Apparently elephants used to be pretty common in Mumbai. Most temples have one. However only a few months ago, a ban was placed on elephants in the city, due to the high volume of traffic, which can irritate the elephants. This elephant however, was one that regularly came into the area to bathe. So we were able to arrange for it to stop by and provide a ride to Julie. It was quite the scene.
After the elephant ride, a smaller contingent of our group went out, led by Kamalika as well as a few others from our host company. For this trip, they rented us a large tourist van to take us around. We affectionately named it the hippy party van, due to the very….um….. festive interior.
Kamalika and Anand on the Hippy Bus
After are sightseeing we quickly tried to make it back so the rest of our group could make it to their flights and head back towards Chicago. The 10-15 mile trek took us the usual 2 hours in the waning hours of Mumbai rush hour.
The next morning for me was the start of another busy day, as Kamalika and Anand from our local partners, offered to provide me a guided tour of any sites I wanted to see in Mumbai. Unfortunately I had enough on my list that I could have spent another week in Mumbai. Nonetheless, we hit several museums including the Victorian Museum, and the Prince of Wales Museum, and a few other tourist attractions.
One of the more unique stops was at the Chor Bazaar. This is a local market in India, which could be compared very well to Chicago’s Maxwell street market, except 5 times the people, in 1 tenth of the space. Everything and anything you could want were sprawled out on blankets or newspapers lying on the street, with a few indoor shops as well. Kamalika did me the great favor of negotiating for me in Hindi. She is absolutely excellent in this regard. I ended up purchasing a small trinket (even though Kamalika was still convinced we had a bad deal) so that I had something as a souvenir from this shopping experience.
We concluded this day with a relaxing (although chilly for those used to the normally tropical Mumbai climate) boat ride pushing off from just behind the gate of India. We were all pretty exhausted. Poor Kamalika how is expecting in another 2 and a half months looked exhausted. We followed this up with some coffee to warm up, and traded photos of each others children. This sparked a bit of a twinge of home sickness, as I have been gone for over a week, and will be gone for another week after this.
After this we returned to the Grand Hyatt (yep, 2 hour car ride) and for the last time I had to bid my new good friends farewell.
While India is currently trying to build a tourism industry, and are heavily promoting it in the area, the country is very difficult and overwhelming for westerners who are not used to it. I can’t imagine just showing up and trying to get around. We were so fortunate to have Kamalika in Mumbai, Neil and Aditi in New Delhi and Agra, as well as others take time out of their days, in addition to their normal 9-5 responsibilities to cater to our every need, and show us how to navigate the city, and make sure that we stayed happy and healthy. Always conscious of our sensitive western stomachs which are not used to some of the local bacteria for which everyone there is immune to, she would never hesitate to say, don’t eat that, only eat this. And I’m sure played a big part in keeping all (ok, I guess it was only most) of us health for the week. I can’t thank the whole team enough, and will truly miss them as I am now traveling on my own.
Kamalika (and baby) and Kiran (wathcing Julie)
The ambiance truly seemed as we should be sharing more than just good company during the trip.
As we had only a short amount of time, we could only spend a brief amount of time at each stop along the way. (And as is always the case this was further reduced by traffic in Mumbai, as it took us over an hour, I believe, to traverse the few miles to our first stop.
Our first tourist site, although it may appear an unlikely one from first appearance, was the laundry vats. I don’t have the full story, on this site (although it is highlighted in most Mumbai tourism publications.) In the laundry vats, hundreds of thousands of articles of clothing are washed and delivered to patrons of the service. The volume of clothes and efficiency are supposed to be amazing though.
Next we ventured on to the tomb of Haji Ali which is a Mosque out in the middle of the ocean. This picture was taken at low tide, so you can see the see floor, and the walkway that leads to it. However in hightide, both are covered in water, and the tomb is inaccessible by foot. I believe Kamalika said this was built in the 1400s. As an aside, Kamalika was invaluable as a tour guide throughout the week. She never ceased to amaze us with her knowledge of everything that we looked at. This tomb was followed up with the home of Ghandi. Excellent spot, as it has been turned into a museum on Ghandi’s life, chronicling his whole life story. After this we spent some time shopping and around the gateway of India.
