Rediscover your city: Bicycle tour in South Mumbai
Once youâve been living in a city for a while, itâs only too easy to start taking it for granted. We forget about all the things that we love about it, and start picking up on all the negatives⊠âArggghh, this traffic is driving me crazy!â or âWhy is there no good cheese?!â
So weâre going to start writing a few blog posts that remind you how fabulous your city is and suggest some fun ways to rediscover it. Via Moodoo, of course!
First up â a 6am bicycle tour of South Mumbai.
If youâve got your own human-powered two-wheeler, by all means grab some friends and start cycling. But we recommend doing this via Reality Tours and Travel.
The premise is simple; gather at 6am â 615am to be exact - at one of the Pasta Lanes in Colaba to meet your jovial tour guides and grab your bicycles.
After a few failed attempts to make polite conversation as you rub the sleep out of your eyes, you head off in the direction of CST station.
At 6 in the morning, you have the roads to yourself as the city begins to wake up: the newspapers are still being organised into piles, the chai wallahs are starting to brew their tea and the honking hasnât yet begun⊠itâs spookily peaceful.
First stop - Chatrapati Shivaji Station: A familiar landmark for everyone in the city. But definitely worth giving it a few minutes of your time to just stand back and appreciate how darn beautiful it is, before dashing on towards the bustle of Crawford Market.
Once the main wholesale market of Mumbai, Crawford is a fascinating place. With never-ending piles of vegetables, fruits, toiletries and gadgets, thereâs nothing it doesnât sell! For the faint-hearted â and more importantly, the vegetarians â amongst you, Iâd give the butchery zone a miss though. Hygiene is still not high on Crawfordâs agenda...
The bicycle ride becomes a little more treacherous as you head into the smaller alleyways that link Crawford Market, Zaveri Bazaar and Mumbadevi Temple. As we nipped through Zaveri Bazaar, our chirpy tour guide pointed out some people on the road who were avidly brushing up dust from the pavement. Upon a second, more attentive glance, we noticed just how clean this one strip of road was â there wasnât a piece of litter in sight! For the non-Mumbaikers reading this, Zaveri is an important gold and jewelery market. So, every night, people sweep up the pavement in the hope that theyâll also sweep up some shavings of gold that have been blown out onto the street during the hustle and bustle of the previous day. Itâs a painstaking task!
The tour continues and after a brief stop at Mumbadevi Temple, you arrive at Panjrapole â a Jain cow sanctuary, smack bang in the middle of the city. Who knew that was there?! Itâs not exactly a lush meadow, but Panjrapole offers a safe haven to old and invalid cows. It also coincidentally houses a lot of fat cats who laze about, lapping up fresh, creamy milk⊠someone should really let the other stray cats know that theyâre totally missing a trick here.
After the cow sanctuary, the tour starts heads South again via Marine Drive, to end the adventure at Sassoon Dock. Busy, dirty, crowded, smelly and full of fish, Sassoon Dock is not the first thing on everyoneâs to-do list. But perhaps it should be! As long youâre wearing covered shoes and are ready to hold your nose, Sassoon Dock is a wild and wonderful experience that gives you access to the cityâs old-school fishing industry. Plus youâll never get fish so fresh anywhere else in the city â straight out of the fishermanâs boat!
Make a plan on Moodoo for a bicycle adventure this weekend and make a booking with Reality Tours here - http://realitytoursandtravel.vacationlabs.com/
Price: Rs. 6500 for a private, group tour with 2 tour guides. Chai break and breakfast included!