Yes, I said oot and aboot because you know … that’s how we crazy Canadians pronoonce it. 🙂

After a quick breakfast at the Westin, we headed out to meet my parents at a restaurant for … second breakfast.

Found a bunch of waiting rickshaws that were queued up outside the Westin main entrance on the main road. For those of you not in the know, Mumbai rickshaw drivers are a fickle bunch – while most of them agree to take you to your destination, some may not if the destination is not far enough or if its rush hour. How does one transact with a rick driver?

Successful scenario:
Me: “Goregaon West, Mahatma Gandhi road?”
Driver: *barely imperceptible nod of the head indicating to get in*

Unsuccessful scenario:
Me: “Goregaon West, Mahatma Gandhi road?”
Driver: *sucking teeth noise followed by looking away from you*

Meters are now digital and are somewhat less tamper proof compared to the older models. The 2nd picture indicates the old meter.

Borrowed off the interweb.

We eventually arrived at the intersection of MG and SV road with the fare being 45 rupees or less than $1 CAD.

Forgive the poor pano shot.

Into a local favourit for breakfast.

Where’s a ridiculously long masala dosa was ordered to feed an entire family.

Junior being utterly fascinated with the length of the dosa.

Other favourites ordered.

Plus chickoo milkshakes. Who says you can’t have milkshakes for breakfast?

After breakfast, we walked down MG road to burn off the over filling brekkie. This is around 9am before traffic built up.

Into the neighbourhood street where 3 generations of my family currently live under the same roof.

Some abandoned ricks that may eventually be sent to the scrapyard.

The morning was pretty much spent catching up with family members. We hit up other family members living nearby in an apartment.

With an interesting sign in the elevator on common etiquette.

A view of the skyline from the rooftop terrace.

I hung around the apartment while my mother and wife went to the salon. After they were done, we headed to the Goregaon station area where we did some shopping which also includes midday snacks before lunch. Fun tidbit – the train tracks are the dividing line between some suburbs in Mumbai. Therefore, suburbs like Goregaon, Borivali, Andheri are split into East and West.

First stop here for some lassi and ice cream. Remember, there are no rules to what you can eat while on vacation.

And then in search of some …

Remember everyone, no ice in your drinks and yes, this is the jumbo version.

Fast forward past lunch and shopping and we ended up back at the station area for dinner.

We got out of the rick as there was a jam closer to the station. It was a 10 minute walk to the restaurant. Here are some pics along the way.

Another local favourite.

How dare they don’t serve coke?

Ended up getting 3 dishes consisting of Tandoori chicken biryani, chilli chicken and stir fry cauliflower. What they lack in presentation, they damn well make up in flavour and taste.

The next day, we hired a car to do a bit of sightseeing. Despite leaving early, we still hit traffic and took us roughly 1.5 hours to get into the downtown area.

Traffic coming out the Westin gate entrance.

Passing by Victoria Terminus which is now known as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus. Construction first started in 1878 and took 10 years to complete and was originally named Bori Bunder before being renamed as Victoria Terminus in honour of Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. It was renamed again to Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus in 1996 before being renamed again to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus.

After another 10 minutes, we arrived at the Gateway of India. Our driver dropped us a few steps away from the main entrance and we made our way inside.

Even though it was built to commemorate the visit of King George V and Queen Mary in 1911, it was never finished until 1924.

GoPro shot with the Gateway of India and Taj Mahal Palace hotel.

After 30 minutes, we made our way to Marine Drive.

After driving down, we passed by Haji Ali Dargah which is a mosque and tomb. Built on an islet, accessibility to the structure is dependent on the tides. Low tides reveal a causeway that people can use to traverse and walk to the structure. At the time of this picture, the causeway was full of people.

On the move again to take the Bandra Worli Sea Link bridge back to the hotel.

Passing by some colorful slums.

And driving by the Jama Masjid.

Junior and I were dropped off at the hotel while the others went shopping. The next day, we would pack up to head to Malaysia. More to come.