By Achiraya Chongcharoenpornchai, Hosted in Jodhpur, From Thailand
“Mumbai is the only city in India that I have known before I came here. I always said to myself that I have to go to this place. So, this time I got a chance to go. I felt very excited to visit this place. I asked many of my friends who have been there about the “must visit” places and the famous dishes over-there. Everyone told me in the same way that you must go and enjoy it. Now, I have travelled for more than 19 hours from Jodhpur and I have had little rest for a while. The first place that I visited was the Gateway of India. It is really famous and beautiful piece of architecture. If you come to Mumbai and don’t visit this place, it’s like you have never been here, because this place is an immense and prime landmark of Mumbai. From this point, we went to the next place by ferry and I enjoyed feeding the birds with smell of the sea. Visit to the Elephanta Caves, a UNESCO World Heritage site and a collection of Cave Temples predominantly dedicated to Hindu Gods and Buddhist mythology was another enriching experience for me. Coming out of the parallel world of myth and history, we came to the busy street market. This market was a colorful mosaic of clothes and jewelry. Later, we just roamed around the southern part of Mumbai and enjoyed the famous, delicious and delectable “Pav Bhaji”. We visited the Vipasana Pagoda, the Budhist temple which was really amazing. We took a ferry to cross the lake to Pagoda, one of my favourite place. It was a very peaceful and secure destination. We visited another street market, a little different from the first market because there were more restaurants.
Now, it was my last day. I travelled by the local train, the most popular mode of transportation in Mumbai. This megacity has heavy traffic so, the local train is the only way by which you can reach your destination faster than your private transport or other public transports. I liked the compartment for women the most. That makes everyone see the high value of women. We can feel more comfortable and also it is more safe for all of us. Just in about 15 minutes I reached the ISKCON Temple, International Society for Krishna Consciousness. This temple is in various parts of the world. It is a very amazing temple because it’s not just for the worship but has also many activities that we can learn and enjoy, such as a morning Yoga.
The last place I went to, was famous for street food. You name any food and you will find here. First I had white sauce Pasta with Garlic Bread, a very tasty dish and then the Pizza Dosa and the Cheese Dosa. This made me really surprised how the Pizza and Cheese can be combined with Dosa in the best way? All these were the reason to make me love Mumbai. India is the place where there is so much beauty in everything that I would love to come again and again to this place.”