Matheran
I woke up at 4:45am this morning and walked to the station formerly known as Victoria Terminus, now known as Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus or CST more often. I met Mulchand the Couchsurfer and we caught the 5:19 train to Neral, about 2.5 hours away from Mumbai. This is a local train, same as every other train I have ridden in India. Seats are somewhere between a NYC subway and Amtrak I guess, though neither really fits the bill. As we got farther out, various others joined our group. This was not actually a Couchsurfer outing, but rather an outing of a Mumbai photography group of which Mulchand is a member. They choose various places of interest and head out there on a weekend to take pictures all day. Today's target was the Matheran Hill Station.
A hill station is a village on a hill that makes some kind of weekend getaway for the nearby urban residents. In the case of Mumbai, Matheran is a popular spot to get out and most important up where the temperature is much more pleasant than the usual thick, humidity that is hanging over the city this time of year. In US terms I'd say the city is typically in the 90s and humid whereas up in the hills it was probably 75 or something without quite as much humidity, though it did pour several times during our visit, though not so much that it wasn't nice to see for a while or that it was actually disruptive to the visit. It just means you find something to stand under for 10-20 minutes til it returns to a light drizzle or disappears. You typically end up standing under a tarp or if you're lucky a larger restaurant or shop type structure, huddled together with a large group of other people, and in today's case, dogs, horses, and lots of monkeys. For Indian folks the monkeys are not really a big deal, but seeing loose monkeys everywhere is a new thing for this city slicker and I think I will never get used to them just walking or sitting right next to me like a dog.
Anyway, the hill station has a sort of (very muddy) main road filled with hotels, restaurants, food stalls, little carnival games like knocking over bottles or shooting balloons out with a rifle, souvenir shops, and guys asking if you want a horse to take you to the viewing points. There are various rocky and muddy paths through the woods that take you to these view points which vary from half a kilometer to maybe 3 kilometers away. I visited quite a few and as I wandered through the woods, I often found myself alone. It is an amazing contrast to daily life in Mumbai that's for sure. Probably partially because of the rain and partially because we arrived so early, there weren't too many people about though every group of Indian people was extremely excited to see me. I saw one non-Indian person today. All the other tourists with whom I spoke were from Mumbai. Most stare initially, with very little exception. Sometimes I'd break the stare with a "HEY HOW ARE YOU GUYS I'M A PERSON IT'S OKAY YOU CAN TALK TO ME!" or something like that, which usually elicited laughs and handshakes and occasionally instigated conversation. Sometimes people wouldn't want to converse, they'd just want to take my picture. Sometimes one member from a group of young guys would want to take their picture with me. Sometimes they'd all want to take turns taking pictures with me. One guy wanted pictures of me with his kids, and then once just by myself. That was my least favorite. I felt kind of like a zoo exhibit. Eventually I put on my iPod as I walked which didn't really deter anybody from asking for pictures, but at least I had nice background music as I walked around.
Also, every guy with a horse asked if I want a ride. No matter where I was, no matter which direction I was heading, no matter if they had seen me before, and no matter if they had seen me turn down 3 guys with horses in the last 10 seconds. In a way you have to admire the persistence. They also don't take no for an answer, although I have found that responding no in Hindi seems to do a bit better. So far, for everyone who has wanted something from me or wanted me to buy something, saying something in Hindi makes them give up or go away immediately. This only reinforces that I have to learn more. I asked a few questions of various friends on the train and took a few notes. I also bought a Hindi phrasebook that I started perusing. The main problem is that I haven't heard the language very much and it takes some time and exposure to get the sound of it into my head. That said, I started learning basic sentences and the grammar of simple sentence structure while on the train to Matheran, and then got to immediately use a bunch of it in various conversations. Very, very simple stuff of course, but surprising enough at least once to elicit applause and high fives from a young group of guys who were really excited to converse with me.
Overall it was a nice day including the travel on the train which I still like a lot and in this case provided some very green countryside scenery on the way out. We also had a nice shared taxi ride up the mountain to the hill station with six people in a minivan that was close to death and almost didn't make it several times. The guy really had to swing wide on the curves and restart the van several times. I was pretty sure we'd end up walking eventually but we made it in the end. There is also a "toy train" which goes up the hill very, very slowly and apparently provides very nice views but it takes 2.5 hours as opposed to about 20 minutes in the shared taxi, so we didn't do that. I have heard of other trains like that at other hill stations including a very famous one at Darjeeling. Under other circumstances I'd like to give that a try. At Matheran we split up as most of the group wanted to move very slowly and take tons of pictures and I prefer to walk at my own pace. We'd agreed on a lunch meeting spot so I went off and wandered my way finding various panoramic views and readying myself for a career as an angry and involuntary model.
