Today’s initial plan

Bombay bazaars – chor bazaar and Bhindi

For breakfast, I ordered,

Sabudana vada, also known as sabu vada, a traditional deep-fried fritter from Maharashtra. Made from tapioca pearls (sabudana), mashed potatoes, peanuts, and spices. Often served with spicy green chutney and hot chai, it is best enjoyed fresh. A white version with yogurt -not pictured – is what I got.

It was lovely but served with sweetened yogurt as above; not the researched version. After this piece of research I went back to talk to the maître D he said that it is seved different ways and the amount of brown color is controlled by how much potato they add and how deep-fried

Took a morning walk after breakfast and once again security omnipresent. No on the street corners yesterday in the synagogue almost every place. This is still in reaction to the 2008 attack in Mumbai.

Plan is to have lunch here

First stop gateway to India; interesting history well covered in guidebooks and Wikipedia, etc.

I forgot to ask Sandeep about the various grades of gas and how the pricing works imperial gallons liters etc.



Next stop Victoria station. Main station for the central area fabulous architecture.

Sandeep stuck in a second trip to the hot lunch deliveries as Neil was interested. While there we ran into an Aussie couple who were doing a rally race after this. A mere 6000 km.

First of the two markets mentioned in the intro. Usual set up of many sections, food, clothing, household stuff, etc. etc. classic large central city market.

They had some beautiful oranges so I asked the price: 80 rupees per kilo. There are currently about ₹87 to the dollar. Nivea 350 rupees for a very large one.

Onwards to the second market, apparently one of the largest flea markets in the world. Americans would not call this a flea market, but a wholesale re-Distribution business of every single part you can imagine; one picture shows a car being stripped to its ends. We walked about two hours to cross the market.

We went inside toward the temple and left an offering with the priest.

We saw everything from roller blades wheels to ball bearings to every imaginable, metal, part, electronic parts, being stripped boards, being stripped all of this being pulled together for a wholesale distribution

Sidenote: about 80% of marriages are still arranged.

While wandering the market, I decided to see if I could buy a gold bird pin for Sharon . We went into at least six stores that sold gold jewelry, large pieces pendants on and on and on. In each one, we asked to buy a pin each store said we don’t sell it but go down the street and make a right some stores told us to go down the street and make a left. The quest was unfulfilled.

Shima suggested that we go out for a drink at Café Mondegar

and then have dinner at Café Leopold. Both are so cold Irani cafés. This refers to them having been originally of Parsi origin.

At cafe Leopold

Overall, an excellent suggestion.