My Hotel - Taj Land's End

I've actually been working on this post for about 5 days now as I've had to ninja my way around to take pictures. The hotel people are extraordinarily strict about security. A co-worker was chased down and had all his pictures deleted when they noticed him snapping away in the lobby. The policy is that no pictures can be taken of the hotel without an actual person posing in it? Not a very effective policy since I can ask anyone to be in the shot and take the exact same picture. This place is beautiful but they make you x-ray your bag and go through a metal detector every time you walk in from the outside. I think this is fallout from the Taj Palace and Cafe Leopold bombings from several years back. (My hotel is owned by same company as the Taj Palace.)

When you step into the hotel, the first thing you notice is the delicate scent of Jasmine flowers wafting through the entire lobby, although at times it becomes overpowering. The hotel itself is incredible and very much worth visiting if you are ever in Mumbai. The foyer into the elevators on every lobby floor looks like this. Those are not fake flowers and the floor is 100% marble. No cheap ass particle board here, everything is fully hardwood. hehe, hardwood... btw, sorry for the lens smudge here, it's part of the security requirements at work to cover your cell phone camera with tape.

The hotel has a cafe they call the Atrium, serves as a high end cafe, lounge, cigar bar, and restaurant all in one. Food is pretty incredible and the coffee is served to you via French press. Like everything else in the hotel, the prices are prohibitive for anyone that does not have a "dining allotment". Coffee costs about 7 bucks a cup. Potato Wedges, which are the cheapest thing on the food menu, are 7.50 but they're oh so good. Yet, Cuban Cohiba cigars are only 28 bucks. Expensive yes, but not as inflated as the rest.

Check out the lower right hand corner of this picture. What kind of high end hotel would be considered luxury if it didn't have a vintage Louis Vuitton traveling case from the early 1900s showcased in their lobby, along with the ubiquitous Louis Vuitton store that comes with it. None. You ain't shit if you ain't got LV.. bitches. This place doesn't have a gift shop where you can buy a tooth brush or even a frickin' ATM but it's got a fully stocked LV outlet. The priorities of the rich and famous defies logic.

And finally, I'll end this post with the obligatory view from hotel room shot. Beautiful at night. The ocean is behind it but let me tell you something folks, the Arabian Sea? Not exactly glowing turquoise or sparkling sapphire a la Caribbean here. It's more like a maudlin brown or a depression grey. In fact, it's both of those put together, splotched with the occasional pool of black oil floating in it. I ate a lobster caught in those waters, yum! Not smart, but that's a later post.