The train station at which we arrived felt more rural and the small street adjacent to the station was filled with food vendors. Everybody got vada pav upon our arrival, which is a potato sandwich with various chutneys and one of my favorite things to eat in Indian cuisine which is famous and originates in Mumbai, but I elected not to get one from the street guy for two reasons. One reason is that it was like 7:30am or something. The other is that I made a deal with myself that I would be as careful as possible for my first week here with regards to what I eat from the street such as to try and reduce the likelihood of getting ill during what is only a two week visit. If it was my plan to stay in India for months then I'd follow the common advice and just eat everything and get sick in the first week just to get it over with, but I'd like to be a little cautious with my time since I don't have that much of it. I had one thing that was genuinely street food, but mostly I have eaten in restaurants which are by no means universally safe, but I have steered clear of raw things and anything with potentially unclean water which is usually what does people in. I had a few raw things and survived and apart from some gurgles the past few days, my stomach continues to at least not prevent me from going to the hill station today. That said, I'm glad I have at least some Immodium and Pepto Bismol with me. I think it's more likely that has to do with eating Indian food every meal for the last week, plus a little more beer than usual, rather than having eaten anything dirty or something like that.
I have eaten a lot of very good food since I have been here. Now that I'm heading into my second week, I will probably allow myself to be a little more adventurous. Not that I want to get sick or anything, but there are one or two things I really want to try from the street so I will be as cautious as possible but I don't want to miss them on this first visit to India. This Monday I will relocate to a different neighborhood farther north called Bandra which everybody tells me is a really cool and interesting place. I'd like a change of scenery as I think I have explored this neighborhood pretty thoroughly and would like something completely different for the last 5 nights I have to spend here in Mumbai. A week from today I will have arrived in Israel to which I am looking forward. Like all my traveling experiences, this has been an interesting trip, but I'm a little tired and ready to be in a place where I don't have to have my guard up quite so much.
I still have a week in Mumbai and a bunch of interesting plans yet. Tomorrow morning I'm attending this Chinese class which I think will be really interesting. I'll probably see Shweta and Shrestha in the evening in Colaba where I probably won't hang out all that much after tomorrow night, although I have at least one other reason to come down here for a dinner next Tuesday also related to China and Chinese. Other than that, it'll be hanging out in Bandra and doing some exploring of nearby neighborhoods. Also for those who have asked, I have indeed taken pictures though I haven't uploaded any yet. I will do all that when I get home. For now you're stuck with this overflow of words.
A hill station is a village on a hill that makes some kind of weekend getaway for the nearby urban residents. In the case of Mumbai, Matheran is a popular spot to get out and most important up where the temperature is much more pleasant than the usual thick, humidity that is hanging over the city this time of year. In US terms I'd say the city is typically in the 90s and humid whereas up in the hills it was probably 75 or something without quite as much humidity, though it did pour several times during our visit, though not so much that it wasn't nice to see for a while or that it was actually disruptive to the visit. It just means you find something to stand under for 10-20 minutes til it returns to a light drizzle or disappears. You typically end up standing under a tarp or if you're lucky a larger restaurant or shop type structure, huddled together with a large group of other people, and in today's case, dogs, horses, and lots of monkeys. For Indian folks the monkeys are not really a big deal, but seeing loose monkeys everywhere is a new thing for this city slicker and I think I will never get used to them just walking or sitting right next to me like a dog.
Anyway, the hill station has a sort of (very muddy) main road filled with hotels, restaurants, food stalls, little carnival games like knocking over bottles or shooting balloons out with a rifle, souvenir shops, and guys asking if you want a horse to take you to the viewing points. There are various rocky and muddy paths through the woods that take you to these view points which vary from half a kilometer to maybe 3 kilometers away. I visited quite a few and as I wandered through the woods, I often found myself alone. It is an amazing contrast to daily life in Mumbai that's for sure. Probably partially because of the rain and partially because we arrived so early, there weren't too many people about though every group of Indian people was extremely excited to see me. I saw one non-Indian person today. All the other tourists with whom I spoke were from Mumbai. Most stare initially, with very little exception. Sometimes I'd break the stare with a "HEY HOW ARE YOU GUYS I'M A PERSON IT'S OKAY YOU CAN TALK TO ME!" or something like that, which usually elicited laughs and handshakes and occasionally instigated conversation. Sometimes people wouldn't want to converse, they'd just want to take my picture. Sometimes one member from a group of young guys would want to take their picture with me. Sometimes they'd all want to take turns taking pictures with me. One guy wanted pictures of me with his kids, and then once just by myself. That was my least favorite. I felt kind of like a zoo exhibit. Eventually I put on my iPod as I walked which didn't really deter anybody from asking for pictures, but at least I had nice background music as I walked around.
