Carol's Travels

We left the hotel at 9:30 this morning. First we went to the Hanging Gardens where members of a certain religious sect used to put dead bodies on platforms and let the vultures eat the flesh. Now the bodies are mummified by using solar panels to dehydrate the bodies. Using this process, the bodies don’t stink. One third of the population of that religion live in Mumbai. 

We passed by the most expensive house in world which cost over a billion dollars.  It is the modern building pictured behind the cream colored one in front.

There is an unusual lunch box serice in Mumbai.  Men on bicycles pick up lunches made by women for their husbands and children to deliver in time for lunch.  Women are too busy helping family members get ready for work and school in the mornings, so they make their lunches after the family is gone.  The lunches are picked up at homes and delivered to their schools or work places.  The lunches have to be ready on time, because the delivery people have many to pick up and deliver.  They will not wait.

Next we went to the Ghandi Museum. This is an old house where he stayed when he went to Bombay, now called Mumbai.

 We entered on the first floor which had the reception and offices.  The second floor had framed copies of articles, pictures, and letters about Ghandi. The third floor had very intricate dioramas showing the events in his life. Each one was filled with many realistic figures of people. I can’t even begin to estimate how much time even one of the dioramas took to make.

After the museum we ate our last lunch together. Then we were driven back to the hotel where we said good-bye to Jonli, our city guide. 

 Paul and I will be checking out of the hotel at 11:30 this evening to go to the airport to take our 3:30 A.M. flight. We will try to sleep for a few hours before we leave.

We left the hotel at 6:00 A.M. this morning. Box breakfasts were waiting for us in the lobby. Paul and I had ordered chicken and cheese sandwiches. Two baby bananas, nut bread, a muffin, and juice was also inside the box. Coffee and tea plus rolls were on a tray in the lobby. I chose a delicious chocolate croissant.
We said good good-bye to Anuja, then we rode the bus to the airport. Most of us had to pay about $10 for the 13-pounds excess weight of our two bags. The airlines here allow less weight than U.S. airlines do. They allow about 33 pounds in comparison to the 50 pounds allowed by U.S. carriers. Our bags had been under the India weight limit when we left home, but I have done some shopping here 🙂 

Anyway, our flight from Cochin to Mumbai took about two hours. We met our guide, Tomli, who checked us into a nearby airport hotel. We relaxed a couple of hours in our rooms, then met him again at 2:00 to start touring Mumbai.

During our drive we went on the freeway across a large bridge. Mumbai is surrounded on three sides by the Arabian Sea. The city used to be called Bombay. Bollywood movies are made here. He pointed out lots of historical buildings. We stopped at the old railroad station to take pictures.  

Mumbai is the hub of India’s finance, fashion, and entertainment industries. More films are produced here than in any other city in the world. It is often referred to as Bollywood.

The highlight of the day for me was when we stopped to walk through the laundry which was in the slums. Our guide bought pencils and erasers and passed them out to some of the kids. The kids were very excited to get them. They even pre-shrank new clothes before they sold them.

We walked through a market which I think is the dirtiest market I have ever seen.  Piles of litter were everywhere.  Some men were attempting to sweep up some of it out of the aisles to make walking easier, but we still had to walk around the huge mounds of trash and rotten vegetables.  Men were sleeping in some of the stalls.  I saw a dead rat next to a walkway.

This fountain was built by Rudyard Kipling’s father.  The famous author was born here.

We went to a Church of England where Mother Teresa and King George visited. 

We stopped at the Gateway of India. It is across the street from the historical Taj  Hotel. That hotel was damaged by a bomb several years ago. Now every car that enters the parking lot is inspected under the hood and inside.

We went to dinner, but I wasn’t impressed with the food a the restaurant. After dinner, it was an hour’s drive back to the hotel.

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We cruised the harbor this morning. We saw the fishing boats docked at a place where the fishermen were selling their fresh catches of the morning. 

 Other fishermen were periodically lifting up the large Chinese nets beside the shore. This was the way the Chinese fished when they were here, but they were chased out by invading armies centuries ago.

 The current fishermen were catching mainly small fish that they threw to the egrets. We also saw a dredger dredging the harbor so the water would remain deep enough for the cargo ships to pass.

After the harbor cruise, we walked behind these nets and some of us even helped raise a net. 

We continued walking past venders with cheap trinkets. We boarded the bus then shopped at an OAT approved store where it was safe to use credit cards. They had clean restrooms and sold souvenirs from clothes to jewelry to decorative pieces. I bought a pair of turquoise rayon patiala pants here. They were pretty, but they don’t compare in quality to Anuja’s handmade ones. 

The bus then took us to the Mattancherry Palace, also known as the Dutch Palace for its whitewashed walls and tiled roof. As we walked through the palace, Anuja told us about the kings. The colorful murals are some of the best examples of Hindu temple art in India.  We couldn’t take pictures, though.
We walked through the old Jewish Quarter where there were rows of shops selling clothing, spices, and decorative pieces. I bought some nutmeg nuts and cashew nuts which are both grown locally. Paul and I were both shopped out, so we went back to the bus.
We had a couple of hours at the hotel to relax and pack.  Later we ate a delicious dinner at the restaurant in the Grand Hotel.  This is a favorite upscale restaurant that the locals like.