Traveling and staying in Mumbai, India was one of my favorite memories! Here are some highlights from my trip and some things I learned while there. Hopefully, it can help if anyone is traveling to this city or looking to do the same things I did. I will definitely be doing a Part 2 as there’s so much to share! Every place has good and bad, but I loved Mumbai and can’t wait to go back!

Mumbai Film Festival

My first experience at any event in Mumbai was at the Jio Mami Mumbai Film Festival. The film festival took place a PVR Icon at Infinity Mall in Andheri West ( next to a Starbucks that later became kind of a safe haven and place of comfort for my dad and I 🙂 ) Of course like any big film festival, there was a celebrity red carpet where they had Press interviewing the stars as they arrived. This year there were Hollywood and Bollywood celebrities in attendance and I got to experience Q & A’s with some that I’ve always admired. 

One thing I learned is that Indian paparazzi is no joke. I’ve been involved with Press before at events and I do know that people can definitely get more aggressive to get their photos or interviews whenever they can steal an opportunity.  But at this particular show, the large group of photographers from all over, Press and Media started pushing and almost creating a domino effect. A small fight broke out between 2 photographers resulting in one getting a bloody nose  So good thing to remember – things can get a little crazy. Stand at the end of big crowds so you can get out of these types of situations and be prepared for a bit of chaos.

Mount Mary Church in Bandra West

This was one of our favorite spots! Mount Mary Church is a beautiful, huge church that attracts not only Indian Christians but people of all religions and from all over the world. Inside the church is stunning. Outside of the church there are carts parked selling things like beautiful rosaries, other meaningful jewelry and candles, etc. These candles people take up the white stairs (directly across from the church) to the statue of Mary. Mary’s statue is built behind glass and in front of her statue you’ll find people placing their lit candles on a stand and praying. This place is full of serenity and is definitely a great place to visit.

Mount Mary is very easy to reach by taxi, uber, rickshaw. There’s always space out by the market area where people are being dropped off and picked up. And most locals know this location as just “Mount Mary” – (technically the church’s name is The Basilica of Our Lady of the Mount… don’t ask for that)

Hotel Residency – Andheri East

I prefer Andheri West vs Andheri East but if you are in the Andheri area and need a good hotel, a diamond in the rough (in my opinion) was Hotel Residency. It is almost easy to miss the hotel as it’s located on the corner of the street, but once inside it’s very welcoming. The staff was even more welcoming. Everyone from the bellhop right when you pull in – to the associates at Reception – to the waiters that will memorize your order in one shot during breakfast. And speaking of breakfast ….. absolutely delicious! Breakfast at Hotel Residency (if you choose to dine in for breakfast) includes an assortment of mouth-watering parathas, tropical fruits, omelettes, Indian masala chai, other teas and coffee, juices, toast, jams, and many other common Indian breakfast dishes. One of my favorite parts of staying at this hotel other than their great customer service and friendliness, their comfortable rooms, and easy location was definitely their breakfast (as you can probably tell lol). I’m not sure of others’ experiences here, but these guys made our lives so much easier and enjoyable while visiting. It’s also very reasonably priced (about $75 usd/night).

I learned that many hotels in Mumbai including Hotel Residency do not permit a man and women couple to check into and stay in the same room if they are not married and not family. In my case, I was with my father so I had no problem. But learned something new!

Traffic

Be prepared for crazy traffic! For the most part, I had noticed that drivers have pretty good judgement for not hitting other vehicles (they are probably so used to driving in that kind of massive traffic) but there were a few times were I saw people cutting it real close!

Rickshaws had become my favorite ride to hop on! I learned there’s a technique to catching these – at least for foreigners. I challenged myself one day to catch one on my own as I was alone in the city at that time and wanted to see if I could come off as a local. It was a success! 🙂  lol and after that I was hoppin’ on those 3-wheelers left n’ right! I became so used to the ways around town that soon enough I started giving them directions!

A few things that helped me were:

1. Act confident – like you know exactly where you’re going and your way around. Act like you’re a local. I wanted to do this because I wanted them to believe I was and also for safety. 
2. Be quick and a bit assertive – If you’re waving one down, these guys go fast sometimes – make sure you’re quick and they see your wave and also that you’re quick to move the heck out of the way if they decide to pass you. If you’re somewhere where they’re lined up outside, speak in quick sentences. They do not want to waste time or have a conversation. If they are not planning to go towards the area you’re headed to, they’ll tell you no. Then you just quickly move on to the next “rick.”
3. Learn the way locals pronounce things – though most do speak Hindi (the national language), because the city generally speaks Marathi (the language of their state; Maharashtra) they will pronounce certain words slightly different. For example, there were certain area names that I would pronounce one way and they wouldn’t know where it was. Once I started pronouncing things like them they recognized these places immediately! It could be as simple as just more emphasis on a part of a word.

Taking The Train

Taking the train was another learning experience. I only took it twice and was with my friend, Hemlata, who is a local and takes the train everyday. The train I took was from Andheri West to Bandra and back. We traveled in the Ladies Compartment and it was about a short 15-ish minute ride each way. 

If you’re new to taking the train in Mumbai, like many places around the world, prepare for an eager crowd basically pushing their way into the entrance of the train. My particular train passed through some not-so-great parts of town, so I definitely saw homeless, poor areas and smelled pollution. For this, bring a scarf (or mask). I saw and learned that most all ladies and some men had scarves. They used it to cover their nose/mouth/face area to help not breathe in the pollution. I, unfortunately, didn’t know this or have one during my train ride. The compartment we were in had open doors. I saw and smelled everything.

Headshots

Something cool I found out was that it’s pretty common to see a photography studio in just about every other market place or shopping area. Mumbai is home to “Bollywood” so, if you think about it, it’s not too surprising that there are so many places to get your headshot taken. I needed to take simple headshots (they’re needed when you register for cell phone service, stay at hostels, and many other occasions when signing up for certain things – like passport pics, these are the same size) but then I also asked to book a session for typical headshots because this place was good. I booked 2 looks and they gave me 2 shoots. I got the 8″ x 11″ along with smaller sizes. They also went through the photos with me and retouched the two I selected. With the exchange rate all of this came out to be less than $10! That’s a steal! Highly recommended! Here’s one of the photos I took:

Hope these experiences and tidbits help some! I loved my time in Mumbai and think about it all the time  ❤

 Stay tuned for Part 2!