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Extract from the Bombay (Mumbai) Travel Guides:
Young, brash and oozing with the cocksure self-confidence of a maverick moneymaker,
MUMBAI
(formerly
Bombay
) revels in its reputation as India's most dynamic and Westernized city. Behind the hype, however, intractable problems threaten the Maharashtran capital, foremost among them a chronic shortage of space. Crammed onto a narrow spit of land that curls from the swamp-ridden coast into the Arabian Sea, Mumbai has, in less than five hundred years since its "discovery" by the Portuguese, metamorphosed from an aboriginal fishing settlement into a sprawling megalopolis of over sixteen million people. Whether yo...
read the whole Bombay (Mumbai) Travel Guides...
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| General : Murud Fort |
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| JANJIRA : It was the strongest marine fort in all India, built by Abyssinians in 1511 on an island south of Ailbagh below Portuguese Bombay. On the coast about 160 km due south of Bombay, the majestic island fortress of Murud-Janjira was the 16th-century capital of the Siddis of Janjira, descendants of sailor/traders from the Horn of Africa. It is without doubt one of Maharashtra's most commanding coastal forts, stretched along an island a short distance from the tranquil fishing town of Murud and only accessible by local sailing boat. The fort's 12 metre high walls made it impregnable to everyone, even the Marathas - Shivaji tried to conquer it by sea and his son, Sambhaji, attempted to tunnel to it. |
 Posted by User Not Logged In on 29/01/2004 06:21:30 |
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Travelslang Bombay (Mumbai) Travel Guides Opinions Tips & Advice
| Going Out : open outdoors |
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| A magnificient place to be in a little small place on the coastal region of western India is "murud janjira'. The beaches are very quiet and anybody who you ask for directions to a particular place seems very co operative and mostly polite in their own way. |
| Posted by vicky g on 27/01/2004 10:39:49 |
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Travelslang Bombay (Mumbai) Travel Guides Opinions Tips & Advice
| To Do And See : Sri Vardhan |
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| For a rest from the madness of Bombay take a short ferry ride from the Gateway in Colaba to Sri Vardhan. Everything is much more laid back. The beaches are deserted and clean and there's even a couple of bars if you look hard. Don't expect to meet anyone other than locals and 'jungle people' who are elusive people living a life still as far removed from civilisation as can be imagined. |
| Posted by Michael Robinson on 23/10/2003 13:42:12 |
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Travelslang Bombay (Mumbai) Travel Guides Opinions Tips & Advice
| Tales : Some things never change |
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| While entering the Taj Mahal hotel in Colaba one night just to get the view from the top, we were stopped by a policeman because my mate was Indian. The hotel was actually built by an Indian as he was sick of being refused entry to hotels when the British were still in charge. It seems Indians are still regarded as second class citizens in their own country. The policeman was drunk and my mate swung round at him thinking he was being grabbed by a hawker. He ended up in jail for the night and so did I as he was getting knocked about by the top dog policeman. Threats of the British Embassy still seem to work! |
| Posted by Michael Robinson on 08/04/2003 00:35:43 |
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Travelslang Bombay (Mumbai) Travel Guides Opinions Tips & Advice
| Culture : What to call it |
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| Most people still call Mumbai by it's old name Bombay. The trend towards renaming India after the Raj hasn't caught on. Kolkata is still Calcutta to the locals who have better things to worry about. |
| Posted by Michael Robinson on 01/04/2003 03:07:34 |
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Travelslang Bombay (Mumbai) Travel Guides Opinions Tips & Advice
| To Do And See : Juhu |
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| If you want to sit out on a beach without being harassed then go to Juhu. There are more tourists here(mainly rich Indians) and the locals are less surprised to see you. |
| Posted by Stephen Daley on 30/03/2003 14:37:07 |
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Travelslang Bombay (Mumbai) Travel Guides Opinions Tips & Advice
| To Do And See : Chowpatty |
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| Chowpatty beach is a pain in the neck if you want to sit on the beach. The sand is dirty and you will be inundated with beggars, head masseurs and people just wanting to know where you are from. At night however it is a good place to go as everyone in Bombay seems to descend here just to hang out. |
| Posted by Michael Robinson on 30/03/2003 14:35:11 |
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Travelslang Bombay (Mumbai) Travel Guides Opinions Tips & Advice
| Culture : Languages |
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| Most people speak a degree of English but a few words of Hindi will help while on the streets. There is no word for 'please'. |
| Posted by Jerry Bryant on 30/03/2003 14:25:38 |
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Travelslang Bombay (Mumbai) Travel Guides Opinions Tips & Advice
| General : Some facts |
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| A state in West India, on the Arabian Sea. The city of Bombay (Mumbai) is the capital. The state was formed in 1960, when the old state of Bombay was split along linguistic lines into two new states, Maharashtra and Gujarat. Marathi is the official language of the state, and Hinduism is the predominant religion. The mountains of the Western Ghats run parallel to the coast of the state, leaving a narrow strip known as the Konkan between the Arabian Sea and the interior plateau. There is a series of small ports along the coast in addition to Bombay. Beyond the Western Ghats is a vast plateau drained by the Tapi, Godavari, Bhima, Krishna, Wardha, and Vainganga rivers. The great Tapi trough, a fertile belt where cotton is cultivated, is there. The heaviest rainfall is along the coastal area, where it averages 80 to 120 in. (203305 cm) a year. The climate in general is tropical. In the plateau areas, only 25 to 80 in. (64203 cm) of rain fall annually, creating a semiarid climatic zone. Rice, grown in the coastal area, is the primary food crop, but it is supplemented by the production of grain sorghum and small millet. The state is rich in minerals; manganese, iron ore, bauxite, coal, and salt are mined. Industry, including the manufacture of textiles, electrical products, and chemicals, is mainly concentrated in Bombay, Pune, Aurangabad, and Nagpur. The Muslim rulers of India controlled the area of Maharashtra from the early 14th cent. to the mid-17th cent., when the great Maratha leader Sivaji formed a Maharashtran confederacy. In the 16th cent., Portugal was the leading foreign power in the region, but Great Britain gradually gained influence and by the early 19th cent. had incorporated the Maharashtran area into the Bombay presidency, which later became a province of British India. Maharashtra is governed by a chief minister and cabinet responsible to a bicameral legislature with one elected house and by a governor appointed by the president of India.
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| Posted by User Not Logged In. on 30/03/2003 14:08:16 |
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Travelslang Bombay (Mumbai) Travel Guides Opinions Tips & Advice
| To Do And See : Don't miss Leos |
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| Leo's is in Colaba and on the main Causeway. If you want to be with other tourists or just be guaranteed good grub then go here. |
| Posted by User Not Logged In on 28/03/2003 14:43:36 |
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Travelslang Bombay (Mumbai) Travel Guides Opinions Tips & Advice
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