Also, every guy with a horse asked if I want a ride. No matter where I was, no matter which direction I was heading, no matter if they had seen me before, and no matter if they had seen me turn down 3 guys with horses in the last 10 seconds. In a way you have to admire the persistence. They also don't take no for an answer, although I have found that responding no in Hindi seems to do a bit better. So far, for everyone who has wanted something from me or wanted me to buy something, saying something in Hindi makes them give up or go away immediately. This only reinforces that I have to learn more. I asked a few questions of various friends on the train and took a few notes. I also bought a Hindi phrasebook that I started perusing. The main problem is that I haven't heard the language very much and it takes some time and exposure to get the sound of it into my head. That said, I started learning basic sentences and the grammar of simple sentence structure while on the train to Matheran, and then got to immediately use a bunch of it in various conversations. Very, very simple stuff of course, but surprising enough at least once to elicit applause and high fives from a young group of guys who were really excited to converse with me.
Overall it was a nice day including the travel on the train which I still like a lot and in this case provided some very green countryside scenery on the way out. We also had a nice shared taxi ride up the mountain to the hill station with six people in a minivan that was close to death and almost didn't make it several times. The guy really had to swing wide on the curves and restart the van several times. I was pretty sure we'd end up walking eventually but we made it in the end. There is also a "toy train" which goes up the hill very, very slowly and apparently provides very nice views but it takes 2.5 hours as opposed to about 20 minutes in the shared taxi, so we didn't do that. I have heard of other trains like that at other hill stations including a very famous one at Darjeeling. Under other circumstances I'd like to give that a try. At Matheran we split up as most of the group wanted to move very slowly and take tons of pictures and I prefer to walk at my own pace. We'd agreed on a lunch meeting spot so I went off and wandered my way finding various panoramic views and readying myself for a career as an angry and involuntary model.
The train station at which we arrived felt more rural and the small street adjacent to the station was filled with food vendors. Everybody got vada pav upon our arrival, which is a potato sandwich with various chutneys and one of my favorite things to eat in Indian cuisine which is famous and originates in Mumbai, but I elected not to get one from the street guy for two reasons. One reason is that it was like 7:30am or something. The other is that I made a deal with myself that I would be as careful as possible for my first week here with regards to what I eat from the street such as to try and reduce the likelihood of getting ill during what is only a two week visit. If it was my plan to stay in India for months then I'd follow the common advice and just eat everything and get sick in the first week just to get it over with, but I'd like to be a little cautious with my time since I don't have that much of it. I had one thing that was genuinely street food, but mostly I have eaten in restaurants which are by no means universally safe, but I have steered clear of raw things and anything with potentially unclean water which is usually what does people in. I had a few raw things and survived and apart from some gurgles the past few days, my stomach continues to at least not prevent me from going to the hill station today. That said, I'm glad I have at least some Immodium and Pepto Bismol with me. I think it's more likely that has to do with eating Indian food every meal for the last week, plus a little more beer than usual, rather than having eaten anything dirty or something like that.
I have eaten a lot of very good food since I have been here. Now that I'm heading into my second week, I will probably allow myself to be a little more adventurous. Not that I want to get sick or anything, but there are one or two things I really want to try from the street so I will be as cautious as possible but I don't want to miss them on this first visit to India. This Monday I will relocate to a different neighborhood farther north called Bandra which everybody tells me is a really cool and interesting place. I'd like a change of scenery as I think I have explored this neighborhood pretty thoroughly and would like something completely different for the last 5 nights I have to spend here in Mumbai. A week from today I will have arrived in Israel to which I am looking forward. Like all my traveling experiences, this has been an interesting trip, but I'm a little tired and ready to be in a place where I don't have to have my guard up quite so much.
I still have a week in Mumbai and a bunch of interesting plans yet. Tomorrow morning I'm attending this Chinese class which I think will be really interesting. I'll probably see Shweta and Shrestha in the evening in Colaba where I probably won't hang out all that much after tomorrow night, although I have at least one other reason to come down here for a dinner next Tuesday also related to China and Chinese. Other than that, it'll be hanging out in Bandra and doing some exploring of nearby neighborhoods. Also for those who have asked, I have indeed taken pictures though I haven't uploaded any yet. I will do all that when I get home. For now you're stuck with this overflow of words.
posted by Dan at 9:12 AM
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