Our second morning in Mumbai, it has to be said, was not the greatest as Emma had been quite poorly in the night - We think this was down to dehydration. Another lesson learnt.
What didn't help was that we had to leave our Hotel which was fully booked from this point on. Luckily the Manager organized another lot of accommodation for us and we had checked into the Hotel Crystal by 10:00AM. Here, Emma rested up and drank Water by the gallon, later followed by Hot Chocolate (also by the gallon) when she was feeling much better.
Meanwhile, Shane ventured out into Mumbai in pursuit of train tickets to Goa, the next destination on our Indian adventure. Unfortunately, he found that train tickets in India go on sale three months before departure and therefore often sell out quite quickly. However, all was not lost. Standing next to the Ticket Boothe was Bali, an Indian man who turned out to be a very helpful, if not somewhat aggressive, Tourist Advisory.
Bali took Shane to his shop where he arranged alternative transport to Goa in the form of a Sleeper Coach. However, by the time Shane left Bali he had also arranged a personal tour of Mumbai for the following day. As Bali quite rightly pointed out, we could afford his tour if we moved to another Hotel, something he would kindly help us to do before the tour began. Hmmmm.
The following morning, and on his word, Bali arrived to take us to our new accommodation. In short, this turned out to be neither as special nor as cheap as promised, and Bali turned out to be less a helpful character and more of a dodgy dealer.
Following check in, our tour began with Bali announcing that he was not going to be taking us around Mumbai after all, but his Brother would be doing so in his place. The first stop on our tour was a pick up point where we met our new guide 'Not Bali'.
The rather frustrating start aside, a private tour of Mumbai is actually great way to see the City. Amongst other things, 'Not Bali' took us to The House of Ghandi, to a Jain Temple, to The Hanging Gardens of Mumbai and to the largest Slum area in Asia. Here the poverty was blatant. The river which runs parallel to the Slum is saturated with rubbish and feces. The air is thick with it. Yet children play alongside the river, seemingly unaware of their surroundings.
Another example of the extremities of wealth in Mumbai, another stop on our tour, comes in the form of a Mansion which happens to be the most expensive home in the world. It also happens to overlook the Slums. Here, four people live and reportedly six hundred people work. Such opposites in such close proximity to one another, we struggled to get our heads around.
The next day, and what was to be our last day in Mumbai we took a trip to The Gateway of India. Here, a large archway built by the British during their rule over India, overlooks the main port where goods come in and out of Mumbai. It is also the departure point for day trips to the near by Elephanta Island which houses wonderful cave carvings depicting a range of Hindu Gods. We purchased tickets at the port and set off shortly after.
On arrival we were surprised to see that the Island is home to a large group of Monkeys. These cheeky little chaps cause no harm but are quite vocal and most amusing. The cave carvings did not disappoint and we particularly liked the depiction of Shiva in his various forms. Should you ever visit Elephanta Island, we would recommend purchasing a guide book as we did. Exploring the carvings without any literature would be less enjoyable assuming you have no prior in-depth knowledge of Hindu Gods.
Aside from the Monkeys and the Gods, it appeared that we ourselves were quite popular at the caves. As mentioned in our previous Blog, staring is something one must get used to in India. However on this day, it was taken to a whole new extreme. We must have appeared very different to the other tourists as we were constantly being asked to have our photographs taken with various people. On a couple of occasions people had paid the on-site photographers to take official pictures with us. We found this funny to the point of ridiculousness as we barley got a moment to ourselves. Often these people would sneak over to us or pretend to be taking a photograph of a near by monument. This continued throughout the day and we are undoubtedly now featured in several photo albums belonging to various Indian families.
What didn't help was that we had to leave our Hotel which was fully booked from this point on. Luckily the Manager organized another lot of accommodation for us and we had checked into the Hotel Crystal by 10:00AM. Here, Emma rested up and drank Water by the gallon, later followed by Hot Chocolate (also by the gallon) when she was feeling much better.
Meanwhile, Shane ventured out into Mumbai in pursuit of train tickets to Goa, the next destination on our Indian adventure. Unfortunately, he found that train tickets in India go on sale three months before departure and therefore often sell out quite quickly. However, all was not lost. Standing next to the Ticket Boothe was Bali, an Indian man who turned out to be a very helpful, if not somewhat aggressive, Tourist Advisory.
Bali took Shane to his shop where he arranged alternative transport to Goa in the form of a Sleeper Coach. However, by the time Shane left Bali he had also arranged a personal tour of Mumbai for the following day. As Bali quite rightly pointed out, we could afford his tour if we moved to another Hotel, something he would kindly help us to do before the tour began. Hmmmm.
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| Emma Has a Word with Ghandi |
Following check in, our tour began with Bali announcing that he was not going to be taking us around Mumbai after all, but his Brother would be doing so in his place. The first stop on our tour was a pick up point where we met our new guide 'Not Bali'.
The rather frustrating start aside, a private tour of Mumbai is actually great way to see the City. Amongst other things, 'Not Bali' took us to The House of Ghandi, to a Jain Temple, to The Hanging Gardens of Mumbai and to the largest Slum area in Asia. Here the poverty was blatant. The river which runs parallel to the Slum is saturated with rubbish and feces. The air is thick with it. Yet children play alongside the river, seemingly unaware of their surroundings.
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| Four Residents, Six Hundred Workers. |
The next day, and what was to be our last day in Mumbai we took a trip to The Gateway of India. Here, a large archway built by the British during their rule over India, overlooks the main port where goods come in and out of Mumbai. It is also the departure point for day trips to the near by Elephanta Island which houses wonderful cave carvings depicting a range of Hindu Gods. We purchased tickets at the port and set off shortly after.
 |
| Outside the Main Temple on Elephanta Island |
Aside from the Monkeys and the Gods, it appeared that we ourselves were quite popular at the caves. As mentioned in our previous Blog, staring is something one must get used to in India. However on this day, it was taken to a whole new extreme. We must have appeared very different to the other tourists as we were constantly being asked to have our photographs taken with various people. On a couple of occasions people had paid the on-site photographers to take official pictures with us. We found this funny to the point of ridiculousness as we barley got a moment to ourselves. Often these people would sneak over to us or pretend to be taking a photograph of a near by monument. This continued throughout the day and we are undoubtedly now featured in several photo albums belonging to various Indian families.
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