Bombay Hotels: The Ongoing Saga

OK, remember that time I posted about how I totally booked a hotel in Bombay, and even though it seemed vaguely sketchy, all was well and I would have a (hopefully) lovely or at least vermin-free place to rest my head for my first two nights in India?

Well, apparently not so much. Even though I got a preliminary confirmation from the sketchville website I booked through, they didn't charge my credit card, and I never got the follow up "yes we talked to the hotel peeps and they totally have room for you!" confirmation. This is OK, because like half an hour after "booking" the hotel in question, which shall remain nameless, I found like 10 really bad reviews of it online. And not of the "room was really small, and they didn't even have room service!" variety. Like "It smelled like an outhouse, and roaches fled when I turned on the light!" That bad. So all is probably for the best.

But it still left me without a place to stay in Bombay, even one that smelled like a bathroom and had roaches.

So then I hit up Lonely Planet's website. They have their own hostel/hotel booking section, which is great because A) they feature a lot of the places from their guidebooks, and B) they are far less sketchy than some random Indian hotel booking website I found by googling "Bombay Budget Hotels". Their site is very straightforward, and best of all they only charge a 10% reservation fee, which means I don't have to worry about showing up in the middle of the night to find that they'd taken my money and given my room to somebody else.

I ended up picking a place called the Railway Hotel. The name is apt, as it's apparently right up the block from Victoria Terminus. From what I can tell, the general opinion on Railway Hotel is pretty good, or at least I have found only positive feedback (good listing in the Lonely Planet, a couple of people on a message board recommending it to some harried traveler who had a 6 AM train to catch). The photos on the website look pretty good and quite clearly feature windows (always a good sign). As for what it smells like and the wildlife content, I guess I'll just have to find out.

Passport: Check!

Can you believe they're actually letting me leave the country?
Originally uploaded by the opoponax

Once I'd bought my ticket, this was the first thing that needed to be knocked off the list. Renewing my passport. $172 (I paid an extra $60 to have it expedited, because LIKE I want to be scrambling to get my visa the day before I fly out...) and 3 weeks later, here it is.

I have one question for all of you (all 2 or possibly 3 people who might be reading this) -- why is it that every time I get a passport photo taken, I manage to be having a really bad hair day? My hair is much cuter than this normally, I promise.

I'm blaming it on my hat. Yes, it was definitely the hat.

Also, I look like a corpse. What's that about?

What You See Might Not Be What You Get

Just booked my hotel in Mumbai. This should not be nearly as fraught with drama as it is.

My main worry comes from the fact that the custom is apparently to pay the entire cost of the stay up front. How can I really trust that I'll show up 8 weeks from now, in the middle of the night, and everything will be as it should? How can I trust that this place isn't an absolute hovel? That they won't dump me in the worst room in the place? There are tons of horror stories out there about this sort of thing -- "They 'lost' my booking and scammed me out of $80!" "I paid for a deluxe double with air conditioning and a view but instead what I got was a windowless rat-infested closet!"

Well, here's hoping it all works out, somehow...

Rite of Passage

Sleeper class to Delhi.
Originally uploaded by KipJones

My First Train Reservation!!!!!

I've just booked an overnight train from Mumbai (my point of arrival, you'll remember) to Margao, a small city in southern Goa.

Sleeper Class, exactly as you see in the photo. You have an option of a 6-berth compartment or a 2-tier aisle berth. I picked the top bunk on an aisle berth. No idea whether that's what I'm actually getting (can't decipher the seat assignment, unfortunately), but this is pretty much as good as it gets. In place of that big metal trunk, picture yours truly.

From Margao I'll move on to one of the beach towns in South Goa. Right now I'm thinking Agonda, but I'm concerned that what my Rough Guide calls a sleepy fishing village with a pristine beach will actually be more like the Jersey Shore. I won't be making any hotel reservations or anything, so I might see what the word on the street is and go with Patnem, another supposedly sleepy beach village, or just screw the "sleepy" aspect and head to Palolem. All of which are within about 20 miles of Margao by motorbike taxi (!!!!!) or local bus.

