Discover India April 2009

AAMCHI MUMBAI – The / City on Wheels

When tour companies promised to get me in touch with the soul of my home town, I was intrigued, a little sceptical, but definitely game for it. After doing all these tours and seeing my city in a new light, I found that they familiarise tourists with easy and wonderful mix of different religions and cultures that coexist here as effortlessly as a bhelpuri, saysPria Agni 52 DISCOVER INDIA -APRIL 2009

:: cutting chai tour ::

Get a fatafat look at the city in four hours

The half-day tour, called the Mumbai cutting Chai (four hours), takes you around the city to enjoy sights like the Gateway of India, Assembly Hall, Secretariat, Nariman Point, Marine Drive, Hanging Gardens, Kamala Nehru Park, Mahalaxmi Temple, Mani Bhavan, Chowpatty Beach, Jehangir Art Gallery, Prince of Wales Museum, Haji Ali Race Course and Nehru Planetarium. Gaining momentum are customised tours where travel consultants make your itinerary according to your convenience and it’s the prerogative of tourists with limited time, to choose the sights of their liking. Says Ms. Naini Mehta of Namaste City Tours, “We get requests for a particular synagogue or Mumbai terrorist attack sites all the time. We seamlessly include these sites into our regular circuit and provide informed guides for these tours.”

:: art & heritage tour ::

Take a heritage walk into Mumbai’s soul

This is a great way to explore Bombay’s British history and architecture. When you walk you will see very closely amazing variety of historic land marks and buildings, constructed in different styles of architecture and built in a variety of local and imported materials. Tourists are taken through areas such as Colaba Market, Fort Area, Kala Ghoda District and Chhatrapati Shivaji Station. The guide is a professional consultant who has in depth knowledge about every building and structure including its history and architecture. The heritage walk aims to raise the awareness of visitors and locals about the city’s architecture and heritage monuments. Personalised, educative and imaginative, the walking tour highlights the vast range of architectural styles, planning elements and ornamental details, tracing the social and cultural history of the city. And to top it all, you are taken to visit Phillips antique store. This store houses some of the first recorded photographs of the city as it was then. The Karla Baja caves and Kanheri caves also feature on some circuits as do the Elephanta caves.
Tour operator: Namaste City Tours
contact: Ms.Naini Mehta/Kunal Vahalia at: +91 22 23888711 / +91 9323652111/ + 91 9323394850 / +91 9820954856

www.namastecitytour.com

:: market tour ::

Find your stolen goods at Chor Bazaar!

WHAT TOUR IS COMPLETE without taking home some mementos of your visit? The Market tours are another aspect of ‘feel-and-touch’ Mumbai that is gaining popularity. From the teeming Bhuleshwar, Chor Bazaar, Mirchi Gulli, Phool Gulli to Fashion Street one can shop for spices to silk sarees for bargain prices. Pick antiques and semi-precious stones from Colaba Causeway, old zari borders at Bhuleshwar and an array of jewellery at Zaveri Bazaar. Chor Bazaar off Mohammed Ali road is interesting in its quaint shops of itar and incense. Also on display are stolen goods, from old gramophones to Woodland shoes! There a popular joke about the bazaar that if something of yours gets stolen, you can buy it back at Chor Bazaar! The crowded lanes of suburban Bandra make for great bargain buys on all things Indian – from Kolhapuri chappals to kurtas and junk jewellery. Lokhandwala market in the north offers garments from China, Korea, etc. at very reasonable prices. You can ask any of the tour operators for details. Namaste City Tours, for one, have this one too on their list. APRIL 2009 – DISCOVER INDIA 53

:: Bollywood tour ::

Visit SRK’s Mannat and Amitabh’s Jalsa

THE BOLLYWOOD TOUR entails visits to film shoot locations, a dubbing studio and more surprisingly a tour of famous Bollywood star residences! So SRK’s palatial Bandra sea-face villa, Mannat, and Amitabh Bacchhan’s Jalsa in Juhu are on the list along with other celeb homes thrown in. Tourists are picked up from the hotel/residence and dropped back. They are shown a television serial shooting or a film shooting at one of the studios or Film City with their professional consultant. They are also shown a technical studio where they learn more about sound recording, video editing, etc. A sumptuous buffet lunch is provided by the operators at a prominent restaurant which caters to the taste of the tourists. Contact Namaste City Tours for more information on the package.

:: pilgrimage tour ::

Walk barefeet to Siddhi Vinayak temple

THE PILGRIMAGE TOUR takes you to all the noted temples and mosgues in Mumbai – the Mumbadevi temple and the Haji Ali tomb being the most popular. The temple tour is interesting as you can attend aartis and get guides on mythological trivia associated with the temple deities. The Siddhivinayak temple dedicated to Ganesha draws devotees who walk tens of kilometres through Monday night to attend the 5 am aarti every Tuesday! The tourists can experience this phenomenal weekly pooja. The Mahalaxmi temple at Mahalaxmi is dedicated to the goddess of wealth. The annual Navratri or nine-day festival in her honour is also a part of the temple tours. The fabulous and ornate marble Jain temples in Walkeshwar are centuries old and still have artisans working on them! For foreigners, it is an opportunity to see art and sculpture up close in the temple premises. Of course, appropriate dress is a must and in some temples heads have to be covered. Most temples have narrow streets lined with stalls selling bric-a-brac. Contact Namaste City Tours for seasonal or festive tours covering Ganesh processions and other festivals if you plan to be in Mumbai on those days.

Important :

We also offer a customized tour to our customers. The customized tour is exactly what you want, whenever you want and wherever you want.

Please Note :-

All our tours are personalized tours accompanied by a professional English speaking guide.