Goodbye , Mumbai

When I decided that I would go to India a few months ago I had no expectations of the country. A few days ago when I left South Africa I hoped to miss my connecting flight to Mumbai from Nairobi. I only  realised when I got to india that I was scared of this new adventure. It feels like 2012 all over again when I left South Africa for East Africa for the first time.

ARRIVING IN MUMBAI
I has a very pleasant flight on Kenya Airways on Thursday. We arrived at around 17:00. Disembarkation was very chaotic. Everyone seemed to be in a hurry to get off the plane. Understandably so, we were about thirty minutes late. Most people probably had connecting flights etc. But it really was chaotic and I just sat on the until the dust settled.

I had a bit of trouble with border control. They wanted my yellow fever certificate and I didn't have it. This was very strange because I prepared a checklist a few days before departure and I don't remember anything about a yellow fever certificate requirement. I stood there while this guy made noise asking everyone. A few minutes later I was allowed in and yes, South Africans do not need yellow fever certificates for india. If you plan to come to india I would recommend that you carry it to make your life easier.

After all this drama I had to make a plan on how I was going to get to the hotel in the Colaba area from the airport. I was very tired since I left home 12 hours ago and I didn't sleep on the plane. The best thing to do was to get a cab to the hotel. I had read horror stories of cabbies taking longer routes to make extra cash so I opted for an uber car. It took forever to get to me and my phone was misbehaving but I finally got ahold of my driver and we headed off to Colaba.

DRIVING IN MUMBAI
I've been to Asia before and I know that traffic is terrible in most Asian cities. I was somewhat prepared for this. However, I wasn't so prepared for the 'chaos' on the roads. I say 'chaos' because it is working well for the locals. My driver drove like a maniac.  He changed lanes by just honking his horn. He drove in between lanes. He drove towards oncoming traffic. My poor heart!

I later learnt that this is how everyone drives in this city. I got tired of reacting  every time I heard someone hoot. It was just normal.

There's the local train to commute between the North and South of Mumbai and the metro for East and South. These are relatively inexpensive. There's also local cabs (black and yellow) that charge a flag fall of 21 Rupees (1 INR = ZAR 0.19). These are everywhere and are available any time. Locals also use the city's red busses to get around. I didn't take one but they are everywhere.

THE CITY
Once settled I knew that I had just about 30 hours to see Mumbai before heading out to Delhi. The city city takes a bit of getting used to but it's beautiful. I posted a few pictures of the city. For stories behind the pictures please see instagram.

I quite enjoyed the local street food and the bars. None of the bars that I went to played any music. I tend to connect better with other people if there's music involved.  It's a very nice way to break the ice. Like in South Africa, the locals quite like their street food and they lay 'tables' on top of their bonnets and  chat among themselves.

The city reminded me so much of Dar es Salaam. There were quite a number of similarities. From architecture to cuisine to the men with roving eyes. Understandably so, given the Indian and Hindi history of the city.

GHANDI
Mahatma Ghandi is well respected in India, at least from what I saw in Mumbai. His face is on all the notes.  There's various monuments erected in his honour. I've learnt a lot more about him and I expect to learn more about him. I will post something on Ghandi towards the end of the trip.

GOODBYE FOR GOOD?
I can't say whether Mumbai is my favourite Indian city yet. I guess I have to try the other ones first. I don't have a strong desire to return to Mumbai any time soon.
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Homosexuality is illegal in India. This follows a decision that was taken a coupleof years ago to decriminalise it. The decriminalisation was due to a loophole in the penal code. India has a very large community of Hijras, the third gender. Hijras receive great protection and recognition from the government and locals. Official government forms make provision for the third gender to be selected as a gender. Locals believe that Hijras have powers to bless or curse people and for that they are well - respected members of the community.

India: Jetting off

I've been battling with blog content lately and this is because I delay my posts and it's harder to recall all the details. I've decided that it wouldn't be a bad idea to write diary posts instead.

It's  Thursday 2 July 2015 just after 3 am. I am probably flying over Zambia heading to Nairobi for to connect to Mumbai. Our flight  was slightly delayed but we managed to have our wheels up by 02:10. I am slightly worried that I will miss my flight to Mumbai. It wouldn't be a bad idea if I did.