Baggage

The pack has been decided on. Hear that, Dad? PLEASE don't buy me a backpack, because I have one already, ok?

It's MEI's Flying Scotsman, at least I think it is. It's one of those sorta medium sized MEI packs, sans wheels, with zip-off day pack. Navy Blue. Already broken in for me by the ever helpful Ranbir.

It's basically perfect. 45 cubic litres, so neither too big or too small. Neither too wide out from my body (HATE that) or too tall. Zips around like a suitcase. There's a flap that zips over the straps so I can check it easily. Nice normal color and fabric so it doesn't scream either "I'm a Guerilla/Terrorist/Spy -- Please Harrass Me" or "I'm a Rich Western Asshole -- Please Mug Me". OK, so the backpack aspect does kinda scream "Broke Twentysomething Backpacker", but that's fine because I guess I am one. And yes, Dad, the straps are adjustable to fit me, which means No I Don't Need A New Pack, Really.

I'll also be bringing along my Brooklyn Industries shoulder bag, the one I'm already lugging around day to day so if we know each other, you've probably seen it. This is pretty big, very sturdy, zips up nicely (but looks like it doesn't), can be locked if necessary, and has lots of different pockets and things (some of which are hidden). This will by my carry-on bag for the plane, as well as the bag I schlep around day to day.

India Itinerary - Option A

India Itinerary - Option A
Originally uploaded by the opoponax

This is the most likely itinerary for my trip.

From Mumbai, I'll head down to a beach in southern Goa (about which more later). After 10 days at the beach I'll spend a few days at Hampi, a city of ruins from the 14th century. From there I'll proceed to Kolkata, then do a little wandering in West Bengal (hopefully to Darjeeling and Kalimpong, and maybe over to Sikkim if I have time), spending about 2 weeks there altogether. After that, I'll head to Varanasi and Lucknow for a few days each, then on to Delhi, which I'll use as a base to visit Agra (the Taj Mahal!) and surrounding areas. From there it's back to Mumbai for a few days, then home!

I feel kinda sorry for the state of Madhya Pradesh, which gets circled but never visited.

Let's start at the very beginning

But which beginning, I wonder?

Do I go into the day, almost 8 years ago, now, that a teensy metaphorical lightbulb appeared over my head, and I realized that, no, it's really not that difficult to just fly to another country and travel around, and that in fact tons of people do it all the time?

Do I fast forward to my adventures in Bollywood?

Or maybe I should just go for a more "in medias res" approach and stick to the concrete fact of buying my ticket?

Suffice it to say this: Thursday afternoon, about 10 minutes prior to the below post, I ordered my ticket to India.

I'll be flying into Mumbai on January 9, 2008. Leaving JFK circa 6pm, with a plane change in Zurich (yay, new countries I've only visited for an hour or so!), and finally arriving in Mumbai at around 10:30 pm the following day, January 10. By the time I leave the airport, it will likely be the 11th.

In the intervening two months, I will be seeing as much of the country as is possible considering my preferred leisurely pace (soooo not one of those "if it's Tuesday, this must be Prague" sorts of people!). The cliche goes that India is an assault on the senses. I don't know about that, but I plan to enlist all of mine. I want to not only see, but smell, taste, touch, and hear everything around me.

When I was a teenager, my family went on a long road trip up the East Coast. We brought along a book called Eat Your Way Across the U.S.A. We had biscuits and sweet tea in Alabama, barbecue at roadside stands in the Carolinas, Pennsylvania Dutch chicken pot pie, lobster rolls a stone's throw from the docks of Mystic, Connecticut. We spent precious little time on I-95 (the major interstate in those parts, complete with McDonald's and Dunkin Donuts right there at the rest stop so you don't even have to bother going into a town).

While this isn't necessarily meant to be a culinary tour of India, that's the same basic approach I'm taking to this trip. I want to experience everything, not half-assedly drive by with a quick stop at the Taj Mahal, a camel and/or elephant ride, and some watered down Chicken Vindaloo, bitching all the while about how nasty the toilets are, or the chances I'll get Delhi Belly.

ZOMGZOMG

I'm really going to India!

Hopefully soon I'll have something more eloquent to say about this, but I'm going to India!