Matheran: A Retreat from Mumbai Madness
Posted on January 20, 2010, by Hanna Ingber Win, under India, International, travel.
I found a beautiful, quiet place to sit outside and relax. And it only took me six weeks, a taxi, two local trains and a “toy train.” Check out my travelogue with photos for True/Slant about visiting a hill station near Mumbai.
Some friends and I recently took a day trip to Matheran, a hill station about 100 kilometers from Mumbai. Let me clarify a few nouns in that sentence. I went with Yehia Houry, a young Lebanese man who recently moved to Mumbai to work as a fellow for the Acumen Fund. We met in line — no, not online — at the Indian consulate in New York when we were applying for visas last November. This was the second time I had seen him in Mumbai, and even though the first was work-related, two encounters definitely counts as a “friend” when you first move to a city.
The other “friends” I went with are British backpackers who have taken a year off to travel around India and Southeast Asia. (Yes, they do carry backpacks.) This was the first time we had met, and I probably won’t ever see them again, but I am knew here — and happy to claim as many “friends” as I can.
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