First night out in Mumbai

 

My lovely Spicy Lady



Saturday we had our first night out in Mumbai. We started the night with dinner at our favorite Italian restaurant (which also has amazingly good drinks, am loving the “spicy lady” with jalapenos, vodka and lime/basil). After dinner and some drinks here we were ready to head off to town. First thing we needed to do was to get hold of an auto to take us there. Autos are 3 wheeled vehicles that are very popular to use instead of taxis here in Mumbai. They are very cheap to use and better to use when the traffic is bad as they are good at slipping in between cars, buses, trucks, cows and other vehicles and/or animals that might be queuing up at the highway here.  

 






Auto

   

After managing to get hold of an auto we were on the way, luckily we had teamed up with Karsten, who has lived in Mumbai for a year already so he could guide us through this new adventure of Mumbai by night. After about half an hour on the bumpy, crazy road they call the highway here and 150 rupi (about NOK 20,-/USD 3,40) we arrived at Juhu Beach which is one of the nicer areas in town. One would not think so though looking at the welcome we got there… Once the auto stopped a group of 6-8 street children as well as a young mother with her infant came running towards us and blocked our exit. They off course started begging, touching our faces and hair. They were very intruding and I was not expecting this at all in front of a fancy 5 star hotel… This is the first time I experience this since I came here. We did our best to ignore them and escaped into the hotel area. The hotel security tried to chase the kids away, hitting them with sticks (which I know should make me feel  sorry for them, but I must admit I didn’t as I felt totally overwhelmed by them intruding on my personal zone in such a close and intimidating way). What surprised me was that this beating did not scare the kids off or refrained them from begging and intruding at all.

JW Marriott Hotel

 After this not so expected welcome to Juhu Beach, we continued to the JW Marriott hotel and Enigma night club. What a world of difference! This is as luxurious as it gets… And I love it! The hotel is just totally amazing… Being in Mumbai, entering a hotel starts with going through security, getting your handbag screened and walking through a metal detector, just like at the airports. But once inside you are treated like a queen, as you are now a part of the relatively (I say relatively as the number is quite high, but out of the 20 million people living in Mumbai the percentage is low) few high class society members in Mumbai. Entering the night club we were guided to the VIP area, overlooking the dance floor and non-VIP bar. We had our own VIP bar meaning no lines for ordering drinks (as Espen seemed to enjoy going over to the bar quite frequently ordering more drinks).



And we are in! Enjoying a drink



Hotel security check



And here were the miniskirts… Finally! This is just a totally different world from the outside… You would never see women dressed like this in the streets here in Mumbai. I have been wondering ever since I arrived here where all the short dresses and other western clothing that I see on display in all the shops in the fancy shopping malls are actually used and now I know!  It is in the night clubs… Was so happy to also see this side of Mumbai as it felt like a totally different world… And I will also gladly admit that I am a fan of luxury and quite enjoy being treated like a queen ;) The most evident of thie luxury though were the prices at the bar… You had to pay around  1200 rupi (NOK 150,-/USD 27,-) for a drink… To put this in perspective this equals 3 days of work for my driver… To pay for one drink!

After a bit of dancing and a lot of drinking, it was time to head home. We managed to bribe off one of the “standing outside the hotel organizing cars man” to get us an auto inside the hotel gates.  So entering the gold gates into the marble pavement between shiny Mercedes’s and BMW’s our auto arrives. This was quite a sight as I am sure that absolutely no one inside that night club we just were nor the ones staying at the hotel would ever consider travelling with an auto as they are way to upper class for that…But we are not ;) So into the auto we go and head home. Were on the outlook for some night food on the way, but nothing to be found (and now when I think back that might be just good as I am not sure how our tummies would deal with Indian night food…)

So that was our first night out in Mumbai, a night full of contrasts between some of the best and worse the city has to offer.