“London on Acid” – Colaba Area of Mumbai India

As I have stated before Mumbai India is an absolutely HUGE city. It sprawls out for miles and miles with numerous districts and neighborhoods which are probably all worthy of exploration. However, during our visit in 2009 Lindsay and I decided to make the Colaba area our home base. Colaba is considered the epicenter of Mumbai and is home to most of its landmarks and government buildings. It has been described as “London on acid” because many of the buildings were built by the British when they ruled the country so it looks somewhat similar to London but the streets and surrounding chaos are 100% Mumbai…thus the nickname. Lindsay and I were staying in a great little hotel in the heart of Colaba and I will never forget our first morning when we woke up and looked out our window. The architecture of Colaba is beautiful but it is almost intimidating to step out into its crazy streets. Lindsay and I just sat there staring out the window for probably 15 minutes before we just had to get out and start exploring. The first thing we did was walk one simple block to the famous “Gateway to India” which is a giant monument built on the water that served as the debarkation point to visitors arriving in Mumbai by boat. It is today still a very busy boat terminal and is a great place to simply sit and people watch as there are thousands of people coming/going. Immediately behind the Gateway to India sits the beautiful Hotel Taj Mahal Palace. This beautiful structure looks more like a castle then a hotel and is fascinating to look at. From here Lindsay and I spread out and continued to explore Colaba and were immediately impressed by how crazy and unique it is. Over the next few days we explored numerous landmarks in Mumbai and most of them were nearby the Colaba area. If we ever had an extra hour or so we would simply walk the streets in Colaba as we just loved the traffic, markets, sounds, smells, etc, etc. It is very difficult to explain this area so I am glad somebody else already has…Colaba is like “London on Acid.”