The past couple of days I have been missing East Africa. I'd be happiest in Kampala but Nairobi, Dar and anywhere in the Swahili coast will do right now. I even played around the idea of not taking the Nairobi to Joburg leg of the trip and head to Zanzibar instead. My planned return is on 16 July and Eid is likely on the 17th. I've always fantasised about  Eid celebrations at Forodhani Gardens. Friday evenings after prayers are already so beautiful. Imagine how Eid would be.

Back to the flight. I really wouldn't mind missing the flight and getting  on the next flight to Mumbai later today. I would then spend the day in Nairobi. I actually wouldn't mind just walking around the city and have all this food I've been craving. I'd be especially happy with chips mayai  (a dish made of eggs and potato chips) or nyama choma and the nyama must certainly be nyama yambuzi. If u make it to the flight I won't be mad. I will just have Fanta Orange and kenyan chevda, my favourite Kenyan snack.

Earlier today I had dinner with mates of mine. It was really nice to have such a beautiful send off  (I have hijacked it and I am deciding to believe that this was not a catch up session but more a send off. It's strange that as a lone (almost) frequent traveler I still like to have someone send me off.

I'm actually excited AND nervous about India. I will reveal more as I go along. I will write again on the Nairobi to Mumbai leg if I make it to that flight. Cabin crew assured me that they will wait for us. There goes my grand plan!

Till later then. Let me try and nap. Okay.. that might not  happen. We have minor  turbulence all of a sudden.

India: KQ Experience

It's now 13:56 (Mumbai time) and we are about 80 minutes away from touch down. I have a glass of Rupert and Rothschild in hand and a very big smile. I wasn't going to blog but I felt compelled to.

We left Nairobi about 5 hours ago and I had mixed emotions. I somewhat felt like changing  my flight to come back earlier. I don't have a particular reason why. I think it was fear. Fear of the unknown. Remember I said I wouldn't mind missing my flight and go to Mumbai a day later after partying in Nairobi. That didn't happen. I guess that's where  the mixed emotions come from.

NAIROBI CONNECTION
The connection in Nairobi was very easy. We didn't need to go through immigration. We only had to go through security and everything was done. I was worried about my 55 minute connection time but it took me about 20 minutes. In addition, we waited for a plane from West Africa that was delayed.

BOEING 787-8
We flew the Boeing 787Dreamliner on this leg of the journey. I can't decide which aircraft I like between the B787 or the A380. When we took off from Nairobi I swear I had goose bumbs. So beautiful. Didn't even feel that we aren't on the ground anymore. I had a huge smile. I wanted to tell someone. There was no one who looked like they would be interested in my story. Aah well. I love love love their window 'shutters' and mood lighting.

The journey was  very smooth. A few bumps up and down along the way and strange enough nothing that got me worried. I'm waiting for the landing. I will update on the next post.

KQ HOSPITALITY
The one thing that you can always count on is the warmth of the East African people. The KQ cabin crew was amazing. But before I continue about about that I need to mention how awesome their liquor selection is.

The liquor cart was filled  with good goods. Think Absolute Vodka, Bombay Gin, Rupert and Rothschild...  need I continue. And the cabin crew were very generous with those baby bottles of booze. Bless them!

I will be spending two nights in Mumbai before heading to Delhi. The next post will be about my Mumbai experience. Adios

The Year of Living Dangerously

I called 2014 my year of living dangerously. I had a theme song – Scissor Sisters’ Year Of Living Dangerously. Those of you who know me will tell you how afraid I am of flying. Do not be fooled by the number of (useless) frequent flier miles that I have clocked in in the past few years.

***side note*** I am writing this piece while on the plane. We just hit turbulence and I just pumped the volume up on my music player. This is the only that I can survive turbulence. At least I do not close my eyes at take off.

