel. Finding a taxi was another matter, we were on the wrong side of the road – mumbai taxi drivers do not like to make u-turns, so had to cross the busy street, Nita and I were fine (had already done this a few times), however foi was a bit nervous, got Nita to hold her and guide her thru. Basically walk when a small gap is spotted – and holding out your other hand indicating to the oncoming cars to stop!! and it works! Made is safely across and in no time, we were crammed in another taxi headed back to Gulistan. Agreed to restart the exploration around 5pm.

In the room, we had nothing much to do, Nita wanted to get a hair wash done for her and the girls, found a nearby saloon and all headed there. Was a very nice saloon, they all got their washes and drys, and the best part – only cost 600/rs total = $12 AUD!! for 3 people, just loving it. Pooja and Neha were loving the pampering they were getting.
 
(Pooja showing off her blow dried hair @ Kush’s Saloon – behind Gulistan)

Got back to the hotel in time, foi and fua were all ready to go, quickly freshened up and all headed down to catch another taxi to Marine Drive – foi had made me the tour guide and wanted me to show them around. Weather was very pleasant @ Marine drive and with the beautiful sunset it was time to takes lots of pics!!

Whilst taking all those pics, a young boy came around offering boot polish, fua and I went for that and sat around whilst he went about polishing – this was the first time my white shoes were being cleaned since I bought them!

(boot polish time!)

Strolled along the seawalk till we reached the horse carriages. Neha wanted to do this again and since we wanted to go towards Colaba, negotiated a fare to take the carriage from Nariman Point to Colaba.
Foi wanted another carriage – complaining the smell was nasty, quickly realised it was not the carriage, rather the location, once the carriage moved, the horse poo smell was gone!

(horse carriage from Nariman Point to Gateway of India)

Carriage ride was nice, had a very leisurely ride. Kids were both loving it.
Reached Gateway of India in around 15 minutes. Whilst there, visited Taj Hotel, very impressive hotel, but even more impressive were the toilets! There is a full time attendant in there, who turned on the tap and squeezed the soap pump for me – so no touching any sink stuff… next the attendant got a nice clean hand towel – what service!!

From there on we walked around the place, and came to a side street (begin Taj) where lots of people had gathered around BBQ stalls – it was Bademiyan – a very famous Colaba Kebab venue. Bhavik (legend) had eaten here lots and had raved about it – so had to give it a shot

Strange it was – there was not really a covered / closed off area, it was just a line of street side tables with lots of waiters serving all – which was great for tonight, no rain and nice-n-cool. We ordered a few mutton, chicken kebabs, tandoori pieces, along with Butter chicken and rumali roti for Kids. Since this place had no Beers, fua and I headed to a Bar directly across Bademiya for a Beer – hopefully we would be back before the food arrived. Ordered Kingfisher mild, not game enough to go for the strong stuff! Got a call from Nita soon after advising food was already served – damn it arrived too quick, finished off our beers and back to our street table. Food was nice, however the kebabs had gone cold, so we ordered more kebabs, these tasted soo nice -straight from the HAGRI! Kids both enjoyed the Butter chicken – apparently one of the best!
What impressed me was the service and efficiency – not sure how they managed to track orders from tables lined across both sides of a street and then get the orders out very quickly with no errors.
They also had a couple of guys with a Water jug and basin, mobile hand washes – they came over to each person and allowed you to wash your hands nicely – service! Nita was not the feeling the best – started to have stomach cramps – oh oh, however insisted on carrying on the nights fun

(Bademiya, BBQ station, and roti tava)

Next stop was Ruby Tuesday (Nariman Point), again, however this was for foi/fua to try out and the kids wanted it as well. Ordered a “Tall Cake” and a “Blondie” – both were very nice – forgot to take pics of the blondie, it was good!

Took a taxi back to Gulistan. Nita’s condition had worsened – loaded her with all sorts of medication, was a long night for Nita. Tomorrow we were going to meet Chandu kaka’s family in KALYAN (it is a place on the outskirts of Mumbai).

