Chowpati Beach & Marine Drive – Mumbai, India

One of the nicest areas of the city of Mumbai is Marine Drive. This area is also referred to as “The Queens Necklace” as the street hugs the ocean in a half-circle shape and at night the lights look almost like a sparkling necklace. Lindsay and I spent our last day in India on this street at the fantastic Marine Drive Hotel (I have already written about this). Our room had big windows that looked directly onto Marine Drive. With only one evening left in India we decided to simply “cruise Marine Drive” to take in the scene. At first we simply walked along the promenade between the busy street and the ocean. We then found a nice spot to chill and simply perched and relaxed for at least an hour. We just watched the sun go down over Mumbai and talked, laughed and reminisced about the previous two weeks of adventure in India. As the sun went down the lights of the city came on and it truly was a magical scene. To top it all off the sound of the ocean washing up on the shore, mixed with the constant “hum” of the streets of Mumbai was the perfect soundtrack. After taking it all in we decided to work our way further down Marine Drive to the busy/chaotic Chowpati Beach. This urban sandy beach is particularly popular with the locals and even though it was night time there were still thousands of people. As you enter the beach you pass numerous food stalls and a small amusement park that really give the area a festive atmosphere. Lindsay and I watched in awe as the ferris wheel operator (a young man) simply spun the ferris wheel (with his bare hands) to make it go and would then grab it to stop it. If something went wrong he would simply climb up (very fast) through the metal frame to fix it. It was hilarious to see how rudimentary this ferris wheel was but yet people were loving it. We passed the food stalls and made our way to the beach and found a nice spot to sit and relax. The locals were extremely amused by us (an American couple in the middle of thousands of locals) and loved to stare and talk with us. For the most part this was great but eventually we noticed that a young teenage kid was starting to follow our every move. If he was trying to be sneaky he was not doing a very good job because he would follow us so close that a couple of times we even turned around and waved (which would make him quickly turn away). Although we were sure this was harmless it was a bit unnerving after about an hour. :) Eventually we made our way out of Chowpati Beach and slowly walked back down Marine Drive to our hotel. Cruising this part of Mumbai was the perfect way to spend our last night in India.