From Georgia, I made my way to India – after a quick stop back in the UK to visit family, and to pick up my cycle touring gear. Miki, who I had met in Tbilisi, was cycle touring, and wanted to head to India next. At some point the idea came up of us heading there together and despite my idea to stay in Georgia for a while, my view had been, “I’ve wanted to go to India for a while, I love cycle touring, why not?!”. Though as the plan neared it was not without trepidation on my part. Having barely got my feet under the table teaching English online, heading to a country with notoriously bad internet connection was certainly a worry.
Still, plane already booked, plans already made, I headed out to India at the beginning of December, enduring an exploding head throughout the flight due to a head full of cold.
After touching down, locating my bike box, and meeting Miki (who had arrived a few days earlier having flown straight from Tbilisi) outside the airport in the early hours, we put my two-wheeled machine back together and went in search of a taxi.
Our accommodation was in the busy market district of Mumbai, a small door down one of the many bustling streets. With some difficulty we carried my bike up a narrow staircase and balanced it on its back wheel to manoeuvre it into the tiny elevator leading to the hotel floor. The rest of the building seemed mostly filled with factory production, workers often lugging heavy bags up and down the entranceway.
The neighbourhood became busier as the day went on, I felt the streets most alive at night as market sellers lined the pavements. There was a sense of old and new, thrown together in a bewildering fashion: people walking the streets carrying large sacks on their heads or dragging wooden carts laden with goods; while others drove by in large, shiny cars. The city was both breathtaking and overwhelming. Vibrant, colourful, and full of life, yet at the same time mixed with hardships, pollution and dirty streets.
Taking a taxi to another part of Mumbai the following day was a completely different experience. We went from a bustling market environment to walking beside the sea at Back Bay. Wide open spaces, a main road filled with traffic, and a line of impressive looking buildings plainly showed we had entered one of the wealthier areas. We walked along a wide pavement, passing only a handful of other pedestrians while doing so.
Not far from Back Bay, we went to see Antilia, the tallest building in Mumbai – owned and lived in by a single family. The stark contrast between this and the market streets wasn’t lost on us. It was much more peaceful standing at the foot of this towering edifice, trees lining the side of the road and only the odd person or vehicle passing. It felt almost unbelievable how some can live in such luxury while others suffer just minutes from their door.
In yet another neighbourhood, we passed street food stalls where we enjoyed delicious sandwiches and some amazingly tasty black ginger tea (though I did keep my fingers crossed I wouldn’t regret drinking the water later!).
I now look back fondly at the experiences I had in this city full of contrasts and diversity, although it was definitely a challenge while we were there. I had arrived ill, wasn’t really ready to be back in the hustle and bustle of Asia, and was struggling to balance all of this with the teachings jobs I had.
Our biggest task during that week was to work out how to get out of the city. There is one major road out of Mumbai, and it is not suggested you do it by bike so we were throwing around options for trains, buses or boats. The latter ending up being the most reasonably priced, stress-free and peaceful option.
On the final morning we carried our loaded bicycles down the stairway to the streets already awake with life. Our route took us to the end of our sidestreet and left, past brilliantly colourful spice stalls, and across a railway bridge where we looked down at the platforms heaving with people making their way to work. Five minutes later, we had reached the port and were boarding the small transport boat from Mumbai to Mora Jetty.
If you would like to see Miki’s video of our time in India, click here
