Chowing down at Chowpatty Beach

At the north end of Marine Drive in Mumbai sits the vibrant Chowpatty Beach. The place feels a bit like Coney Island without a boardwalk. It's a city beach with tons of people, junk for sale and a whole food scene. The night time is the right time to go check everything out.

The sun setting, people making the scene.

Vendors selling the usual beach novelties. Buggies are available for kiddie rides.

Let's get eating.

More food vendors working their stalls, from the bottom to the top.

The menu hawker and day-glo drink stall.

These gentlemen really know how to rock the mustache.

Meandering Marine Drive In Mumbai

The place to be in Mumbai, whether early in the morning or as the sun sets, is Marine Drive. It's a long stretch of road and wide sidewalk, curling around the Arabian Sea. There's room for everyone, young and old, lovers and haters (why not?), animals, vegetables and taxi cabs.

Come hang out, loaf around looking at the water or do the crescent stroll.

Maybe a lonely dog sidles up for some companionship. A man and his monkey.

Playing the waiting game, whether looking for a fare or just looking around.

You gotta record the moment, either with your buddy's camera or by one of the sketch artists.

A bat and a ball and you've got a cricket game (and an area to steer clear of). The stretch at night, nick-named Queens Necklace for the string of pearls the street lights resemble.

Art Deco Mumbai

Just like in Miami, there's an iconic street along a famous body of water with a beach and a bunch of Art Deco buildings overlooking it all. It's Marine Drive instead of Ocean Drive and Chowpatty Beach as the substitute for South Beach.

Lining Marine Drive is a string of beautiful Art Deco apartment buildings. They're bigger and geared toward residential as opposed to the Deco buildings on Miami Beach.

A typical Deco apartment building.

The unrestored sister property of the above apartment building. Historical preservation hasn't taken hold yet. The spaceship-like roof features of the apartment building on the right are nifty.

The aquarium is in on the suave style (and they're re-habbing the facade). Nice fish theme. Another Art Deco apartment example.

Elsewhere in Mumbai, a commercial building that would fit right at home on a movie studio backlot for a period noir or Fritz Lang flick.