The ambiance truly seemed as we should be sharing more than just good company during the trip.
As we had only a short amount of time, we could only spend a brief amount of time at each stop along the way. (And as is always the case this was further reduced by traffic in Mumbai, as it took us over an hour, I believe, to traverse the few miles to our first stop.
Our first tourist site, although it may appear an unlikely one from first appearance, was the laundry vats. I don’t have the full story, on this site (although it is highlighted in most Mumbai tourism publications.) In the laundry vats, hundreds of thousands of articles of clothing are washed and delivered to patrons of the service. The volume of clothes and efficiency are supposed to be amazing though.
Next we ventured on to the tomb of Haji Ali which is a Mosque out in the middle of the ocean. This picture was taken at low tide, so you can see the see floor, and the walkway that leads to it. However in hightide, both are covered in water, and the tomb is inaccessible by foot. I believe Kamalika said this was built in the 1400s. As an aside, Kamalika was invaluable as a tour guide throughout the week. She never ceased to amaze us with her knowledge of everything that we looked at. This tomb was followed up with the home of Ghandi. Excellent spot, as it has been turned into a museum on Ghandi’s life, chronicling his whole life story. After this we spent some time shopping and around the gateway of India.
Ghandi's House
After are sightseeing we quickly tried to make it back so the rest of our group could make it to their flights and head back towards Chicago. The 10-15 mile trek took us the usual 2 hours in the waning hours of Mumbai rush hour.
Taj Mahal Hotel (downtown Mumbai)
Gateway to India
The next morning for me was the start of another busy day, as Kamalika and Anand from our local partners, offered to provide me a guided tour of any sites I wanted to see in Mumbai. Unfortunately I had enough on my list that I could have spent another week in Mumbai. Nonetheless, we hit several museums including the Victorian Museum, and the Prince of Wales Museum, and a few other tourist attractions.
Dunga (at Victorian Museum)
Chhatrapati Shivaji Museum (fka Prince of Wales museum)
One of the more unique stops was at the Chor Bazaar. This is a local market in India, which could be compared very well to Chicago’s Maxwell street market, except 5 times the people, in 1 tenth of the space. Everything and anything you could want were sprawled out on blankets or newspapers lying on the street, with a few indoor shops as well. Kamalika did me the great favor of negotiating for me in Hindi. She is absolutely excellent in this regard. I ended up purchasing a small trinket (even though Kamalika was still convinced we had a bad deal) so that I had something as a souvenir from this shopping experience.
Art Exhibit at Kala Ghoda: Addiction
For lunch, Kamalika offered to take us to a truly traditional Indian restaurant, akin to what the locals would attend. The restaurant was in the Kala Ghoda (which means black horse-their used to be a black horse statue in this area) art district. This was one of the highest highlites of the entire trip (probably only to be surpassed by souvenir shopping that followed soon afterwards.) After sitting down at the table, and letting Kamalika order my lunch for me, (as I had no idea what I was doing) the waiters began bringing out about a dozen metal bowls for each of us, and a large metal pan. From this point, there was a constant pouring forth of Indian food and bread. As soon as you emptied out any of the bowls, someone would come by and refill it for you. The only way I could have eaten more food faster, would be if you stuck a funnel down my throat. The meal was half Rajasthani (Northern Indian) and half something else that I honestly don’t remember the name, but it was all simply amazing.
At one point I decided to try the Mango chutney sitting on the table. I grabbed a generous helping, and applied it to one of the pieces of bread on my plate, and was warned that it may be a bit hot. So I removed a bit of it and proceeded to move it towards my mouth. At this point, I noticed that the flurry of food delivery and consumption at the table had immediately stopped, and I looked up to see both Kamalika and Anand leaning forward and staring motionless at me in anticipation of my reaction upon eating the chutney. Now I was nervous. Nonetheless I proceeded. Honestly I didn’t find it to be that spicy.