I called 2014 my year of living dangerously because of this one event that made me realise that I shouldn’t allow fear to stand on the way of my plans. It was early in February 2014 when I decided that I would fly to Zanzibar for Sauti Za Busara festival. This African music festival is held on the island over the second weekend of February and attracts patrons from all parts of the world. We have the legendary Bi Kidude to thank for this.

Because it was last minute, I was not able to find a lot affordable air tickets. The only affordable airline that I could take was RwandAir. I would leave Johannesburg at 8:30 and go via Kigali with a 45 minutes stopover and land in Dar Es Salaam at 15:55. Our plane leaving Johannesburg was somewhat delayed and I had to run to the KGL and DAR flight. We shall not talk about how short my African print shorts were. I was serving AfroQueer realness. 

RwandAir flew the Bombadier CRJ700 between KGL and DAR, the second smallest aircraft I had ever flown . The CRJ700 sits around 70 people. I had flown the 50-seat CRJ200 between Nairobi and Kampala in 2012 and I thought my life would end right on Lake Victoria. There was bad weather and severe turbulence. I have no idea why I thought it would be a good idea to fly a CRJ again. But I had very little choice though – it was the cheapest way for me to get to Dar.The flight was pleasant. Perhaps it was the cabin crew that made it pleasant by feeding me enough gin and tonic.

Upon landing in Dar es Salaam I would then connect to Stonetown, Zanzibar. I had to get to Stonetown that evening to be able to catch the Thursday evening festivities.  I had two options: 1) take the ferry from Dar to Zanzibar or 2) fly a light aircraft to ZNZ. The last ferry to Zanzibar leaves Dar just after 16:00. The last time I was in Dar in 2012 I was stuck in traffic from Julius Nyerere to the City Centre for almost 90 minutes. It was well after peak hour traffic, I was told. I was also stuck at customs for 45 minutes because they had somehow managed to misplace my passport. That was over two hours to get to the city from the moment I landed. If I attempted to get to the city for the 16:00 ferry would certainly not make it. There was only one other option… fly the light aircraft.

So I had no choice but to fly ZanAir on their trurboprop. You must understand this is not the CRJ200, this was a Cessna 208B that sat about 10 people. There were no allocated seats and I was a gentleman and allowed everyone to take their seats because I wanted an isle seat. The back of the aircraft was now full and I had no choice but to take the front seat, cockpit seat J See, I do not seat on window seats because I don’t want to see how far from the ground we are. I use my height as an excuse to get the isle seat. Now I had to face my fears and take the front seat and see everything that the pilot was doing. This seemed very dangerous for me. I must say, when I look back to that terrifying 20 minutes I realise that it wasn’t all that bad. Seeing my favourite island, Zanzibar from the top was amazing. The landing at sunset was spectacular.

This is ZanAir's Cessna. Source: ZanAir

The 2014 trips that followed this one proved to live up to the theme of living dangerously:

·         I took a Matatu from Mombasa to Watamu, via Gede, without any map.

·         I missed a bomb at a Matatu rank in Mombasa the day I returned from Watamu heading to Nairobi.

·         I avoided conflict in Hebron, Israel, when Israeli boys were abducted by Palestine.

·         I jumped out of a moving taxi (well sort of)  in Istanbul. 

Tel Aviv Pride

It has been almost a year since Tel Aviv Pride. I would write up a whole post about it but I thought that pictures would tell the story better than words would. 

A party wouldn't be complete without a polar bear in sight. Of course I was stoked!

The Pride precinct was filled with happy party-goers. There was a brief performance by Willam Belli of RuPaul Drag Race fame. She sang Boy is a Bottom and of course the crowd went wild!

One of my best pictures. These were German guys (I think?) that had traveled to Tel Aviv Pride. I met a bunch of people that had traveled from afar to attend the event. I had traveled all the way from South Africa... many many hours away from Tel Aviv.

The night before the main Pride event I went to Evita on Yavne Street where I paid through my ears for drinks. It was a nice place with a typical gay crowd. While there we were invited to a party at comfort13 on the outskirts of the city. BOY were we blown away!!! The crowd screamed "welcome to Palestine" and we all stood there and wondered if it were a good idea to go in. The club played Arabic pop music and I found myself dancing all night till 6 am. Pictured above is Arisa, a renowned drag queen in Israel.