First day in Mumbai, we woke up around 10 am – very late, by the time we had shower and were out of the room, it was close to 11:30 am. Took a taxi to Cafe Mocha @ Nariman Point. Mumbai now seems soo much cleaner than what it was 5 yrs back. Found the place fine. Luckily they had all day breakfast, ordered pancakes, waffles, and an omelette. Coffees were great there, however the service was very slow.

Got out of there, around 1pm, was getting a bit hot outside, decided to head to the nearby INOX cinemas, wanted to watch Don 2 – on our last trip 5 years back, we watched Don (it had only just got released then), this time around Don 2 got released – what coincidence!! Got tickets to the 1:45 session, headed up to the Spoon Mega Food Court in the same complex – what great variety and a unique payment system – get a swipe card at the front desk and load it with any amount, then order from anywhere in the food court, the bill gets deducted from your swipe card! (At the end, return your swipe card @ front desk and get balance back)
We were really there for the GELATOs, had a great range of that. The food court in itself is big – well big in variety and cuisines!!

(Spoon foodcourt @ CR2 Nariman Point )

(Neha and Pooja enjoying their ice-creams)

The INOX cinemas here are awesome!! Very posh and classy. And service was 5 star – during the interval, attendants were around to take orders for snacks/drinks, we ordered a pizza and drink, they were delivered to us – did not have get up from the seat at all (only if they could have something similar for the bathroom!!)
Don 2 was much better than Don 1, however since I am not a great fan of SRK, did not enjoy it that much – kids on the other hand had a great time.

By the time we got out, it was close to 4 pm, much cooler than when we went in. Headed to Gateway of India.
 

(look we are bigger than gateway of india!!)

Gateway of India was crowded, lots of people around, however with the afternoon cool weather, it was very pleasant.

(Neha and Pooja managed to find someone selling toys to make bubbles, time to play)

Had to of course have a horse carriage ride, however it was a very short ride – got totally ripped off!!

 
(horse driven carriage, kids ready for the ride)

Next stop was Colaba Causeway, just browsing thru all the street stalls – picked up 2 shawls for the kids, it was getting a bit windy.
This was one place where we did find some XMAS spirit …

(on Colaba causeway – one place where we did fine some real XMAS deco)

Kids were now getting tired – complaining of tired legs, another big problem – Neha needed to go to the loo quick, spotted a McDonalds close by, great can feed Pooja there and Neha can go to the loo , unfortunately life isn’t always that easy! The toilet in McDonalds was broken and the other in the mall attached was in a shocking condition – Neha so far had been able to adjust to bad toilets, however this must have been real bad, she came out crying and almost threw up… needed to find something quick. Bought Pooja’s nuggets and out we went looking for a good place to eat (they would hopefully have a good washroom) – spotted Delhi Darbar, looked ok so went in, Neha headed straight to the bathrooms – she came out smiling after a couple of minutes – thank god, now I could order some food!
Food was nice (ordered Chinese), also ordered “Duddi ka halwa” to try out, green in colour and tastes damn good. Pooja avoided it, however Neha joined us and dug in – very tasty

(Neha digging into “duddi ka halwa” @ Delhi Darbar – Colaba causeway)

Before leaving Delhi Dabar, had to ensure kids had visited the washrooms – empty those tanks!

Next stop – an old favourite @ Nariman Point – Ruby Tuesday (next to INOX cinemas), they have good Chocolate desserts – and I also wanted to have a kingfisher (Delhi Darbar had no liquor).

Ordered a Tall Cake for the kids and Nita and I had a strawberry cheesecake – not forgetting my Kingfisher – my first beer in over a week, felt sooooo good – nice chilled Kingfisher!

 
(Chocolate Tall Cake @ Ruby Tuesday – Kids loved it)

Took a walk from there to Marine Drive, had to take a walk on the famous Mumbai Golden Necklace. Weather was slightly cool – the shawls we had bought @ Colaba came in good use here. Lots of people taking a stroll and chilling about.

(@ marine drive – (golden necklace), kids had to buy some night glow in the dark stuff from street sellers!)

It was getting close to 10 pm, got a taxi back to Gulistan and hit the sack! We all had a good long day first day in Mumbai.