Sunday in Central Mumbai

Office closed. Much less crowd and its almost peaceful when there are minimal honking.

This is a good opportunity to be mesmerized by the old buildings preserved.... :)

I had my first taste of bombay duck and tandoori fish (tandoori rawas) at this restaurant - Apoorva.
Its definitely tasty.

Bombay duck or bombil - the flesh of the fish is soft and almost translucent.
It melts in my mouth once I have got though the crispy outer layer.
Soft bones will not harm your throat.
Dash some lime juice and add some mint paste!! That soft tangy and fresh taste.... I am in heaven!!

I had tandoori chicken before but not tandoori fish.
Fish meat still in place even after they grill it.
Soft crisp on the outer layer and when you get to the meat, surprise!!!!
Its not even overcooked with all the grilling.

Must have it again!

P/s: Okay.... so somebody bugging me to post this when I am thinking of a good deacription of the food we had yesterday instead of just yummy, good and tasty!

Lights on

Landing at night in mumbai makes me realise that somehow Singapore is too brightly lit.
Or maybe too bright that there is no mystery to the place.
I like the outlook of mumbai from above the sky.
Patches of light and patches of darkness seems so mysterious.
Its makes me wonder why and what are those places for since mumbai's land is almost crowded.
Are those the slums? Or just Undeveloped land?

Before India...

Here am I again on my second solo trip to India.
This time to be hosted by 2 awesome family. :)
A couple of dramas even before i touch India soil. My trip is already very exciting....

Scene 1: Mad Woman
I arrived at the Singapore Changi Aiport just 10min before the check in counter close.
So i end up running around like a mad woman in Terminal 1 trying to print my boarding pass and cling wrap my backpack (safety pre-caution since its gonna end up in kl & then only mumbai).
Here I must extend my deepest gratitude to the botak head gentleman who is d air asia ground staff (wearing blak uniform) to expedite my boarding pass an waited for me to check in my bag. :) You are awesomely helpful! Sorry i didn't get your name.
The coolest part- i still manage to catch my plane and the smoking room just next to my gate so i could relax for a bit before boarding. :)
Huff huff puff puff!!

Scene 2:Obviously I'm a Malaysian!! Duh!!

Touch down KL at 1310 BCU and went straight to the FLY THROUGH counter.
After all the formalities of processing my transit....
Me: can i go out and eat mary brown and then come back and catch my flight?
Lady1: yeah yeah u can. Just pass through there (pointing the departure terminal)

So i head to the departure terminal and end up at the departure baggage check counter.
Me: Cik saya dalam transit tapi saya nak keluar makan Mary Brown boleh?
Lady2: Boleh. Keluar aje la.

Went ahead and pass through the departure immigration counters. Note i am walking the opposite direction of all the people coz i am trying to exit the terminal.
Immigration officer (IO): Miss kau nak pergi mana?
Me: saya dalam transit tapi saya keluar makan Mary Brown.Saya punya flight pukul 6petang.
IO: Ini nak tanya saya punya boss. You tengok itu officer duduk atas sana, pegi tanya dia. Saya tak boleh tolo g. ( point me toward an elevated box with an officer seated inside - d BOSS$

Me: excuse me. Encik saya dalam transit ke bombay dari singapore. Flight saya pukul 6. So sekarang saya nak keluar makan.
Itu perempuan (pt to lady2)cakap saya boleh keluar sini.
IO BOSS: sini tak boleh cik. Cik kena pergi itu arrival hall untuk chop passport. Sini ialah departure. Kita tak boleh chop passport you. U turn balik pastu naik pergi arrival hall. Boleh keluar dari sana.

I already feel like a ping pong ball at this moment.

Went back to the FLY THROUGH office trying to

Asshole: awak nak pergi mana?
Me: *repeat the same old transit story n request*
Asshole: tak boleh! Awak pergi tanya itu air asia staff.
Me: tapi itu immigresen punya orang suruh saya keluar dari sini untuk chop passport.
Asshole: tak boleh awak pergi tanya it air asia staff.
Me: tanya ape?
Asshole: tanya dia orang mac mana nak buat la. Escort awak ke ape...awak sudah ada boardin pass. Tanya dia orang macam mana nak buat
Me: *getting cheese off* tried to explain that the IO boss asked me came this way and he rudely reject me and pushed me away.

So i am once again kicked out to another direction. Grab an Air Asia staff.
Me: *repeat: i am flew in from singapore, touch down kl n on transit to mumbai. My flight at 6pm. I wanna go out and eat. Went from the fly through counter to the departure hall and back. I am being denied my exit. That man say some AA staff need to escort me.
AA: no ma'am kita tak boleh escort escort.
Me: saya tak tahu. Itu orang suruh saya check dengan air asia staff.
Check apa pun saya tak tahu. Saya nak keluar makan.
AA: Awak pegang passport malaysia ke ape?
Me: ya la. Saya orang malaysia. (wth lor)
AA: u duduk dulu. Nanti saya panggil.

Sat for a while and realise tt AA man is busy with current departure flight.
Saw a security lady with an ang moh. I went near them. Oh so the lady speaks quite good english. :)

Me: excuse me, can you help me?
*repeat story for dunno how many times liao*
So saya ada empat jam duduk dalam sini. Itu speaker begitu kuat. Saya nak keluar dari sini then masuk balik la.
Lady3: ah ah...you ni passport malaysia ke ape?
Me: of course i am malaysian. Why is everybody ask me where am i from and wat is my nationality.and i dun understand why i need your help since he says i already have my boarding pass. Boarding pass is boarding pass it doesn't have anything to do with this ( seriously it starts to make no sense since i have been conversing to them in malay- bahasa pasar melayu... And they ask if i am malaysian?? Really cheese off)

So finally the AA man came back and asked me to go with him to the FLY THROUGH room.
So, the only thing the asshole wanna see is him escort me to the fly through room and just tell them i am passing through to arrival hall.
With that i follow my journey to exit the terminal.
Doesn't end here tho....

Arrival hall immgration counter. I gave my passport and am sure my passport sure got some error.

IO2: you dari mana?
Me: ok. Sebelum awak tanya, saya cerita dulu. Saya fly in dari singapore nak transit pergi mumbai.
Ini ialah boarding pass saya. So sekarang saya ada 4 jam, saya nak keluar pastu masuk terminal lagi untuk pergi mumbai. Saya nak makan.
IO2: *smile smile* and return my passport to me.
Me: wah macam ini main 1 jam ah. Saya sangat lapar tau. Thank you ah. (walking away)
IO2: bwahahahhaahhaah

Spent one hour trying to get out of terminal. Am a bit cheese off but seeing IO2 laugh, i know i made his day.
Ya i am hungry. So i really went to eat Mary Brown.
Satisfied.

Chillin out at starbucks with free wifi. Double satisfaction!!

Now i wonder what surprise India will give me......