Serving... FACE!!

Of course I found myself a husbear!

Seen in the crowd. One of my favourite images. 

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Tel Aviv has been voted the best gay destination for a 2011 and 2012. Israel has been in the forefront of gay rights for years now. Gays serve openly in Israel's military and parliament and many popular artists and entertainers are gay. The gay pride is attended by a majority of the people of Israel. There has been claims that the Israel Government has been 'pink washing' - using LGBT rights as a form of propaganda.

Fire in the Bush

“If you want something new, you have to stop doing something old”  Peter F. Drucker.

All the events leading to the 2015 Bushfire Festival indicated that I would be better off if I stayed at home. This was to be my second Bushfire Festival, an annual arts and music festival held in Swaziland that draws crowds and artists from all over the world. Last year after Sauti Za Busara, another African music festival held in Zanzibar, I promised myself to go to at least one African music festival a year. With the year slowly coming to an end I knew that if I did not go to Bushfire this year I would have to break my promise. 

A picture of the crowd at Bushfire. The crowd is always up for major fun.

Last year I drove with a bunch of friends and we stayed at the beautiful Lugogo Sun in Ezulwini, Swaziland. Beautifully air-conditioned rooms with white linen sheet. Breakfast was always an event. We would wake up at 9 am and go for a long buffet breakfast with mimosas on tap. It was a typical weekend away with friends, I wouldn't have it any other way. This was the life I was accustomed to.

Unfortunately life has its curve balls, everyone that I was meant to go to Bushfire with was unable to attend - I find this out twelve days before departure. I thought of staying at home and having a champagne party for one while watching some or other show. I called my friend, Mohau, who reminded me that I am a solo traveler and can take the trip on my own. I immediately went online and looked for accomodation at Lugogo and Royal Swazi Hotels. Everything was fully booked. I tried all my tricks - Hotels.com, Agoda, Kayak, roomkey, etc - nothing worked. I made so many phone calls until I realised that I should give up and try the alternative - camping. 

And no, by camping I don't mean singing along to all of Judy Garland's songs while mincing up and down. I mean camping in the woods. And by woods I don't mean... I had to prepare myself for my first ever camping kit. I had imagined that if I am ever going to camp I will certainly glamp (glamorous camping). Unfortunately that was not happening this time around. 

My journey into 'emancipation' started at 8 am at OR Tambo where I would catch the bus to Swaziland. My patience has never been so tested like that day. We got to Swaziland at 19:00 after hours of drinking to numb the pain from waiting. The first tasks was to pitch a tent. I had never pitched a tent before (well unless we are talking about THAT tent) and I was quite nervous that the damn thing would be blown away in the middle of the night. The tour leader gave us a quick tutorial and he helped me pitch mine. It was relatively easy so I offered to help my fellow campers who, I might add, had never pitched tents before. 

I had gone to Cape Union Mart before leaving SA to get camping gear. The shop assistant was very helpful and probably earned an easy commission from me. I bought pretty much everything the he recommended. I was worried that I had spent a lot more money on this camp that I should have. My first night camping was really great. This was because I had bought the right equipment and this kept me warm. 

The trouble, however, came in the morning - the showers. That was where I drew the line. I took a combi from Mahlanya to Ezulwini for my spa appointment where I hap a 3 hour session planned out strategically so that I can take a shower and have a warm brunch. This was the best thing I had ever done for myself. I had a good 4.5 hours to myself with no cellphone reception. I felt so relaxed. Do not ask me where I showered on Saturday morning. 

This camp was a great reminder to try something new regularly. It came at a very right time - a month before my first trip to India. Getting out of my comfort zone is what makes one a traveler, not a tourist.

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Per Swazi law intentional sexual relations per anum between two human males was unlawful. I am not aware of any men that have been jailed recently over homosexuality. It was very interesting to see the LGBT out and about in the festival having fun. I met a few locals that assured me that they are safe in the country. The Swazi people are still very conservative so public display of affection among the LGBT may be frowned upon. 

4 Countries in a week