Once we finished our massive meal, I wanted to roll over and take a nap. However we still had the pinnacle moment of the trip to achieve. We traveled over to nearby Furtado’s music shop. Here I picked up my souvenir that I was most excited about: a genuine Indian sitar, manufactured in Kolkata. The unfortunate part of this experience was that after looking into various shipping options it appeared shipping may likely cost $500-$1000. That was much more than I was willing to pay. They did however have extremely affordable hard cases that were a fraction of what they would cost in the US. So, I am now schlepping a 5 foot long oddly shaped musical instrument with me for 3 more countries.
For lunch, Kamalika offered to take us to a truly traditional Indian restaurant, akin to what the locals would attend. The restaurant was in the Kala Ghoda (which means black horse-their used to be a black horse statue in this area) art district. This was one of the highest highlites of the entire trip (probably only to be surpassed by souvenir shopping that followed soon afterwards.) After sitting down at the table, and letting Kamalika order my lunch for me, (as I had no idea what I was doing) the waiters began bringing out about a dozen metal bowls for each of us, and a large metal pan. From this point, there was a constant pouring forth of Indian food and bread. As soon as you emptied out any of the bowls, someone would come by and refill it for you. The only way I could have eaten more food faster, would be if you stuck a funnel down my throat. The meal was half Rajasthani (Northern Indian) and half something else that I honestly don’t remember the name, but it was all simply amazing.
At one point I decided to try the Mango chutney sitting on the table. I grabbed a generous helping, and applied it to one of the pieces of bread on my plate, and was warned that it may be a bit hot. So I removed a bit of it and proceeded to move it towards my mouth. At this point, I noticed that the flurry of food delivery and consumption at the table had immediately stopped, and I looked up to see both Kamalika and Anand leaning forward and staring motionless at me in anticipation of my reaction upon eating the chutney. Now I was nervous. Nonetheless I proceeded. Honestly I didn’t find it to be that spicy.
Once we finished our massive meal, I wanted to roll over and take a nap. However we still had the pinnacle moment of the trip to achieve. We traveled over to nearby Furtado’s music shop. Here I picked up my souvenir that I was most excited about: a genuine Indian sitar, manufactured in Kolkata. The unfortunate part of this experience was that after looking into various shipping options it appeared shipping may likely cost $500-$1000. That was much more than I was willing to pay. They did however have extremely affordable hard cases that were a fraction of what they would cost in the US. So, I am now schlepping a 5 foot long oddly shaped musical instrument with me for 3 more countries.
Ryan's First Indian Concert While waiting for the Sitar to be Packed (some patron accompanied me on lead from the other side of the room)
We concluded this day with a relaxing (although chilly for those used to the normally tropical Mumbai climate) boat ride pushing off from just behind the gate of India. We were all pretty exhausted. Poor Kamalika how is expecting in another 2 and a half months looked exhausted. We followed this up with some coffee to warm up, and traded photos of each others children. This sparked a bit of a twinge of home sickness, as I have been gone for over a week, and will be gone for another week after this.
After this we returned to the Grand Hyatt (yep, 2 hour car ride) and for the last time I had to bid my new good friends farewell.
While India is currently trying to build a tourism industry, and are heavily promoting it in the area, the country is very difficult and overwhelming for westerners who are not used to it. I can’t imagine just showing up and trying to get around. We were so fortunate to have Kamalika in Mumbai, Neil and Aditi in New Delhi and Agra, as well as others take time out of their days, in addition to their normal 9-5 responsibilities to cater to our every need, and show us how to navigate the city, and make sure that we stayed happy and healthy. Always conscious of our sensitive western stomachs which are not used to some of the local bacteria for which everyone there is immune to, she would never hesitate to say, don’t eat that, only eat this. And I’m sure played a big part in keeping all (ok, I guess it was only most) of us health for the week. I can’t thank the whole team enough, and will truly miss them as I am now traveling on my own.
3 comments:
Almost a year after my trip, and I was shocked today to hear that many of the places I have photographed here have been subject to a deplorable terrorist attack today.
The Taj Mahal hotel and the Victorian/Chattripaji Shivaji Terminus, in addition to several other locations were the site of absolute carnage and utterly senseless violence.
My prayers go out to my friends in India today as you struggle through this horrible tragedy.
-Ryan
Finally posting the video from this part of the trip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu9EbrHn2Ro
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